The Team

Professor Caroline Mansfield is Dean of the School of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia (Fremantle Campus). Caroline’s research primarily focuses on teacher resilience and wellbeing at a range of career stages and in diverse contexts. Caroline has led successful projects in the field of teacher resilience: Keeping Cool (2009-2012); and BRiTE: Building Resilience in Teacher Education (www.brite.edu.au) (2013-2015). She has also partnered on international research projects, notably, the European project, Enhancing Teacher Resilience in Europe (2013-2015), and interdisciplinary projects including VetSet2Go: Building Veterinary Employability (www.vetset2go.edu.au) (2015-2018). In 2016, Caroline was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellowship, Staying BRiTE: Promoting resilience in higher education (www.stayingbrite.edu.au) to lead collaborations with 5 inter-state universities using innovative approaches to embedding resilience in teacher education. Her future work involves further investigation of the personal and contextual resources that enable teachers to maintain engagement, commitment and motivation, and thrive throughout their career.

Dr Susan Ledger - Associate Dean Engagement and School Partnerships at Murdoch University, Perth WA, enjoys connecting people, places and programs. She researches public policy, practices and schooling in diverse contexts. Her current research explores synergies between ‘international & rural education’, ‘teaching internships’ and the ‘frequency and barriers to reading aloud’. http://profiles.murdoch.edu.au/myprofile/susan-ledger

Dr Al Strangeways is Senior Lecturer in Education at the Alice Springs campus of Charles Darwin University. She is the Alice Springs Professional Experience co-ordinator and lecturer, and visiting lecturer for the ‘Growing our Own’ Indigenous Teacher Preparation programme at Santa Teresa (Ltyentye Apurte).  She has delivered a range of online units in undergraduate and graduate courses, including those on Middle Years pedagogies, partnerships, curriculum planning and theory to practice in Professional Experience.  Her areas of interest include arts-based inquiry (including narrative research and pedagogy), practitioner research, initial teacher education (especially remote Indigenous teacher preparation and non-linear approaches to reflective practice) and teacher identity.

Dr Lisa Papatraianou is a Senior Lecturer in Education - Professional Learning in the School of Education at Charles Darwin University. Her areas of teaching include professional experience, research methodology, professional learning and practice and educational psychology. She has multi-disciplinary expertise in the conceptual and theoretical contributions to the field of human resilience and the practical application of resilience in education and human services sectors. She advocates for quality teacher education which can be achieved by preparing graduates for the profession, supporting the continual professional learning of inservice teachers and continually developing new understandings of teacher resilience so that teachers can successfully respond to the ever changing contexts of teaching. Lisa is a Maurice de Rohan Scholar, was an Australian Endeavour Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of London, and has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and research.

Dr Sharon McDonough is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Arts. She began working in teacher education after a 16 year career as secondary school teacher. She has an interest in working in collaboration with schools and educational organisations to provide learning opportunities for pre-service teachers, and is committed to supporting the ongoing learning of pre-service teachers, teachers and teacher educators.

Since 2015 Sharon has been the ECR/ HDR representative on the executive of the Australian Teacher Education Association. She was one of the editors of Teacher Education: Innovation, Intervention and Impact, the 2016 Springer publication showcasing the research of those involved in ATEA.

In 2013 she was awarded an Office of Learning and Teaching National Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. She research in the fields of: self-study; teacher emotion and embodiment; and mentoring. She is also interested in the role social media plays in academic work and is the Australian host of Shut up and Write Tuesdays, a virtual writing workshop for academics that provides a supportive online academic community. She also writes a regular column, Text, Twitter and Tweet for Practical Literacy, a publication of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association, which focuses on the use of social media and digital technologies in teaching.

Dr Amanda McGraw is a Senior Lecturer who coordinates the Master of Teaching (Secondary) program at Federation University Australia.  The program is known for its innovative school partnership practices and is taught on-site in a cluster of diverse regional and rural schools.  Amanda increasingly regards her classroom as a ‘research laboratory’ where, through reflection, dialogue and experimentation, she learns more about processes for preparing graduate teachers.  The professional doctorate she completed in 2010 examined the nature of deep professional learning for teachers.  In that year Amanda was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Federation University and in 2012 was awarded an Australian Government Higher Education Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.  Amanda taught for nearly 20 years in both state and independent schools.  She held a number of leadership positions in schools including Deputy Principal.  Her research interests include narrative pedagogies and research, dispositions for teaching, teachers’ professional learning, teacher education, and the teaching of reading in subject English.

Dr Leanne Crosswell is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology.   Her research focuses on three key areas; teacher resilience and wellbeing, transition to teaching for early career teachers and mentoring. These interconnected research fields explore the professional growth and agency of teachers, focussing on how teachers access the available resources personal, structural and cultural resources to maintain a sustainable and effective professional practice.  Dr Leanne Crosswell’s research highlights the agentic ways in which teachers navigate between the various professional demands and the available resources and the impact that this negotiation has on their resilience and wellbeing.

Associate Professor Denise Beutel lectures in teacher education at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.  Denise began working in teacher education after teaching in secondary schools for 20 years.  Through her university supervision work, Denise continues to play an active role in supporting preservice teachers on professional experience during their initial teacher education.  She is committed to the ongoing professional learning of teachers particularly evidenced through her work in teacher mentor preparation. Her areas of teaching include leadership in education, professional experience, engaging diverse learners and teachers as researchers. Her research interests include mentoring, teacher professional learning, initial teacher education and teaching for diversity.

Professor Tania Broadley is currently the Assistant Dean Teaching & Learning in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology. Tania provides leadership in teaching and learning within the Faculty of Education at QUT. Tania’s work in Initial Teacher Education centred on leading the design and development of  educational technology courses across undergraduate and postgraduate courses, which were offered face-to-face, fully online and in a blended delivery. Her broad range of educational experience includes research and teaching within the higher education sector, teaching within the early childhood and primary school context and research within secondary schools.  Tania’s research areas encompass preparation of pre-service teachers, rural and remote education; technology enhanced learning;  and continuing professional development of educators.

Dr Sue Duchesne coordinates the teacher education programs at UOW Bega campus, which involves caring for the well being and supporting the development of pre-service teachers from the Early Years through to Secondary School. In this role, Sue teaches across the Master of Teaching, and has taught in some subjects in the Bachelor of Education Early Years, with a particular interest in the importance of considering psychological, contextual, sociological, and anthropological factors in development and learning. Previously, Sue has taught in Primary and Secondary schools. She co-authors Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching. Sue also coordinates Professional Experience for the Master of Teaching in Bega.  Her research interests include development of pre-service teachers, and the role of peers in second language acquisition.

Dr Noelene Weatherby-Fell is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Wollongong, NSW. Her research focuses on preservice teacher preparation, leadership and professional learning in schools, and pastoral care of students and teachers. She has presented and written about her work with the Response Ability Project (HIMH) and was part of the project team for BRiTE: Building Resilience in Teacher Education. As Head of Students (Education) and Coordinator of the MTeach programs at UOW Shoalhaven, Noelene is committed to preparing classroom and school-ready teachers. Noelene has received awards for her contribution to learning and teaching, and research, and published the text Learning to Teach in the Secondary School in 2015. She continues to work in the area of program development and accreditation in state and national arenas, drawing on her knowledge and practices in roles including Director of Academic Programs and Professional Experience.

Dr Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett is the Academic Program Director of the Early Years at the University of Wollongong and has been a lecturer and researcher in Early Childhood for over 19 years. Cathrine has delivered workshops and invited addresses to parents, educators, corporations and government bodies both in Australia and overseas and has served on both State and Federal government advisory committees. Her research expertise includes development in early childhood, the importance of positive peer relationships, early childhood pedagogy and practice, and childhood socialization. Cathrine’s current research projects focus on quality early childhood education and care environments, professional development support for early childhood educators, and enhancing access to early childhood education and health services for children and families in Indigenous communities.

Dr Chad Morrison is Academic Director of Professional Experience in the Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania. His research concentrates on the preparation of pre-service teachers through Professional Experience programs and the identity work, resilience and wellbeing of early career teachers as they enter the field. These interrelated research themes focus on the transition from pre-service to early career teaching and emphasise the enabling personal, structural and cultural resources that teachers draw on to establish emergent trajectories as successful practitioners. As graduate teachers regularly commence their teaching careers in complex sites, Dr Morrison prioritises insights about how teachers are prepared, supported and mentored to respond to the challenges of early career teaching and uses these to reinforce the importance of dialogue between graduates and their more experienced colleagues about resilience, wellbeing and a sustaining sense of self that can act as resources for action.

Associate Professor Karen Swabey is the Interim Dean, Head of School and an Associate Professor in Health and Physical Education Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education. Her areas of research interest are in social and emotional wellbeing and student preparedness for teacher education as well as the broader field of educational psychology, particularly human development. She is currently a Chief Investigator on an ARC project titled Improving Regional Low SES Students' Learning and Wellbeing. At the postgraduate level, Associate Professor Swabey currently coordinates two units related to coaching and mentoring our preservice teachers. She also supervises a large number of research higher degree students. Associate Professor Swabey's publication output includes a book, book chapters, academic journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers. She is a Consulting Editor for the AJTE journal and reviews for a number of international journals.