Nan Bahr

Professor Nan Bahr is currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Students) and Dean of Education at Southern Cross University. She has held senior academic roles including Dean of Learning and Teaching at Griffith University and Associate Dean at Queensland University of Technology. Her career spans over 20 years in higher education and 15 years in secondary school teaching.

Education:

• PhD in Education (University of Queensland, 2000)
• MEd (University of Queensland, 1998)
• GradCertHE (Griffith University, 2018)
• BEd (Brisbane College of Advanced Education, 1996)
• BMus (University of Adelaide, 1986)
• BA in Psychology and Biology (Flinders University, 1982)

Research Focus: Her work centers on teacher education, higher education pedagogy, and curriculum development. She advocates for functional literacy/numeracy standards for teachers and critiques standardized testing regimes like NAPLAN for their classroom impact.

Key Contributions:

• Developed evidence-based frameworks for senior school subject selection
• Debated teacher certification reforms, emphasizing literacy/numeracy proficiency
• Championed alternatives to NAPLAN for real-time student assessment