Katie Hotko

Dr Katie Hotko is a Lecturer in Creative Arts in Initial Teacher Education at Southern Cross University and an arts-based educational researcher whose work spans a/r/tography, arts-informed inquiry, participatory methodologies, and praxis-oriented teacher education. Her doctoral thesis, We Make Art and It Makes Us: An A/r/tographic Exploration of Generalist Primary Teachers' Creative Self-Belief (Southern Cross University, 2022), employed Whiteheadian process philosophy to examine the dynamic relationship between art-making, creativity, and teacher identity.

Katie's research explores how creative, relational, and arts-based approaches can transform teacher education, support inclusive learning environments, and amplify children's voices in educational research. Her recent work focuses on praxis-based assessment in initial teacher education, online arts pedagogies, creative self-belief, and climate justice education. She is a Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Disaster Ready Schools: Strengthening Australia's Education Sector, which investigates the impacts of climate-related disasters on education and supports the development of disaster-ready school communities.

A self-taught visual artist, Katie is committed to democratising the arts and making creative learning accessible, inclusive, and meaningful for all learners. She is an Editor of the International Journal of Education through Art, World Councillor for South East Asia and the Pacific with the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA), and a member of Southern Cross University's Sustainability, Environmental and the Arts in Education (SEAE) Research Centre. At Southern Cross University, she serves as Honours Course Coordinator and Academic Partnerships Coordinator, supporting research pathways, academic partnerships, and teacher education innovation.

Katie's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals