Biography

Cheryl Williams is a lecturer in the School of Education. She began her career in education as a Kindergarten teacher in coastal NSW before moving on to teaching Secondary English in inner Sydney and country high schools. While teaching she completed a Master of Education degree and a Graduate Certificate in Drama Teaching at The University of Sydney.Cheryl has also been a Head Teacher and occupied various Deputy Principal-level positions such as Academic Associate- Teacher Education and Quality Teaching Consultant.

She was involved in the development and delivery of resources for Quality Teaching (the NSW model of pedagogy) in 2003 and has continued in her engagement with this model in university courses and in schools through teaching, research, professional development and conference activities. Her teaching and research work, particularly in foundations and professional experience, teacher induction and professional learning provides a rich base for working in partnerships between schools, universities and teachers.

Cheryl was Deputy Director of the Professional Experience Unit, Ourimbah Campus from 2005-2010. Since 2011 she has been Program Chair for the Foundations and Professional Studies Program Management Group in the School of Education.

Qualifications

• Master of Education, University of Sydney, 1996
• Bachelor of Education, University of New England, 1993
• Diploma of Teaching, Southern Cross University, 1981

Research

Research keywords

• Critical and feminist pedagogy
• Professional experience - school / university links
• Quality teaching and teacher education
• Rural and remote education
• Social justice and equity issues

Research expertise

Cheryl’s research expertise is in the areas of teacher professional learning, pedagogical reform, induction, supervision and mentoring. She has a deep interest in gender and power issues in education as well as feminist and post-modern interpretations of teachers, teaching and teaching contexts.

Her PhD studies and research passions focus on post-structural and feminist analyses of self, pedagogy and power in the experiences of graduate teachers. Cheryl'seducational interests have consistently centred on issues to do with the quality of teaching and learning, equity and social justice issues, transition to university teacher education, and teacher professional learning with a focus on induction.

Cheryl is currently involved with colleagues locally and internationally in the fields of teacher education, induction and professional learning, pedagogy and curriculum reform, and post-structural/feminist analyses of education and teaching.

Recent Invitations:

• Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese Principals Conference (2011)

• Keynote address and workshop “Quality Teaching as a vehicle for pedagogical reform” (2011)

• Roehampton University, London (2010)

• Staff Seminar- Pedagogical reform in NSW- the Quality Teaching model of pedagogy -Umea University, Sweden (2010)

• Staff Seminar- Power and pedagogy in teacher induction (2010)

• Public Lecture- Pedagogical reform using the Quality Teaching model of pedagogy (2010)

Collaboration

I am currently involved with colleagues locally and internationally in the fields of teacher education, induction and professional learning, pedagogy and curriculum reform, and post-structural/feminist analyses of education and teaching.

I have also been invited to share research and other work with international academic colleagues at Umea University (Sweden), Roehampton University (London) American Institutes for Research in Education (Washington-DC, USA) and the University of Nevada (Las Vegas) in my fields of pedagogy and teacher induction.

Previous local collaborations have included Bathurst Diocese, Broken Bay CEO, Australian Government Quality Teacher Project- (Academic Mentor to Hastings Collegiate and Lord Howe Island Central School ) and NSW Department of Education and Community (New Teacher Development Unit- Induction and Mentoring Programs)

Since 2009, I have been involved as Academic Partner in a Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese professional learning project as part of the Smarter Schools National Partnerships initiative in developing a Centre of Excellence in Teacher Quality at St Augustine’s Parish School, Narromine. We are now in our third year, and moving into the invitation stage of encouraging more schools to emply our model for collegial professional learning.

Fields of Research

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - British Educational Research Association

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Editor - American Educational Research Association
• Member - Australian Association for Research in Education
• Member - Australian Teacher Education Association

Awards

Research Award.

Administrative

Administrative expertise

Cheryl was Deputy Director of the Professional Experience Unit, Ourimbah Campus from 2005-2010. Since 2011 she has been Program Chair for the Foundations and Professional Studies Program Management Group in the School of Education.

She is Course Coordinator of Foundations of Education (EDUC1008) and Pedagogy and Inclusion (EDUC3195) at Ourimbah Campus, and Productive Teacher Learning(EDUC6203) and Supervision and Mentoring of Teachers (EDUC6132) in the Master's of Educational Studies, Callaghan Campus and Weblearn.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Foundations of teaching
• Internship and Professional experience
• Postgraduate pedagogy
• Social contexts of teaching
• Supervision and mentoring
• Undergraduate pedagogy

Teaching expertise

Teaching interests and expertise

Foundations of education

Pedagogy and assessment

Power and gender issues

Sociology of education

Teacher learning, supervision and mentoring

Programs

Bachelor Of Teaching (Secondary)/ Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor Of Teaching (Primary)/ Bachelor of Arts

Master of Educational Studies

Courses

EDUC1008- Foundations of Education

EDUC 3195- Pedagogy and Inclusion

EDUC6200- Productive Classroom Practice

EDUC 6203- Productive Teacher Learning

EDUC 6132- Supervision and Mentoring of Teachers