Catherine is a teacher, lecturer, and researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Since beginning her career in Education over 20 years ago, Catherine has taught in primary schools and tertiary institutions.
Catherine’s research seeks to gain deeper understandings about the impact of school-based assessment infrastructures, such as physical data-walls and electronic business intelligence tools, and the conversations that teachers have surrounding them (eg; data-wall conversations and planning).
Previously (2017-2021), Catherine held the leadership position of the Professional Experience Coordinator for the School of Education and Tertiary Access. During this time, she supported partnerships between education-based learning environments, the University and pre-service teachers. Such partnerships saw the placement of 1200+ pre-service teachers for their Professional Experience (PEx), involving hundreds of learning sites, including many regional, rural, and remote school locations.
Professional Memberships
- Australian Association Research Education (AARE)
- Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA)
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre Member (ITRC)
- International Teacher Education Research Collective (ITERC)
- Mathematics Education Research Group Australasia (MERGA)
Professional Social Media
Awards and Scholarships
- 2019 “Australian Rural Education Award” Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA) USC School of Education
Catherine's research draws on theories of affect to experiment with how datafied measures of student knowledge/performance are (re)shaping the roles and responsibilities of classroom teachers, particularly in relation to affective intensities, pedagogical responses, professional desires, subjectivity, and human and more-than-human connections.
Catherine’s PhD is titled “The affective intensities of effective measures: shifting the conversation around standardised data visualisations in schools”. Her other research interests include transformative and socially responsible practices informing teacher professional development, pre-service teacher preparation (particularly for regional, rural and remote education) and mathematics education.
Research Grants:
| Grant/Project name | Investigators | Funding Body & A$ value | Years(s) | Focus (of research grant) |
| The contribution of partnerships-powered and peer-supported leadership strategies to attract and retain preservice teachers in Far North Queensland | Catherine Thiele, Sue Simon, Shelley Dole (UniSC) | Department of Education ($54,100) | 2021-2023 | Investigate the leadership strategies of the Kelvin Grove Teacher Enhancement Centre (KGTECe) and Far North Queensland (FNQ) school leaders in attracting high quality graduate teachers to FNQ. |
Research areas
- The affective intensities of school-based standardised data
- Data(-wall) conversations and practices
- Regional, rural and remote education and leadership
- Pre-service teacher placement preparedness and rural and remote experiences
- Tensions between academic performance and student wellbeing
- Mathematics (mental computation) in primary schools
Teaching areas
- Placement: Orientation to Teaching and Learning
- Teaching Primary School Mathematics
- Teaching Primary School Mathematics
- Thiele, C., Casey, J., Simon, S., & Dole, S. (2023). Place Consciousness and School Leaders’ Intentionality as Partnership Imperatives: Supporting the Recruitment of Quality Graduate in Regional, Rural and Remote Schools. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 33(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v33i1.350
- Willis, A., Grainger, P., Thiele, C., Simon, S., Menzies, S., & Dwyer, R. (2023). The benefits and pitfalls of social media for teachers’ agency and wellbeing. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2023.2210585
- Thiele, C., Simon, S., Dole, P., Eager, L. & Casey, J. (2022). The contribution of partnerships-powered and peer-supported leadership strategies to attract and retain preservice teachers in Far North Queensland. Final Report. Sunshine Coast, the University of the Sunshine Coast.
- Thiele, C., Heimans, S., Manathunga, C., Barry, S., Cherry-Smith, B., Farrelly, K., Grogan, T., Kemble, R., & McIlwain, L. (2022). Collective, vulnerable, nascent (post) qualitative inquiry-writing. The Qualitative Report, 27(5), 1196-1205. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5623
- Thiele, C., Dole, S., & Carmichael, P. (2021). An EVERY-day approach to teaching number facts. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom Journal. 26(2), 9-13
- Munge, B., Black, A., Heck, D., Manathunga, C., Davidow, S., Thiele, C., Dwyer, R., Heimans, S., & Schriever, V. (2021). Thinking (now) out of place? Scripting and performing collective dissent inside the corporatized university. Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, 21(5), 413-423 https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol27/iss5/4/
- Willis, A., Thiele, C., Dwyer, R., Grainger, P., & Simon, S. (2021).The pressing need to raise the status of the teaching profession: the launch story of the Teachers of Australia social media campaign. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46(2), 16-28 http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2021v46n2.2
- Hudson, S., Young, K., Thiele, C., & Hudson, P. (2021). Preparing preservice teachers for rural and remote schools: Is classroom readiness enough? International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Science, 6(9), 82-94 https://ijahss.net/assets/files/1631390722.pdf
- Willis, A., Grainger, P., Menzies, S., Dwyer, R., Simon, S., & Thiele, C. (2020). The Role of Teachers in Mitigating Student Stress to Progress Learning. Australian Journal of Education, 65 (2). 123-138 https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944120982756
- Thiele, C. (2020). A Review of Laurel Richardson’s “Lone Twin: A True Story of Loss and Found”. Art Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, 5(2), 562-566, doi.org/10.18432/ari29534
- Hudson, S., Young, K., Thiele, C., & Hudson, P. (2020). An Exploration of Preservice Teachers’ Readiness for Teaching in Rural and Remote Schools. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 30(3), 51-68. https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/article/view/280
- Thiele, C., Dole, S., Carmichael, P., Simpson, J., & O'Toole, C. (2019). Teaching number fact and computational fluency: teachers’ perceptions and impact upon practice. In G. Hine, S. Blackley, & A. Cooke (Eds.). Mathematics Education Research: Impacting Practice (Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia), pp. 715-722. Perth: MERGA
- Grainger, P., Steffler, R., de Villiers Scheepers, M. J., Thiele, C., & Dole, S. (2019). Student negotiated learning, student agency and General Capabilities in the 21st Century: The DeLorean Project. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46(3), 425-447; doi:10.1007/s13384-018-0287-6
- Dole, S., Carmichael, P., Thiele, C., Simpson, J. & O’Toole, C. (2018) Fluency with number facts – Responding to the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. In Hunter, J., Perger, P., & Darragh, L. (Eds.). Making waves, opening spaces (Proceedings of the 41st annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia) pp. 266-273. Auckland: MERGA
- Dole, S., Carmichael, P., Thiele, C., Simpson, J. & O’Toole, C. (2018). Fluency with number facts in Year 3 and Year 4, Final Report. Sunshine Coast, the University of the Sunshine Coast.