I have worked and been involved in the field of Early Childhood for the last 40 years across all sectors. As a preschool- primary teacher with Education Queensland since 1981, I have held many positions including consultant in Early Literacy teaching and have taught across the P-7 year levels. I am a mother of 3 children and have been a client of Early childhood settings in regional Queensland since 1988. I now have 5 grandchildren, Toby 10, Ava 5, Vera 20 months, Twin Girls Blake and Adaline 16 months old.They also all attend school and childcare and so I am back working with a special interest with those sectors again.
During 1995 I purchased a childcare centre and worked in and managed this centre from 1995-2000.
After leaving CQUniversity in 2011, where I worked as a full time lecturer for 12 years, I worked for 2 not-for-profit Children's organizations and then returned to the Division of Early Childhood and Community Engagement in the Department of Education and Training. During 2016, I was in the head office in Brisbane where I observed how policy development and implementation came about in this government department.
I am currently employed as the Professional Practice Coordinator and Lecturer in Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education at the Gladstone Campus.
After being a permanent employee with Education Queensland for 20 years, I finally resigned to work for CQUniversity at the Gladstone Campus. Between 1999 and 2014, I taught in most of the Generic/Core Education, Professional Practice and Early Childhood units in the B. Ed and BLM in the School of Education and the Arts. As well as Pre-service teacher education, my passions include getting it right in the Early Years for all children, Language and Literacy learning and Transitions for learning and life.
After a small sojourn of 5 years I returned to CQUniversity in 2017 and I am very happy to have come home!!
I have studied and the Mt Gravatt CAE and then at CQUniversity Australia where I continue to learn everyday!
I have taught in all sectors of education over the last 29 years. While early childhood and early literacy learning are passions, I have also learnt a lot about transitions especially from high school to university. I have implemented different transition programs and researched their impacts over the recent past to help young people with their career decision making.
I have owned a child care centre, taught as a pre school teacher, taught in an early education centre with preschoolers and Year 1 and in primary schools. one of the highlights while teaching for Education Queensland was my time as a Literacy Consultant.
As a mother of 3 children, I have also held roles within their kindergartens, primary schools and high schools. Education has been a lifelong passion and I have learnt so much from my students no matter their age.
I have been privileged to travel during my time at the university and have had the opportunity to visit educational settings in Europe, Italy and recently in South Korea. these experiences have all served to broaden my perspectives on education and it's role in our society.
Specialist Studies in Education - Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators
I have always been fascinated by how young children learn. The neuroscience of the brain has added another dimension to our understanding of how this occurs. The external manifestation of behaviour is always different and interesting in different people. The psychology and sociology of childhood is also of great interest to me.