Professor Sara Bice
College of Asia and the Pacific
Crawford School of Public Policy
The first time Sara Bice stood at the base of a lecture theatre, she was home. Sara’s teaching is enthusiastic and professional. Her commitment shows in the attention she gives each student, teaching hundreds annually and knowing them all by name. It shows in the mentoring and research training she has developed for Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) stepping into their first teaching roles. Her outstanding research-led teaching and advising in social and policy science draws upon her deep industry knowledge, diverse international experience and study of education theory, policy and practice to place students at the centre of cutting-edge case learning, innovative assessment tasks and interactive online learning spaces. Across two decades of teaching, Sara’s students remember her courses for the energy and creativity she brings and for the learning legacy she leaves behind.
Championing creative course design and delivery
The classroom is a space ripe with life changing opportunity and Sara feels privileged to be trusted to deliver for her students. Sara finds teaching so invigorating, enjoyable and affirming, is incredibly grateful it is part of her everyday work.
Sara’s teaching practice focuses on building students’ capacity to integrate theories and approaches into their professional lives and is informed by knowledge translation. She works with students to generate innovative materials and methods, including assessment tasks linked directly to core professional skills.
Sara aims to be an education leader and champion of student learning. She considers it an honour if others see her as such. Her research-led, creative course design is steeped in higher education literature and her own research and reading in knowledge translation. Sara is committed to developing her own and others’ educational excellence beyond the classroom.
Sara’s classes start with music – from Saint-Saens to Taylor Swift, Abba to Midnight Oil; it’s clear from the moment you walk in, this is not the lecture theatre as usual. Her aim is to set students at ease with her and with each other from their first moments together. Sara also has a rapid memory game (great party trick) she uses to learn all her students’ names on day one.
They talk about the classroom atmosphere and how they’ll work together. Influenced by the work of sociologist Brene Brown, Sara introduces students to the idea of being ok with discomfort and coming to their studies with vulnerability and what she calls ‘critical curiosity’. Time spent building relationships makes a huge difference to students’ experiences, and their sense of belonging to Crawford and capacity to seek support and collegiality beyond her class.
Sara places priority on relationships for learning. This is directly informed by her research in community engagement, which shows that early, open, accessible and genuine communication is one of the major influences of social cohesion, inclusion and resilience – all factors she hopes her students will take from the classroom into their working lives.
Out of all courses at Crawford, truly from my heart, this course was delivered to its best.
Student comment
I had the opportunity to co-teach with Professor Bice. I learnt much from her to take into my own teaching practice (and I am an experienced teacher).
Colleague comment, CAP Teaching Excellence Award Nomination, 2023