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Dr Susan Colmar

BA(Auck), MA(Hons)(Auck), DipEdPsych(Auck), PhD(Macquarie)

Program Director, School Counselling/School Psychology MTeach

Senior Lecturer

Acting Associate Dean, Undergraduate/Graduate-entry (Policy & Programs)

Email:

Phone: +61 2 9351 6265

Fax: +61 2 9351 2606

Building.Room: A35.805

Research interests

Learning sciences; psychology of education

  • Learning, cognition and motivation

Research on teaching and learning

  • English and literacy

Keywords

language and literacy assessments and interventions


Professional biography

Susan is a practising, qualified educational psychologist who has more than 35 years' experience working with children, parents and teachers.

She is the director of training in school counselling/school psyhcology within the faculty, where she lectures in psychological and educational assessment, language and literacy, professional practice and ethics, behaviour management and counselling children and adolescents.

Susan is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and a registered psychologist, with endorsement in educational and developmental psychology, as well as a member of the APS College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists.

She has particular interests in young children and early intervention work with children with special needs.

Susan is a regular invited speaker and contributor to academic literature about the subjects of language assessments and interventions, assessment issues, early reading and reading interventions, acdemic buoyancy and behaviour problems.


Awards

  • Faculty of Education and Social Work Teaching Excellence Award 2007


Professional and community roles

  • Tertiary Representative on the Australian Guidance and Counselling Association NSW Chapter

  • Editor Applied Practices section of the Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling


Current projects

  • Conceptual Framework for Policy and Research Development With Indigenous People with a Disability Submitted to the Journal of Australian Aboriginal Studies, November , 2011 Gilroy, J. Colmar, S., Parmenter, T., & Donelly, M.
  • The relationships between academic buoyancy, self-concept and achievement in reading and mathematics, in a primary aged sample Faculty Research grant for $3000; this is an ongoing project Initial dataset collected, 191 children, 4 outcome factors, with age, gender etc as predictors Work is continuing through 2012 and will include work on adaptability
  • A Parent-based Book Reading Intervention for Disadvantaged Children with Language Difficulties. Paper in preparation for submission to Child Language Teaching and Therapy. Abstract. Children with delayed language skills, who were from a socio-economic area defined as disadvantaged, made significant improvements in language skills, with large effect sizes, four months after their parents were trained in easily learned strategies, enabling them to make simple changes in the way they interacted with their children. The intervention strategies, used both during book reading and during everyday conversations included: pausing to allow the child an opportunity to talk about a topic of interest to them; asking open-ended questions; and encouraging the child to talk more on their chosen topics. In simple terms, adults were taught to wait, and thus provide the child with an opportunity to initiate a conversation. In turn, by asking the child an open question, children were provided with an opportunity to respond, thus to speak more. Highly significant results were obtained in favour of the intervention group, with excellent effect sizes, whereas no changes were observed in the Waiting List Control group or a typically developing comparison group of children.
  • Martinez, C.J., Martin, A.J., Liem, G. A., & Colmar, S. (Submitted October 2010). A longitudinal analysis of psychological and physical well-being amongst late adolescents: Exploring the mediating role of perceived life quality and satisfaction.
  • Green, J., Martin, A., Colmar, S., Marsh, H., & McInerney, D. (Submitted May 2010). Academic motivation, self-concept, engagement, and performance in high school: Key processes from a longitudinal perspective. Submitted to Contemporary Educational Psychology, awaiting disposition
  • Leaders’ cognitive information-processing systems are related to student learning outcomes. Abstract: Research has shown that school principals who display transformational leadership are likely to influence organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Koh, 1990) and this in turn is thought to influence student learning outcomes. Using a sample of experienced educational leaders (N = 88) this study examined if transformational leadership and information-processing systems according to the Cognitive-experiential Self-theory (CEST) predict teachers’ job satisfaction and student learning outcomes. The rational system and constructive elements of the experiential system were fund to have a significant positive connection with student learning outcomes. Cerni, Curtis & Colmar Accepted subject to revision in Educational Administration Quarterly
  • Teachers’ Workplace Well-being: Exploring a Process Model of Goal Orientation, Coping Behavior, Engagement, and Burnout Submitted paper under revision Philip D. Parker,a,b, Andrew J. Martin,a, Susan Colmar,a, & Arief Liem,a aUniversity of Sydney, Australia bUniversity of Tübingen, Germany The current research integrated components of the transactional model of stress and coping with the motivational theories of self-worth and goal theory to examine a model where (a) teachers’ goal orientation (as indicated by mastery and failure avoidance) was hypothesized to predict their workplace behavioral coping strategies (as indicated by problem- and emotion-focused coping) and (b) teachers’ workplace coping was hypothesized to predict their occupational well-being (as indicated by engagement and burnout). A longitudinal sample of 430 teachers took part in the research. With the structural equation model suggesting an acceptable fit to the data, findings generally supported hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed
  • A Cyberbullying Intervention with Primary Aged Students Paper in Preparation to be Submitted to the Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, Applied Practices Troy Toshack, DET NSW and Susan Colmar, PhD, The University of Sydney
  • Interactive Book Reading Between Parents and Children with Autism ISS research grant Publication in progress Joanne Arciuli Susan Colmar Berna Gurisik David Evans Stewart Enfield Trevor Parmenter

Current research students

Project title Degree Research student
Competencies required for NSW government school psychologists in the 21st century. (working title) PhD W. David McKie

Selected publications

Books

  • Cerni, T., Curtis, G., & Colmar, S. . (2010). Cognitive-Experiential self theory and transformational leadership: Information-processing, educational leadership, conflict-handling styles. Mauritius: VDM Publishing House.

Book chapters

  • Martin, A., Green, J., Colmar, S., Liem, A. & Marsh, H. W. (2011). Quantitative Modelling Of Correlational And Multilevel Data In Educational Research: A Construct Validity Approach To Exploring And Testing Theory. In Markauskaite, L., Freebody, P. & Irwin, J. (Ed.), Methodological Choice and Design: Scholarship, Policy and Practice in Social and Educational Research (pp. 209–224), New York: Springer.

Journal articles

  • Cerni, T., Curtis, G. & Colmar, S. (in press). Leadership and conflict handling styles. International Journal of Conflict Management.
  • Colmar, S. (2011). A book reading intervention with mothers of children with language difficulties. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(2), 104–112.
  • Liem, A., Martin, A. & Colmar, S. (2011). Sociocultural antecedents of academic motivation and achievement: the role of values and achievement motives in achievement goals and academic performance. Asian Journal of Social Psychology. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-839X.2011.01351.x
  • Cerni, T., Curtis, G. & Colmar, S. (2010). Increasing transformational leadership by developing leaders' information-processing systems . Journal of Leadership Studies, 4(3), 51–65. DOI:10.1002/jls.20177
  • Cerni, T., Curtis, G. & Colmar, S. (2010). Executive coaching can enhance transformational leadership. International Coaching Psychology Review, 5(1), 83–87.
  • Martin, A., Colmar, S., Davey, L. & Marsh, H. W. (2010). Longitudinal modeling of academic buoyancy and motivation: Do the '5Cs' hold up over time? . British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 473–496.
  • Brown, G. & Colmar, S. (2009). Historical and current perspectives on the necessary and sufficient components for effective classroom instruction . Special Education Perspectives, 18(1), 47–60.
  • Colmar, S. (2008). Who parents and “counsels"?. Directions in Education, 17(2), 15th Feb–15th Feb.
  • Cerni, T, Curtis, G, Colmar, S. (2008). Information Processing and Leadership Styles: Constructive Thinking and Transformational Leadership. Journal of Leadership Studies, 2(1), 60–73.
  • Wilson, J, Colmar, S. (2008). Re-evaluating the significance of phonemic awareness and phonics in literacy teaching: The shared role of school counsellors and teachers. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 18(2), 89–105.
  • Colmar, S. (2006). Books and Language Learning. Directions in Education, 15(17).
  • Colmar, S, Maxwell, A, Miller, L. (2006). Assessing intellectual disability in children: Are IQ measures sufficient, or even necessary?. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 16(2), 177–188.

Conference papers

  • Parker, P, Martin, A.J., Colmar, S, Debus, R. (2007). The Forgotten Helpers: A Psychosocial Model of Clergy Burnout. In Miner, M and Dowson, M Proceedings Annual Conference 2007 UWS Psychology and Spirituality Society. Spirituality in Australia: Psychological, Social and Religious Perspectives (pp. 153–163). University of Western Sydney, 20 July 2007.
  • Rider, N, Colmar, S. (2006). Reading achievement and reading self-concept in Year 3 students. In Jeffery, PL AARE Education Research. Creative Dissent: Constructive Solutions (pp. 1–Paper No). Parramatta, 27Nov-1 Dec 2005.

Other

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