Sue Ollerhead is Associate Professor of Education in Literacy and Language at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. Her academic career spans several countries and continents, shaped by a lifelong commitment to linguistic and social justice in education. Before moving to the Pacific, she held senior roles at the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University in Australia, where she was Director of Secondary Education and specialised in language teacher education.
Born and raised in South Africa, a country known for its twelve official languages, Sue developed an early interest in multilingualism and the role of language in shaping educational opportunity. This interest has guided and shaped her career, which has included roles in language teaching and educational publishing across sub-Saharan and North Africa, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Sue’s work focuses on the relationship between language, identity, and power in schools, with a particular emphasis on multilingual classrooms and the need for culturally responsive teaching. She has written extensively on these themes and her research is widely published in academic journals. Her writing explores how teachers can better support diverse learners through approaches that honour students’ languages, backgrounds, and ways of knowing.
Across all her roles, as a researcher, teacher educator, and advocate, Sue brings a deep commitment to equity and a belief in the transformative power of education when it is inclusive, grounded in context, and informed by the communities it serves.