Rate My Professor Olivia Wheeler

Olivia Wheeler is a Professional Practice Fellow – Primary at the University of Otago College of Education in Dunedin, where she works within the primary education team. Holding a Master of Education and Learning, she brings many years of primary teaching experience and expertise in professional teaching knowledge and mentoring pre-service teachers to her role in initial teacher education programmes. Wheeler supports the development of future primary educators through her teaching and practical guidance contributions.

Her academic interests lie in parent-teacher partnerships, with a focus on the early years of schooling. Wheeler conducted phenomenological research exploring the perspectives of ten parents on barriers and enablers to developing partnerships with their child's Year 0-2 teacher. The study identified school pick-up and drop-off as key opportunities for informal communication that can build or hinder relationships. Parents reported emotional barriers, such as fear of being seen as "that parent" or negatively labeled, alongside awareness of teachers' heavy workloads, underpayment, and undervaluation, which deterred engagement. Teachers' behavior and perceived approachability during these interactions were pivotal. These findings were presented in the blog post "Parents’ perspectives of developing partnerships with their child’s teacher," co-authored with Naomi Ingram and published on the NZARE blog in June 2025. The post ranked as the sixth most-read NZARE blog of 2025, reflecting its influence in educational research discussions.

Wheeler coordinates and teaches several papers in the Bachelor of Teaching programme, including EDCR131 English and Mathematics 1 for Primary Bicultural Education students (English and Mathematics components), EDCR133 Health and Physical Education on the Dunedin campus, and contributes teaching staff for EDPR131 Te Weu. She has shared her knowledge publicly, delivering a presentation titled "The Aotearoa New Zealand History Curriculum" at Rotary Dunedin in October 2023. In 2025, Wheeler signed a petition advocating to pause the rollout of the rewritten Years 0-8 mathematics and statistics curriculum, demonstrating her engagement in educational policy matters.