Rate My Professor Tim Fish

Dr. Tim Fish is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, serving in the School of Curriculum Teaching and Inclusive Education and the School of Learning and Teaching. He coordinates and teaches the Diploma of Tertiary Studies (DOTS), an undergraduate pathway course designed for non-traditional entrants, and core first-year units including EDF1011 Knowledge and Context, EDF1061 Working in Education: An Introduction to the Profession, EDF1062 Approaches to Teaching and Learning, and EDF4120 Learning at the Heart of Teaching. Fish brings experience in teacher education, having taught subjects in sociology of education and school and community partnerships. His doctoral research was a critical ethnographic study examining disengaged young people in an alternative education program for early school leavers in a small rural town in Western Victoria's Wimmera region.

Fish's research specializations encompass pathways and access to higher education for underrepresented groups and non-ATAR students, alongside rural placements and rural research challenges. His supervision interests include pathways and transitions for students from underrepresented schools, TAFE, and nontraditional routes; experiences of rural students in tertiary education; and rural placement experiences for pre-service teachers. This work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Key publications feature “ ‘I do plan to do that in the future, just not the near future’: rural professional experience programs and pre-service teacher graduate destination preferences” (2025, The Australian Educational Researcher, with Bradbury, O., O'Donovan, R., Larsen, A., Komarzynski, L.); “‘Selling’ the rural to pre-service teachers: the role of marketing in rural placement programs” (2026, The Australian Educational Researcher, with Bradbury, O., Fuqua, M., Larsen, A., O’Donovan, R.); “Selection and rejection in teacher education: qualities of character crucial in selecting and developing teacher education students” (2018, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, with McGraw, A.); “Therapeutic responses to ‘at risk’ disengaged early school leavers in a rural alternative education programme” (2017, Ethnography and Education); and “Adjustments and penalties in pathways” (2015, National Association of Enabling Educators of Australia Conference proceedings, with McLeod, A. B., Pardy, J.). Fish is accepting PhD students on related topics.