Teachers as Professionals

The Teachers as Professionals Research Group includes professionals in the School of Education, including academic staff and HDR students, as well as colleagues from across HASS and UQ with whom we collaborate. Our group explores effective and innovative teaching practices, supports pre-service and practising teachers, and focuses on professional learning and student outcomes in diverse educational settings.

Through our research, we seek to better understand effective teaching practices that support student learning across multiple domains, including curriculum design, English/literacy, mathematics, makerspaces, and science/STEM. A central focus of our work is preparing both pre-service and practising teachers to meet the needs of diverse 21st-century learners through evidence-based, inclusive, and innovative instructional approaches. We also investigate how teachers develop professional knowledge and apply effective pedagogies in real classrooms and learning environments. By collaborating with schools, communities, and educators, we strengthen teaching practices, improve student outcomes, and support ongoing professional growth for teachers across all stages of their careers.

Academic Staff

HDR Students

Elias Espinoza Mora

Rahma Yunus

Wahyuddin

Evi Puspitasari

Caryn Hellberg

Jennifer Lincoln

Wilfridus Dosinaeng

Anna Sibthorpe

Nadine Dickson

Collaborators

Nell Baghaei

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Stephen Viller

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Vince Kelly

Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT)

AI-enabled Avatars for Teacher Training

Using innovative, AI-supported teaching simulations, this project explores ways to support pre-service teachers’ development of effective pedagogy and instructional practices. Simulations provide a space for pre-service teachers to hone their instructional skills in a realistic setting with student avatars before applying these skills within the demands of an actual classroom. Through simulations, teacher educators can provide on-the-spot coaching and feedback, with an opportunity for pre-service teachers to reflect on their instructional choices. By combining interdisciplinary expertise across literacy, engineering, and simulation design, academic staff and students from the School of Education and the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science explore ways to support teacher development and generate practical resources and recommendations for teacher preparation programs.

Teaching primary mathematics in multi-level classrooms

How do teachers deliver quality mathematics education across multi-age classrooms? This research partners directly with educators to design practical curriculum and assessment tools tailored to the real challenges of multi-level teaching. Through sustained professional learning and classroom-based modelling — focused on representations, hands-on materials, and oral language — teachers explore innovative approaches that engage all learners, regardless of age, background, or location. By building collaborative, scalable solutions grounded in everyday classroom realities, the project aims to strengthen teacher practice, improve student outcomes, and advance equitable mathematics education for communities that have too often been left behind.

Springfield Partnership Seed Grant: Co-design learning to support collaborative practice in school communities

Often, beginning teachers are resigned to the fact that teaching is unmanageable and high-stress, and report feeling unprepared and ill-equipped for the complexity of teaching, particularly in professional engagement with parents/carers. This project aims to evaluate an innovative co-design learning initiative for enhancing professional engagement and collaborative practice between beginning teachers, parents/carers and school-based health professionals in schools. The co-design learning initiative provides beginning teachers and parents/carers with targeted support, awareness of the importance of each other's roles in education, and the opportunity to codesign resources to support future beginning teachers and school communities.