Justen O'Connor

Justen has research experience that utilises systems thinking, social ecology and strengths-based approaches to explore curriculum and pedoagogy associated with health, physical education, sport and lifetime physical activity. Justen also has an interest in social justice within education as well as informal forms of participation in movement. Justen is fluent in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and has expertise in designing scales for measurement.

Justen's research has attracted a range of external funding. He is chief investigator on a recently awarded ARC Linkage grant 'Informal sport as a health and social resources amongst diverse young people' ($250,000) with lead investigator Assoc Prof Ruth Jeanes, Professor Dawn Penney and Professor Ramon Spaaij and in partnership with VicHealth, Centre for Multicultural Youth, Cricket Victoria and the Department of local governernment, sport and cultural industries. 

• Health and Physical Education curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
• Informal sport participation
• Diversity and inclusion in movement
• Social-ecological and complex systems drivers of physical activity and wellness
• Physical activity in sporting and community settings
• Children and community sport / physical activity
• Motor skill learning

I am interested in supervising and supporting students at the Honours, Masters and PhD level in the broad areas of:

• Health and Physical Education curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
• Diversity and inclusion in movement
• Alternative or informal sport participation, community physical activity participation
• Systems thinking in movement contexts, including social-ecological drivers of physical activity and wellness
• Children and community sport / physical activity program evaluation or intervention
• Designing and building scales for measurement using Rasch measurement model

EDF2171 Motor Control and Skill Acquisition: This unit explores the discipline of human movement, particularly how humans acquire and refine a broad range of movement skills. The study of motor control and skill acquisition is a broad area that uses foundational biophysical knowledge together with elements of psychology, sociology and understanding of growth and development to explore how and why the human body moves.

EDF4171 Advanced Sport and Exercise Science: This unit expands upon foundational physiological, kinesiological and psychological understandings of human movement science within health and physical education. 

Justen has worked with a range of schools and sporting agencies. He was instrumental in developing 'On Track,' a modified program for Little Athletics. He has developed programs for childcare, Sports Without Borders, local government and schools including Elizabeth Murdoch College where he worked closely with staff to redevelop their HPE curriculum. Justen has done a range of workshops for school teachers in the area of physical education, curriculum and planning and assessment.