About me
I’m Sean Kearney, Professor of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia. I teach, research, supervise doctoral candidates and write about education, universities and the sometimes absurd realities of professional life.
I’m originally from New York and have made Australia home. Before entering education, I served as an infantry sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and worked in a variety of jobs, including personal training, postal delivery, hospitality and the building trades. It wasn’t an obvious route into academia, but it has shaped how I think about work, institutions, learning and the people expected to make them function.
What I work on
My academic work spans assessment and learning in higher education, beginning teacher induction and mentoring, teacher education, educational leadership, inclusion and international service-learning. Over the course of my career I’ve held academic leadership and program coordination roles alongside teaching, research and doctoral supervision. My Research contains a selection of published scholarship, with links to journal articles and my ORCID record.
I’m also involved in the NSW Institute for Educational Research and the Dayamani Foundation, an organisation supporting educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities in India.
Why I write
I started this site with a straightforward concern: education ought to be about learning, not simply teaching, compliance or the latest reform. That concern hasn’t gone away. My writing now also looks more closely at academia itself — the work, incentives, leadership, careers and contradictions of university life.
You’ll find research-informed arguments here, but not institutional statements or a pretence of neutrality on every question. These are my personal views. Some will resonate; others should invite disagreement. I am particularly interested in the gap between what our systems claim to value and what they actually reward.
Start with the blog, explore Academic Life, or browse My Research. You can also find my university profile and ORCID profile.
