Stephanie Wescott

Lecturer, School of Education Culture and Society stephanie.wescott@monash.edu

Core expertise

Discourse analysis

Biography

Stephanie is a lecturer in humanities and social sciences in the Faculty of Education’s School of Education, Culture and Society. Her research examines how education practice and policy intersects with, and is influenced by, current socio-political conditions, and she’s particularly interested in post-truth and its relationship to knowledge and expertise in education.
Stephanie uses qualitative methodologies, including ethnography and discourse analysis, to examine the implications of these intersections for teachers' work and policy enactment.

articles

Illustration of a young male staring at a mobile phone while its light hits his face

Mirror world: Proposal to ban access to social media reflects a lack of understanding

Misogyny and violence against women are social issues, and require a social response, not a punitive one.

Education

Victorian students will get ‘anti-Tate’ lessons, but much more is needed to tackle gendered violence in schools

Victoria has announced new teaching resources to tackle the influence of “manosphere” figures among students, but we still don’t have a clear picture of sexism and harassment in our schools.

Politics and society

‘Misogynist radicalisation’: Here’s what parents of boys should know

Parents need to understand how algorithms work. These can drive misogynistic content towards boys and young men, and can make extreme views seem normal.

Education

Boy sitting with a closed laptop and textbooks, staring at his phone

Post-truth politics and manosphere extremists in Australian schools

To counter some of the harmful influences of Andrew Tate and others, we need long-term, critical, and transformational approaches embedded within both curricula and school cultures.

Education

A Different Lens: The consequences of cancel culture

It’s been an effective tool used to sometimes “take down” the powerful, rich and popular. But at its worst, its righteous outrage has ruined people’s lives for a simple mistake.

A Different Lens

A yellow floor sign warning about toxic masculinity, the idea of manliness as being defined by domination, homophobia, and aggression

Tackling ‘toxic masculinity’ in Australia: We can’t afford to get this wrong

The federal government’s announcement of $3.5 million to fund a healthy masculinities project trial is promising, but lacks detail on precisely how the funds will be used, and what will inform the programs.

Education