About - Assistant Professor Maya Gunawardena

Maya Gunawardena is currently an assistant professor in teacher education at the Faculty of Education, University of Canberra, and she formerly worked as a lecturer and a research fellow at UNSW. She has over 30 years of experience teaching in diverse contexts such as in K-12 classrooms and convening teacher education courses in Sri Lanka and Australia. She is interested in empowering teachers with the knowledge of ecologies and epistemologies of learning sciences. Her research includes topics such as personalized learning, teacher beliefs and application of their pedagogical content knowledge, learning experiences and materials design, scaffolding students’ higher-order thinking, and practice of evidence-based learning. She has extensive experience in teaching in K-12 classrooms and tertiary institutes in Australia and Sri Lanka.

Maya obtained her PhD in Education from the University of Canberra. She obtained her master’s degree in Language Teaching from the University of Lancaster, UK and master’s in Linguistics from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

She researches and publishes in multidisciplinary fields including personalised learning in middle schools, social-emotional learning, TESOL Education, cultivation of critical thinking, and literacy, and Indigenous education. Her current major research projects are Action Learning for Personalised Learning in the ACT schools, teachers’ classroom practices in supporting children’s social-emotional development using stories as a platform and developing an Indigenous Children’s Cyber-safety program for Indigenous parents through exploration of approaches of Indigenous knowledge transfer. Maya works as an education consultant for K-12 curriculum and pedagogy in South Asia. She collaborates with researchers from the University of Canberra, Finland, the USA, and Sri Lanka.

Research and Impact

Photo by DeepMind on Unsplash	Personalised Learning Ensuring equity for learners with personalised teaching philosophy. Personalised learning is learner-centred teaching and the three Pillars of Personalized learning that ensure learning is student centred are . Read more
Photo by Agence Olloweb on Unsplash	Social Emotional Learning Social-emotional learning is a key to life and beyond. Children should be able to have strong emotional control and have the right attitude toward life, people, nature, and the world. We propose approaches for teachers to help children see themselves for mirrors and others through windows and doors. Read more
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash	Critical Thinking The world is complex, so deep and unfathomable. Critical thinking is a solution to face the unimaginably changing world in the 21st century and beyond. We argue that it is the most vital skill to thrive, prosper personally and professionally and ultimately survive in the mysterious world. Read more

Education/Academic qualifications

 Ph.D., University of Canberra, Australia,   

 Master, Lancaster University, UK
 Open University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
 Master, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
 Bachelor's in Arts, English Literature, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 

Research interests 

    Personalised learning,  Critical thinking, Teacher Education, Applied Linguistics or TESOL

Maya is available to supervise HDR research in teacher education and community studies