Sarah Malu is a sessional staff member and tutor at the University of Western Australia, affiliated with the Graduate School of Education within the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education. In 2020, she received a Citation (Faculty Wide) Winner for Tutors / Sessional Staff as part of the Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Service Awards, shared with David Tulley. In 2024, Ms Sarah Malu participated in delivering a professional development course on assessment for visiting Hong Kong teachers, contributing alongside other Graduate School of Education staff.

Sarah Malu earned her Master of Education from the University of Western Australia in 2023. Her thesis, entitled "Partnerships with parents in Western Australian lower primary school classes: An interpretivist study," was supervised by Tanya Fitzgerald, Gerardine Neylon, and Loretta Dolan. This interpretivist study examines teachers' perspectives of parental partnerships in lower primary school classes, underpinned by Epstein's parent involvement framework (1995) and Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory (1979). Data were gathered through individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six teachers from lower primary classes at an independent private school in Perth, Western Australia. The thesis identifies the significance of mutual trust and respect in these partnerships, aligning with Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards and Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) policy documents. Four themes impacting the parent-teacher relationship emerged: Positive Strategies, Parental Anxiety—with subthemes related to Technology and Social Media as well as COVID-19—Inappropriate Parental Conduct, and Teacher Mental Health. These findings illuminate the intricate dynamics of the parent-teacher relationship, providing valuable insights for fostering collaborative home-school partnerships. The study calls for significant changes to strengthen parent-teacher relationships in Australia.