Rate My Professor Leanne Fray

Dr Leanne Fray is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she serves as Lead of the Primary Literacy team and is a member of the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre. She earned her PhD in Leisure and Tourism from the University of Newcastle in 2013, focusing on the sociological construction of risk in children's organised out-of-school activities since the 1950s. She also holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) and a Bachelor of Social Science (Recreation & Tourism) from the same institution. Fray began her career as a teacher in New South Wales public schools following her undergraduate training. She now teaches and coordinates Initial Teacher Education courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including EDUC4748 and EDUC6748 Advanced Literacy Studies.

Her research specializations include student aspirations—particularly educational and occupational aspirations of First Nations students, low socioeconomic status students, and equity groups—primary literacy education, the Quality Teaching Model in inclusive, complex, and low-SES settings, teacher professional development, equity and inclusion, and COVID-19 impacts on teachers, students, and learning outcomes. As an investigator on the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre's Aspirations Longitudinal Study since 2012—the largest in Australia with over 12,000 surveys and 1,000 interviews—her work examines influences on young people's post-school pathways. She leads the centre's efforts on Quality Teaching in initial teacher education and was academic lead for a randomised controlled trial evaluating professional development impacts in Schools for Specific Purposes. Key publications include "Why people choose teaching: A scoping review of empirical studies, 2007–2016" (with J. Gore, Teaching and Teacher Education, 2018), "The impact of COVID-19 on student learning in New South Wales primary schools: an empirical study" (with J. Gore et al., The Australian Educational Researcher, 2021), "Improving student achievement through professional development: Results from a randomised controlled trial of Quality Teaching Rounds" (with J.M. Gore et al., Teaching and Teacher Education, 2021), "Under pressure and overlooked: the impact of COVID-19 on teachers in NSW public schools" (with F. Jaremus et al., The Australian Educational Researcher, 2023), "From performative to professional accountability: re-imagining 'the field of judgment' through teacher professional development" (with J. Gore and B. Rickards, Journal of Education Policy, 2023), and "Community matters: The complex links between community and young peoples’ aspirations for higher education" (with J. Gore et al., 2022).

Fray's contributions have influenced policy through empirical evidence on no learning loss during COVID-19 but negative wellbeing effects, referenced in the Universities Accord final report. She developed professional development courses for teachers, parents/carers, and university students on aspirations, and led a two-year Quality Teaching partnership with a local primary school that improved student engagement, achievement, and teacher morale. Her collaborations involve the NSW Department of Education, Australian government departments, the Australian Centre for Student Access and Success, University of Waikato, Oxford University, Mälardalen University, and others. She facilitates a seminar series featuring national and international literacy experts and presented on vocational aspirations of regional/remote students at the 2019 NSW Department of Education Future Skills Conference.