Professor Wayne Sawyer

• Qualifications  
• Honours and Awards
• Selected Publications 
• Contact  

Wayne Sawyer is the Head of Research in the School of Education. His research interests include:

• English and literacy education
• effective teaching in the secondary school
• educational policy.

Wayne is the Manager, curriculum and assessment, of the NSW English Teachers’ Association and a former editor of the journal, English In Australia. He is an experienced case study researcher. As part of larger teams, he has recently completed case study-based projects on effective teaching in the NSW HSC, effective teaching in Years 7-10, and on the motivation and engagement of boys. Wayne is a well known curriculum theorist in the area of English education. He has produced research reports for the NSW Board of Studies and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (co-authored) on major reviews of English curriculum in those states. He has edited or authored over 20 books on English teaching for audiences of school teachers and academics.

Professor Sawyer’s current funded research projects are:

• The Uses of the Bologna Process in the Internationalisation of Universities: A Comparative Study (funded by UWS, with Prof Michael Singh).
• Engaging Middle Years Boys in Rural Educational Settings (funded by the NSW DET, with Assoc Prof Geoff Munns, Dr Mary Mooney, Dr Bronwyn Cole, Dr Anne Powers and Dr Katina Zammit)
• Evaluation study of the impact of professional learning on teacher capacity in implementing curriculum planning and assessment frameworks (COGS) (funded by the NSW DET, with Assoc Prof Christine Johnston and Dr Debra Costley)
• Teachers For a Fair Go, a study of teachers who “make a difference” through engaging students who live in poverty (funded by the ARC and the NSWDET, with Assoc Prof Geoff Munns and a large team from the School of Education)
• The efficacy of IELTS in choosing potentially successful students for teacher education courses. What is an appropriate score? (funded by IELTS Australia, with Prof Michael Singh)

Qualifications

BA Hons (Sydney), DipEd (Sydney), MA Hons (Sydney), MEd (Sydney), PhD (UWS)

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Honours and Awards

Honorary Life Member, NSW English Teachers’ Association.

NSW Professional Teachers’ Council award for outstanding service to professional associations.

NSW Institute of Educational Research award for outstanding doctoral thesis.

NSW Minister for Education and Training and Australian College of Education Quality Teaching award for university teaching.

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Selected Publications
Books

Sawyer, W., Brock, P. & Baxter, D. (2007) Exceptional outcomes in English education: Findings from AESOP, Teneriffe: Post Pressed.

Doecke, B., Howe, M. & Sawyer, W. (eds) (2006) Only Connect: English Teaching, Schooling and Community, Kent Town, SA: AATE/Wakefield Press.

Belanger, J. & Sawyer, W. (2006)Investigating Language. Melbourne: Phoenix Education.

Nibbs, J. & Sawyer, W. (2006) Shakespeare’s World: Teacher Resource Book, Melbourne: Phoenix Education.

Sawyer, W. & Gold, E. (eds) (2004) Reviewing English in the 21st Century, Melbourne: Phoenix Education.

Ayres, P., Dinham, S. & Sawyer W. (2000) Successful Senior Secondary Teaching: Quality Teaching Series #1, Deakin, ACT : Australian College of Education.

Chapters

Sawyer, W. (forthcoming) English in Australia and New Zealand, in D. Wyse, R. Andrews & J. Hoffman (eds), The International Handbook of English, Language and Literacy Teaching. London and New York: Routledge.

Sawyer, W. (2005) Becoming a New New Critic, in B. Doecke, & G. Parr (eds) Writing=learning, Kent Town, SA: AATE /Wakefield Press.

Journal Articles

Doecke, B., Green, B., Kostogriz, A., Reid, J. & Sawyer, W (2007) Knowing practice in English teaching? Research challenges in representing the professional practice of English teachers, English teaching: Practice and critique, 6 (3), December, 4-21.

Sawyer, W. (2007) New/small news in the English curriculum, English in Australia, 42 (3), 43-54.

Sawyer, W. (2007) The powerfully literate citizen, English in Australia, 42 (2), 44-47.

Sawyer, W., Woodrow, C., Singh, M., Downes, T., Johnston, C., & Whitton, D. (2007) Robust hope and teacher education policy, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35 (3), 227-42.

Sawyer, W. (2006) The condition of music: The aesthetic turn in English, English in Australia, 41 (2), 27-34.

Baxter, D. & Sawyer, W. (2006) Whole school literacy success against the odds Literacy learning: The middle years. 14 (2), 9-17.

Dinham, S. & Sawyer, W. (2004) Mobility and highly effective teachers: re-visiting beliefs about 'over-stayers', in Pedagogies, policies and politics of mobility: Melbourne studies in education, 45 (2), November, 83-97.

Ayres, P., Sawyer, W. & Dinham, S. (2004) Effective teaching in the context of a Grade 12 high stakes external examination in New South Wales, Australia, British Educational Research Journal. 30 (1), February, 142-165.

Ayres, P., Dinham, S. & Sawyer, W. (1999) What makes a good HSC teacher?, Education network, 16, December, 8-15.

Reports

Munns, G., Arthur, L., Downes, T., Gregson, R., Power, A., Sawyer, W., Singh, M., Thistleton-Martin, J. & Steele, F. (2006) Motivation and engagement of boys: Evidence-based teaching practices : A report submitted to the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training.

Meiers, M. & Sawyer, W. (2004) Essential Learning Prep to Year 10 English Curriculum Area: A discussion paper prepared in July 2004 for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority as theoretical background for development of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

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Contact

>>Contact Professor Wayne Sawyer