Rate My Professor Iliana Skrebneva

Iliana Skrebneva is a Lecturer in Inclusive Education in the Macquarie School of Education at Macquarie University. She serves as Course Director for Postgraduate Education degrees excluding Initial Teacher Education and as Coordinator of the Master of Inclusive and Special Education. With over 15 years of professional experience in inclusive and special education across mainstream and specialised settings, Iliana has extensive expertise in designing, coordinating, and leading pedagogical content at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is a professionally accredited primary school teacher by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority. Her teaching and research emphasize the development of evidence-based strategies to support diverse learners in mainstream educational settings, including early childhood centres and schools.

Iliana's research interests encompass inclusive education policies and practices, supporting learners with diverse needs, disability studies, teacher training, and professional development. She is affiliated with the Early Childhood Education Research Centre and participates as Chief Investigator in projects such as the Inclusive Practice Framework Project (2025-2026) and the 2024 ACT Government Education Inclusive Education Professional Learning program suite (2024-2025). Her publications include 'Can Personal Learning Pathways (PLPs) truly improve Indigenous education outcomes?' (2025, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, with K. Lowe and K. Goetz); 'Reconsidering engagement: aligning teacher qualities with indigenous students’ aspirations and needs' (2025, Educational Research, with K. Lowe and K. Goetz); 'Does the type of educational setting (mainstream or specialist schools) and degree of impairment (low vision or blindness) have any influence on self-concept?' (2024, International Journal of Inclusive Education, with P. Datta); 'Nothing for us without us: student-identified approaches that can support the inclusion of deaf students in South African secondary schools' (2024, Deafness and Education International, with L. Fordham); and 'Loose parts on the school playground: a playful approach to promoting health and wellbeing for children of all abilities' (2024, chapter in Health and Wellbeing in Childhood, with S. Wyver et al.). Additional contributions feature 'Country as pedagogical: enacting an Australian foundation for culturally responsive pedagogy' (2020, with N. Harrison) and 'Towards an Australian model of culturally nourishing schooling' (2021, with K. Lowe et al.). Her work has received over 240 citations on Google Scholar in areas of inclusive and special education, disability studies, and educational psychology.