An Interview with Denise Wood

Dr Denise Wood, who is an Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University, has worked across all levels of education, and has paid attention to the opportunities and experiences of gifted learners in each context. Her career has spanned four decades, beginning in the late 1980s as an enrichment teacher, in the 1990s as an Opportunity Classroom teacher, and from 2005 as a teacher educator at Charles Sturt University. Denise was involved in the NSW Association for Gifted and Talented Children (NSWAGTC; leading the association from 2008 to 2011), has provided inservice programs across school systems, and has been a consultant for schools, including Catholic Schools NSW. Her current passions are opportunities for rural gifted students, particularly girls, creativity in classroom teaching, emerging pedagogies such as slow learning and kindness, and reflective practice (Bannister-Tyrell & Wood, 2021; Maker & Bahar, 2024; Napier et al., 2023; Thraves & Dhurrkay, 2023). She has made numerous contributions to the Australasian Journal of Gifted Education (Wood, 2025; Wood & Vialle, 2015).