Associate Professor Sharon McDonough

Position: Associate Professor
Study area: Education
Location: Mt Helen Campus, T Building, Room T302
Phone: 5327 9703
Email: s.mcdonough@federation.edu.au
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0924-9414

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy - University of Ballarat - 2011

Graduate Certificate of Education (Tertiary Teaching) -University of Ballarat -  2012

Master of Arts (Literary Studies) - Deakin University - 2002

Master of Education (Research) - University of Ballarat - 2001

Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) - Australian Catholic University - 1997

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) - University of Ballarat - 1996

Bachelor of Arts - Australian Catholic University - 1995

Teaching

Course(s)

Master of Teaching

Unit(s)

EDMAS6126 Inquiry into Practice 2

Biography

Sharon is a teacher educator working in the School of Education at the Mt Helen Campus.  Sharon joined Federation University Australia in 2010 after a successful career as a secondary teacher. She has a commitment to teacher education, to researching wellbeing and resilience, and to working in partnership with schools.

Areas of expertise

Sharon is a researcher in wellbeing, resilience, and teacher education across the teacher professional lifespan. Sharon has advanced disciplinary knowledge of socio-cultural theories of teacher development, emotion, resilience and well-being that she brings to explore i) how to best prepare and support teachers for entry into the profession;  ii) how to support teacher, and teacher educator, professional learning across the lifespan of their careers; and iii) how to support wellbeing in a range of community and educational contexts.  She also has expertise in researching the pedagogy and practice of those working in teacher education.

Sharon’s methodological expertise is in the use of qualitative methodologies, including phenomenology and self-study, and she draws primarily from qualitative data sets using NVivo for analysis. She also applies and works with mixed methods research processes. Sharon has expertise in writing and editing as evidenced through her publication of multiple books, journal articles and through her invited seminars on writing for publication.

Research interests

  • Resilience, wellbeing and mindfulness
  • Emotions in teaching
  • Teacher Education

Supervision

Completed:

PhD: Karen Felstead “Young mothers: Discursive constructions of their lives and identities”

PhD: Amy Darby Walker – Aspirations in the peri-urban fringe

PhD: Kimberley Pappaluca – Girls, schooling and violence

Master of Education: Katrina Griffiths – Perseverance in learning

Master of Education Studies (Minor thesis): Travis Newton – A social justice approach to literacy

Master of Education Studies (Minor thesis): Susanna Mandic – An integrated approach to differentiation

Master of Education Studies (Minor thesis): Elisha McDonald – Early Career Teachers’ emotions

Master of Education Studies (Minor thesis): Kasey Fletcher – Teaching out of field in secondary schools

Master of Education Studies (Minor thesis): Christopher Wines- It’s part of my life

Publications

Books

Lemon, N., & McDonough, S. (2020). Building and Sustaining a Teaching Career: Strategies for Professional Experience, wellbeing and mindful practice. Cambridge University Press.

Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (Eds.). (2019). Ethics, Self-study research methodology and teacher education. Springer.

Lemon, N., & McDonough, S. (Eds.) (2018). Mindfulness in the Academy: Practices and Perspectives from Scholars. Springer.

Brandenburg, R., McDonough, S., Burke, J., & White, S. (Eds.). (2016). Teacher Education: Innovation, Intervention and Impact. Springer.

Refereed journal articles

McDonough, S., Brandenburg, R. & Moran, W. (2023, online – hard copy, in press). A Study of Teacher Educators’ Work: Complexity and Confrontation. The Educational Forum. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131725.2023.2172499

Lemon, N., & McDonough, S. (2023, online – hard copy, in press). “I feel like nothing else will ever be this hard”: The dimensions of teacher resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Educational Forum DOI: 10.1080/00131725.2023.2178564

McDonough, S., & Brandenburg, R. (2022). "A comparative study investigating the enablers and barriers facing teacher educators in a regional university: Snapshots from 2013 and 2020.," Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 47(12) Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14221/1835-517X.6238

Foley, A., Weadon, H., McDonough, S., & Taylor, R. (2022). A Gendered Therapeutic Learning Landscape: Responding creatively to a pandemic. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 62 (1). 9-30

McDonough, S., Foley, A., Weadon, H., & Taylor, R. (2022). Ties that bind or exclude? Knitting and craft groups as contested spaces of inclusion and exclusion. Textile: Cloth and Culture, https://doi.org/10.1080/14759756.2022.2102725

McDonough, S. & Lemon, N. (2022) “Stretched very thin”: the impact of COVID-19 on teachers’ work lives and wellbeing. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2022.2103530

McDonough, S. (2022). Daring  Not to Lead: A Poetic self-study Examining the Tensions of Teacher Educator Identity. Studying Teacher Education https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2022.2079624

Lemon, N., & McDonough, S. (2021) If not now, then when? Wellbeing and wholeheartedness in education. The Educational Forum

McDonough, S., & Brandenburg, R. (2019). Who owns this data? Using dialogic reflection to examine an ethically important moment. Reflective Practice, 20(3),

McGraw, A., & McDonough, S. (2019). Thinking dispositions as a resource for resilience in the gritty reality of learning to teach. Australian Educational Researcher, 46, 598- 605.

McDonough, S. (2018) Inside the mentors’ experience: Using poetic representation to examine the tension of mentoring pre-service teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 43 (10).

McDonough, S., Pearce, A., & Kent, S. (2018). Teaching and learning in the museum space: Developing a model for transformational partnerships in teacher education. The Social Educator, 36(2), 30 -41.

O’Dwyer, S., Pinto, S.,  & McDonough, S. (2018). Self-care for academics: A poetic invitation to reflect and resist. Reflective Practice, DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2018.1437407

McDonough, S. (2017). Taking a return to school: Using self-study to learn about teacher educator practice. Studying Teacher Education. DOI: 10.1080/17425964.2017.1365700

Forgasz, R., & McDonough, S. (2017). “Struck by the way our bodies conveyed so much”: A collaborative self-study of our developing understandings of embodied pedagogies. Studying Teacher Education: A journal of self-study of teacher education practices, 13(1), 52-67.

Burke, J., Redford, M., Coker, H., & McDonough, S. (2017). Developing international partnerships for teacher education through digital platforms: Possibilities for transformational partnership. Journal of the World Federation of Associations of Teacher Education, 2(1), 8-22.

McDonough, S. (2015). Using ethical mapping for exploring two professional dilemmas in initial teacher education. Reflective Practice, 16(1), 142-153.

McDonough, S. (2014). Rewriting the script of mentoring pre-service teachers in third space: Exploring tensions of loyalty, obligation and advocacy. Studying Teacher Education, 10(3), 210-221.

McDonough, S., & Brandenburg, R. (2012). Examining assumptions about teacher educator identities through self-study of mentoring roles. Studying Teacher Education: A journal of self-study practices. 8(3), 169-182.

Book chapters

McDonough, S., Belton, A., Selkrig, M., & Keamy, R. K. (2024). Creative research methods in a digital world: Problem-solving and collaboration in research. In H. Kara (Ed.), Handbook of Creative Research Methods (pp. 265 - 278). Bloomsbury.https://doi.org/DOI:10.5040/9781350355774.ch-020

McDonough, S., & Lemon, N. (2022) Making mindful moments: Made artefacts as a form of data visualisation to monitor and respond to self-care and wellbeing. In N. Lemon. (Ed).  Creative Expression and Wellbeing in Higher Education: Making and Movement as Mindful Moments of Self-care. Routledge.

McDonough, S., & Lemon, N. (2022).Creating care-full communities: Teacher education to support care as a strategy for wellbeing. In A. Webb & Shoffner, M. (Eds). Care After COVD: Reconstructing Understandings of Care in Teacher Education, Routledge.

McDonough, S., & Lemon, N. (2021). Stepping into a shared vulnerability: Creating and promoting a space for self-care and wellbeing in higher education. In N. Lemon (Ed.), Creating a place for self-care and wellbeing in higher education. Routledge.

McDonough, S., & McGraw, A. (2020). Thinking dispositions for teaching: Supporting and enabling resilience in context. In C. Mansfield (Ed.) Cultivating teacher resilience: International approaches, applications and impact. Springer.

McDonough. S., Papatrainaou, L., Strangeways, A., Mansfield, C., & Beutel, D. (2020). Navigating changing times: Exploring teacher educator experiences of resilience. In C. Mansfield (Ed.) Cultivating teacher resilience: International approaches, applications and impact. Springer.

Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (2019). Ethics, self-study research methodology and teacher education. In R. Brandenburg and S. McDonough. (Eds.). Ethics, Self-study research methodology and teacher education (pp. 1 -14). Springer.

McDonough, S., & Brandenburg, R. (2019). The “wicked problem” of ethics in self-study research: Dominant, silent and marginalised discourses. In R. Brandenburg and S. McDonough. (Eds.). Ethics, Self-study research methodology and teacher education (pp. 165- 176). Springer.

Moran, W., Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (2019). Pedagogical confrontations as a lens for reflective practice in teacher education. In J. Mena, A. Garcia-Valcarel & F. Garcia Penalvo. (Eds.). Teachers’ Professional Development in Global Contexts (pp. 199-218). Brill Sense.

Lemon, N., & McDonough, S. (2018). Mindfully living and working in the academy: Continuing the conversation. In N. Lemon & S. McDonough.(Eds.). Mindfulness in the academy: Practices and perspectives from scholars (pp. 259-284).Springer.

Mansfield, C., Papatraianou, L., McDonough, S., & King, L. (2018). Building resilience in times of uncertainty and complexity: Teacher educator perceptions of pre-service teacher resilience. In D. Heck & A. Ambrosetti. (Eds.). Teacher education in and for uncertain times (pp. 83-98). Springer.

McDonough, S. (2018). A glitch in the machine or a glimmer of what could be? Mindfulness as resistance in higher education. In N. Lemon & S. McDonough. (Eds.). Mindfulness in the academy: Practices and perspectives from scholars (pp. 247-258). Springer.

McDonough, S., & Lemon, N. (2018). Mindfulness in the Academy: An examination of mindfulness perspectives. In N. Lemon & S. McDonough. (Eds.). Mindfulness in the academy: Practices and perspectives from scholars (pp. 1-23). Springer.

Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (2017). Using critical incidents to reflect on Teacher Educator Practice. In R. Brandenburg, K. Glasswell, M. Jones, & J. Ryan. (Eds). Reflective theories and practices in teacher education (pp. 223 – 236).  Springer.

McDonough, S. (2017).  Playing, moving and shifting: Finding your academic voice. In C. McMaster, C. Murphy, I. Mewburn & B. Whitburn. (Eds). Postgraduate Study in Australia: Surviving and Succeeding. Peter Lang.

Brandenburg, R., McDonough, S., & Moran, W. (2016). From pedagogical confrontations to pedagogical invitations: A self-study of teacher educators’ work. In D. Garbett & A. Ovens (Eds). Enacting self-study as a methodology for professional inquiry, (pp. 269-276).: S-STEP.

Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (2016, in press). Using critical incidents to reflect on Teacher Educator Practice. In R. Brandenburg, K. Glasswell, M. Jones, & J. Ryan. (Eds). Reflective theories and practices in teacher education. Singapore: Springer.

Brandenburg, R., McDonough, S., Burke, J., & White, S. (2016). Teacher education research and the policy reform agenda. In R. Brandenburg, S. McDonough, Burke, J., & S. White. (Eds). Teacher Education: Innovation, Intervention and Impact, (pp.1-14). Singapore: Springer.

McDonough, S. (2016, in press). Playing, moving and shifting: Finding your academic voice. In C. McMaster, C. Murphy, I. Mewburn & B. Whitburn. (Eds). Postgraduate Study in Australia: Surviving and Succeeding. Peter Lang.

McDonough, S., Forgasz, R., Berry, A., & Taylor, M. (2016). All brain and still no body: Moving towards a pedagogy of embodiment in teacher education. In D. Garbett & A. Ovens (Eds). Enacting self-study as a methodology for professional inquiry, (pp. 433-440). Herstmonceux, UK: S-STEP

McGraw, A., McDonough, S., Wines, C., & O'Loughlan, C. (2016). Activating Teaching Dispositions in Carefully Constructed Contexts: Examining the Impact of Classroom Intensives. In R. Brandenburg, S. McDonough, Burke, J., & S. White. (Eds). Teacher Education: Innovation, Intervention and Impact, (pp. 193-210). Singapore: Springer.

O'Dwyer, S., McDonough, S., Jefferson, R., Etudes, J.J., & Redman, M. (2016). Writing Groups in the Digital Age: A case study analysis of Shut Up & Write Tuesdays. In Esposito, A. (Ed). Research 2.0 and the impact of digital technologies on scholarly inquiry. IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-0830-4.ch013

McDonough, S. (2013). Learning to Think Like a Teacher Educator: Pedagogy, Practice and Performance in R. Brandenburg & J. Z. Wilson (Eds.). Pedagogies for the Future: Leading Quality Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (pp. 61- 73). Rotterdam: Sense.

Editorials

Reid, J., McDonough, S., Bown, K., Santoro, N., Mayer, D., & Singh, M. (2013). Learning the business of teacher education research: Editorial work as capacity building. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41(4), 345-349.

BLOG posts

McDonough, S., & Lemon, N. (Aug 6, 2021). If not now, then when? Making time for wholeheartedness and wellbeing. Kappa Delta Pi, https://www.kdp.org/blogs/community-manager/2022/01/13/if-not-now-when-making-time-for-wholeheartedness-a

Selkrig, M., Keamy, K., McDonough, S., Belton, A., & Brandenburg, R. (June 2, 2021). Are teacher educators really doing a bad job? EduResearch Matters. https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=9569

Refereed conference proceedings

Forgasz, R., McDonough, S., & Berry, A. (2014, August). Embodied approaches to S-STEP research into teacher education emotion. Paper presented at International Conference on Self-Study, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England.

McDonough, S., & Brandenburg, R. (2012, August). 'Shaking up the snow dome': Learning about teacher educator identities through studying mentor roles, Paper presented at International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Extending Inquiry Communities: Illuminating Teacher Education Through Self-Study Conference, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England

McDonough, S. (2007, November). The teacher's toolkit: Exploring perceptions of practice, Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Fremantle, Refereed Paper http://www.aare.edu.au/07pap/mcd07106.pdf pp 1- 14

Seminar presentations

Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (2014). Elaborated pedagogies’ in action: Using research to make visible teacher educator practice, pedagogy and outcomes. Paper presented at Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane, Queensland.

Brandenburg, R., & McDonough, S. (2012, July). When worlds collide: The tensions of teacher educators personal and professional values. Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Educators' Association Conference, Adelaide.

Burke, J., McDonough, S., Redford, M., & Coker, H. (2016). Developing international partnerships for teacher education through digital platforms: Possibilities for transformational partnerships. Paper presented at Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Ballarat, Victoria.

Burke, J., McDonough, S., Gorris-Hunter, A., Sellings, P., & Wines, C. (2014) Learning in, with and through school communities: Transformational partnerships for teacher professional growth. Symposium presented at the Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Sydney, NSW.

Cooper, M., Sellings, P., McDonough, S., & Davis, R. (2016) Am I really ready? Perceptions of pre-service teachers about their classroom readiness. Paper presented at Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Ballarat, Victoria.

Cooper, M., Brandenburg, R. McDonough, S., Albon, N., Fish, T. (2014) Paradoxes and Synchronicities. Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Sydney, NSW.

Downey, T., Lloyd, D. & McDonough, S. (2001, November). Learning and identity: The intersection of micro and macro processes in identity formation for students and the community in a small rural town – the Wesley experience, Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Fremantle.

Keltchermans, G., Forgasz, R., McDonough, S., & Moran, W. (2013). Body, ethos and emotion: Bringing forgotten dimensions of teacher professionalism back to the research forum. Discussion Room presented at ISATT 203- 16th Biennial of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching, Ghent, Belgium.

Lloyd, D., & McDonough, S. (2001, November). The self, the spirit and the social being: The formation of adolescent identity within community - Wesley College at Clunes, Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Fremantle.

McDonough, S., & Brandenburg, R. (2015). Using self-study of teaching to research teaching practice and improve learning. Paper presented at Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Darwin, Northern Territory.

McDonough, S., & Brown, M. (2012, July). If you can teach, teach teachers: Reshaping the puzzle pieces of teacher education. Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Educators' Association Conference, Adelaide.

McDonough, S. (2014). Dilemmas in working with pre-service teachers: Using critical reflection to articulate pedagogies for mentoring. Paper presented at Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane, Queensland.

McDonough, S. (2014). Third space communities of practice for learning about teaching: Collaborative curriculum construction. Peer refereed paper presented at Australian Teacher Educator Association conference, Sydney, Australia.

McDonough, S. (2013). Navigating the ties that bind: Using narrative to explore mentoring in the third space.Paper presented at AARE Conference, Adelaide, Australia.

McDonough, S. (2011, July). Tackling the tough times: Teacher emotions in times of change, ISATT 2011- 15th Biennial of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching, Braga, Portugal.

McGraw, A., McDonough, S., & Wines, C. (2016). Dispositions for teaching: Challenges related to identification, activation and assessment. Paper presented at Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Ballarat, Victoria.

McGraw, A., & McDonough, S. (2015). Looking and learning in classrooms: Using the See, Think, Wonder routine to examine learning and teaching in the moment. Paper presented at Australian Teacher Educators’ Association Conference, Darwin, Northern Territory.

Associations

  • Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA)
  • Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)