Lucy Bennett

Lucy’s teaching career has spanned 20 years across the primary school sector. She initially commenced in the Catholic system and then moved to the Independent school sector for 15 years. Lucy undertook and completed a Master of Education at the University of Canberra in 2013.

Lucy has taught in schools across Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. She strongly values student well-being, along with implementing innovative and effective pedagogical approaches to stimulate and ignite student learning.

Lucy is passionate about sharing her experiences as an academic to current Pre-Service Teachers to support and inspire them. She believes that the role of a teacher should underpin values encompassing a sense of hope for students, while fostering and nurturing continuous self-learning. Teacher values and relationships are of utmost importance. The role of a teacher is to guide students and, in doing so, show them the path for a better future.

Lucy convenes and teaches units in the Science and Technology field at the University of Canberra. She was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship in 2022. Lucy’s line of research explores essential professional development elements needed to enhance teacher self-efficacy and effectiveness in STEM education across different career stages in Australian primary schools. Specifically, she investigates how Graduate, Proficient, and Highly Accomplished teachers (as defined by the AITSL framework, 2017) develop confidence and competence in STEM instruction, examining the knowledge, skills, and attributes they currently possess, the gaps and challenges they face in implementation, and the professional development experiences they require to succeed.