Chad Morrison is Associate Professor and Director of Initial Teacher Education within the Graduate School of Education at The University of Western Australia. Chad comes from a primary teaching background and has held leadership roles within initial teacher education in Australian universities. His research focuses on teacher preparation (including work-integrated learning, managing learning environments, teaching performance assessments), teachers' work (including policy and practice) and teachers' lives (including teacher identity, resilience and wellbeing).  

Chad Morrison is Director of Initial Teacher Education within the Graduate School of Education at The University of Western Australia. This role builds on his experiences as a primary school teacher, teacher educator and educational researcher across various Australian contexts, schools and universities. Chad's research focuses on effective teacher preparation, including innovative pedagogies, responsive curriculum and conducive professional practice. He is interested in innovative and creative pedagogies and evidence-based practices that strengthen teaching and learning for contemporary classrooms. This incorporates explorations of the types of partnerships that exist between schools and universities that underpin quality initial teacher education; effective approaching to preparing pre-service teachers to manage learning environments and to meet the needs and aspirations of diverse learners; equitable access to learning for all students; conducive professional placement activities (work-integrated learning) that strengthen connections between theory and practice; and, assessment and feedback (including teaching performance assessments) to strengthen how pre-service teachers understand their own professional growth.

In addition to this focus on quality preparation, Chad's research examines issues related to teachers' work and lives. He is interested in educational policy, industrial conditions and organisational matters and contexts that shape teaching. He is keenly interested in the ways teachers develop personal and professional identities as teachers, the experiences and challenges of early career teaching and the resilience they require to navigate their work. Chad sees teacher wellbeing as underpinning these related fields of inquiry and fundamental to the ways we prepare, develop and retain teachers across career phases.