Professor Alison Elliott
Head of School
Alison Elliott is Professor and Head of the School of Education at Charles Darwin University. Prior to joining CDU in early 2007 she was Director of the Early Childhood Research Program at the Australian Council for Educational Research. With a teaching and research career spanning some 20+ years she has held a number of key roles in the early childhood sector, in schools and in the university sector, including Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Canberra.
Alison is widely recognised for her leadership, research, development and policy work in early childhood care and education and has particular expertise in young children’s development, learning and wellbeing, early literacy pedagogies and curricula, and early education policy and strategy, especially for vulnerable communities and children at risk. She has undertaken extensive research, evaluation and consultancy work focusing on optimising development and learning in the early years for a range of clients in the early childhood and school sector, government, and non-government agencies and community organisations. Most recently she has undertaken projects on practitioner capacity building in the early childhood sector, strengthening children’s social competence and resilience to optimise learning, strategies that foster connectedness between families, schools and early childhood centres and communities, early intervention and inclusion for children with additional needs, building health promoting child care centres, and facilitating transitions to school. Typically, research and evaluation projects involve a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, including surveys, case studies, policy analysis and interviews.
Alison is a long time, active contributor to public debate on childhood development, care, education, and wellbeing issues. She has been instrumental in raising key issues concerning young children and families within the community and more generally, applying outcomes of research and scholarship for the benefit of families, children and early childhood practitioners, especially in disadvantaged and isolated communities. She contributes to a range of national enquiries, addresses and supports community groups and issues, provides advice to government and NGOs, and to schools, early childhood centres, community groups and industry panels, promotes equity issues for children, students and parents and writes about contemporary issues for the state and national press. These activities are geared to promoting practices that support and enhance children’s development, improve early learning environments and foster synergies and connectedness between communities and families and educational providers and organisations. All have the ultimate goal of improving developmental and educational opportunities and outcomes for children, building service, family and individual capacity, and strengthening community wellbeing.
Alison has been editor of Every Child, Australia’s leading professional publication for early childhood practitioners, for some 13 years and is the author of numerous academic and professional publications focusing on young children’s learning and development, teacher education, and early childhood care and education.
Her most recent significant publication, Early childhood education. Pathways to quality and equity (a whole issue of the Australian Education Review, No 50, 2006 Melbourne: ACER Press) is particularly influential as a framework for better targeting policy initiatives to meet the diversity of family, child and community needs.
