Dr. Kathryn Choules - Social Justice Consultant

Social justice has been the central focus of Kathryn’s work for the past two decades. Her areas of interest include social justice, social change education, global development, environmental sustainability, and the role of spirituality in sustaining social actors.

Kathryn’s work has included employment as a cleaner, music teacher, academic, lawyer, community educator and organisational change consultant. As the Disability Discrimination Solicitor (Sussex Street Community Law Service, Perth) and later Community Educator, Kathryn worked with the disability sector to remedy violations of the human rights of people with disabilities. As Legal and Project Officer at the Western Australian Ombudsman’s Office, she worked on a project to increase the levels of awareness and use of the Ombudsman’s Office by Aboriginal people and people from culturally diverse backgrounds. In 2006, she undertook a Program Evaluation for the International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice in Thailand.

Kathryn has taught at primary and secondary schools, Curtin University, the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and, most recently, Deakin University. She holds a PhD in Education, a Bachelor of Jurisprudence (Honours) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours). Kathryn's PhD was an attempt to better understand her experience of working in transformative education in Guatemala from 1995-1999 (through the Australian Volunteer Abroad program). She was keen to understand the relevance of that educational approach in an Australian context, where different social justice issues predominate.

Kathryn’s volunteering and community work has included the YWCA Big Sister/Little Sister program, CASE for Refugees (as its Volunteer Coordinator), and the One World Education and Resource Centre, of which she is former Board Chair. Kathryn grew up in rural and remote Western Australia as well as metro Perth. She has since lived and worked in Switzerland, Japan and Guatemala, and in Malaysia and Thailand on short-term assignments.