Notes on Contributors
Brent Bradford
is an Associate Professor (Education) at Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE; Canada). After teaching school for a decade and being recognized for his work in the area of Physical and Health Education (e.g., HPEC Award, 2001; CAHPERD Young Professional Award, 2003), Brent returned to the University of Alberta (U of A) to pursue graduate work and to teach at the post-secondary level. In 2011, Dr. Bradford was the recipient of the U of A Graduate Student Teaching Award. Brent’s research interests include Physical and Health Education, teacher education, and higher education. Brent has authored and co-authored extensively in the field of education and has co-authored two teacher education textbooks: Teaching for Health & Wellness in Children and Youth (Ripon, 2017) and Physical Education for Elementary School Teachers (Ripon, 2018). In 2019, Brent was the recipient of CUE’s Gerald S. Krispin Research Award.
Trudy Cardinal
is a Cree/Métis educator from northern Alberta. Dr. Cardinal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta (Canada). As a former elementary school teacher of 13 years, a mother, a grandmother, an aunty, and an Indigenous scholar, Trudy is dedicated to continuing to deepen understanding of the educational experiences of Indigenous children, youth, and families. Of particular interest is the potential of Indigenous and relational pedagogies in the creation of an education system that honours the whole being of the learner.
Philip Wing Keung Chan
is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Monash University (Australia). Dr. Chan has worked in course development and training at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers. Philip was a convenor of Monash Education Research Community (MERC) and is a convenor of the Chinese Education Research Team and a series editor of the Asia Pacific Education Book series of Monash University Publishing. His recent edited/authored books are Asia Pacific Education: Diversity, Challenges, and Changes (Monash University Publishing, 2012), Equality in Education: Fairness and Inclusion (Sense Publishers, 2014), Asia as Method in Education Studies: A Defiant Imagination (Routledge, 2015), Asia Pacific Education: Leadership, Governance, and Administration (Information Age Publishing, 2019) and Public Education Reform and Network Governance: Lessons from China’s State-Owned Enterprise Schools (Routledge, 2019).
José da Costa
is a Professor of Educational Administration and Leadership in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta (Canada). At the University of Alberta, Dr. da Costa has served as Chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Education. Prior to joining the University of Alberta, José taught High School Industrial and Vocational education in California, USA. His expertise focuses on Educational Leadership generally and on supervision of instruction and research methods, qualitative and quantitative, specifically. The central theme of his research is: impacts of educational programming and administrative structures on student success in school.
Alison Egan
is Director of IT & eLearning in Marino Institute of Education (Ireland), an associate college of Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. An instructional designer by trade, Alison has worked in financial, legal, and educational settings. In her current role, she runs a busy college IT Department and is responsible for all online and eLearning delivery to the wider college community. Dr. Egan’s research interests are focused on technological self-efficacy, TPACK, coding in classrooms, and use of technology in personal and professional capacities. She is particularly interested in statistical analysis, mixed methods, and pragmatic approaches to research.
Janet McConaghy
is currently a university language and literacy instructor. She is a former Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton (Canada). Dr. McConaghy holds a PhD in Elementary Education at the University of Alberta (Canada) with a specialization in the curriculum area of language arts and literacy development within the context of the social and pedagogical approach to dialogic teaching. Janet is an experienced classroom teacher, consultant, and reading specialist. Other educational pursuits involve the publication of teaching resources that exemplify the interrelationship of theory and practice in literature and literacy learning, as well as articles and language arts textbook contributions.
June McConaghy
is a Professor Emerita at Concordia University of Edmonton (Canada). She was appointed the first Dean of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton in 1998. In preparation for her academic and administrative roles at university, June received a PhD in Elementary Education at the University of Alberta (Canada) with a specialization in language, literacy, narrative discourse, and teacher education. Her dissertation title was Teachers’ Stories and Pedagogical Insights. June’s educational background experiences include classroom teacher, consultant, and author of numerous articles. She also authored a book and book chapter based on her Master’s thesis entitled, Literature—Literacy and Young Children (University of Alberta, 1986).
Kelsey McEntyre
is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Tarleton State University (USA) where she teaches courses including individual and dual sport skills, secondary physical education methods, concepts of physical fitness, and tests and measurements. Dr. McEntyre’s expertise and research interests include teacher-student negotiation patterns, physical education teacher training, self-study of teacher education practices, and teacher socialization.
Sammy M. Mutisya
has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, project administrator, primary school teacher trainer, secondary school teacher, and now as the Chair of the Department of Curriculum Instruction and Education Management at Maasai Mara University (Kenya). Dr. Mutisya’s expertise and interests encompass Instruction and Education Technology and Communication, Community Empowerment, Open Education Practices in support of Learner-Centered Education and modeling of learner-centered pedagogy. Dr. Mutisya has conducted research on pedagogy of Environmental Education in Primary Schools and preparation of primary school teacher trainees on teaching of science. Dr. Mutisya’s current research interest is on the application of Open Education Practices to model pedagogy for Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum.
Christina A. Parker
is an Assistant Professor in Social Development Studies at Renison University College at the University of Waterloo (Canada). Dr. Parker’s expertise and research on peacebuilding education in diverse multicultural classrooms with marginalized children shows how dialogic pedagogies facilitate inclusive spaces where all students have the opportunity to participate and have their voices heard. Dr. Parker specializes in critical ethnographic and mixed methods research in diverse schools and communities. She has published several academic articles on peacebuilding education, restorative justice, multiculturalism, and marginalized students in Canada. Christina is the author of Peacebuilding, Citizenship, and Identity: Empowering Conflict and Dialogue in Multicultural Classrooms (Sense Publishers, 2016).
Carla L. Peck
is a Professor of Social Studies Education in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta (Canada) and is the Director of the Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future SSHRC Partnership Grant. Dr. Peck researches teachers’ and students’ historical understandings as well as their conceptions of democratic concepts. She has held several major research grants and has authored and co-authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and books related to this work. Dr. Peck’s most recent book, with Anna Clark, is Contemplating Historical Consciousness: Notes from the Field (Berghahn Books, 2019). Before Carla found her way to academia, she was an elementary school teacher in New Brunswick, Canada.
Colin G. Pennington
is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Tarleton State University (USA) where he works with Exercise and Sport Study majors, and conducts research on physical education teacher effectiveness and other health-related applications of the kinesiology sub-disciplines. He currently teaches courses including coaching and sport leadership, adaptive physical education, physiology of exercise, and anatomical kinesiology. His interests and research focus on teacher socialization, physical education teacher training, character development programs within physical education and sport, and health and wellness.
Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan
is a Professor of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). Her work has given rise to a distinctive formulation of poetic professional learning as a literary arts-inspired mode for researching and enriching professional learning. Recent publications include Memory Mosaics: Researching Teacher Professional Learning through Artful Memory-Work (with Pillay & Mitchell; Springer, 2019). Kathleen is convenor of the Self-Reflexive Methodologies Special Interest Group of the South African Education Research Association, and Chair of the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. In 2019, she received the South African National Excellence in Higher Education Teaching and Learning Award.
Edgar Schmidt
has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, principal, central office administrator, superintendent of schools, and now as the Dean of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton (Canada). His expertise and interests encompass educational administration and leadership, science education, sociology of schooling, the politics of education, and community engagement in support of student learning and achievement. Edgar has conducted interdisciplinary research on government rhetoric related to school-community collaboration and he is particularly interested in critical discourse studies and mixed methods research.
Pearl Subban
is an academic with extensive experience as a researcher within differentiated instruction, classroom practice, and accommodating student diversity. Dr. Subban has been fortunate to teach over two continents and glean from her experiences within school teaching and leadership. She now enjoys the position of Course Leader (Master of Education) at Monash University (Australia), allowing her to use her expertise in the field to inform and shape graduate research. Pearl’s research has led to forays into qualitative and quantitative studies, often engaging in research with other industry partners and disciplines.