Rate My Professor Kerry-Ann O'Sullivan

Kerry-Ann O'Sullivan serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Macquarie School of Education at Macquarie University, where she specializes in English and literacy education, with a current focus on children's literature. Her research explores the impact of educational policy and curriculum changes on teacher professional identity and student learning, examining discourses and pedagogies in English and multiliteracies education, particularly during periods of standardization and testing. She earned her doctorate from Macquarie University; her thesis, "Silent Voices: A Study of English Teachers’ Responses to Curriculum Change," was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for a doctoral thesis of exceptional merit in 2005 and the NSW Institute for Educational Research Award for Excellence in Educational Research in 2006. Current projects include "Teaching Primary English: subject construction, textual knowledge and professional identity," investigating initial teacher education students' views on reading and children's literature, and the international "Professional Lives of English Language Arts Teachers" project.

In teaching, O'Sullivan leads the Primary English specialization for the Master of Primary Teaching (EDST8212), undergraduate courses (EDST4150), and others such as Professional Capability: Policy, Theory, Pedagogy (EDUC3990) and Scholarship in Educational Studies (EDST8040), promoting a research-informed, student-centered approach. She has garnered numerous accolades for teaching excellence: 2003 Macquarie University Outstanding Teacher Award, 2009 and 2018 Vice-Chancellor's Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, 2010 Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation, 2017 Dean’s Citation, and 2020 Highly Commended finalist in Faculty of Arts for Learning Innovation (team award). Professionally, she coordinates LANTITE for the School of Education, advises NESA and the NSW Department of Education on English curriculum and assessment, served as former Chief Examiner for NSW HSC English, and holds editorial board positions on English Teaching: Practice and Critique and English in Australia. Notable publications encompass "Leading learning: The role of school leaders in supporting continuous professional development" (2016), "Perceptions of primary to secondary school transitions: Challenge or threat?" (2012), "Changing teachers: Syllabuses, subjects and selves" (2008), and "Contested territories: Subject English, teacher education and professional standards in Australia" (2016).