Dr Alison Grove O'Grady
Dr Alison Grove O’Grady is Chair of Initial Teacher Education and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, School of Education and Social Work. Her research focuses on pedagogies of empathy, as performed and action-oriented methods, to develop teachers’ understanding of self, multiple identities and voices. Alison’s research prepares teachers for the challenges within diverse classroom ecologies, where diversity and difference in culture, ethnicity and faith are critical considerations. Alison’s praxis contributes to the continuous guidance, support, and development of teachers. Alison’s recent book O’Grady, A.G. Pedagogy, Empathy and Praxis: Using Theatrical Traditions to Teach. Springer Nature., captures much of her work in this field. She is a passionate teacher and lifelong learner.
Area of Research
My research focuses on three intersecting and related areas; the role of empathy (Stein 1964) in creative pedagogy and its relationship to education, sociology, psychology (Verducci 2000) and teacher professional learning. My work explores the tensions regarding the areas of empathy, access and equity facilitated through creative practices and pedagogies. My theoretical model of empathy moves from passive modes to transformative praxis (Freire, 1994; Jefferson & Anderson 2017) in applied settings. I research in interdisciplinary spaces particularly in ways that creative pedagogies and theatre making can support and generate transformation in schools and other contexts, including in the Asia Pacific.
Research Supervision
Current students:
Erin Kim Rich PhD. 2018 Co- supervisor Thomas De Angelis PhD 2019- Supervisor
Chris Dowd 2018- Med Co- supervisor
Vicki Papaefstathiou Honours 2019- Supervisor
Creative Pedagogies for Professional Learning: Co-Creation and Participation in Intercultural Spaces (part of the Sydney Vietnam Initiative), this multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary research project is led by Dr Alison Grove O’Grady, Dr Catherine Smyth and Dr Erin-Kim Rich and aims to address the needs of staff and community calling for participatory and new pedagogy and practices that develop and extend on English speaking skills. The project has been forged with alumni teacher, Mr Neil van Heerden, who has recently been appointed Vice Principal (English) at Le Quy Don Primary School, Hanoi Vietnam. The research program develops and delivers an informed professional learning program, which uses drama rich pedagogies and translanguaging approaches.
Creative Pedagogies of the History of War, with Associate Professor Julia Horne and Catherine L. Smyth. War and commemoration are now crucial themes in the Australian Curriculum for both primary and secondary students. This research investigates how creative pedagogy can transform historical knowledge of war and memorialisation, and through historical imagination and dramatic interactions can bridge different social and cultural contexts, cultivate empathy, perspective and an appreciation of other points of view.
Re-inventing the ‘gap year’: Establishing new forms of supportive communications between universities, regional students and parents. This project represents a collaborative effort by three widening participation equity practitioners and six researchers from The University of Sydney including myself, The University of Canberra and The University of Wollongong.
Investigating the transition from pre-service teacher education to entry into the teaching profession, with Associate Professor Jackie Manuel and Professor Robyn Ewing. Within this context and in light of the national and international research in the field, this FRSS funded project will investigate factors influencing the transition into the teaching profession for pre-service primary and secondary teachers completing the Master of Teaching (M/Teach) in the FASS School of Education and Social Work (SESW) in 2018-2019.
Dramatic Empathy: Etudes as Potentiality in Teacher Professional Learning. This program of research will explore different theoretical and practical understandings of empathy and its relationship to teacher professional learning.The research will provide critical perspectives of the role of empathy to promote change, reduce prejudice, and encourage a humane public imagination engendered and facilitated by teacher reflection.The research will comprise discussion, sharing of experience, performance- based approaches and also an investigation into the potential for empathy to be a newly framed pedagogic approach.
- 2017-2019 Teacher Advisory Board. Sydney Theatre Company
- 2017- 2016 Teacher Reference Group Australian Human Rights Commission
- 2018 to present Member ACERN Australian Creativity in Education research Network
- 2018 to present Member British Education Research Association
- 2018 to present Member History Teachers Association
- 2016 to present Member Australian Association for Research in Education
- 2016 to present member American Literacy Association
- 2016 to present Member ALEA Australian Literacy Education Association
- 1993 to present Member English Teachers Association of NSW
- 1992 -1997 Higher School Certificate Examiner NSW
- 2015 Faculty of Education and Social Work Excellence in Teaching Award
- 2024 FASS Teaching Excellence Award
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| Using drama-based pedagogy to enhance Chinese students' creative writing ability: Introducing the School Drama Program to China | Qingya ZHAO |
Selected publications
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)
Publications
Books
- O'Grady, A. (2020). Pedagogy, Empathy and Praxis: Using Theatrical Traditions to Teach. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (1997). Brodie's notes on Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg's Women of the sun. South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia.
Book Chapters
- O'Grady, A., De Angelis, T. (2021). Etudes and empathy: Towards a pedagogy of empathy. In A. Harris, S. Holman Jones (Eds.), Affective Movements, Methods and Pedagogies, (pp. 234-245). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
- Freebody, K., O'Grady, A. (2019). Drama pedagogy in the teaching of history. In T. Allender, A. Clark, R. Parkes (Eds.), Historical Thinking for History Teachers: A new approach to engaging students and developing historical consciousness, (pp. 208-220). Sydney: Allen and Unwin. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2019). Integrating Human Rights into Teaching Pedagogy: An Embodied Approach. In K. Freebody, S. Goodwin, H. Proctor (Eds.), Higher Education, Pedagogy and Social Justice: Politics and Practice, (pp. 189-205). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
Journals
- O'Grady, A. (2023). Towards pedagogies of kindness and empathy. Drylight. [More Information]
- Papaefstathiou, V., O'Grady, A. (2022). Critical reflection, asking better questions: Understanding the phenomenon of critical reflection through the experiences of three 4Cs educators. Journal of Transformative Learning, 9(1), 97-110. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2022). Performing empathy: Using theatrical traditions in teacher professional learning. Teachers and Curriculum Journal, 22(2), 17-24. [More Information]
Web based exhibition
- McMahon, S., Harwood, V., O'Grady, A., Smyth, C., Labib, N., Brownlee, P., Freeborn, A., Richards, T., Roberts, E., Kelly, G., et al (2019). Gap Year Guide. Australia: ASTAR. [More Information]
Magazine / Newspaper Articles
- O'Grady, A. (2024). Daring to do, when presence is absent. The Ignatian, Volume 37, 2024 edition.
Other
- O'Grady, A., McMahon, S., Smyth, C. (2020), New help for regional students thinking of taking a gap year | EduResearch Matters 26/10/2020. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2018), Embracing the past: Creatively using millennials' growing interest in ceremonies of commemoration | EduResearch Matters 09/04/2018. [More Information]
Research Reports
- McMahon, S., Harwood, V., O'Grady, A., Smyth, C., Labib, N., Brownlee, P., Freeborn, A., Richards, T., Roberts, E., Roberts, P., et al (2022). Re-inventing the 'gap year': Establishing new forms of supportive communications between universities, regional students and parents, Australia: .
2024
- O'Grady, A. (2024). Daring to do, when presence is absent. The Ignatian, Volume 37, 2024 edition.
2023
- O'Grady, A. (2023). Towards pedagogies of kindness and empathy. Drylight. [More Information]
2022
- Papaefstathiou, V., O'Grady, A. (2022). Critical reflection, asking better questions: Understanding the phenomenon of critical reflection through the experiences of three 4Cs educators. Journal of Transformative Learning, 9(1), 97-110. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2022). Performing empathy: Using theatrical traditions in teacher professional learning. Teachers and Curriculum Journal, 22(2), 17-24. [More Information]
- McMahon, S., Harwood, V., O'Grady, A., Smyth, C., Labib, N., Brownlee, P., Freeborn, A., Richards, T., Roberts, E., Roberts, P., et al (2022). Re-inventing the 'gap year': Establishing new forms of supportive communications between universities, regional students and parents, Australia: .
2021
- O'Grady, A., De Angelis, T. (2021). Etudes and empathy: Towards a pedagogy of empathy. In A. Harris, S. Holman Jones (Eds.), Affective Movements, Methods and Pedagogies, (pp. 234-245). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
2020
- O'Grady, A., McMahon, S., Smyth, C. (2020), New help for regional students thinking of taking a gap year | EduResearch Matters 26/10/2020. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2020). Pedagogy, Empathy and Praxis: Using Theatrical Traditions to Teach. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
2019
- Freebody, K., O'Grady, A. (2019). Drama pedagogy in the teaching of history. In T. Allender, A. Clark, R. Parkes (Eds.), Historical Thinking for History Teachers: A new approach to engaging students and developing historical consciousness, (pp. 208-220). Sydney: Allen and Unwin. [More Information]
- McMahon, S., Harwood, V., O'Grady, A., Smyth, C., Labib, N., Brownlee, P., Freeborn, A., Richards, T., Roberts, E., Kelly, G., et al (2019). Gap Year Guide. Australia: ASTAR. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2019). Integrating Human Rights into Teaching Pedagogy: An Embodied Approach. In K. Freebody, S. Goodwin, H. Proctor (Eds.), Higher Education, Pedagogy and Social Justice: Politics and Practice, (pp. 189-205). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
2018
- O'Grady, A. (2018). Creative ideologies: Drama teachers and their ideological sensemaking. In L. R. de Bruin, P. Burnard, S. Davis (Eds.), Creativities in arts education, research and practice: International perspectives for the future of learning and teaching, (pp. 253-269). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
- O'Grady, A. (2018). Embracing the past: Creatively using ceremonies of commemoration in classrooms. Teaching History, 52(3), 28-30.
- O'Grady, A. (2018), Embracing the past: Creatively using millennials' growing interest in ceremonies of commemoration | EduResearch Matters 09/04/2018. [More Information]
2017
- O'Grady, A., Smyth, C. (2017). Finding Neverland: The affordances of play for teachers' knowledge work. In P. OConnor, C. Rozas Gomez (Eds.), Playing with possibilities, (pp. 156-170). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2015
- Curwood, J., O'Grady, A. (2015). Answering the call: Reflections on professional learning and English teaching. Australian Journal of English Education, 50(3), 31-34. [More Information]
1997
- O'Grady, A. (1997). Brodie's notes on Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg's Women of the sun. South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia.
Selected Grants
2019 Re-inventing the ‘gap year’: Establishing new forms of supportive communicationsbetween universities, regional students and parents Three-year funding of $500 000 from the Department of Education NSW
2019 Investigating the transition from pre-service teacher education to entry into the teaching profession with Associate Professor Jackie Manuel and Professor Robyn Ewing $22 000 approx.
2018 FASS Research External Engagement Accelerator - When History Met Drama: Creative pedagogies and the history of war $8000.
2018 Sydney Women’s Mentoring Program internally funded participation
2018 SSHARC Huddle Funding - Putting human rights practice in the spotlight; Teacher artists and theatre makers making change $2000 approx.
2017 COMPACT Funding University of Sydney - Integrating Human Rights into Initial Teacher Education Teaching Pedagogy $28 000
2015-2016 Embodying historical consciousness: History and drama in schools: International Program Development Fund (IPDF); The University of Sydney $11000 with Associate Professor Kelly Freebody, Professor Michael Anderson, Ms Catherine Smyth.
In the media
- Future Teachers Conference at The University of Sydney organised by Dr Alison Grove O'Grady and Dr Catherine Smyth. Why students are shunning education degrees and teachers are quitting the classroom. The Sydney Morning Herald, November 19, 2024.
- The arts helping transform education in regional Australia. Interview with 2GB Sydney. 08/11/2024
- 'Daring to do, when presence is absent', The Ignatian, Volume 37, 2024 edition
- Heartbeats for Xav – supporting research in sudden cardiac death in young people
- Art W**k podcast - Episode 69 on empathy and pedagogy
Podcast available on Apple.com.au
- Towards a pedagogy of empathy | CREATE Centre Research Project
- When drama met history. Teaching the history of war and commemoration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ePqa547VgM
- Wingara Murra Program
http://astar.tv/post/my-story-myself-role-playing-a-perfect-school/
'Towards a Pedagogy of Empathy', CREATE Centre presentation by Dr. Alison Grove O'Grady and Thomas De Angelis
Webinar #1 'Towards a pedagogy of empathy', Dr. Alison Grove O'Grady talks about her new book Pedagogy, Empathy and Praxis: Using Theatrical Traditions to Teach