Tracy Durksen, B.A. (Hons), B.Ed., M.A., Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Educational Psychology in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Tracy’s research focuses on the psychological (non-academic) characteristics of effective teachers. She conducts research in areas of teacher education, professional learning, recruitment and selection. She is specifically interested in how non-academic characteristics can be measured and developed across career phases and teaching contexts. Tracy completed her doctoral studies at the University of Alberta in Canada before joining the School of Education for 3 years as a Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Educational Psychology Research Group. She currently has a lecturer position in the School of Education while continuing her program of research. Tracy’s research partnerships include a locally funded project with the NSW Department of Education on teacher success and an international collaboration with the Teacher Selection Project (York, UK). She is also interested in community-based research and evaluation, which currently includes a faculty-funded project on museum-based professional development programs for STEM teachers. She previously worked as a primary school teacher in Canada and is currently a program director of the School of Education’s new primary Master of Teaching program.