July 29, 2015

Mother and daughter dedicated to quality education

Ann and her daughter Claire Rogerson happened to graduate during the same ceremony in July 2015, despite pursuing their studies under different faculties.

Having completed her Honours, Claire is moving straight in to do her PhD and has a clear view of where she’s going.

While her Honours focused on how school teachers teach music, her PhD will focus on how students learn music. Her desire to understand and promote music education can be tied to her own experience as a young student at a private school in Darlinghurst, Sydney.

“I had great teachers at school and I attribute my desire to teach to them and I want to continue with their good work in public schools,” Claire said.

“I went to private school and was privileged to have music all the way through primary school and high school every week for 40 minutes twice a week. Many children don’t have that now,” she added.

Music is known to contribute to emotional, social and cognitive growth. According to Music Australia, however, 63 per cent of primary schools and 34 per cent of secondary schools offer no classroom music.

“Many people just haven't learnt how to teach [music education] ... I really want to show teachers how simple it can be.”

Claire said she sought out UOW to do her primary education degree because of its reputation; she was pleased also to find a number of academics on hand to help her find her feet as a researcher and write academic papers. Her mother, though, remains her primary source of inspiration.

“Seeing my mother do her PhD really inspired me. It’s been seven years in the making for mum. If she can do it, I can do it too.”

Ann Rogerson is a lecturer in organisational behaviour in the Faculty of Business and a course director for the Master of Business program, drawing on years of experience working in industry.

Her Doctor of Business Administration thesis, Accommodating demographic differences in managerial face-to-face conversations in Australian workplaces, addresses how differences need to be accommodated in order to achieve effective communication outcomes and limit the influence of subjective biases and stereotypes.

Though it’s not her primary field of expertise, Ann also conducts research in the area of academic integrity, understanding how and why students may cheat.

“It’s about trying to engage students in learning and the benefits they will have in actually doing the work themselves.”