Ms Nerissa Albon - Researcher Profile

Nerissa Albon

Address

Monash University
Wellington Road, Clayton

Biography

Nerissa works in the Faculty of Education (Gippsland) as a lecturer. She teaches in the areas of children's learning and Arts Education.

Nerissa gained a position at Monash University in the Faculty of Education after 15 years as a Primary school teacher plus 15 years as a school Principal. Her interests focus on Arts Education and the transformative power of interpreting experiences through the creation of visual art experiences.

Nerissa moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2007 to work as a Management Advisor in a Muslim girls school 90 minutes drive from Dubai. Here she developed an interest in the processes and myths surrounding school reform. She has developed a crytical approach to the neoliberal agenda that has privileged a Western epistemology and is currently writing about her experiences in the Middle East in her PhD. This auto/ethnographic study has allowed her to gain knowledge pertaining to the school reform agenda on a global level and to critique the imposition of a Western curriculum in a Middle Eastern school system. Nerissa is exploring some of her lived experiences through art.

Nerissa is a member of the Arts Faculty Research Group and has gained two small grants while working with a colleague from the Peninsula campus. She takes her education students to a local school that has an exemplary Arts program and has just completed a large grant application along with several of the local Primary Schools. She has also developed a rural/remote optional placement program for third year students to allow them to experience teaching and living in small communities in East Gippland during a three week placement in small schools.

Research & Supervision Interests

  • Cross cultural issues in education. Particular interest in education in the Middle East (UAE)
  • Teacher Education.

Qualifications

MASTERS OF EDUCATION STUDIES
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 1995
BACHELOR OF EDUCATION
Institution: Western Australia College of Adult Education
Year awarded: 1988

Publications

Journal Articles

De Vries, P.A., Albon, N., 2012, Taking responsibility for music education in the primary school: A case study, Victorian Journal of Music Education [P], vol 1, Australian Society for Music Education (ASME), Australia, pp. 3-11.

Collins, S.M., Whyte, S.J., Green, M.M., Vella, K., Crinall, S., Dent, F., Foley, A., Potts, M., Oates, C., Peterken, C., Albon, N., Howard, M., 2012, The person in the tree: shared writings from space, place, body, Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology [P], vol 3, issue 2, Hoegskolen i Oslo og Akershus, Oslo Norway, pp. 56-70.

Conference Proceedings

Albon, N., 2009, Beyond the Abaya: School reform in the Middle East, ATEA 2009 Conference, 26 June - 1 July 2009, Australian Teacher Education Association, http://atea.edu.au, pp. 1-17.

Dyson, M.D., Albon, N., Hutchinson, S., 2007, Can we improve it? Pre-sevice teacher education, minimising the negative issues of beginning teachers, Proceedings of the 2007 Australian Teacher Education Association National Conference, 3rd July 2007 to 6th July 2007, Australian Teacher Education Association, Wollongong NSW, pp. 2-14.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
An Investigation into the implementation of Open Plan Learning in Secondary Schools.
Supervisors:
Plunkett, M (Main), Albon, N (Associate).
Program of Study:
(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Role of Principals and their Preparedness in a 21st Century School.
Supervisors:
Albon, N (Joint), Dorman, J (Joint-co).