Rate My Professor Karen Marangio

Dr. Karen Marangio serves as Senior Lecturer of Psychology Education in the School of Educational Psychology and Inclusion and Director of Professional Experience in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Her research focuses on teacher education, including developing pre-service teachers' and teacher educators' professional knowledge; exploring teachers' curriculum making at policy, broker, school, and classroom levels; and teaching psychological science in integrated ways to engage learners with its value, complexity, and relevance in society. She aims to raise the profile of teaching psychology in schools, establish psychology's place in the curriculum, and provide ongoing support and advocacy for psychology teachers as professionals. Karen seeks to develop shared meanings for teaching psychology as a contemporary science and connect learning experiences to foster psychological literacy for hopeful, just, and sustainable futures.

Karen has extensive leadership experience in initial teacher education programs at Monash University and previously at the University of Melbourne. As a pracademic, she has taught in Australian and international schools, chaired curriculum authority examination and curriculum panels, co-authored popular secondary psychology and science textbooks, and served as president of a primary school council for many years. She holds key roles including elected member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Division of Psychology, Research, Education and Training (DPRET) committee, secretary of the APS Psychology Education Interest Group and Australian Psychology Learning and Teaching (AusPLAT), founder of the Australian Teachers of Psychology (AusTOP) network, Australian representative of the International Study Association of Teachers and Teaching (ISATT), and co-leader of an international collaborative initial teacher education study.

Her awards include the 2025 Dean’s Award for Teaching & Learning – Industry & Community Education Programs, Australian Psychological Society Early Career Teaching Award (2023), Vice-Chancellor's Award for Programs that Enhance Learning (2016), and Educational Publishing Awards Australia - Best senior student resource (2014). Key publications are 'Creating effective co-design processes for supporting pre-service teachers on school placement as part of a university-school partnership' (2025), 'Pandemic Pedagogy: Educators' Practices During the Covid-19 Pandemic' (2023), 'Teachers' experiences of support for curriculum making a new subject, psychology' (2023), and 'Elevating psychology education to embed climate education' (2024).