Amy Burns

BFA and B.ED (University of Lethbridge), MA and PhD (University of Calgary)

To make an appointment with Amy, please send an email.

Dr. Amy Burns is Dean of the Faculty of Education and a Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership at Queen’s University. Her research centers on the lived experiences of those in educational systems, particularly on the narrative experiences of those who hold formal leadership positions within those systems.  Her areas of expertise lie primarily within poststructural feminist theory and the impact of gender, gender diversity and feminism on women in leadership. As part of her commitment to the examination of educational systems, she also engages in research on teaching and leadership in unique educational environments including rural and remote education, community-based education and non-traditional educational sites. She is co-editor of three books including Women Negotiating Life in the Academy – A Canadian Perspective; Leading with heart: Enacting self-care, collective care and justice and Crisis and opportunity: How Canadian Bachelor of Education programs responded to the pandemic. Prior to joining postsecondary education, Amy enjoyed almost 20 years as a K-12 educator and leader.

Research Interests

• Women in leadership
• Feminist theory/research
• Educational leadership
• Educational policy
• Leadership development
• Teacher education

Selected Publications

Burns, A. (2025). Don’t worry, she’ll do it: Martyrdom as leadership for women in the academy. In M. Drinkwater and Y. Waghid (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Ethics of Care in Transformative Leadership in Higher Education (pp. 140-155). London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Danyluk, P., Burns, A., Poitras Pratt, Y., Wessel, S., James Thomas, S., Trout, L., Lorenz, D., Kendrick, A., Kapoyannis, T. Crawford, K., Lemaire, E., Hill, J., Bright R., Burleigh, D., Weir, C., Hill, S.L., & Boschman, L. (2024). Weaving Indigenous knowledges into the classroom as a tool to combat racism. Journal of Contemporary Issues, 19(1), 25-58 https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/jcie/index.php/JCIE/article/view/29628

Burns, A., Taylor, L.K., Hamilton, E.R., & Leonard, A.E. (2023). The COVID Conversations: Insights Gained through a Collaborative Self-Study of Four Women Academics during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Teacher Educator, 59(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2023.2273368

Leonard, A.E., Burns, A., Hamilton, E.R., Taylor, L., & Tanck, H. (2023). Place as teacher: Community-based experiences, third spaces, & teacher education. Studying Teacher Education, 20(2), 214-235. https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2023.2250822

Adams, P. & Burns, A. (2023). What should teacher education be about? Initial comparisons from Scotland and Alberta. Teaching Education, 34(4), 403-419. doi: 10.1080/10476210.2023.2166918

Burns, A., Danyluk, P. Nickel, J., Kendrick, A., Kapoyannis, T., & McNeilly, E. (2022). Aligning goals for certification and professional growth: Building cooperation among Bachelor of Education programs in Alberta. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 68(1), 103-118. doi: https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v68i1.70703

Burns, A. (2020). Living with heart: Self-care, collective care, and justice. In A. Burns & M-A. Mitchell-Pellett (Eds.), Leading with heart: Enacting self-care, collective care and justice. (pp. 133-139). Word and Deed Publishing.

Burns, A. (2020). Bringing my past into my future as a woman in the academy.  In S.E. Eaton & A. Burns (Eds.), Women Negotiating Life in the Academy – A Canadian Perspective. (pp. 3-14). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-15-3114-9