Leonard is an Early Carer Research (ECR) who brings experience working as a Classroom Teacher, Teacher-Linguist and School Principal in very remote Northern Territory schools.

Leonard is a Lecturer in Education and researcher in the Faculty of Arts. Leonard coordinates the Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood (Birth - 12 Years) course and supervises postgraduate Higher Degree by Research (HDR) projects. 

Leonard’s research is focused on applied linguistics in education, including multilingualism, teaching and learning English as an additional language, language testing and educational assessment. Leonard uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to investigate the diverse English language and literacy learning pathways of young multilingual learners.

Leonard is particularly interested in researching the early English language and literacy development of multilingual children who learn English as an additional language or dialect at school. Leonard’s research is currently focused on examining the fairness, reliability, validity and usefulness of using multilingual students’ national English language and literacy test performances (scores) to make decisions about their learning outcomes and to guide future teaching and learning.

Leonard is a fully registered Classroom Teacher in the Northern Territory who holds a four-year Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Geography) / Bachelor of Education teaching degree from the University of New South Wales. Leonard also holds a Master of Applied Linguistics (TESOL), and a Master of Education (International) from Charles Darwin University. Leonard also holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Melbourne.