Professor Christine Margaret Rubie-Davies

PhD, MEd (Hons), BA, DipTchg

Director Woolf Fisher Research

In: Woolf Fisher Research Centre » Education and Social Work Research » Faculty of Education and Social Work

Biography

Professor Christine Rubie-Davies is based in the School of Learning, Development and Professional Practice in the Faculty of Education. She has been at the University of Auckland since April 1998.

Previous professional experience

2012-2014 Head of School, Learning Development and Professional Practice
2012 Visiting Scholar, University of Arizona
2008-2009 Visiting Scholar, University of California at Berkeley
2007-2009 Visiting Scholar, University of London, Institute of Education
2007-2010 Senior lecturer
2006 Senior researcher asTTle
2002-2005 Programme Coordinator Primary Teacher Education
1998-2002 Deputy Director Primary Teacher Education
1974-1998 Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal, Senior Teacher, Scale A Teacher Primary

Research | Current

Current projects:

HERO (High Expectations Remarkable Outcomes): This project is a collaboration with the Mt Albert Kahui Ako and consists of two early childhood centres, and five primary, two intermediate and two secondary schools. These schools have high expectations as their underlying theory of improvement. Christine is delivering the professional development across all sites. The research team are very grateful to the Cognition Educaiton Trust who provided funding in 2018 for the collection of some initial baseline data. Christine has also delivered professional development related to high expectation teaching across a large number of other school sites.
LITHE (Leaders Influencing Teachers' High Expectations): The success of the Teacher Expectation Project (see below) has led to the development of four modules designed for middle school leaders to implement in schools. School leaders are being taught how to support their staff to implement high expectation principles in order to lift the achievement of all students in their departments. The project was trialled in Auckland and has since been delivered in other New Zealand locations, and in Melbourne, .Leceister and Birmingham in the UK, and Montreal in Canada.
I Have a Dream: Christine is overseeing the research on this important project. The project is based in four Northland schools in low socioeconomic communities. All students in the project have an academic mentor who will support and advise their group of students through primary school, to intermediate, secondary and into tertiary education. Academic outcomes for this group will be compared with those of similar students in other similar schools.
Teacher Expectation Project: This was a three-year experimental project funded by a Marsden Fast Start Grant and a grant from the Cognition Institute. The project began in 2011. This was the first ever project in the teacher expectation field designed to train teachers in the practices of high expectation teachers. The study used a randomised control design and 84 Year 3-8 teachers from 12 schools who comprised the control and intervention groups. The instructional intervention focused on grouping and learning experiences, class climate and goal setting. After just one year, students of teachers in the intervention group improved their mathematics achievement 28% above that of students with control group teachers. Analyses also showed that no matter what school, SES group, class level, ethnicity or gender, all students benefited through being with intervention teachers in comparison to controls. To find out more about this project, visit: Teacher Expectation Project website.
Teacher beliefs and student beliefs: what are the relationships? This project was funded by Christine’s Early Career Research Excellence Award. Christine examined whether student beliefs and teacher beliefs were related. Teacher and student efficacy, motivation and perceptions of the class climate were measured. Student achievement was also measured in relation to the beliefs of teachers and students.
Ethnic Identity Project: This project has been funded by PBRF grants from the School of Learning Development and Professional Practice. The project involves four members of LDPP and Professor Frank Worrell from University of California at Berkeley. The team are examining the ethnic identity beliefs, attitudes to school and teachers and views of past, present and future of approximately 3000 secondary school students.

In the Public Eye

Teaching | Current

Educational psychology
Social psychology of the classroom
Teacher expectations and beliefs

Programmes

Liberal arts
Postgraduate
Teacher education

Postgraduate supervision

Current students

Name	Degree	Title	Enrolled	Projected Completion	Role
Ya Li	PhD	Relations between teacher expectations and language learning in Chinese	May 2019	April 2023	Main supervisor
Mengnan Li	PhD	Vulnerability of Chinese teachers in high school	April 2019	March 2023	Main supervisor
Casey Gilligan	MProfPrac	Promoting engaged reading in a primary school classroom	March 2019	November 2019	Co-supervisor
Lingling Fan	PhD	Teacher expectations of rural and ethnic minority students in China	October 2018	September 2022	Main supervisor
Georgina Toma	PhD	Mindfulness in schools	September 2018	August 2022	Co-supervisor
Siaosi Vaili	PhD	Relations between Samoan students’ self-efficacy, future aspirations, teacher expectations, parent expectations and academic achievement	June 2018	May 2022	Co-supervisor
Deepika Roy	PhD	Asian female tertiary students’ experiences of stereotype threat and teacher expectations	May 2018	April 2022	Co-supervisor
Alistair Munro*	PhD	Speaking up for confidence: Reducing communication apprehension in secondary school students.	March 2016	March 2022	Main supervisor
Lifeng Hao	PhD	The mediating and moderating roles of self-esteem in the relationship between teacher expectation and undergraduates’ academic and socio-psychological outcomes	May 2015	May 2019	Main supervisor
Aaron Peeters*	PhD	Taking the risk out of learning: A theory of action intervention	April 2015	April 2021	Co-supervisor
Shengnan Wang	PhD	A longitudinal study of teacher expectation: Stability and impact on student achievement	August 2014	July 2019	Main supervisor
Tessa Tupai*	PhD	Factors leading to success in postgraduate study for first in family to go to university	December 2011	June 2019	Main supervisor
Annaline Flint*	PhD	Characteristics and contextual factors related to teacher beliefs	March 2011	June 2019	Main supervisor

* Enrolled part-time

Completed students Honours and Masters

Name	Degree	Title	Enrolled	Completion	Role	Result
Tematanq Iaoniman	MEd	Teacher expectations of Kiribati boys	July 2017	June 2018	Co-supervisor	First class honours
Aleksei Surikov	BEd (Hons)	Teacher expectations of learning disabled students in mainstream environments	January 2017	December 2017	Main supervisor	First class honours
Siaosi Vaili	MEd	Relations between Year 13 Pasifika boys’ self-beliefs, perceptions of teacher expectations and achievement	January 2017	December 2017	Main supervisor	First class honours
Casey Zhang*	MEd	Teacher expectations in mathematics at different school deciles	July 2016	July 2017	Co-supervisor	First class honours
Asma Shah*	MA	Relationships between perceptions’ of expectations and students’ achievement: the role of mediating factors	December 2013	October 2016	Main supervisor	First class honours
Alistair Munro	BA (Hons)	Overcoming anxiety in public speaking	January 2014	December 2014	Second supervisor	First class honours
Hana Turner	MEd	Teacher expectations of different ethnic groups	January 2013	May 2015	Main supervisor	First class honours
Fiona Toloa	MProfSt	Teacher expectations of Pasifika students in science in a low decile school	July 2014	December 2014	Main supervisor	First class honours
Esther Graham*	MProfSt	Mindfulness and children’s well-being	March 2014	December 2014	Main supervisor	First class honours
Annabel Medland-Slater*	MProfSt	Student achievement: teachers’ perspectives of what leads to success	January 2014	December 2014	Main supervisor	First class honours
Fiona Hui	MA	Teachers’ views in special education	July 2012	October 2013	Main supervisor	Second class honours 2nd Div
Hanin Bukamal	MA	Teacher expectations of Muslim students in state and Muslim schools	July 2012	June 2013	Main supervisor	Second class honours 1st Div
Melissa Beaumont*	MEd	Student perceptions of teachers and relationships with course choice	June 2011	December 2012	Main supervisor	Second class honours 1st Div
Jessica Brown*	MProfSt	Early childhood teachers’ perceptions of quality care in early childhood settings	March 2012	December 2012	Main supervisor	Second class honours 1st Div
Mohamed Alansari	MA	Teacher and Student assessments of the class climate	Jul 2011	Jun 2012	Supervisor	First class honours
Hanin Bukamal	BA (Hons)	Teacher expectations of students’ performance in mathematics	Feb 2012	Aug 2012	Supervisor	First class honours
Rachel Aranui	MEd	Self-esteem, school connectedness and identity of Maori primary school students in bilingual units	Jul 2010	Jul 2011	Main supervisor	First class honours
Mohamed Alansari	BA (Hons)	Perceptions of class climate in tertiary maths classrooms	Jun 2010	Mar 2011	Main Supervisor	First class honours
Esther Fitzpatrick*	MEd	Identity of intermediate-aged Pakeha students	Feb 2010**	Nov 2010	Co- supervisor	Second class honours 1st Div
Lisa Watson	MEd	Self-concept and motivation of successful Maori students at secondary school	Mar 2010	Dec 2010	Co-supervisor	First class honours
Catherine Alpe	MEd	Self-efficacy of Year 8 girls transitioning to secondary school	Mar 2010	Dec 2010	Main supervisor	First class honours
Nane Rio	MEd	Factors that contribute to the success of Pasifika teacher education students	Feb 2004	Dec 2004	Co-supervisor	Second class honours 1st Div
Andrea Craig	MA	Promoting friendships as a means of preventing suicide	Feb 2003	Dec 2003	Main Supervisor	First class honours
Satomi Mizutani	MA	An investigation of the effects of goal-setting on language learning motivation	Feb 2002	Dec 2002	Co-supervisor	First class honours

* Enrolled part-time

Completed students: Doctoral

Name	Degree	Title	Enrolled	Completion	Role
Rajshree Krishnan*	PhD	Teacher expectations and student perceptions of mature-aged students in three faculties	January 2013	July 2019	Main supervisor
Hana Turner	PhD	Differential teacher treatment, expectations and student success at secondary school	July 2014	March 2019	Main supervisor
Mohamed Alansari	PhD	Measuring class climate in the tertiary environment: Development of a scale	January 2013	August 2017	Main supervisor
Annie Zhuoni Cai	PhD	Teacher expectations of students with autism	April 2013	July 2017	Main supervisor
Nane Rio*	PhD	Teacher expectations for minority ethnic groups in Aotearoa New Zealand	May 2009	February 2017	Main supervisor
Derek Shafer	PhD	Teaching the classroom to transgress: Pedagogy for critical thinkers	January 2016	January 2017	Main supervisor – changed to Dr Hamilton Jan 2017
Clinton Mitchell	PhD	Academic motivation in second and fourth year medical students	April 2010	April 2015	Main supervisor
Mingjing Zhu	PhD	Accuracy and inaccuracy of teacher judgements of student achievement	August 2013	July 2014	International supervisor
Zheng Li	PhD	Teacher expectations of second language learners	July 2010	June 2014	Main supervisor
Sandra* Hastie	PhD	Goal setting and academic outcomes	March 2007	March 2013	Main supervisor 2011-2013
Camilla* Highfield	EdD	Middle school leaders in secondary schools and within school achievement variation	March 2008**	Dec 2012	Co-supervisor
Penelope Watson	PhD	Breaking the mould: Stereotype threat and boys who sing in choirs	Jun 2008	Nov 2011	Main supervisor
Aue Te Ava	PhD	Mou Piritia Te Kōrero ‘Ā Ō Tūpuna, Tāueuea: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Cook Island Secondary Schools Physical Education	May 2006	Oct 2011	Main supervisor
Satomi Mizutani	PhD	Effects of washback on the teaching and learning of NCEA Japanese	Mar 2004	Jul 2009	Co-supervisor

* Enrolled part-time

** Date I began supervision

Distinctions/Honours

2019	Elected Fellow of American Psychological Association, Division 15 Educational Psychology
2018	Research Excellence Medal (University of Auckland)
2017	Outstanding Reviewer American Educational Research Association, Review of Educational Research
2016	Appointed New Zealand Vice President, International Federation of International Teaching Fellows
2015	Outstanding Reviewer American Educational Research Association, Review of Educational Research
2014	University-Practitioner Partnership Award, 7th Educational Psychology Forum, Dunedin
2014	Outstanding Poster American Educational Research Association: Division C, Section 3A Learning Environments
2013	Outstanding Reviewer American Educational Research Association, Review of Educational Research
2013	Grade of A in Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) - how the New Zealand Government assesses research outputs and quality, and allocates research funding to tertiary institutions
2011	Early Career Research Excellence Award (University of Auckland)
2011	American Psychological Association Convention Registration Award
2011	American Psychological Association Travel Award
2009	Elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (US)
2007	New Zealand National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award for Sustained Excellence
2006	University of Auckland Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award
1995	New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa Award for Teaching Excellence (Primary teaching)

Areas of expertise

Teacher expectations
Teacher beliefs
Teacher personality and characteristics
Teacher bias
Student self-perceptions
Student beliefs
Goal-setting
Quantitative and qualitative methodologies

Committees/Professional groups/Services

Professional Links:

Associate Editor Contemporary Educational Psychology
Review Board for Review of Educational Research
Regional Editor Educational Research and Evaluation
Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
Member of: American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science (US), European Association for Research into Learning and Instruction, American Educational Research Association

University Committees served on:

University of Auckland Committees
2012-	Senate
2016-	University Staffing Committee
2016-	Faculty of Science Staffing Committee
2012-2014	University Promotions Committee for Professional Teaching Fellows
2009-2012	University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

Ding, H., & Rubie-Davies, C. M. (2019). Teacher expectation intervention: Is it effective for all students?. LEARNING AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, 7410.1016/j.lindif.2019.06.005
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/47998
Timmermans, A. C., van der Werf, M. P. C. G., & Rubie-Davies, C. M. (2019). The interpersonal character of teacher expectations: The perceived teacher-student relationship as an antecedent of teachers' track recommendations. Journal of school psychology, 73, 114-130. 10.1016/j.jsp.2019.02.004
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/46803
Wang, S., Rubie-Davies, C., & Meissel, K. (2019). Instructional practices and classroom interactions of high and low expectation teachers in China. Social Psychology of Education10.1007/s11218-019-09507-4
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/48463
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Kane Meissel, Shengnan Wang
Zhu, M., Urhahne, D., & Rubie-Davies, C. M. (2018). The longitudinal effects of teacher judgement and different teacher treatment on students’ academic outcomes. Educational Psychology, 38 (5), 648-668. 10.1080/01443410.2017.1412399
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/40403
Timmermans, A. C., & Rubie-Davies, C. M. (2018). Do teachers differ in the level of expectations or in the extent to which they differentiate in expectations? Relations between teacher-level expectations, teacher background and beliefs, and subsequent student performance. Educational Research and Evaluation, 24 (3-5), 241-263. 10.1080/13803611.2018.1550837
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/46114
Wang, S., Rubie-Davies, C. M., & Meissel, K. (2018). A systematic review of the teacher expectation literature over the past 30 years. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND EVALUATION, 24 (3-5), 124-179. 10.1080/13803611.2018.1548798
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/46095
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Kane Meissel, Shengnan Wang
Rubie-Davies, C. M., Watson, P. W. S. J., Flint, A., Garrett, L., & McDonald, L. (2018). Viewing students consistently: how stable are teachers' expectations?. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND EVALUATION, 24 (3-5), 221-240. 10.1080/13803611.2018.1550836
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/46112
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Annaline Flint, Penelope Watson, Lyn McDonald
Rubie-Davies, C. M., Webber, M., & Turner, H. (2018). Māori students flourishing in education: High teacher expectations, cultural responsiveness and family-school partnerships. In G. A. D. Liem, D. M. McInerney (Eds.) Big theories revisited 2 (pp. 213-235). Charlotte, NC, USA: Information Age Publishing. Related URL.
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/45344
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Melinda Webber, Hana Turner-Adams