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  • Dr Olivia Johnston

    Dr Olivia Johnston

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Dr Olivia Johnston

Senior Lecturer

Staff Member Details
Telephone: +61 8 6304 6584
Email: o.johnston@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Joondalup  
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3314-9031

Olivia is a Senior Lecturer in Postgraduate and HASS Education in the School of Education.

Current teaching

  • EDU6000 - Changing Practice in Classroom Management
  • HSS6711 - Humanities and Social Sciences Education Foundations
  • HSS6712 - Secondary Humanities and Social Sciences Education
  • EDU6416 - Education for Social Justice
  • CUR6210 - Curriculum Enrichment for the Major Secondary Specialisation

Background

Olivia’s research aims to increase equity in education and break cycles of disadvantage by challenging mainstream ideas and practices. Her research projects have generated new knowledge about class ability grouping and teachers’ expectations, increasing student voice in these research areas.

Her teaching background also keeps students at the centre. She draws on her decade of experience teaching secondary HASS and English in a range of WA private and public schools. Olivia models a classroom environment that is inclusive and celebrates diversity, built on a foundation of positive student-teacher relationships.

Olivia is seeking research students (Masters or PhD) who are interested in exploring any of the following:

Topics including

  • teacher expectations
  • ability grouping/streaming
  • adolescent perspectives of their education
  • student-teacher interactions
  • inclusive education and meeting diverse student needs

Methods including

  • grounded theory
  • composite narratives.

Professional Associations

  • Western Australian Institute for Educational Research (WAIER) – Member and current committee member (2024-present)
  • Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) – Current member and previous executive committee member (2022-2023)
  • Ballajura Secondary College School Board

Awards and recognition

National and international awards

  • Recipient of Edith Cowan University Early-Mid Career Researcher Grant Scheme 2022 (Stream 1), 2023 ‑ 2024
  • Western Australian Institute for Educational Research (WAIER) – Annual Research Grant, 2019
  • Fogarty Foundation Postgraduate Student Researcher Prize 2019

National and international research awards

  • Nomination for the Australian Association of Educational Research’s Ray Debus Award for excellence in Doctoral Research in Education - 2021
  • The Cameron Prize for Education – best PhD thesis in 2020
  • Dr Teck Jin Lian Memorial Prize in Education for 2020 -  best track record of research achievements over period of PhD candidature
  • UWA Dean's List Award Recipient for PhD Thesis - 2020
  • 3Minute Thesis: Matariki Network International Finals - Runner-up

Research Interests

  • Teacher expectations
  • Ability grouping/streaming
  • Grounded theory methods
  • Composite narratives

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Western Australia, 2021.
  • Secondary, Edith Cowan University, 2020.
  • Master of Education, The University of Western Australia, 2014.

Research Outputs

2025

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Macqueen, S., Zhang, W., Spina, N., Spooner-Lane, R. (2025). If, and how, to group by ‘ability’–considerations about class group formation. Educational Studies, 2025(Article in press), TBD. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2025.2511914.
  • Hatisaru, V., Johnston, O., Collins, J., Rott, B. (2025). New insights into the beliefs of secondary pre-service teachers about mathematics. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 21(8), Article number em2675. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/16656.
  • Johnston, O., Norris, C., Zhang, W. (2025). Rigidity of class ability grouping practices in Australia. Research Papers in Education, 2025(Article in press), pp. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2025.2479674.
  • Johnston, O., Palamara, P. (2025). Are Australian schools becoming less inclusive? Changes to class ability grouping practices in Australian secondary schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2025(Article in press), TBD. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2025.2527256.

2024

Books

Book Chapters

  • Sanbrook, C., Gray, C., Lowe, G., Johnston, O. (2024). “Paleo for the Mind” Pre-Service Teacher Mental Health Challenges During a Pandemic Practicum: How Evolutionary Biology Can Inform Mental Wellness. Pedagogies of Practicum: Post-Pandemic Reflections on Innovation in Practice Teaching (355-375). Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b22164.

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2024). A grounded theory about how teachers communicated high expectations to their secondary school students. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 39(1), 211-235. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-023-00689-2.
  • Johnston, O., Spooner-Lane, R., Zhang, W., Macqueen, S., Spina, N. (2024). The Equity of Class Ability Grouping Practices in Australian Education: Findings from a Survey in Western Australia and Queensland. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 33(6), 1287-1301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00801-6.
  • Johnston, O., Spina, N., Macqueen, S., Spooner-Lane, R. (2024). Why do schools continue to use between-class ability grouping?. Prospects, 54(3), 559-576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-024-09710-y.

Conference Publications

  • Hatisaru, V., Johnston, O., Collins, J., Harmon, W. (2024). Teacher Expectations of Student Strategies for Algebra Problems. Surfing the waves of mathematics education (271-278). Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia Inc.. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2026/6322.

2023

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2023). Student voices that resonate – Constructing composite narratives that represent students’ classroom experiences. Qualitative Research, 23(1), 108-124. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941211016158.
  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2023). Teenagers learn through play too: communicating high expectations through a playful learning approach. The Australian Educational Researcher, 50(3), 921-940. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-022-00534-3.
  • Johnston, O., Taylor, B. (2023). A systematic literature review of between-class ability grouping in Australia: Enduring tensions, new directions. Issues in Educational Research, 33(1), 91-117. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2026/2254.
  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2023). Students’ contrasting their experiences of teacher expectations in streamed and mixed ability classes: A study of Grade 10 students in Western Australia. Research Papers in Education, 38(4), 543-567. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2022.2030396.

2022

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2022). ‘That teacher really likes me’ - Student-teacher interactions that initiate teacher expectation effects by developing caring relationships. Learning and Instruction, 80(August 2022), Article Number 101580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101580.

2021

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2021). Projecting student voice by constructing grounded theory. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(3), pages543–564. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-020-00410-y.
  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2021). ‘Believe in me, and I will too’: A study of how teachers’ expectations instilled confidence in Grade 10 students. Social Psychology of Education: an international journal, 24(6), 1535-1556. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09668-1.

2019

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H., Shand, J. (2019). A decade of teacher expectations research 2008–2018: Historical foundations, new developments, and future pathways. Australian Journal of Education, 63(1), 44-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944118824420.

2018

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H. (2018). Teachers' Perspectives of Lower Secondary School Students in Streamed Classes--A Western Australian Case Study. Educational Studies, 44(2), 212-229. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2017.1347494.

2016

Journal Articles

  • Johnston, O., Wildy, H. (2016). The effects of streaming in the secondary school on learning outcomes for Australian students - A review of the international literature. Australian Journal of Education, 60(1), 42-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944115626522.

Research Projects

  • The impact of class ability grouping on excellence and equity of educational outcomes, Edith Cowan University, Early-Mid Career Researcher Grant Scheme 2022 (Stream 1), 2023 ‑ 2024, $39,609.
  • Between-class Ability Grouping Practices in Australian Secondary Schools, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research, Grant, 2022 ‑ 2023, $2,000.

Research Student Supervision

Current Supervisions

Associate Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Calming the chaos: A mixed methods study on how relief teachers manage student misbehaviour.

Completed Supervisions

Associate Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, A Tale of the Well-ness Monster: Examining the Mental Wellness Needs of Pre-service Teachers During the Assistant Teacher Program
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