Biography
Dr Jo Smith is a senior lecturer in the Graduate Research School, where she works in the Research Skills Training space. Prior to joining Federation, Jo was at University of Oregon and the University of Auckland. At both universities, she led the Doctor of Education programmes and taught into the Masters of Education programmes, in addition to supervising HDR students.
Jo’s research explores the links between education policy, leadership, and the improvement of schools and school systems. She has conducted qualitative and mixed methods studies in the US and New Zealand contexts, most recently investigating the potential of virtual reality to increase teachers’ empathy for Māori students in order to change teachers’ beliefs and behaviours.
Jo started her career as a secondary English and ESL teacher at King Khalid Islamic College of Victoria in North Coburg, where she was inspired by her students’ curiosity and passion for learning. Before her own journey abroad, she studied English literature at Haverford College, a Quaker university in Pennsylvania, where she learned the value of deep listening, respect for divergent viewpoints, and treating others with kindness.
More about Jo
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts (English literature), Haverford College
- Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary English and ESL), University of Melbourne
- Doctor of Philosophy (Education Policy and Administration), University of Southern California
Areas of interest
- Education policy formulation
- Education policy implementation
- Education equity
- Organisational behaviour
- Education systems improvement
Areas of expertise
Jo’s research and teaching are tightly connected by a focus on the policy process in education, most notably the policy implementation phase, with a view that how an issue is defined, what mechanisms draw the issue onto the policy agenda, and how the written policy document is ultimately formulated (and reformulated) before it is adopted determines the extent to which a policy will be implemented as intended.
Grants
- Using Virtual Reality to combat racial bias: Immersing teachers into their Māori students' worlds, Principal Investigator, Funder: Royal Society New Zealand Marsden Fund (NZ$861,000)
- Digitalization of School Governance: A Comparative Study of School Governance between China and New Zealand, Principal Investigator, Funder: Education New Zealand NZ-CHINA Tripartite Partnership Fund (NZ$30,000)
- Combatting bias in schools: A Kaupapa Māori study into students’ experiences of racism by Māori, with Māori, for the benefit of Māori, Associate Investigator, Funder: Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga Matakite (NZ$59,980.19)
- Growing an International Research Collaboration to Combat Systemic Bias in Aotearoa New Zealand Schools, co-Principal Investigator, Funder: RSNZ Catalyst Seeding Grant (NZ$69,682)
- March 2019-July 2021, Evaluating Entrepreneurial Activity in Rural Oregon, Co-Principal Investigator, Funder: Meyer Memorial Trust (USD$56,726)
Current
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Towards a Conceptual Model for International Student Recruitment in New Zealand State Secondary Schools’, main supervisor.
- EdD student, University of Auckland, ‘Parent Involvement in Mathematics: A Design-Based Research Project,’ co-supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Comparing school meal programme policies in Cambodia and New Zealand: The roles of local implementing agents in different governance contexts’, main supervisor.
- EdD student, University of Auckland, ‘New Zealand Policy on Teaching Writing: Teacher Perceptions’, co-supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Bridging Cultures: A Comparative Case Study Analysis of Culturally Responsive School Leadership Policy in Malaysia and New Zealand Schools’, main supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Staff Perceptions of School-wide Mental Health Policies Across Secondary Schools in Auckland, New Zealand’, co-supervisor.
Past
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Assessing the Applicability of Kingdon's Multiple Streams Model in Contemporary Policy Agenda-Setting: Identifying Shortcomings and Proposing Modifications for Enhanced Relevance’, main supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘The Evolution and Enactment of Critical Thinking Policy Initiatives in the Chinese Education Context’, main supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Tikanga Māori, Education Law and the context of schooling in Aotearoa, New Zealand’, main supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘An Exploration of the Education Inequity of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Students in Nanjing, China’, main supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Auckland, ‘Tikanga Māori, Education Law and the context of schooling in Aotearoa, New Zealand’, main supervisor.
- Education policy
- Organisational theory
- Education leadership
- Research methods
- Research proposals
Professional association memberships
- American Educational Research Association. Member 2002–present
- Association for Education Finance and Policy. Member 2012–2020
- International Council on Education for Teaching. Member 2017–present; Board Member 2020–present
- New Zealand Association for Research in Education. Member 2020–present
As an education policy scholar, Jo couples academic peer-reviewed publications with the creation of policy briefs to disseminate findings beyond academic audiences. This has included working with the United Stated Department of Education’s Federal Leadership Institute to publish a series of policy briefs and the US-based advocacy group Center for American Progress. In New Zealand, Jo worked with University of Auckland’s Public Policy Institute to turn an academic article about the relative attentiveness of postgraduate students in Zoom-based compared to in person or hybrid classes into a policy brief. Jo has also translated research findings into actionable ideas through blogposts.