Deana Leahy BEd(Ballarat) MA(Ballarat) Deana is a lecturer in the School of Education at Southern Cross University, Australia. Presently her research interests are framed by a concern about the political and moral work that is ‘done’ under the guise of improving the health of young people in various settings. Drawing from post Foucauldian writings on governmentality, Deana’s research interrogates the mentalities enshrined in policy and curriculum and in turn how they are put to work within key pedagogical spaces. At present her work explores the areas of drug education, sex education and nutrition education within broader health promotion and education frameworks Deana is also currently working on a number of funded research projects. She is working with Family Planning Victoria to develop a best practice model for developing and implementing sexuality education in primary schools. So far the model has been implemented in four regions in Victoria. The model emphasizes the value of collaboration between key organizations such as the Department of Education, local community health providers, principals, teachers and parents in the development of sustainable programs. The next phase of the model will seek to include children’s perspectives ‘into the mix’ to improve and refine program development. Other funded projects include: exploring the role of affect in the use of multi media pedagogies in health promotion and education (with Professor Catherine Beavis at Griffith University), and a project that seeks to map values across sexuality education programs in Victoria (funded by Department of Education and Early Childhood Development).
Journal articles
What’s on (or off) the menu in school?, Text (2010)
This paper takes as its starting point an autobiographical account of food and schooling. It...
Weighing it up: thinking about the implications of school based obesity prevention initiatives, ACHPER Healthy Lifestyles Journal (2008)
Bass Coast Primary sexuality education project (with N Matthews), Health Education Australia Journal (2003)
Contributions to Books
Dicing with death: tensions, contradictions and awkward positions in school health education (with Michael Gard), Health and physical education: contemporary issues for Australia and New Zealand (2009)
Disgusting pedagogies, Biopolitics and the obesity epidemic (2009)
Biopolitics and the 'Obesity Epidemic' is the first edited collection of critical perspectives on the...
Locating a sexual voice in health and physical education curriculum (with Mary Lou Rasmussen and Maree Dinan Thompson), Health and physical education: contemporary issues for Australia and New Zealand (2009)
Pursuing HPE outcomes through health education (with Lyn Harrison), Teaching health and physical education in Australian Schools (2006)
Health and physical education and the production of the at risk self (with Lyn Harrison), Body knowledge and control: studies in the sociology of physical education and health (2004)
Conference presentations
Colliding pedagogical practices in sex education, Gender: Regulation and Resistance in Education: Gender and Education Association 7th International Conference (2009)
A sustainable health promotion model: engaging teachers and the community health sector in sexuality education interventions (with M Stevens), Australasian Sexual Health Conference (2007)
Assembling a risky subject - health risk messages in school based health education, 19th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion & Health Education (2007)
The social model of health: some reflections on the Ottawa Charter, Home Economics Institute of Victoria State Conference (2007)