Janet Cairncross

Email: j.cairncross@unsw.edu.au

Supervisors: Iva Strnadova, Joanne Danker

Janet is an EdD candidate at UNSW and a teacher educator in the School of Education, where she co-chairs the Special and Inclusive Education Research Group (SIERG). She brings over 34 years of experience in NSW secondary education, including extensive leadership roles across a range of Catholic systemic schools. Her research focuses on the belonging experiences of students with intellectual disability in mainstream secondary schools. Drawing on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Critical Disability Studies (CDS), her work centres the voices and lived experiences of young people. She employs participatory, justice-oriented methodologies - including photovoice and accessible interviewing - that honour participant authority and challenge deficit framings of disability in education. Committed to inclusive practice and social justice, her work seeks to generate knowledge that is both theoretically rigorous and practically meaningful for inclusive schooling in Australia.