Dr Jenny Johnston DipTeach (TasCAE); BEd (UTas); BEd (Hons)(UTas); PhD (CDU) Dr Jenny Johnston (formerly Overton) is currently lecturing in Primary Education at Southern Cross’ Coffs Harbour Campus in northern New South Wales. From 2007-2009 she lectured at Macquarie University. She has 20 years teaching experience in early childhood and primary classrooms in Tasmania, including 5 years lecturing at the Launceston and Burnie campuses of the University of Tasmania. Jenny’s PhD was completed in 2006 and investigated the impact of change on early childhood teachers. A qualitative study, it revealed the impact of ongoing educational change on teachers, reducing their capacity to continue to commit to the tasks of teaching and eroding the goodwill that has existed between teachers and their employer. Areas of interest stem from the advocacy and support for teachers and include: teacher identity, change implementation and the introduction of teaching innovations. Inherent in this is an interest in issues of quality teaching and learning, power and the continuing intensification of the work of teachers. She has published in journals, presented and published at national and international conferences and has edited and written for a text (Contemporary Issues in Australian Literacy Teaching, 2012). She has lectured and taught in the areas of English, mathematics, sociology, and curriculum.
Journal articles
Using identity as a tool for investigation: a methodological option in the researcher's toolbox, International Journal of Arts & Sciences (2012)
Early childhood teachers in contexts of power : empowerment and a voice, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (2009)
This article reports on findings from a qualitative research project that highlighted a lack of...
In celebration of teachers, EQ Australia (2007)
Teaching is the best and worst of jobs, but it is the celebration of what...
Books
Book chapters
Australian contexts for literacy teaching, Contemporary issues in Australian literacy teaching (2012)
Research and researching in literacy education (with Brenda Pobjoy), Contemporary issues in Australian literacy teaching (2012)
Theses
Teacher identity and power relationships in contexts of change : a case study of teachers, School of Education (2006)
This qualitative research project employs a critical case study approach to examine the effects of...
Conference publications
"I probably shrug my shoulders and say, 'Oh, again?'" Educational change initiatives: the impact on teachers, 10th Hawaii International Conference on Education (2012)
What teaching does to teachers : the effects on teachers of the actions of the education system, Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, 26-29 November 2007 (2008)
This paper reports on findings from a PhD study entitled Teacher identity and power in...
What happens to teachers when there’s so much change, Kaleidoscope: changing images of childhood (2005)
Mapping literacy in Tasmania, Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, 2-6 December 2001 (2001)
Over the last 25 years schools in Australia have seen changes in the teaching of...