Jane's research interests are in the areas of educational leadership for social justice, with a particular focus on issues of gender and ethnicity; and theorising educational leadership as practice/praxis. She is a lead developer of the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis, Wilkinson, Edwards-Groves, Hardy, Grootenboer, & Bristol, 2014). She also draws on sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's work and the philosopher, Ted Schatzki. Jane has published widely in the areas of women and leadership, refugee students and theorising leadership as practice/praxis.

Her most recent publications include:

Wilkinson, J. (2020). Educational leadership as practice. In R. Papa (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. New York: Oxford University Press. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.61

Wilkinson, J., & Kaukko, M. (2020). Educational leading as pedagogical love: The case for refugee education. International Journal of Leadership in Education, (23)1, 61-76.  doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2019.1629492

Jane has been a deputy principal of a large rural secondary school in Victoria, an English curriculum consultant and began her career as a secondary English, ESL and French teacher.