Teaching: Making a Difference

Rick Churchill After two decades of teaching and curriculum leadership in South Australia, Rick Churchill was appointed as a teacher educator in the Faculty of Education at the University of Tasmania, where he completed his Doctor of Philosophy in 1998. He has since worked in pre-service and postgraduate teacher education at three universities in Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria. Included among his roles in teacher education have been  coordinator of professional experience at both the University of Tasmania and the University of Southern Queensland, coordinator of graduate entry programs at USQ and La Trobe University, coordinator of pre-service programs and Associate Dean (Academic) at USQ, and Associate Professor in Teacher Education and Associate Dean (Academic) at La Trobe University. He taught a variety of preservice teacher education programs, particularly in the areas of classroom management, beginning teacher professionalism and transition into the profession. Rick retired from his position at La Trobe University and relocated to the East coast of Tasmania in 2014, but maintains an active involvement in doctoral supervision and in consultancy and volunteer activities.

Sally Godinho is an Honorary Senior Fellow at Melbourne University’s Graduate School of Education. She has over 30 years’ experience in education, having taught in primary schools and lectured undergraduate and postgraduate students in curriculum and pedagogy. Sally obtained her Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Education degrees from the University of Melbourne. Her research and publications have focused on teachers’ pedagogies, students’ classroom interactions, and integrative approaches to curriculum design in primary and secondary schools. Sally’s recent work has involved a University of Melbourne interdisciplinary project, Sharing Place Learning Together, which facilitated a two-way learning partnership with a remote Indigenous community school.

Nicola F. Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and the Higher Degrees by Research Director in the Faculty of Education and Arts at Federation University Australia. Nicola obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from Deakin University, and her undergraduate qualifications were earned at Bethlehem Tertiary Institute in New Zealand. Nicola’s research concerns internet over-use, the social phenomena of internet usage, technological expertise, and the use of information and communication technologies to enhance teaching and learning. Nicola is the author of The multiplicities of internet addiction: The misrecognition of leisure and learning(Ashgate, 2009) and Publishing from your PhD: Negotiating a crowded jungle (Gower,2011), and co-editor of Critical perspectives on technology and education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).

Amanda Keddie is an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from Deakin University. She was awarded a Bachelor of Education at the University of Tasmania and has worked as a primary school teacher. In her career, Amanda has predominantly held research positions — previous to her current position she held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Queensland, a Leverhulme Fellowship at Roehampton University (London) and a Research Fellowship at Griffith University. She is a leading researcher in the field of gender, cultural diversity and social justice, and has published extensively in these areas. She is the author of Teaching boys: Developing classroom practices that work (2007 with Martin Mills), Educating for diversity and social justice (2012) and Leadership, ethics and schooling for social justice (2015 with Richard Niesche).

Will Letts is Associate Professor and Associate Dean Courses in the Faculty of Education at Charles Sturt University. Prior to this he was Provost, CUU Ontario, Head of the Ontario School of Education and Sub-Dean Learning and Teaching in CSU’s Faculty of Education. Will earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Delaware and his BA in biology from Bates College in Maine, USA. He teaches subjects in science and technology education and the sociology of education. His research interests include the cultural studies of science and science education, especially with respect to sexuality, gender and indigenous knowledges, and the uses of pedagogical documentation in tertiary settings. Will is a member of CSU’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education [RIPPLE].

Kaye Lowe is Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra and Director of Read4Success. Since completing a PhD at Indiana University, she has been an academic at the University of Kentucky (US), James Madison University (US), University of Western Sydney and Charles Darwin University. She was the Chief Investigator and Evaluator of Reading First in Kentucky. She has worked in many learning contexts including P–12, parent education, adult education, jails and juvenile justice. She works with education systems to bring about change in literacy instruction. She is author and creator of i-READ: Literacy Intervention for Middle and Secondary Schools and regularly conducts parent education courses throughout Australia. Her research interests include literacy and language learning, supporting Indigenous learners, parent education, technology and literacy learning, boys’ education, adult literacy education and inspiring reluctant writers. She has written four books and numerous articles on literacy learning, reading and writing. She has been the recipient of many grants, three of which were projects of national significance.

Jenny Mackay is an author and internationally recognised specialist in behaviour management and student–teacher interactions. Following extensive research analysis into classroom dynamics she has originated a methodology that conveys comprehensive, practical student management skills and guides teachers in their classroom practice. She travels widely, delivering seminars for her educational consultancy, and is based in Melbourne where she also teaches in the department of education at Deakin University.

Michèle McGill is a Lecturer in pedagogy and curriculum in the School of Teacher Education and Early Childhood at the University of Southern Queensland and is the program coordinator for the Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching (GDTL) and Master of Learning and Teaching (MOLT). As the world of the real and the virtual are rapidly merging and learners and their contexts are rapidly changing, the ways in which teachers understand and express their personal pedagogies are becoming critical. Michèle has been engaged with pre-service and postgraduate teacher education for over two decades in Tasmania and Queensland as well as in Alberta, Canada. Her research interests are in the processes of working with teachers through personal narratives to uncover their personal pedagogies and how they influence and guide their teaching practice.

Julianne Moss is Associate Professor in Education at Deakin University and an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She is immediate past President of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and Course Director of Deakin’s Master of Teaching, a leading, nationally accredited graduate teacher education program that enrols students from all states of Australia. Julianne obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from Deakin University and her postgraduate and undergraduate qualifications were earned at the University of Tasmania. She began her career as a teacher of visual arts in secondary schools in the Northern Territory. Following this she taught in secondary and primary schools in Tasmania and held leadership positions as a regional support officer in literacy and later as a principal in the Tasmanian government school system. Her research interests centre on curriculum reform, curriculum theory, teacher professional learning (particularly in the context of issues of understanding student diversity), educational exclusion and social inclusion. She has contributed over 100 academic and professional publications. Over the past ten years, Julianne has been researching and developing visual methods for researching education. A new book, edited with Barbara Pini, Visual research in education: A critical review of the practice and politics of contemporary methods (Palgrave Macmillan), explores these issues in depth.

Michael C. Nagel is an Associate Professor in Human Development and Learning in the School of Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Mike teaches and researches in areas related to human development, learning, cognition and behaviour. Mike has written a number of articles and books relating to neurological development in children and has been nominated by his students as ‘Australian Lecturer of the Year’ each year since 2010. Mike has also presented over 300 workshops to teachers, parents and school leaders nationally and internationally and is a member of the prestigious International Neuropsychological Society.

Kylie Shaw is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Arts at the University of Newcastle where she teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Kylie obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Newcastle in the area of student experience in higher education. She has been a teacher for twenty years, and has taught in primary and middle school contexts. She has been the Academic Coordinator of Middle Years and Coordinator of Learning Support K–12 in the independent school system. Kylie is currently the Program Convenor of Primary Education at the University of Newcastle. Her research interests include innovative approaches to teaching and learning, and she has worked on consultancies with Microsoft and Pearson International. She is currently Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Centre (ARC) Discovery Project examining the learning profiles and wellbeing of doctoral learners.