Rate My Professor Amy McPherson

Dr. Amy McPherson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Bachelor of Teaching/Arts, all obtained from the University of Newcastle. Her career includes previous roles at the Australian Catholic University as Senior Lecturer from 2020 to early 2024 and Lecturer from 2011 to 2019. There, she directed the National Exceptional Teaching in Disadvantaged Schools Program, providing integrated coursework and practical support for graduate teachers in disadvantaged settings. She is affiliated with the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre and serves as a program convenor for postgraduate education programs.

Dr. McPherson's research program investigates the intersection of societal change, education, and the lives of children, young people, and families, particularly focusing on teacher shortages and retention in hard-to-staff schools, the impacts of social inequality and community disadvantage, equity-focused teacher education, parent and community engagement, care-based professional ethics, and teacher and student wellbeing. Her fields encompass education policy, history and philosophy of education, sociology of education, teacher education and professional development, and wellbeing. Notable awards include the 2025 Biennial Outstanding Article Award from Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice for "Still standing: an ecological perspective on teachers remaining in hard-to-staff schools" (2024), the 2022 Editors' Choice Paper of the Year from the British Educational Research Journal for "Reconsidering assent for randomised control trials in education: Ethical and procedural concerns" (2020), a 2023 ARC Discovery grant on teacher shortages, Faculty Research Fellowships, and a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning. Key publications feature "Beyond the nine-to-five: gendered experiences of work–life conflict in Australia's hardest-to-staff schools" (2026, Gender and Education), "The Hidden Work of Incidental Mentoring in the Hardest-to-Staff Schools" (2025, Education Sciences), "An analysis of Australian teacher workforce policy: Challenges and opportunities for teacher recruitment and retention" (2025, Policy Futures in Education), "A summary of initiatives to address teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools in the Anglosphere" (2024, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education), and "Putting ‘structure within the space’: Spatially un/responsive pedagogic practices in open-plan learning environments" (2015, Educational Review). Her work has over 500 citations, contributing to policy and practice in educational equity and teacher retention.