Associate Professor Jenny Povey

Principal Research Fellow

Institute for Social Science Research
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
j.povey@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 67474

Overview

Jenny is the Deputy Director (Training) at Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland. In this role Jenny leads the development and implementation of ISSR's training programs. This includes professional short courses aimed at Industry, tailored capability training for industry, Higher Degree Training, external and internal internships/placements, internal staff capability training, and teaching opportunities for ISSR staff in the schools including Honours supervision. In addition to leading this portfolio of work and teaching professional short courses, Jenny continues to lead a Research Group (Social and Educational disadvantage), contribute as an Associate Investigator to research for the ARC Centre of Excellence on Families and Children over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre), and supervise HDR students. She is a Psychologist and obtained her BA Honors, MA and PhD from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. Before coming to ISSR, Jenny worked as a Chief Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa in the area of Education effectiveness.

Jenny’s research focuses on education effectiveness, parent engagement, student wellbeing, evidenced-based practice, and research that impacts policy and practice. She has extensive experience in large scale mixed methods evaluations, using administrative data together with survey and qualitative data. Jenny has worked closely with Government Departments and Ministries both in Australia (e.g., Tasmania DHHS; Australian DoE; Qld DoE; CESE NSW; Australian DSS; Qld DCSSD; Department of Home Affairs) and internationally (e.g., South Africa, Eritrea, Cambodia and the Solomon Islands) to gather research evidence from a wide range of disadvantaged communities to inform policy. Jenny is a Chief Investigator on an ARC Linkage project which investigates how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children experience Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) using elicitation methods and a longitudinal qualitative research design to provide evidence to improve service agencies’ understanding of children’s experiences in OOHC and how agencies can best support families, carers and communities to promote the social, emotional, and cultural well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children in OOHC. This research will improve service provider capability and test Government reform interventions. In addition to leading large commissioned evaluations and academic grants, Jenny is continues to build her research focusing on understanding why and how some schools located in disadvanatged areas are more effective at parent engagement than others and how improving parent engagement in these schools effects the learning and wellbeing of students living in these communities over their life course.

Research Interests

  • School leadership
  • School culture
  • Parent engagement
  • Child well-being
  • Intergenerational transfer of education aspirations, values and attitudes
  • Disadvantaged communities
  • Evidenced based policy and practice
  • Cross-cultural research
  • social policy evaluation
  • Psychometrics
  • Innovative methods and techniques
  • Survey methodology
  • Quantitative data analysis methods
  • Qualitative data analysis methods
  • Education effectiveness
  • Mixed methods

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
  • Masters (Coursework), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

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Supervision

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • This PhD would require you to apply for a UQ scholarship. You will have access to qualitative data and SDQ (3 waves) collected for an ARC Linkage grant. If you are interested in this project and want more information, please contact j.povey@uq.edu.au.

  • Understanding why and how some schools located in disadvanatged areas are more effective at parent engagement than others and how improving parent engagement in these schools effects the learning and wellbeing of students living in these communities over their life course.This PhD would require you to apply for a UQ scholarship. If you are interested in this project and want more information, please contact j.povey@uq.edu.au.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Povey, Jenny, Plage, Stefanie, Huang, Yanshu, Gramotnev, Alexandra, Cook, Stephanie, Austerberry, Sophie and Western, Mark (2022). Adolescence a period of vulnerability and risk for adverse outcomes across the life course: the role of parent engagement in learning. Family dynamics over the life course: foundations, turning points and outcomes. (pp. 97-131) edited by Janeen Baxter, Jack Lam, Jenny Povey, Rennie Lee and Stephen R. Zubrick. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_6

  • Zubrick, Stephen R., Lee, Rennie, Baxter, Janeen, Lam, Jack and Povey, Jenny (2022). Emerging directions and new challenges. Family dynamics over the life course: foundations, turning points and outcomes. (pp. 313-319) edited by Janeen Baxter, Jack Lam,, Jenny Povey, Rennie Lee and Stephen R. Zubrick. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_15

  • Lee, Rennie, Lam, Jack, Baxter, Janeen, Povey, Jenny and Zubrick, Stephen R. (2022). Families, life courses and the intergenerational transmission of social disadvantage in Australia. Family dynamics over the life course: foundations, turning points and outcomes. (pp. 17-36) edited by Janeen Baxter, Jack Lam, Jenny Povey, Rennie Lee and Stephen R. Zubrick. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_2

  • Baxter, Janeen, Lam, Jack, Lee, Rennie, Povey, Jenny and Zubrick, Stephen R. (2022). Introduction. Family dynamics over the life course. (pp. 1-16) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_1

  • Willis, Linda-Dianne, Povey, Jenny, Hodges, Julie and Carroll, Annemaree (2021). Presenting Key Player Findings. Principal Leadership for Parent Engagement in Disadvantaged Schools. (pp. 45-54) Singapore: Springer Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-1264-0_4

  • Willis, Linda-Dianne, Povey, Jenny, Hodges, Julie and Carroll, Annemaree (2021). Presenting School Culture Findings. Principal Leadership for Parent Engagement in Disadvantaged Schools. (pp. 67-78) Singapore: Springer Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-1264-0_6

  • Willis, Linda-Dianne, Povey, Jenny, Hodges, Julie and Carroll, Annemaree (2021). Responding to the Provocation: What Gives Some Principals the Edge on Parent Engagement?. Principal Leadership for Parent Engagement in Disadvantaged Schools. (pp. 79-88) Singapore: Springer Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-1264-0_7

  • Willis, Linda-Dianne, Povey, Jenny, Hodges, Julie and Carroll, Annemaree (2021). Reviewing the Literature on Principal Leadership for Parent Engagement. Principal Leadership for Parent Engagement in Disadvantaged Schools. (pp. 13-23) Singapore: Springer Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-1264-0_2

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • This PhD would require you to apply for a UQ scholarship. You will have access to qualitative data and SDQ (3 waves) collected for an ARC Linkage grant. If you are interested in this project and want more information, please contact j.povey@uq.edu.au.

  • Understanding why and how some schools located in disadvanatged areas are more effective at parent engagement than others and how improving parent engagement in these schools effects the learning and wellbeing of students living in these communities over their life course.This PhD would require you to apply for a UQ scholarship. If you are interested in this project and want more information, please contact j.povey@uq.edu.au.