Margaret Kristin Merga
Biographic Data
| ID | 7249727 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Margaret Kristin Merga |
| GIVEN NAMES | Margaret Kristin |
| FAMILY NAME | Merga |
| SIGNATURE | MERGA M K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Edith Cowan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9009-3700 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Beyond doctoral completions
To reach the position of associate professor in Australian universities through internal promotion, aspiring academics need to demonstrate specific experience, knowledge and skills typically associated with teaching, research and service. Within the research component, beyond quantifying attainment of higher degree by research student completions, the researcher development role that is expected to achieve promotion to associate professor has bee…
Working on scorched earth
Organisational autoethnographers in higher education weave compelling stories to connect their personal experiences to phenomena, often to illuminate or challenge extant norms in the culture and leadership of universities. While much has been written about the strengths and limitations of this method, there are emerging risks that may be poorly understood. While some autoethnographies in higher education have already led to unfavourable professio…
“An uphill battle”
Reading engagement influences students’ literacy attainment. School library professionals provide resources, environments and guidance to promote reading for pleasure, but little is known about how this role is currently supported or challenged. Drawing on mixed methods survey responses from 971 school library professionals from 63 countries, integrated findings suggest that younger students had greater access to the library, and that limiting ac…
What kind of English teacher do they want? Learning area-specific role preferences and requirements in Australian non-government school job advertisements
In addition to aligning with context-specific expectations of policymakers, initial teacher education of secondary English teachers can consider schools’ needs. Furthermore, schools may decrease attrition when they recruit teachers who meet their role requirements. To explore the learning area-specific role preferences and requirements of Australian non-government schools, a hybrid content analysis of N = 130 job advertisements was undertaken. Fi…
Effect sizes of writing modality on K-6 students’ writing and reading performance
Communicating research in academia and beyond
There is an increasing expectation that early career researchers (ECRs) be active in communicating their research to diverse audiences both within and beyond academia. However, with limited time and an academic environment that disproportionately values certain research outputs over others, ECRs may struggle to build their expertise and confidence in communicating research to a diverse array of audiences. Applying self-efficacy theory as a framew…
School leadership and whole-school support of struggling literacy learners in secondary schools
The needs of struggling literacy learners beyond the early years of schooling warrant greater attention. For struggling literacy learners to attain their academic, vocational, and social goals, schools should position literacy as a whole school priority and enhance opportunities for student literacy learning across all learning areas. However, it is not known if literacy is typically supported as a whole school commitment in contemporary secondar…
Early career researchers’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of sharing research with academic and non-academic end-users
Contemporary early career researchers (ECRs) must share their research findings with both academic and non-academic audiences in order to advance their careers. With university organisational factors potentially both demanding and inhibiting ECR research dissemination, more needs to be known about ECRs’ perceptions and experiences of the benefits and challenges of sharing research for diverse audiences. This article investigates ECRs’ perceptions…
Do secondary English teachers have adequate time and resourcing to meet the needs of struggling literacy learners
As struggling Australian students may not typically receive additional support beyond the mainstream English classroom, more needs to be understood about the staffing and resourcing challenges that may impede secondary English teachers seeking to support these students. Data from the 2019 Supporting Struggling Secondary Literacy Learners project are explored, presenting views from N = 315 Australian secondary English teachers. Respondents disagre…
Institutional and supervisory support for the Thesis by Publication
The Thesis by Publication is garnering increasing interest across nations and disciplines. However, more needs to be learned about institutional and supervisory support for this thesis mode to ensure that doctoral candidates pursuing this approach enjoy the best possible outcomes. This paper draws on data from 246 recent successful doctoral candidates who took part in the 2018–2019 PhD candidates’ motivations, experiences, and opinions of the the…
School librarians supporting students’ reading for pleasure
Reading for pleasure is an undervalued but highly beneficial practice conferring a range of educative and socio-emotional advantages. School librarians may play a key role in supporting reading for pleasure and associated literature advocacy; however, relatively little is known about how reading for pleasure may be valued within the job description of contemporary school librarians. It cannot be assumed that reading for pleasure is positioned as …
Teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness for supporting struggling literacy learners in secondary English classrooms
The initial and ongoing professional education of teachers to prepare them to support students’ literacy development warrants research attention. The importance of meeting the needs of struggling literacy learners in secondary school does not diminish as students move through the years of schooling. This paper reports on data from the 2019 Supporting Struggling Secondary Literacy Learners mixed-methods project, which sought to explore the challen…
Should Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education
In the neoliberal environment of contemporary academia, an individual’s research rankings and outputs can shape their career security and progression. When applying for ongoing employment and promotional opportunities, academics may benchmark their performance against that of superior colleagues to demonstrate their performance in relation to their discipline. The H-index and citation rates are commonly used to quantify the value of an academic’s…
Collaborating With Teacher Librarians to Support Adolescents’ Literacy and Literature Learning
The author explores teacher librarians’ ideas about teacher collaborations around literacy and literature learning, roles in collaborations, and the characteristics of good collaborations. Productive and strong collaborations between librarians in schools and their teacher colleagues can enhance students’ learning experiences and outcomes. Semistructured interview data were collected from teacher librarians at 25 schools. The author reports on te…
The role of health educators in mitigating health risk from increasing screen time in schools and at home
Contemporary health educators in schools are responsible for promoting the health of individual students, as well as a healthy school environment. The ongoing push for increasing device use in schools, which is underpinned by the information and communications technology (ICT) capability requirements of the new Australian Curriculum, can potentially lead to health risks for students that may not be well understood by students, schools and familie…
Peer Group and Friend Influences on the Social Acceptability of Adolescent Book Reading
Increasing recreational reading is a priority in a climate of growing adolescent aliteracy. Raising the social appeal of books has been identified as one potential avenue for arresting this trend. An understanding of the current social acceptability of book reading amongst contemporary adolescents is important in informing an effective approach to raise the status of book reading, as is insight into how this status impacts upon attitudes toward, …
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Peer Group and Friend Influences on the Social Acceptability of Adolescent Book Reading
Increasing recreational reading is a priority in a climate of growing adolescent aliteracy. Raising the social appeal of books has been identified as one potential avenue for arresting this trend. An understanding of the current social acceptability of book reading amongst contemporary adolescents is important in informing an effective approach to raise the status of book reading, as is insight into how this status impacts upon attitudes toward, …
The role of health educators in mitigating health risk from increasing screen time in schools and at home
Contemporary health educators in schools are responsible for promoting the health of individual students, as well as a healthy school environment. The ongoing push for increasing device use in schools, which is underpinned by the information and communications technology (ICT) capability requirements of the new Australian Curriculum, can potentially lead to health risks for students that may not be well understood by students, schools and familie…
Collaborating With Teacher Librarians to Support Adolescents’ Literacy and Literature Learning
The author explores teacher librarians’ ideas about teacher collaborations around literacy and literature learning, roles in collaborations, and the characteristics of good collaborations. Productive and strong collaborations between librarians in schools and their teacher colleagues can enhance students’ learning experiences and outcomes. Semistructured interview data were collected from teacher librarians at 25 schools. The author reports on te…
Teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness for supporting struggling literacy learners in secondary English classrooms
The initial and ongoing professional education of teachers to prepare them to support students’ literacy development warrants research attention. The importance of meeting the needs of struggling literacy learners in secondary school does not diminish as students move through the years of schooling. This paper reports on data from the 2019 Supporting Struggling Secondary Literacy Learners mixed-methods project, which sought to explore the challen…
Should Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education
In the neoliberal environment of contemporary academia, an individual’s research rankings and outputs can shape their career security and progression. When applying for ongoing employment and promotional opportunities, academics may benchmark their performance against that of superior colleagues to demonstrate their performance in relation to their discipline. The H-index and citation rates are commonly used to quantify the value of an academic’s…
School leadership and whole-school support of struggling literacy learners in secondary schools
The needs of struggling literacy learners beyond the early years of schooling warrant greater attention. For struggling literacy learners to attain their academic, vocational, and social goals, schools should position literacy as a whole school priority and enhance opportunities for student literacy learning across all learning areas. However, it is not known if literacy is typically supported as a whole school commitment in contemporary secondar…
Early career researchers’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of sharing research with academic and non-academic end-users
Contemporary early career researchers (ECRs) must share their research findings with both academic and non-academic audiences in order to advance their careers. With university organisational factors potentially both demanding and inhibiting ECR research dissemination, more needs to be known about ECRs’ perceptions and experiences of the benefits and challenges of sharing research for diverse audiences. This article investigates ECRs’ perceptions…
Do secondary English teachers have adequate time and resourcing to meet the needs of struggling literacy learners
As struggling Australian students may not typically receive additional support beyond the mainstream English classroom, more needs to be understood about the staffing and resourcing challenges that may impede secondary English teachers seeking to support these students. Data from the 2019 Supporting Struggling Secondary Literacy Learners project are explored, presenting views from N = 315 Australian secondary English teachers. Respondents disagre…
Institutional and supervisory support for the Thesis by Publication
The Thesis by Publication is garnering increasing interest across nations and disciplines. However, more needs to be learned about institutional and supervisory support for this thesis mode to ensure that doctoral candidates pursuing this approach enjoy the best possible outcomes. This paper draws on data from 246 recent successful doctoral candidates who took part in the 2018–2019 PhD candidates’ motivations, experiences, and opinions of the the…
School librarians supporting students’ reading for pleasure
Reading for pleasure is an undervalued but highly beneficial practice conferring a range of educative and socio-emotional advantages. School librarians may play a key role in supporting reading for pleasure and associated literature advocacy; however, relatively little is known about how reading for pleasure may be valued within the job description of contemporary school librarians. It cannot be assumed that reading for pleasure is positioned as …
Communicating research in academia and beyond
There is an increasing expectation that early career researchers (ECRs) be active in communicating their research to diverse audiences both within and beyond academia. However, with limited time and an academic environment that disproportionately values certain research outputs over others, ECRs may struggle to build their expertise and confidence in communicating research to a diverse array of audiences. Applying self-efficacy theory as a framew…
What kind of English teacher do they want? Learning area-specific role preferences and requirements in Australian non-government school job advertisements
In addition to aligning with context-specific expectations of policymakers, initial teacher education of secondary English teachers can consider schools’ needs. Furthermore, schools may decrease attrition when they recruit teachers who meet their role requirements. To explore the learning area-specific role preferences and requirements of Australian non-government schools, a hybrid content analysis of N = 130 job advertisements was undertaken. Fi…
Effect sizes of writing modality on K-6 students’ writing and reading performance
Working on scorched earth
Organisational autoethnographers in higher education weave compelling stories to connect their personal experiences to phenomena, often to illuminate or challenge extant norms in the culture and leadership of universities. While much has been written about the strengths and limitations of this method, there are emerging risks that may be poorly understood. While some autoethnographies in higher education have already led to unfavourable professio…
“An uphill battle”
Reading engagement influences students’ literacy attainment. School library professionals provide resources, environments and guidance to promote reading for pleasure, but little is known about how this role is currently supported or challenged. Drawing on mixed methods survey responses from 971 school library professionals from 63 countries, integrated findings suggest that younger students had greater access to the library, and that limiting ac…
Beyond doctoral completions
To reach the position of associate professor in Australian universities through internal promotion, aspiring academics need to demonstrate specific experience, knowledge and skills typically associated with teaching, research and service. Within the research component, beyond quantifying attainment of higher degree by research student completions, the researcher development role that is expected to achieve promotion to associate professor has bee…
Psychology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Pedagogy (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Mathematics education (7 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Education Systems and Policy (5 works) · Medical education (5 works) · Higher education (4 works)