Sandra Croaker

Sandra Croaker is a Lecturer in Social Work located at the Townsville JCU campus. Her teaching and research interests are in eco-social work and with a specific focus on eco-social justice informed field education. Her role sees her working closely with students in preparation and planning for placement, bridging the space between academic education and practice learning. Sandra also works closely with social and human services providers in the Townsville region to continuously explore and grow new placement learning opportunities for students.

Her early career saw Sandra involved in direct practice delivery, working with people from diverse backgrounds. Sandra has gained her work experience overseas and in Australia across government and non-government social support agencies. These fundamental work experiences have broadened her understanding of applied social work and laid the foundations for her interest in critical social work, feminist social work theory and eco-social work.

As a PhD candidate, her current research focuses on social work graduates' readiness for eco-social work practice. This work is informed by Heather Boetto's transformative model for eco-social practice and Lena Dominelli's concepts of 'green social work'.

Being in the middle of an climate emergency it is important to her current research to seek out opportunities for interdisciplinary work and research to foster transformative action towards holistic and systemic thinking as a pathway to addressing current social, environmental and economic issues. Invitations for collaborative work and research are welcome.