Pauline is currently the Research Director for the Centre for School and System Improvement at the Australian Council for Educational Research. The focus of Pauline’s professional and academic career spanning over 30 years in UK, Africa, Asia and Australia has been commitment to making a positive difference in school and higher education through teaching, research, scholarship and community engagement. Her research interests are in teacher education, language and literacy and education policy and practice. She joined ACER as Director of the ACER Institute which offers evidence-based professional learning opportunities building on the research strengths of ACER, a registered higher education provider. She is currently the Director of the Centre for School and System Improvement, and Head of State Office Queensland.

Pauline has held a range of leadership roles in school systems including Principal, State Program Manager (Queensland) and Manager Education Reform. In the higher education sector she has been Director of Professional Experience, Deputy Head of School and led a whole of institution First Year Experience project at James Cook University. She has been the elected secretary of the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) since 2010 and is currently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with the Education for Practice Institute at Charles Sturt University.

Her expertise in school leadership and teacher education has been recognised nationally and internationally including as the recipient of a national citation for outstanding contribution to student learning (ALTC, 2008), the ATEA Early Career Researcher Award (2008) and the Vice Chancellor’s award for excellence for partnerships and engagement (James Cook University) in 2010. In 2015, her contributions to teacher education in Cambodia were acknowledged through life membership of the volunteer organisation Teachers Across Borders (Australia)