Members, alumni, research partners and projects

The QTU has a proud history of partnering with education researchers who are current members of the QTU or QTU alumni now contributing to the field of educational research in tertiary education. We are also proud to work in solidarity with national and international researchers whose work aligns with the values of the QTU.

Members, alumni and research partners

Dr Amanda Heffernan

Dr Heffernan, Monash University, previously worked as a school principal and principal coach and mentor for Queensland’s Department of Education and was a member of the QTU. Amanda’s key research areas include leadership, social justice, and policy enactment. Her research focuses on the contemporary challenges of principals’ work, and what that means for how we can better attract, support, and keep school leaders within the profession.

Dr Anna Hogan

Dr Hogan, Queensland University of Technology, is an ARC DECRA research fellow in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership. She is a Senior Lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. Anna's research interests broadly focus on education policy and practice. Specifically, she investigates the commercialisation and privatisation of schooling and has published widely on these topics. Anna has worked closely with school systems and teachers’ unions in relation to these issues, including Education International, the Australian Education Union, and the Queensland Teachers Union. Anna is Associated Editor of Critical Studies in Education.

Dr Jessica Holloway

Dr Holloway, Deakin University, has more than 10 years of teaching experience, including middle grades English/language arts and university-level teacher and principal preparation courses. Dr Holloway earned her Ph.D. in Education Policy and Evaluation, with a concentration in research methods, from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University (USA) in 2014. Dr Holloway is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow within the Strategic Research Centre - Research for Educational Impact (REDI). Her current DECRA project, “The Role of Teacher Expertise, Authority and Professionalism in Education” investigates the role of education in modern democratic societies, with a particular focus on teachers and teacher expertise.

Emeritus Professor Bob Lingard

Emeritus Professor Bob Lingard, University of Queensland, is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK. Emeritus Professor Lingard has an international research reputation and has published widely in the sociology of education and education policy. He has made regular contributions to QTU conferences and has authored or edited 25 books and published more than 150 journal articles and book chapters.

Dr John McCollow

Dr John McCollow was an Assistant Secretary at the QTU with research and industrial responsibilities. Dr McCollow also worked as a federal research officer with the Australian Education Union and is a TJ Ryan Foundation researcher. His research interests include curriculum, educational policy, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, the funding and organisation of education, vocational education and training, and public sector industrial relations. Dr McCollow is a life member of the QTU.

Associate Professor Madonna Stinson

Associate Professor Madonna Stinson, Griffith University, is an experienced teacher educator, researcher and teacher, having worked across all sectors of schooling from early childhood through to senior secondary, including over ten years as a head of department in Queensland state high schools. In addition, she worked for the QCAA (then QSCC) as a principal writer of the P-10 Arts Curriculum and was a lead researcher for the Age Appropriate Pedagogies project for EQ, and the yconnectproject.com. A/P Stinson has published, extensively, on creative approaches to curriculum design, pedagogies and language learning. Madonna was a member of QTU throughout her teaching career and is a current member of NTEU.

Projects

Here’s a list of some of the Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage projects that the QTU has supported.

Work intensification

In 2019, the QTU Executive endorsed an ARC partnership with the New South Wales Teachers’ Federation and researchers from Queensland University of Technology, University of Queensland, University of New South Wales, and University of Sydney. The project will investigate measurements of teacher workload and work intensification, and strategies to deal with workload, including the use of digital tools.

A legally-informed intervention for schools to prevent and intervene in cases of cyberbullying

In 2017, the QTU partnered with Queensland University of Technology researchers, the Independent Education Union, and other stakeholders to investigate the perspectives of cyberbullying among education department officials, parent representatives, secondary school staff and students, and to understand existing school response strategies to incidences of cyberbullying. 

 Rethinking the literacy capabilities of pre-service primary school teachers to meet professional expectations for the 21st Century

In the years 2013-2015, the QTU partnered with researchers from University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, University of Sydney, Wollongong University, and Deakin University to investigate how pre-service primary teachers demonstrate their literacy capabilities in dealing with evolving forms of texts and literacy practices.

 URLearning/digital learning and print literacy: a design experiment for the reform of low-socioeconomic, culturally diverse schools/Waterford West literacy project 

In the years 2009-2012, the QTU partnered with Queensland University of Technology researchers, in an ARC project to design and implement models for the use of digital media and technologies in a low socio-economic, suburban primary school with a diverse student population (including Indigenous students). 

What teachers do with the official curriculum research project

In 2011, the QTU partnered with Queensland University of Technology researchers, the Queensland Studies Authority (as it was known then), and other stakeholders to investigate teachers’ reported use of the official curriculum documents as they related to teacher experience and training, teaching contexts, and systemic support provisions.