Dr Catherine Thiele is a teacher, lecturer, and researcher focused on contemporary studies of education policy and practice. Her current work particularly explores the data platformization of students and schools, as well as the datafication of teachers’ work and lives.
With a specific focus on affect theory and the affective intensities of teacher data relations, Catherine’s post-qualitative PhD research explores the affective capacity of student assessment data visualisations during teacher data relations. This body of work draws particular attention to how the materialisation of datafied measures of student knowledge/performance (data visualisations) is (re)shaping the roles and responsibilities of classroom teachers, particularly in relation to pedagogical responses, professional desires, subjectivity, and professional connections.
More broadly, Catherine’s research interests focus on contemporary studies of educational policy, the production and representation of knowledge, educational leadership, and school/university partnership practices. Across her teaching, engagement, and research work, Catherine seeks transformative and socially responsible practices to support schools, teachers, students, preservice teachers (particularly in regional, rural, and remote education), Initial Teacher Education programs, and school/university partnerships.
Catherine is part of the International Teacher Education Research Collective (@_ITERC). The work of this international group centres around exploring pressing issues and innovations within teacher education, ethics and policy, and education more broadly.
Professional Memberships/Fellowships
- Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
- 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
- 2024: Deans Outstanding Thesis Award (UniSC)
- 2024: UniSC Nominee for the Ray Debus doctoral thesis Award (AARE)
- 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
- Datafication and Platformization
- Data visualisations (digital platforms and data-walls)
- Teacher data relations
- Philosophy in Education
- Post qualitative inquiry / post structuralism
- Affect theory and affective pedagogies
- Educational policy in practice
- Regional, rural, and remote education and leadership
- Preservice teacher placement preparedness and experiences
Teaching areas
- Thiele, C. (2024). The affective intensities of teacher data relations: Student assessment data visualisations in/ as school-data-events [Doctoral dissertation, University of the Sunshine Coast]. http://doi.org/10.25907/00853
- Thiele, C., Black, A.L., Munge, B., Manathunga, C., Heimans, S., Schriever, V., Dwyer, V., Davidow, S. (2024). Playing with power and being played: Collaborative gameplay as a site of connection and insight. In Walker, A., Grimmett, H., & and Black, A.L. How games play us: Ludic inquiries into power and pedagogy. Routledge.
- Thiele, C., Casey, J., Eager, L., Simon, S. & Dole, S. (2024). Foregrounding Leadership Connectedness: A Preservice Teacher Preparation Program to Staff Australian Regional, Rural and Remote Schools. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 1–17. https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/article/view/744
- Willis, A., Thiele, C., Fox, R., Miller, A., McMaster, N., & Menzies, S. (2024). Educators unplugged: working and thinking in natural environments. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2024.2324795
- 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.
- 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.
Catherine's research seeks to gain deeper understandings about the impact of school-based assessment infrastructures, such as physical data-wells and electronic business intelligence tools, and the conversations that teachers have surrounding them (e.g. data-well conversations and planning).