Rate My Professor Katie Maher

Dr. Katie Maher serves as a Lecturer in Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) Education within UniSA Education Futures, School of Education, College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences at Adelaide University. She co-chairs the Pedagogies for Justice research group. Her research specializations include becoming culturally responsive, educating for social justice and First Nations education justice, creative arts-based approaches to teaching and research, and learning in relation with culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Maher's academic interests span Australian and Asian cultural studies, Aboriginal Studies, literary and creative arts, critical geography, and history. She has a background in education and community development work in China and South East Asia.

Maher supervises higher degree by research students as co-supervisor, including projects on space to feel safe exploring gender normativity and inclusive practice in schooling, learning from First Nations peoples through listening and storywork towards education transformation, and weaving affective awareness and culturally responsive pedagogy in superdiverse Australian classrooms. She teaches EDUC 2096 Asia Literacy and the Asian Century and EDUC 4223 HaSS Pedagogy Specialisation. Key publications include Soong et al., 'Reasserting care in higher education: perspectives from female early and mid-career researchers' (Discourse, 2025); Maher, 'They put me on a train: assimilation and the Australian railways' (Geographical Research, 2025); Kenway and Maher, 'Encampment pedagogies: lessons learned from students for Palestine' (Curriculum Perspectives, 2024); Maher et al., 'Curriculum, democracy and pedagogies for justice: a collective futures dialogue' (Curriculum Perspectives, 2024); Maher, 'The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross curriculum priority: pedagogical questions of Country, colonialism and whose knowledge counts' (The Social Educator, 2022); Maher, 'Traveling with Trained Man: decolonizing directions in railway mobilities' (Transfers, 2020); Gribble et al., 'An arts-led recovery in disadvantaged schools' (2023); Maher, 'Culturally responsive movements for climate justice: learning from and with student activism' (2023); Rigney et al., 'Ngarrindjeri Yannarumi: educating for transformation and Indigenous Nation (re)building' (2019); Maher, 'The other side of mobilities: Aboriginal containment in Australia from rail to jail, past and present' (2017).