Dr Jo Kingsman
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Education
Biography
Dr Jo Kingsman is an educator and researcher in QUT’s School of Education. Her work explores how gender, identity, and power shape learning and leadership in schools, with a focus on fostering gender-transformative outcomes. Awarded QUT’s Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award, her PhD research, Making Men: Investigating Adolescent Boys’ Experiences of a School-Based Rite of Passage Program, examined how boys navigate multiple and sometimes conflicting expectations of masculinity. The findings continue to inform publications on gender, identity, and educational practice.
Her ongoing research spans two intersecting areas: how rites of passage programs might serve as cultural interventions against misogyny, incel ideologies, and harmful forms of masculinity; and the cultural and systemic factors shaping women’s pathways into senior school leadership, investigating how mentorship and sponsorship can foster more inclusive and equitable opportunities. Drawing on over 20 years of secondary teaching experience, she teaches pre-service educators in undergraduate and postgraduate programs, guiding students to foster equity, care, and critical reflection in their classrooms.
In addition to the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award, her research has been recognised with the 2023 SAGE Higher Degree by Research Student Publication Prize, and she continues to publish from her thesis and develop projects on leadership, gender, and reflexivity.
Find her publications on ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1044-795X
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Lecturer (TIEA)
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Education
Keywords
Adolescence, Feminist post-structuralism, Gender equity, Gender transformation, Identity development, Leadership identity, Masculinities, Narrative research, Rites of passage, School leadership
Research field
Education policy, sociology and philosophy, Education systems, Specialist studies in education
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master of Education (Leadership and Management) (Queensland University of Technology)
Teaching
Dr Kingsman leads the third-year undergraduate unit EUB370 Professional Experience: Evidence-Informed Practice and teaches across first-year undergraduate (EUB170 Professional Experience: Introduction to Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment) and final-year Masters of Teaching (UN223 Curriculum and Pedagogy: Innovation) units. Her teaching emphasises equity, critical reflection, and the development of inclusive classroom practices.
Publications
- Kingsman, J. & Davis, I. (2025). Reflexivity in co-constructed meanings: the impact of gender specific perspectives in the qualitative research context. Qualitative Research Journal, 25(5), 569–589. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/254534
- Kingsman, J. & Crosswell, L. (2025). Women in Senior Leadership: A Review of Gender Representation and Systemic Barriers in Australian Schools. . Leading and Managing, 31(2), 41–60. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/260849
- Kingsman, J., (2023). Negotiating masculine identities: Adolescent boys' experiences of a school-based rites of passage program and its potential for gender transformation. International Journal of Educational Research, 122. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/243852
- Kingsman, J., (2021). Rites of Passage Programs for Adolescent Boys in Schools: A Scoping Review. Boyhood Studies, 14(2), 90–115. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227882
- Kingsman, J., (2019). From boys to men: Investigating the role of formalised rites of passage programs for adolescent males in Australian secondary schools. Presented at: Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference 2019. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227991
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Jo, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/j.kingsman
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2026
- Details
- Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award (2025)
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2026
- Details
- QUT Early Career Researcher Scheme (ECRS) Grant – $20,000 Advancing Women’s Leadership in Schools: Investigating Mentoring and Sponsorship as Pathways to Equity; Kingsman, J. (Principal Investigator) & Mills, M. (Mentor); QUT University Research Budget: A$20,000.00; Award date: 22/10/25
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.