Ranjini Mahinda JohnBull’s scholarship is motivated by equity, social justice, compassion, and inclusion. This work centers on improving educational and life outcomes of students from minoritized populations through research on teacher self-efficacy beliefs and educational practice. To that end, she focuses on teacher self-efficacy, cultural competence, multicultural identity, the social contexts in which these beliefs change, and interventions that improve teaching self-efficacy and professional practice. This work builds on the body of literature demonstrating that teacher self-efficacy influences student outcomes. Dr. JohnBull’s research is grounded in culturally relevant neuroeducation, which encompasses cultural competence and teacher self-efficacy, arts integration methods, equity-focused educational practices, and professional development investigations of culturally relevant applications of the Brain-Targeted Teaching model.
Prior to joining Dr. Mariale Hardiman’s research lab for a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship, Dr. JohnBull served as a music teacher in two St. Louis City charter schools, provided teacher training and microbusiness strategic development in Uganda with the U.S. Peace Corps, and coordinated the graduate-student assessment data collection for accreditation of the Education Leadership program at the University of Virginia. She identifies as a bi-ethnic–biracial Sri Lankan-Euro American heterosexual cis-gender woman, mother of four multiethnic-multiracial Sri Lankan-Nigerian-Euro American children, and an avid proponent of intersectional identity conversations for promoting deeper understanding.
Keywords: Teacher self-efficacy; cultural competence; multicultural identity; culturally relevant pedagogy; neuroeducation; arts integration; professional development.
