I am Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies and Instruction in the Department of Education at Frederick University, Cyprus. Most recently, I worked for three years as an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis in equity and social justice at Augusta University, Georgia, USA. I hold a PhD in Education with a focus on Curriculum Studies and Instruction from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), USA; a Master’s in Education from UIC with a focus on Instructional Leadership; and a Bachelor’s in Pre-Primary Education from the University of Cyprus. I do qualitative, narrative research and I often engage with recording stories that aim to be material and source of inspiration for students and teachers, but also to inform the curricula. Within this framework, I developed and coordinated projects such as “The Cyprus Oral History and Living Memory Project” and the “Central Savannah River Area Education Oral History Project”. Apart from my involvement with oral history and its use in education, I also deal with the issue of learning experiences in general. Creating learning environments and focusing on the child's freedom and autonomy, non-formal learning, the out-of-school curriculum and the fact that learning happens everywhere has led me to study forest schools. In the recent past I have visited forest schools in the USA (New York, Georgia), in Europe (Denmark, Scotland, Norway) and different schools in Asia (India, Indonesia) and Africa. I also participated as guest speaker in the outdoor learning program of the University of Augsburg in Minnesota, that took place at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota, USA. I am the founder and coordinator of the School of Nature (pilot program of outdoor learning in parks) and the Forest School (an outdoor, all-day learning environment embracing experiential and inquiry learning for children and adults, as evolved from the School of Nature) in Cyprus. In addition to publishing articles and presentations at international conferences, I have written the textbook "Understanding curriculum: A field of study and research” and translated the book “To teach: The journey, in comics”. I am member and have leading positions in many professional, scientific organizations internationally and locally, including the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies which I also served from the position of the Cyprus representative in the General Assembly for 3 terms (9 years). I spent my childhood in the Middle East, ten years in the USA and traveled almost all over the world for research and business purposes.
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