Marek Tesar

Marek Tesar is a Czechoslovak-born New Zealand academic, university administrator and educational philosopher. He is Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne.

Career and research Tesar earned a PhD in Education from the University of Auckland. He worked at the University of Auckland as Head of School and Associate Dean International and founded the Centre for Global Childhoods. In March 2025, he became Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne.

His research examines early childhood policy, pedagogy, and curriculum. He is Editor-in-Chief of Policy Futures in Education (SAGE) and Educational Philosophy and Theory (Taylor & Francis).

He is editor of two book series: New Directions in Philosophy of Education (Routledge), and Children: Global Posthumanist Perspectives and Materialist Theories (Springer, 2017–present).

He has served as President of Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) and Chair of the Reconceptualising Early Childhood Education (RECE) Steering Committee.

In 2018, he received the NZARE Judith Duncan Award for Research Excellence in Early Childhood Education.

Tesar was elected a Fellow of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) in 2023. He received the Bloch Distinguished Career Award from the Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education society in 2025.

Selected publications Tesar, M. (2015). "Ethics and truth in archival research." History of Education, 44(1), 101–114. Malone, K., Tesar, M., & Arndt, S. (2020). Theorizing Posthuman Childhood Studies. Springer. Tesar, M. (2021). "Towards a post-Covid-19 'New Normality?': Physical and Social Distancing, the Move to Online and Higher Education." Policy Futures in Education, 18(5), 556–559. Tesar, M. (2021). "'Philosophy as a method': Tracing the histories of intersections of 'philosophy', 'methodology', and 'education'." Qualitative Inquiry, 27(5), 544–553. Tesar, M., & Pangastuti, Y. (2024). "From colonial legacies to inclusive futures: Transforming and reconceptualizing early childhood education in Indonesia." Global Studies of Childhood.