Associate Professor Jenkins is an expert educator with specific expertise in Initial Teacher Education. She is also a highly skilled music specialist with a wide range of experience and knowledge in the Performing Arts. Her research and education work are driven by a focus on the enhancement and improvement of Initial Teacher Education to support the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers in schools. This includes the development of university-school partnerships which drive impactful professional development experiences for pre-service teachers to ensure they are ready to enter the teaching profession and meet the needs of the diverse range of students they will be working with. An important element of this research is identifying the major elements which contribute to successful and impactful pre-service teacher professional placements. 

Associate Professor Jenkins also uses her expert music experience and knowledge to underpin her teacher practitioner focus and an emphasis on teacher-led research. Her teaching is underpinned by her commitment to positive and inclusive student experience, informed by her previous role as Director Student Engagement. She uses Action Research and Experiential Learning to drive flexible and contemporary teaching practice, including the combination of a Blended Learning and Experiential Learning approach in the music method classroom. The Blended Learning and Experiential Learning approach is underpinned by pedagogy which re-considers the role of the teacher and student in the classroom. She has disseminated the findings of her research and innovative teacher practitioner work via various national and international journals, a book and book chapters and through the delivery of papers at a wide range of conference papers in New Zealand, London, Paris, Athens, United States, Canada and Australia. 

She has extensive leadership experience which includes roles such as Deputy Dean Education, Director Student Engagement, Chair Academic Progress Committee and Course Leader Bachelor of Education (Secondary, Hons). This leadership work has provided her with a nuanced and deep understanding of teaching and learning, supporting students' academic progression and enhancing the student experience in higher education. 

Current and prior PhD supervisions include:          

• Returning to instrumental music performance and music teaching post COVID-19
• Music teaching activities in early childhood centres and kindergartens
• Creating compassionate schools: Principals implementing compassionate school leadership
• Internationalising the student experience: Australian domestic student perspectives
• Flow experiences in Shakuhachi teaching via skype
• What is the impact of the Early Learning Years Framework on teaching music in preschool classrooms?
• The impact of mindfulness on pre-service music teachers
• Instrumental practice with digital technology: Facilitating children's self-regulation of music learning
• International Chinese students' perceptions of social experiences at an Australian university
• Embodied creativity: The phenomenology of early childhood dance.
• Music Performance anxiety: educational relationships between instrumental music teachers and students
• The influence of Confucianism and Western Psychological and religious Culture on Identity and Music Learning among Chinese Musicians
• An examination of the work of studio music teachers as a contribution to the musical life of Victoria, 1900-1950.