Biography
Dr Katrina MacDonald is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Deakin University. She is a member of the Centre for Research for Educational Impact School of Education (REDI).
After a career in anthropology and archaeology, Katrina trained as a primary and secondary teacher in Victoria. Katrina’s key research interests include educational leadership, social justice, public education, the history of Australian educational research and the sociology of education through a practice lens (feminist, Bourdieu, practice architectures). She is particularly interested in how school autonomy reform has influenced social justice outcomes, and the implications this has for school principals.
Katrina has recently worked with Professors Amanda Keddie and Jill Blackmore (Deakin), Professors Jane Wilkinson (Monash) and Scott Eacott (UNSW) and Associate Professors Richard Niesche (UNSW), and Brad Gobby(ECU) on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project School Autonomy Reform and Social Justice in Australian Public Education (project website https://www.schoolautonomyandsocialjustice.org/ ).
In 2020, Katrina was awarded Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education from the Australian Association of Research in Education. This award recognises excellence in educational research by doctoral students, and is seen by the Association as a way of recognising the high-quality contribution made to educational knowledge by graduate students. In 2020, Katrina was also awarded the Mollie Holman medal, one of the highest academic honours bestowed by Monash University, for her 2019 thesis. Her thesis, Socially just principals in unjust times: Social justice leadership in disadvantaged Victorian primary schools, explored the social justice understandings and practices of principals working in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Victoria.
In 2020, Katrina won first prize for her paper ‘Social justice leadership practice in unjust times: Leading in highly disadvantaged contexts’ in the International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice [IJLE] Emerging Scholar Competition.
In 2018-2019, Katrina won a ‘New Voice Scholar’ award in the area of Educational Leadership Research by the Australian Council of Educational Leaders. In 2017, she was awarded a travel scholarship to attend a Doctoral School at The University of Goteburg in Sweden. She was a recipient of AARE Educational Leadership SIG Postgraduate Award for her abstract exploring principal’s social justice understandings.
Katrina is an Associate Editor on the board of the International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice.
Read more on Katrina's profileBiography summary
Dr Katrina MacDonald is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and a member of REDI, Deakin University, Australia. Her research and teaching interests are in educational leadership, social justice and the sociology of education through a practice lens (feminist, Bourdieu, practice architectures). Her research has focused on school reform and social justice in Australian public education, the social justice understandings and practices of principals working in some of the most disadvantaged locations in Australia. Her thesis won the 2020 AARE Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education, and a 2019 Monash University Mollie Holman medal for research excellence. Katrina is a former anthropologist, archaeologist and primary and secondary teacher in Victoria, Australia
Awards
- 2020 - Winner of the Australian Association of Research in Education Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education. This award recognises excellence in educational research by doctoral students, and is seen by the Association as a way of recognising the high-quality contribution made to educational knowledge by graduate students.
- 2020 - Winner 2019 Monash University Mollie Holman medal. The Mollie Holman Medal is one of the highest academic honours bestowed by Monash University, and marks the recipient as a researcher of the higher order.
- 2020 - First Prize, International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice [IJLE] Emerging Scholar Competition
- 2018 - 2019 - Australian Council of Educational Leadership New Voice in Educational Leadership Research Scholarship
- 2017 - University of Goteburg - Monash University Doctoral School Exchange award
- 2016 - AARE Educational Leadership SIG Award
Publications
Biting Back at Educational Leadership Scholarship through Feminist Advancements of Bourdieu
Katrina MacDonald, Jane Wilkinson
(2024), pp. 255-269, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Bourdieu and Educational Research, London, Eng., B1
Richard Niesche, Amanda Keddie, Katrina MacDonald, Scott Eacott, Brad Gobby, Jane Wilkinson, Jill Blackmore
(2024), pp. 24-37, Resistance in Educational Leadership, Management, and Administration, London, Eng., B1
Katrina MacDonald
(2023), Berlin, Germany, A1
Social justice leadership practice in unjust times: leading in highly disadvantaged contexts
Katrina MacDonald
(2023), Vol. 26, pp. 1-17, International Journal of Leadership in Education, London, Eng., C1
Katrina MacDonald, Amanda Keddie, Scott Eacott, Jane Wilkinson, Jill Blackmore, Richard Niesche, Brad Gobby
(2023), pp. 1-22, Journal of Educational Administration and History, London, Eng., C1
Teacher professional autonomy in an atypical government school: matters of relationality and context
A Keddie, K MacDonald, J Blackmore, B Gobby
(2023), pp. 1-16, Oxford Review of Education, London, Eng., C1
Gender, Educational Leadership and Social Justice : An Intersectional Lens.
Jane Wilkinson, Katrina MacDonald
(2022), pp. 90-100, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Gender and Educational Leadership and Management, London, Eng., B1
Creating spaces of learning in academia: fostering niches for professional learning practice
K MacDonald, F Diamond, J Wilkinson, N Sum, F Longmuir, M Kaukko
(2022), Vol. 44, pp. 266-283, Studies in Continuing Education, C1
Election or selection? School autonomy reform, governance and the politics of school councils
J Blackmore, K MacDonald, A Keddie, B Gobby, J Wilkinson, S Eacott, R Niesche
(2022), pp. 1-21, Journal of Education Policy, Abingdon, Eng., C1
The emotional intensity of educational leadership: a scoping review
A Heffernan, K MacDonald, F Longmuir
(2022), pp. 1-23, International Journal of Leadership in Education, London, Eng., C1
How built spaces influence practices of educators' work: an examination through a practice lens
J Wilkinson, K MacDonald, F Diamond, N Sum
(2022), Vol. 44, pp. 207-211, Studies in Continuing Education, London, Eng., C1
Autonomy, Instructional Leadership and Improving Outcomes-The LSLD Reforms in NSW, Australia
S Eacott, R Niesche, A Keddie, J Blackmore, J Wilkinson, B Gobby, K MacDonald
(2022), pp. 1-14, Leadership and Policy in Schools, London, Eng., C1
Brad Gobby, Jane Wilkinson, Amanda Keddie, Jill Blackmore, Scott Eacott, Katrina MacDonald, Richard Niesche
(2022), pp. 1-17, International Journal of Leadership in Education, Abingdon, Eng., C1
A Keddie, J Blackmore, K MacDonald
(2022), pp. 1-16, Educational Management Administration and Leadership, London, Eng., C1
A Keddie, K MacDonald, J Blackmore, R Boyask, S Fitzgerald, M Gavin, A Heffernan, D Hursh, S McGrath-Champ, J Møller, J O’Neill, K Parding, M Salokangas, C Skerritt, M Stacey, P Thomson, A Wilkins, R Wilson, C Wylie, E Yoon
(2022), Australian Educational Researcher, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1
K MacDonald, A Keddie, J Blackmore, C Mahoney, J Wilkinson, B Gobby, R Niesche, S Eacott
(2021), Australian Educational Researcher, C1
Principals' perceptions of school autonomy and educational leadership
R Niesche, S Eacott, A Keddie, B Gobby, K MacDonald, J Wilkinson, J Blackmore
(2021), Educational Management Administration and Leadership, C1
Gender and Educational Leadership
Jane Wilkinson, Anar Purvee, Katrina MacDonald
(2020), pp. 255-268, Understanding educational leadership : critical perspectives and approaches, London, Eng., B1
The Neoliberal Challenge to Leading in Disadvantaged Public Primary Schools in Victoria, Australia
Katrina MacDonald, Jane Wilkinson, Corine Rivalland
(2020), pp. 118-132, Neoliberalism and Education Systems in Conflict : Exploring Challenges Across the Globe, London, Eng., B1
A Keddie, K MacDonald, J Blackmore, J Wilkinson, B Gobby, R Niesche, S Eacott, C Mahoney
(2020), Vol. 25, pp. 1-18, International Journal of Leadership in Education, C1
School autonomy, marketisation and social justice: the plight of principals and schools
A Keddie, K Claire MacDonald, J Blackmore, S Eacott, B Gobby, C Mahoney, R Niesche, J Wilkinson
(2020), Vol. 52, pp. 432-447, Journal of Educational Administration and History, C1
COVID-19 and inequities in Australian education - insights on federalism, autonomy, and access.
Scott Eacott, Katrina MacDonald, Amanda Keddie, Jill Blackmore, Jane Wilkinson, Richard Niesche, Brad Gobby, Fernandez Irene
(2020), Vol. 48, pp. 6-22, International Studies in Educational Administration, C1
Katrina Macdonald
(2019), Vol. 51, pp. 133-148, Journal of educational administration and history, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
Funded Projects at Deakin
Australian Competitive Grants
School autonomy reform and social justice: a study of public education in Australia
Prof Amanda Keddie, Prof Jill Blackmore, A/Prof Jane Wilkinson, Gobby Bradley, Richard Niesche, Scott Eacott, Dr Katrina MacDonald
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2021: $115,227
- 2020: $126,228
- 2019: $97,012
Supervisions
No completed student supervisions to report