CURIOSITY & EXPLORATION

Hiking the trails of NL are an apt metaphor for my career as an academic. While I may have a regular route, what I see, hear and experience cannot be predicted. And if I venture off onto an unfamiliar trail, I can only be prepared to be open to things I have not encountered in my explorations to that point. Curiosity encourages me to retrace common pathways and deepen my knowledge of what I already know; exploration encourages me to go beyond. 

dr. dorothy vaandering
M.Ed.; PhD: University of Western Ontario

Professor
Faculty of Education
G.A. Hickman Building
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL
Canada
A1B 3X8

Office: E-3043
Tel: 709-740-7858
Email: dvaandering@mun.ca

After a significant career as a primary-elementary teacher and a curriculum writer, I joined the Faculty of Education as an assistant professor of social studies education at Memorial University in 2009. In 2015, I became an associate professor, and in 2022 I became a full professor. As a faculty member, I weave together interests and experiences that are rooted in the desire to honour the dignity, worth and diversity of all people, as well as the desire to "make hope practical and despair unconvincing" (Giroux, 1988; Williams, 1980).  

Research interests include:

• Restorative justice in education;
• Development and sustainability of relational school and classroom cultures;
• Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships-Addressing the TRC recommendations.
• Peacebuilding and conflict resolution;
• Dialogic education;
• Engaged and critical pedagogies;
• Social justice;
• Global citizenship education;
• Teacher identity and integrity;
• Narrative inquiry;
• Critical theory

I am the author of a variety of peer-reviewed and professional articles, including my most recent article, titled  Beliefs Matter: Concrete theoretical discourse for clarity of restorative justice In Revista de Vitimologia e Justiça Restaurativa - Ano 3 - VoI. 2 - São Paulo - Ago. 2025