Rate My Professor Sarah Forrest

Sarah Forrest serves as a lecturer and course coordinator in the School of Education, part of the College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences at Adelaide University. Currently a PhD candidate, she teaches English Education to pre-service teachers enrolled in the Bachelor of Education and Master of Teaching programs. Her research and teaching interests include embodiment in education, creative and body-based learning, multimodality, and visual literacies. She enjoys researching her own practice as a teacher educator. In addition to her work as a teacher educator, Sarah is passionate about children's literature.

In her scholarly output, Forrest has contributed to key publications in the field of literacy and education. Notable works include her co-authored paper with Jill Colton, "'You really have to get in there and actually figure it out': engaging pre-service teachers in children's literature through transmodality," published in Education Sciences in 2025 (volume 15, issue 4, article 496). Another significant contribution is "Readers matter: seven transactions with the visual, linguistic and material elements in a picture book," co-authored with Colton, Serafini, Lovett, Gale, Gehling, and others, appearing in the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy in 2023 (volume 46, issue 3, pages 219-231). Additionally, her 2017 article, "How does it make me feel?: using visual grammar to interact with picturebooks," was published in Literacy Learning: the Middle Years (volume 25, issue 1, pages 41-52). Beyond research and teaching, Forrest is the custodian of Hart's Mill Little Free Library, served as a judge for the Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book and New Illustrator Awards from 2021 to 2023, and is a committee member for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English. She also supports the mental health and wellbeing of students and colleagues as the Mental Health First Aid officer for Education Futures at Mawson Lakes, demonstrating her comprehensive impact on the educational community.