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Lecturer
National School of Education
Areas of expertise: literacy education; teacher development; educational leadership; community-engaged and place-based education; rural education; sociocultural theory; qualitative research; school-university-industry partnerships
Phone: +61 3 9953 3821
Email: Ondine.Bradbury@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Melbourne Campus
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Supervisor (Full)
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5217-8313
Ondine Bradbury is an education academic and researcher whose work focuses on literacy, educational leadership, and teacher development across school and university contexts. She is a Lecturer in Literacy in initial teacher education and has held curriculum leadership and academic advising roles supporting preservice teachers and early-career educators across primary, secondary, and early childhood settings. Her research is grounded in sociocultural and relational traditions. Across this work, Ondine conceptualises professional development and leadership not as linear or transactional, but as relational and context responsive.
Ondine is deeply engaged in community-based, place-responsive research, particularly in non-metro and underrepresented community contexts. Her work foregrounds ethical reciprocity, co-creation, and partnership with practitioners, schools, and community organisations. Her work positioning community members as co-educators and co-explorers of the research. Her scholarship spans literacy education, teacher development, educational leadership, and STEM, and she is published across national and international journals.
Alongside her research, Ondine contributes as a teacher educator through research-led teaching, curriculum design, and the support of preservice and early-career teachers. She is an active contributor to academic service and research leadership and is committed to scholarship that is rigorous, relational, and oriented toward more equitable, just, and meaningful educational futures.
Bradbury, O., & Carabott, K. (2026). Storytelling and literacy practices in community: Bringing together place, people and texts [Preprint]. Research Square.
Bradbury, O., Fish, T., Fuqua, M., Larsen, A., & O’Donovan, R. (2025). ‘Selling’ the rural to pre-service teachers: The role of marketing in rural placement programs. The Australian Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-025-00940-3
Young, K., Bradbury, O., & McKenzie, S. (2025). PRISE: An explorative study of a workplace-based work-integrated learning data schema prototype. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 26(4), 801–815.
Byth, A., Nash, M., Bradbury, O., Fitzgerald, A., White, S., & Kardaris , E. (2025). Beyond window shopping: Using stakeholder narratives to inform the design and impact of Australian non-metropolitan teacher placements. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 1–18.
Bradbury, O., & Fitzgerald, A. (2025). Experiences of mentor teachers in supporting pre-service teachers’ professional growth and development using conversation and professional standards. Education Process: International Journal, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.22521/edupij.2025.14.5
Leach, T., & Bradbury, O. (2024). Equipping teachers for success in rural communities: Unveiling the key characteristics and attributes of thriving rural teachers. Education Sciences, 14(12), 1384. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14121384
Nash, M., Bradbury, O., & Fitzgerald, A. (2024). Understanding the perspectives of a teacher educator and pre-service teachers toward an immersive stem experience. Future in Educational Research, 3(1), 48–66. https://doi.org/10.1002/fer3.53
Fitzgerald, A., Davis, K., Leach, T., Martin, N., Dunlop, S., & Bradbury, O. J. (2024). Exploring provider perspectives of the STEM club landscape: Findings from one Australian state. International Journal of Science Education. Part B. Communication and Public Engagement, 15(2), 244–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2024.2375010
Fish, T., Bradbury, O., O’Donovan, R., Larsen, A., & Komarzynski, L. (2024). ‘I do plan to do that in the future, just not the near future’: Rural professional experience programs and pre-service teacher graduate destination preferences. Australian Educational Researcher, 52(1), 431–447. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-024-00722-3
Nicholas, M., Skourdoumbis, A., & Bradbury, O. (2024). Meeting the needs and potentials of high-ability, high-performing, and gifted students via differentiation. The Gifted Child Quarterly, 68(2), 154–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/00169862231222225
Rashleigh, M., Bradbury, O. & Pfeiffer, L. (2023). Using ‘real-world’ robotics competitions to support digital technology implementation: impacts of professional development. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. 23, 559–571. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-023-00298-7
Fitzgerald, A., & Bradbury, O. J. (2023). Bringing the learning home: Examining the course-level impact of international professional experience. International Education Studies, 16(3), 31. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v16n3p31
Fitzgerald, A., & Bradbury, O. J. (2023). Teacher educators’ learnings from change and growth in new educational contexts: Understanding identity, belonging and purpose. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51(1), 15–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2022.2124148
Bradbury, O., Fitzgerald, A., & O’Connor, J. (2020). Supporting pre-service teachers in becoming reflective practitioners using conversation and professional standards. The Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 45(10), 18–34. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2020v45n10.2
Bradbury, O. J., & Acquaro, D. (Eds). (2022). School-university partnerships: Innovation in initial teacher education. Springer.
Acquaro, D., Bradbury, O.J. (Eds). (2023). International Perspectives on School-University Partnerships. Springer.
Bradbury, O., Lux, N., & Fish, T. (in press). Two hemispheres, shared questions: Ethical tensions of working with rural community and “for” the university. In Ethics of place: Navigating critical issues in rural research. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bradbury, O., & Bunn, G. (in press). From global experiences to local classrooms: Understanding the teacher self through international professional experiences. In M. Winslade, L. McCarthy, W. Boyd, & S. Bowker (Eds.), Exploring international university immersion programs: Researching impactful experiences. Springer.
Nash, M., Bradbury, O., Fitzgerald, A. (2025). Nurturing tomorrow's STEM educators: Immersive experiences for primary generalist pre-service teachers. In Earle, S., Preston, C., Georgiou, H., Fitzgerald, A. (Eds.) Primary Science Learning for Children, Teachers, and Communities. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-0561-6_7
Larsen, A., Bradbury, O. (2024). Examining strategies to support teacher self-efficacy when working with diverse student groups: A scoping literature review. In: Burke, J., Cacciattolo, M., Toe, D. (Eds). Inclusion and Social Justice in Teacher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67612-3_5
Pfeiffer, L., Bradbury, O. (2023). The ‘science experience’: Using situated learning theory to connect science in everyday life for Year 9 and Year 10 students in regional Australia through an outside-the-classroom science program. In: Patrick, P.G. (Ed). How People Learn in Informal Science Environments. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13291-9_3
Pfeiffer, L., Bradbury, O.J., Tabone, K., Rashleigh, M. (2023). Stimulating Australian STEM education in regional Queensland through a novel school–university–industry partnership. In: Acquaro, D., Bradbury, O.J. (Eds). International Perspectives on School-University Partnerships. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0807-3_8
Fitzgerald, A., Bradbury, O., Leach, T. (2021). It takes a village: Using communities of practice as a framework for reflecting on rural and regional professional experience opportunities. In: White, S., Downey, J. (Eds). Rural Education Across the World. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6116-4_2
Bradbury, O. J., Stewart, T., Barker, A., & Rowe, J. (2021). Building pre-service teacher capabilities through remote and flexible placement: A new narrative. In M. J. Hernández-Serrano (Ed). Teacher education in the 21st century: Emerging skills for a changing world. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96468
Bradbury, O.J. (2018). Back to the future: A journey of becoming a professional practice consultant. In: Fitzgerald, A., Parr, G., Williams, J. (Eds). Re-imagining Professional Experience in Initial Teacher Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0815-4_11
Work Integrated Learning in Practice (WIL in Practice) Editor in Chief 2021-current
Celebrating community through creative picture book
Bairnsdale Advertiser 18 December 2025
https://bairnsdaleadvertiser.com.au/16523/celebrating-community-through-creative-picture-book/
I do plan to do that in the future, just not the near future (2024)
Tim Fish and Ondine Bradbury examines pre-service teachers (PSTs) from two Australian universities regarding their involvement in rural professional experience (PE) placements and their potential impact on future career choices.
https://faculti.net/i-do-plan-to-do-that-in-the-future-just-not-the-near-future