Jane Wilkinson

Professor, School of Education Culture and Society jane.wilkinson@monash.edu

Core expertise

Educational leadership for social justice
Gender and ethnicity
Feminist theories of leadership
Refugee education

Biography

Jane's research interests are in the areas of educational leadership for social justice, with a particular focus on issues of gender and ethnicity; and theorising educational leadership as practice, drawing on the work of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and philosopher Ted Schatzki. Jane has published widely in the areas of women and leadership, refugee students and theorizing leadership as practice.

Jane has been a deputy principal of a large rural secondary school in Victoria, an English curriculum consultant and began her career as a secondary English, ESL and French teacher.

articles

A man with hands on his head looking stressed, with papers on the desk in front of him

What’s going on behind the headline figures for principals in Australia?

There are deeply concerning social trends playing out in our schools that Australian schools aren’t adequately equipped to deal with. The time is long overdue for actions that will build a whole-of-government response to solve these issues.

Education

Fixing Australia’s teacher shortage

A $10 million federal government campaign to attract more people to teaching is welcomed, but attention also needs to be on retaining those who have chosen it as a career.

Education

A matter of principals: ‘No improvement’ in the wellbeing challenges facing school leaders

The ratcheting up in the emotional intensity of principals’ work has been a more “invisible” element not easily quantified or measured. New research will offer insights into the changing nature of the principals’ role when it comes to these demands.

Education

A child's hands, writing ‘NAPLAN‘ on a sheet of paper

Learning from disruption: Why we should rethink the place of NAPLAN in our schools

If we want to move to more productive and holistic post-COVID education in our country, we should rethink NAPLAN in its current form and focus on what matters.

Education

IWD 2021: The realities of being a woman at the academic peak

For this year's International Women’s Day, we celebrate Monash Education's leading women researchers, highlighting the challenges they faced in reaching the top of their fields.

Celebrating women

Building social cohesion: A matter of principal

What can our broader society learn from schools that have created cohesive communities?

Education