Dr Peter O'Brien
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education
Biography
Dr Peter O'Brien lectures in the sociology of education and policy in undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the Faculty of Education, QUT. His intellectual interests include governmentality, advanced liberalism, and the work of Michel Foucault. His research interests and publications centre on the rationalities, policies, and practices of professional standards and standardizing, professional learning, and performance management. Dr O'Brien is currently the Academic Programs Director (Initial Teacher Education) within the Faculty of Education, QUT.Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education
Keywords
Sociology of Education, Educational Policy, Governmentality
Research field
Specialist Studies in Education, Cultural Studies, Sociology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- MEdSt (University of Queensland)
- GDTeach(Sec) (Brisbane College of Adv. Ed.)
- BA (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
Member, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
Teaching
Dr Peter O'Brien teaches in the sociology of education and policy in the Master of Teaching, Master of Education, and Bachelor of Education programs in the Faculty of Education, QUT.
Experience
Dr Peter O'Brien is an experienced teacher educator and former secondary school teacher and Head of Department. He maintains close links with the teaching profession through a number of professional, personal-professional, and work-related avenues.
Publications
- O'Brien, P., (2018). The adaptive professional: Teachers, school leaders and ethical-governmental practices of (self-) formation. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(3), 229–243. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/222980
- O'Brien, P., (2015). Performance Government: Activating and regulating the self-governing capacities of teachers and school leaders. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(8), 833–847. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/74726
- O'Brien, P. & O'Brien, E. (2014). Corporatizing the 'intellectual machinery' of government: the case of educational policy in Australia. Journal of Strategic and International Studies, 9(6), 66–72. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/79156
- O'Brien, P., Osbaldiston, N. & Kendall, G. (2014). ePortfolios and eGovernment: From technology to the entrepreneurial self. Educational Philosophy And Theory, 46(3), 284–295. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/49654
- O'Brien, P., (2012). The standard bearers: Governing teachers through professional standards. Emerging and enduring inequalities: Proceedings of The Australian Sociological Association Annual Conference 2012, 1–8. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/55242
- O'Brien, P. & Osbaldiston, N. (2010). ePortfolios and preservice teachers: governing at a distance through non-human actors. In A. Ragusa (Ed.), Interaction in Communication Technologies and Virtual Learning Environments: Human Factors (pp. 170–192). Information Science Reference. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31215
- Meadmore, D., Burnett, B. & O'brien, P. (1999). Understanding Education: contexts and Agendas for the New Millenium. Prentice Hall.
- McWilliam, E. & O'brien, P. (1999). Johnathan Livingstone, I Presume: Teaching asa 'High-flying' Profession. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 95–105.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Peter, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Parenting-For-Schooling: An Institutional Ethnography on Parenting Practices in Support of Schooling
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Nerida Spina, Professor Gordon Tait