Rate My Professor Jess Harris

Associate Professor Jess Harris is an academic in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she has served since early 2016, initially as Senior Lecturer until 2021. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of New South Wales. Her career trajectory includes Research Associate at Queensland University of Technology (2013–2016), Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland (2010–2013, funded by a University of Queensland Postdoctoral Fellowship), Research Fellow at Griffith University (2008–2009), Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne (2005–2008), and Director of Research at Educational Transformations Pty Ltd (2005–2008).

Harris conducts qualitative research on school change, educational leadership, and the study of talk and social interaction employing Conversation Analysis and Ethnomethodology. Her academic interests span collaborative inquiry practices among school leaders, teachers, students, and communities to enhance schooling; middle leadership; precarity in higher education; sociology of education; teacher education; and professional development. Affiliated with the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre, she contributes to Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR), a collaborative professional learning program implemented across Australia, including QTR Digital for regional and remote schools, funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and NSW Department of Education. Key publications include books such as Promoting Equity in Schools: Collaboration, Inquiry and Ethical Leadership (2018, with S. Carrington and M. Ainscow), Why Not the Best Schools? What we have learned from outstanding schools around the world (2008, with B.J. Caldwell), Casualisation, the Gig Economy, and Piece Work in Education: Dilemmas for Leaders in Times of Increasing Precarity (2025, with N. Spina, K. Smithers, J. Blackmore, and S.K. Gurr), and Community Matters (2023, with J. Gore, S. Patfield, and L. Fray). Selected journal articles feature 'Building middle leading practice through pedagogy-focused professional development' (2026, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, with F. Jaremus and J. Gore), 'School Educators' Use of Research: Findings from Two Large-Scale Australian Studies' (2024, Research Papers in Education, with J. Gleeson et al.), and 'Leadership in international schools: A scoping review' (2025, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, with N. Bourgeois and S. Ledger). Her contributions extend to policy documents like the Australian Government’s Review of Funding for Schooling (2011) and international presentations in Malaysia, Mauritius, Hong Kong, and Norway, fostering equity in education systems, particularly for disadvantaged students and precarious academic workers.