Rate My Professor Kirsten Lambert

Dr. Kirsten Lambert is a Senior Lecturer in English and Graduate Research in the School of Education at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. She holds a PhD from Murdoch University, awarded in 2017 after commencing in 2012, with her doctoral research centered on education, literary theory, philosophy, creativity, arts, and Deleuzian concepts. Since January 2018, Lambert has served as a Senior Lecturer in the College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education at Murdoch University, now part of the School of Education. In this role, she acts as unit coordinator for the Master of Education program and lectures in key areas including assessment, pedagogy, equity, and secondary English. She also holds the position of Academic Chair of Primary Education. Her professional contributions extend to supervising doctoral students and collaborating on research projects examining teacher experiences.

Lambert's research focuses on initial teacher education and the professional development of educators, particularly the impact of neoliberalism on early career teachers' sense of identity and belonging. Employing a neo-materialist paradigm informed by philosophers such as Judith Butler, Rosi Braidotti, and Gilles Deleuze, her work investigates teacher subjectivities in neoliberal educational assemblages, creativity and belonging in secondary education, and creative approaches to assessment. Recent publications address critical issues such as ableism in high-stakes testing, inclusive rhetoric versus reality in disability policy, financial hardship during professional experiences for pre-service teachers, teachers' belonging in regional, rural, and remote communities, and survival strategies for early career performing arts teachers. Key publications include 'Hyper-performativity and early career teachers: interrogating teacher subjectivities in neoliberal educational assemblages' (2022), 'Cutting the Gordian knot of the education "crisis" with teacher testing. A blunt instrument that crushes marginalised pre-service teachers' (2024), '“Differentiate! But don't expect it for yourself”: experiences of teachers with disability undertaking high-stakes testing in ableist education assemblages' (2025), 'Inclusive rhetoric, exclusive reality. A critical discourse analysis on government responses to the Australian disability royal commission recommendations' (2025), '“It was either food or petrol”: Financial hardship during professional experience for pre-service teachers' (2025), and '“A bull stole my bike”: Teachers' experiences of belonging in regional, rural and remote Australian communities' (2025). Lambert's scholarship appears in journals such as International Journal of Inclusive Education and contributes to discourse on equity, teacher well-being, and policy impacts in Australian education.