Fievel leads the Adult Literacy, Numeracy and English as an Additional Language Education specialist stream within the TESOL and Applied Linguistics program at UTS. He is an experienced educator and trainer in adult language, literacy, numeracy, and digital (LLND) skills training. Having worked across colleges within Navitas and MTC, Fievel continues to build strong industry partnerships with organisations and stakeholders, including TAFE, MTC FutureReady, and Navitas.

Fievel is actively engaged in professional service and leadership across the LLND and disability studies sectors, contributing to national and international networks. He serves as the UTS Representative on the Vocational Education Group in the Australian Council of Deans of Education, Executive Member of the NSW Adult Literacy & Numeracy Council, and Secretary of the IASSIDD Down Syndrome Special Interest Research Group.

Research

Fievel's research spans a range of fields, including TESOL and applied linguistics, adult education, critical disability studies, and sociology.

In his doctoral thesis titled “My main goal is to get into university”: Post-secondary education journeys of people with Down syndrome, Fievel explores how people with Down syndrome and their families navigate pathways into university and vocational education. He draws on an interdisciplinary framework combining critical disability studies and Bourdieusian sociology to show how self-determination intersects with embodied, social, cultural, and economic resources. The research demonstrates that, while self-determination is significant, access to family cultural capital often underpins successful participation in further education. The thesis raises important equity considerations for widening participation efforts for people with Down syndrome and under-represented equity groups more broadly. A video (now edited) originally created by Fievel for external stakeholders was showcased at FASStival 2022.

In related work, published in Critical Discourse Studies, Fievel adopts a discourse-historical approach to critically examine how Down syndrome has been historically constructed through colonial and medical discourses on 'race' and ‘idiocy’. This work traces how early classifications, namely John Langdon Down’s (1866) problematic framing of the ‘Mongolian idiot’, has produced enduring forms of racialised and ableist othering, with implications that continue to shape contemporary biomedical understandings of Down syndrome. The paper won the 2021 FASS HDR Publication Award.

Fievel has also led a research project with UTS colleagues across disciplines (Criminology and TESOL and Applied Linguistics) to explore issues around policing in multicultural communities in Australia. Designed in collaboration with NSW Police Force, the project investigates communication, trust, and engagement between police and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. This project aims to inform more inclusive and effective policies and practices for policing in multicultural contexts.

Teaching

Drawing on his expertise and research interests, Fievel has designed and taught a range of postgraduate subjects within the TESOL and Applied Linguistics program, including:

• Adult literacy and numeracy
• TESOL methodology
• Discourse and genre analysis
• Multiliteracies and multimodalities
• Global Englishes
• Research methods

Through his teaching, Fievel supports students to become critically informed, research-engaged practitioners capable of working across diverse education contexts in Australia and internationally. He maintains ongoing connections with graduates as they move into professional practice, helping to strengthen links between the university and industry.