This edited book brings together scholars of education, sociology, philosophy, migration and political theory to examine how citizenship is made, taught and disputed in contemporary Australia. Using ‘contested citizenships’ as an analytical frame, the chapters map the shifting boundaries of belonging across schooling and higher education, citizenship testing and language assessment, faith-based pedagogy, labour-market regulation for older workers, and debates about moral agency in liberal democracy. Throughout, the volume shows how formal legal status intersects with lived experience, cultural identity, mobility, and processes of inclusion and exclusion, and how education functions as a microcosm of wider struggles over rights and recognition. By combining conceptual discussion with empirical and practice-oriented analyses, the book offers a nuanced account of Australian citizenship in comparative perspective for scholars and students interest in citizenship studies, political sociology, sociology of education, migration studies and public policy.

Daniel Johnston is Vice-Provost (Academic) at Excelsia University College, Australia, and an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, Australia. His research explores the intersection of theatre, philosophy and pedagogy. He is the author of Shakespeare and Phenomenology: Theory and Practice (2025), Phenomenology for Actors: Theatre-Making and the Question of Being (2021), and of Theatre and Phenomenology: Manual Philosophy (2017). 

Patrick Alan Danaher is Professor in the School of Education at Excelsia University College, Australia, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. His research interests include the education of occupationally mobile communities, education research ethics and methods, and academics’ work and identities. He has co-edited numerous books, including The Palgrave Handbook of Autoethnographic and Self-Study Education Research Methods (Palgrave Macmillan 2025).