Rate My Professor Kerry Dally

Dr Kerry Dally is a Senior Lecturer in Special Education and Early Childhood Education in the School of Education, within the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a PhD, Master of Special Education, Bachelor of Educational Studies, Bachelor of Arts, and Diploma in Education, all obtained from the University of Newcastle. Dally's research specializations include learning difficulties, reading acquisition in English as a second language, early childhood intervention, values education, inclusive education, teacher and student wellbeing, interpersonal and communication skills, and aspects of higher education. She commenced as a full-time Lecturer at the University of Newcastle in March 2005, following three years as a Research Officer first with the Newcastle Institute of Public Health and then the Centre for the Study of Research Training and Impact. Prior to these roles, she accumulated 20 years of teaching experience, serving as a Special Education teacher in a School for Specific Purposes, a primary school teacher, and as coordinator and itinerant outreach teacher with the Lower Hunter Early Childhood Support Service. Dally acted as Director of the Special Education Centre in 2010 and was appointed as a University Advisory Network Associate with the Curriculum Corporation from November 2006.

Dally was awarded the Doctoral Thesis Award by the Australian Early Childhood Association in 2002. Her key publications encompass books such as 'Values Pedagogy and Student Achievement: Contemporary Research Evidence' (2011, with Lovat, Clement, and Toomey) and 'Teacher Education and Values Pedagogy: A Student Wellbeing Approach' (2010, with Toomey, Lovat, and Clement), alongside the journal article 'The influence of phonological processing and inattentive behavior on reading acquisition' (Journal of Educational Psychology, 2006). Recent contributions include 'Social capital and identity of d/Deaf adolescents: an interpretive phenomenological analysis' (2024, with Byatt and Duncan), 'The Case for Special Education Teacher Wellbeing: A Multidimensional Review of the Evidence and Future Directions' (2024, with Sawatske et al.), and 'The Effects of a Whole-Class Kindergarten Handwriting Intervention on Early Reading Skills' (2021, with Ray et al.). Her research employs longitudinal methods like structural equation modeling to reveal influences on reading progress and evaluates values education's transformative impact on school environments and academic outcomes. Dally teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Special Education, emphasizing learning difficulties and interpersonal skills, and Early Childhood Intervention. She has provided guest lectures at primary schools and conducted workshops on values education for the NSW Department of Education and Training and the Hong Kong Institute of Education.