Rate My Professor Margot Ford

Dr Margot Ford is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Queensland, a Master of Education, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of New England. Her career trajectory includes lecturing in teacher education at Charles Darwin University and the Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, along with administrative roles such as course coordination and Assistant Director of Professional Experience. Ford employs qualitative research methods like case study, narrative inquiry, and ethnography, often using Foucault's interpretive analysis. Her academic interests encompass racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in Australian education from early childhood to secondary levels, focusing on social inclusion/exclusion, identity, belonging under neoconservatism, Indigenous education in the Northern Territory, race, racism, social justice, and educational inequalities evident in NAPLAN data. She teaches sociology of Australian education, professional experience in early childhood/primary, and classroom management.

Ford's scholarly output includes the book In Your Face: A Case Study in Post-Multicultural Australia (CDU Press, 2009), examining race dynamics in Darwin, and co-authored textbook Classroom Management: Creating Positive Learning Environments (Cengage, 2011). Prominent articles feature "Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education inequality" (Race Ethnicity Education, 2013), "Group Time Experiences: Belonging, Being and Becoming..." (Early Childhood Education Journal, 2016, with N. Leggett), "Becoming Exceptional..." (Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2017, with J. Ailwood), and "Challenging Anzac myths..." (Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 2019). Chapters address cultural safety for Indigenous children (2016), slow pedagogies (2021, with J. Ailwood), and white fragility in education (2019). Through these contributions, Ford advances discourse on equity, diversity, and social justice in education.