Leesa Wheelahan commenced as the William G. Davis Chair of Community College Leadership at OISE at the beginning of 2014. Prior to that she was at the University of Melbourne in Australia where she was an associate professor in adult and vocational education. Her research interests include the role of knowledge in vocational qualifications, the links between tertiary education and the labour market, tertiary education policy, social justice and student equity, professional development of teachers in vocational education and training, the blurring of the divide between the vocational and higher education sectors, and student pathways, qualifications frameworks and credit pathways in tertiary education. She has researched and published widely on these topics, and is currently leading a number of research projects on pathways in education and work in Canada. Her role includes coordinating a PhD program for community college leaders at the University of Toronto.
Recent representative publications include:
Wheelahan, Leesa. (2012). Why knowledge matters in curriculum: A social realist argument. London: Routledge
Wheelahan, Leesa. (2012). Accessing knowledge in the university of the future: lessons from Australia. In Ron Barnett (Ed.), The future university: ideas and possibilities. New York: Routledge
Wheelahan, Leesa. (2013). Babies and bathwater: revaluing the role of the academy in knowledge. In Ronald Barnett & Paul Gibbs (Eds.), Thinking about higher education (pp. 125-137). New York: Springer
Wheelahan, Leesa. (2013). Towards a model for professionalising VET teaching. In Simon Marginson (Ed.), Tertiary Education Policy in Australia. Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne <http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/research/policy_dev/docs/Tert_Edu_Policy_Aus.pdf> viewed 16 July 2013.
Wheelahan, Leesa. (2015). The future of Australian vocational education qualifications depends on a new social settlement. Journal of Education and Work, 28(2), 126-146
Wheelahan, Leesa, Arkoudis, Sophie, Moodie, Gavin, Fredman, Nick, & Bexley, Emmaline. (2012). Shaken not stirred? The development of one tertiary education sector in Australia. Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Education Research.<http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2450.html> viewed 18 January 2012.
Wheelahan, Leesa, Buchanan, John, & Yu, Serena. (2015). Linking qualifications and the labour market through capabilities and vocational streams. Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Education Research.< http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2782.html > viewed 15 June 2015.
Wheelahan, Leesa, & Moodie, Gavin. (2011). Rethinking skills in vocational education and training: from competencies to capabilities. Sydney: Board of Vocational Education and Training.< https://http://www.academia.edu/1476393/Rethinking_skills_in_vocational
_education_and_training_from_competencies_to_capability> viewed 19 August 2015.
Most of Leesa’s work can be downloaded from her Academia website:https://utoronto.academia.edu/LeesaWheelahan