Leonard has experience working in very remote Northern Territory schools as a Classroom Teacher, Teacher-Linguist and School Principal.

Leonard is a researcher and lecturer in the College of Indigenous Futures, Education and the Arts.

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 school students.

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 is currently researching the fairness, reliability, validity and usefulness of using multilingual students’ English language and literacy test performances to make decisions about their learning outcomes and to guide future teaching and learning.

Leonard holds a combined Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Geography) / Bachelor of Education degree from the University of New South Wales, a Master of Applied Linguistics (TESOL) from Charles Darwin University and a Master of Education (International) from Charles Darwin University. 

Leonard is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. Leonard’s PhD candidature is supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dynamics of Language.