Summer Research Program

Project title: 

Beginning teacher preparedness 

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

Hours of engagement must be between 30 hrs per week 12 Jan – 20 Feb 2026. Program will be offered on-site and remotely, e.g. Zoom/Teams meetings. 
 

Description:

The program involves analysing and exploring focus group datasets from beginning teachers (e.g. pre-service and early career teachers). The aim is to identify key aspects of preparedness for practice and what supports beginning teachers to ‘think’, ‘feel’ and ‘act’ like qualified teachers. In addition, the program will highlight the experiences of students who have utilised a student access plan during their initial teacher education program. 

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

Scholars will gain skills related to thematic analysis and NVivo coding. Scholars will contribute to one or more presentations and/or publications for scholarly and/or practitioner audiences. 

Suitable for:

This project would be suitable for 3rd or 4th year social science students with an interest in professional experience, preparedness and beginning teacher wellbeing. 

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Stevie Hepburn, Lecturer and Director of Professional Experience, School of Education. 

Further info:

Feel free to contact the Primary Supervisor for further details:

s.hepburn@uq.edu.au