Rate My Professor Maura Sellars

Dr Maura Sellars is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Education within the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a B.Ed (Hons) from the London Institute of Education, a Dip.Ed. in Religious Education from the Australian Catholic University Queensland campus, an M.Ed. (Research) from ACU Strathfield, and a PhD from the Australian Catholic University. With nearly 30 years of primary teaching experience across schools in the UK and Australia, she held executive positions including Senior Teacher, Primary Coordinator, Deputy Principal, Cluster Mathematics Consultant, and Acting Principal. Since joining the University of Newcastle in 2003 as a Lecturer and Program Convenor for B.Teach/B.Arts (DDPE), she redesigned on-campus and distance mathematics courses for postgraduate students, contributed to professional preparation programs, and emphasized numeracy as a social practice. Her research centers on inclusive classroom practices, leveraging students' strengths to develop executive function and cognitive capacities in diverse social and cultural communities, particularly for students with refugee and asylum seeker experiences. Additional interests include compassion and inclusion in education, transformative and strength-based pedagogies, primary students' cognition, self-regulation, motivation, Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory, creativity, 21st-century learning, differentiation, and intrapersonal intelligence.

Sellars has authored and co-authored key books such as 'Educating Students with Refugee and Asylum Seeker Experiences: A Commitment to Humanity' (2020), 'Reflective Practice for Teachers' (2nd ed., 2017; 1st ed., 2014), 'Numeracy in Authentic Contexts: Making Meaning across the Curriculum' (2018), 'Supporting Young Children of Immigrants and Refugees: The Promise and Practices of Early Care and Learning' (2024, with Scott Imig and Imig D), 'Creating Spaces of Wellbeing and Belonging for Refugee and Asylum-Seeker Students: Skills and Strategies for Classroom Teachers' (2023, with Scott Imig and Fischetti JC), and 'Creating Spaces of Wellbeing and Belonging for Refugee and Asylum-Seeker Students: Skills and Strategies for School Leaders' (2022, with Scott Imig and Fischetti J). Her numerous journal articles and book chapters address reflective practice, critical numeracy, multiple intelligences, and supporting disadvantaged students, including 'Teachers and Change: The Role of Reflective Practice' (2012) and 'Reconciling the Terrible Twins: Investigating the Relationship of Literacy and Numeracy in Primary Classrooms' (2017). She received the Award for Outstanding Educational Research in 2004, served as School representative on the Faculty Board and Deputy Director of Professional Experience, and leads projects like 'Primary Places of Belonging' for inclusive strategies in schools with high refugee student populations. Currently, she develops teacher resources for numeracy, 21st-century thinking, and meaningful mathematics.