Director of the Early Childhood and Family Unit at UNESCO from 1989-97, John has worked in the early childhood policy field with the main international early childhood organisations, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee for the International Year of the Family. In 1998, he joined the OECD as senior consultant to the Early Childhood Policy Review, where he co-authored with Dr. Michelle Neuman and Professor Collette Tayler two comparative works on early childhood policy in twenty of the OECD countries. The reports entitled Starting Strong: early childhood education and care, were published by the OECD in 2001 and 2006. Author of many articles, including contributions to the International Encyclopaedia of Education and the Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, John has been a member of several international juries and committees in the field of early education and children's rights and sit on the editorial board of several research journals, including the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (Routledge) and the Journal of Early Childhood Research (Sage). John is a Visiting Fellow at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, and is engaged in researching early childhood policies for Roma children in the CEE countries for OSI, UNICEF and the Roma Education Fund.

Ingrid is professor and coordinator for early childhood education at the Department of Education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She has a background as a preschool teacher and got the first Chair in early childhood education in Sweden in 1996. Her research mainly deals with how children create meaning and make sense of different aspects of the surrounding world, in the context of preschool (day care and kindergarten). Another research interest is teachers’ professional development. She is also World President of OMEP (Organisation Mondiale pour l’Éducation Préscolaire). In 2005 she was appointed Honorary Doctor at Åbo Academy, Finland and honoured with the Swedish Fridtjuv Berg Award. She also holds an UNESCO Chair in Early Childhood Education and Sustainable Development.

Manuel is a Government Councilor working for the Ministry of Family and Integration in Luxembourg. He is responsible for the development of a national pedagogical curriculum for ECEC in Luxembourg. After studying psychology and pedagogics in Austria, Germany and Belgium he has worked for private and non-governmental organizations for 25 years. Manuel started his professional career as a care worker in a group home for so-called “disordered” adolescents. During the last twenty years he has coordinated social structures for children, youth and family in Luxembourg. With colleagues Manuel developed and led several European Projects in the domains of Early Childhood Education and Care and of training programs for practitioners.

Jenny is the Manager of the Early Learning Participation Unit at the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Jenny's unit is responsible for managing a range of initiatives to increase participation in early childhood education in Victoria including universal access to 15 hours of kindergarten, early start kindergarten for three year old children known to child protection, promotion of kindergarten to children and families and kindergarten cluster management. Jenny has previously worked in national health and social care regulation in the UK and in various local government roles in the UK.

Lou trained as an occupational therapist in the 1970’s. Her first interest developed in paediatrics when she was sent to Noah's Ark as a student on placement in 1980. Since the Early 80’s Lou has worked as a paediatric occupational therapist with a focus on children with disabilities. Much of this time was spent working for Noah's Ark, which was the first toy library for children with disabilities in Australia. Lou also worked for Yooralla early childhood intervention programs through the early 2000’s and with teenagers with a disability through the last ten years. Today Lou is a Regional manager for Noah's Ark’s in Victoria, Australia. Her responsibilities include overseeing early childhood intervention programs and the federally funded inclusion support into child care programs. She also manages Noah’s Ark’s role in the newly formed “Helping Children with Autism” programs. She has presented papers at Early Childhood Intervention conferences in Australia, and was a keynote speaker for the second early childhood intervention conference in Malaysia 2008. Her interests remain passionate about pursuing the best outcomes for the families of all children including those with a disability.

Anthony Balla, Senior Public Programs Officer, Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Melbourne Museum, has 20 years experience developing and delivering Museum Programs from Giant bugs, Bunyips and Mummies to the Aboriginal and Non Aboriginal history of Australia. For the past 2 years Anthony has focussed on Aboriginal programs for both education and family audiences.

Adela has worked both nationally and abroad, across all levels of the early childhood field over the past 15 years. Her qualifications of an Associate Diploma in Social Science, Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment have strengthened her practice in working with children services staff, children and families in the early childhood industry. Her own diverse cultural background and professional experience constructs her emphasis on the importance of maintaining a culturally rich, inviting and welcoming environment for all families within children services.

Suzanne Christie is a Barrister at the NSW Bar, practising from Culwulla Chambers. She was admitted to practice on 16 July 1999 and to the Bar on 16 February 2004. She is a contributor author to Halsburys Laws of Australia, Financial Agreements and the author of the LexisNexis Australian Family Law Property Section. Prior to working as a lawyer she was a researcher and lecturer at the University of Sydney, Faculty of Law and tutor at University of Technology, Faculty of Arts, Department of Journalism Media Law - Masters Program. Suzanne is a Member Family Law Section, Law Council of Australia, Associate Member NSW Law Society, Past member NSW Law Society Family Law Committee, Past Chair NSW Young Lawyers Family Law Committee Suzanne is a Continuing Legal Education presenter for College of Law, Law Council of Australia Family Law Section, CLE Centre, BLEC, TEN, NSW Young Lawyers, Legalwise, Hastings Valley Family Law Practitioners Association, Newcastle/Hunter Valley Family Law Practitioners Association, Presenter of National Seminar Series on Less Adversarial Trials, Law Council of Australia Family Law Section.

Justine Osborne, SunSmart Schools and Early Childhood Program Coordinator at Cancer Council Victoria, has a degree in education and has taught groups from pre-school through to elderly citizens both in Australia and overseas. She has also worked in the health promotion sector, foreign affairs and communication. Justine currently chairs the 'Wellbeing and Health Organisation Links for Education' (WHOLE) Network. WHOLE brings together a number of not for profit, non-government health promotion programs and organisations that support Victorian primary school communities and the National Schools and Early Childhood SunSmart Committee.

Creina Porter has over 25 years experience in early childhood. After starting her career as a Kindergarten Teacher in the Northern Territory, Creina moved to London to travel and teach. On returning to Melbourne Creina undertook positions as Program Manager at FKA Multicultural Resource Centre; Senior Project Officer, Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital; and Training Manager at Community Child Care. For the past four years Creina has helped develop and shape the Kids - ‘Go for your life’ Program as the Early Childhood State Coordinator. Creina has been the co-writer of a number of resources and journal articles.

Helen Lindner is a Senior Project Manager for early childhood with VicRoads and a member of the Kidsafe Board. Helen has over 20 years’ experience in the early childhood sector. This includes working as an advisor with DEECD, managing and developing a range of early childhood programs, working as an early childhood consultant and more recently with Kindergarten Parents Victoria. Helen has a Masters of Public Policy and Management, a Graduate Diploma in Administration of Child and Family Programs and is an early childhood educator. Helen has a strong interest in policy development and child injury prevention.

Andrew Marty is the Managing Director of SACS Consulting. Andrew is a qualified psychologist in the state of Victoria who has over 25 years of human resource management consulting experience, including extensive senior executive search and selection experience. Andrew commenced his career in Melbourne, providing HR consulting and executive search and selection services, before heading offshore for four years international experience. While offshore Andrew occupied the role of Regional Director in Asia, and MD in the UK for an international human resources consulting firm. Andrew has provided Human Resource Consulting services in areas such as Organisational Restructures, Performance Management, Career Transition Management, Team development, Cultural Assessment and Change Management.

Information coming soon

Information coming soon

Bella Laidlaw is a member of the Programs Unit at the Centre for Community Child Health. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Graduate Diploma in Education and Master in Public Health from The University of Melbourne. Her experience before joining the Centre has been in secondary teaching and in qualitative and quantitative research. Since joining the Centre in 2006, Bella has worked on the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI), the Platforms Strategy Community Engagement Resource and Community Evaluation Resource, the development of a community audit tool while undertaking the Playford Community Audit and most recently the Linking Schools and Early Years project

Jen Lorains is a project officer in the Programs Unit at the Centre for Community Child Health. She completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology and Social Research Planning and Development at La Trobe University. Before joining the Centre Jen worked on a number of community research and health promotion projects across a variety of sectors. Some of these include postnatal depression, suicide bereavement support, youth support, and evaluation of youth services, consumer participation, and population health research and community sport and leisure programs. Since joining the Centre in April 2008, Jen’s primary focus has been on the Linking Schools and Early Years project.

Assoc. Prof Cheryl Dissanayake is Founder and Director of the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre at La Trobe University, which is the first research facility in Australia dedicated to Autism Spectrum Disorders. She has been an autism researcher since 1984, and has established and led an active research program in the School of Psychological Science since 1996. Cheryl serves on the Professional Panel of Autism Victoria, and is co-founder and convenor of one of its reference groups, the Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Group. Cheryl is a Registered Psychologist in Victoria.

Dr Anne Kennedy has worked in early childhood education as a teacher, educator, researcher, writer, child care director, preschool and primary school teacher. Anne is Chairperson of Community Child Care Association, Victoria and is also on the Board of FKA Children’s Services. Anne is actively involved in current national and state based reform initiatives in early childhood including being a member of the Charles Sturt University-led consortium which is developing the National Early Years Learning Framework.

Anne Stonehouse AM works as a consultant, editor and author in the field of early childhood. She has published widely in both Australia and the United States, has undertaken several significant consultancies and is a member of the Charles Sturt University - led consortium that is developing the Early Years Learning Framework.

Dinah has worked as a children’s services professional at Monash University for the past 5 years, managing the Outside School Hours Service, university playgroups and advising on child care strategic planning for the university. She is the childcare project manager on the building of a new 120 place early childhood centre at Monash University. Dinah currently sits on the board of management of Community Child Care, the EYLF and VEYLDF Practitioner Advisory Group, and is an active advocate for community based not-for-profit children’s services. Dinah has had extensive experience as a music teacher with children of pre-primary and primary school age, running her own business and teaching in kindergarten and school settings.

Kerry has had a long and varied career in the early childhood field. This has included many years in a range of children’s programs in country, suburban and inner urban centre including the Lady Gowrie Child Centre. She has managed state wide professional development programs and presented parent talks, teacher workshops, seminar presentations to a variety of teaching and child care groups and parents bodies. This included, in 2000, a three day conference presentation in Tien Jin, China, on behalf of the Lady Gowrie Child Centre. In 2003 Kerry led a steering committee of sector representatives to consult on and draft an update of the Department of Human Services’ Outdoor Play Guide She recently contributed to a successful and exciting book on natural outdoor play spaces for children “Outdoor Play Space Naturally” ed Sue Elliott. Currently she teaches in the Children’s Services course at Chisholm Institute, Bass Coast.

Louise is an energetic and enthusiastic presenter with over 20 years experience in early childhood in a variety of roles. Louise has trained in drama, singing and dance and is soon to release a music DVD called You can do Music, which shows teachers and early childhood educators how to incorporate music into early childhood programs using every day props. She currently teaches music at Victoria University and coordinates children’s services in local government. Louise facilitates workshops across all industry sectors throughout Victoria and interstate. Her sessions are fun and action packed.

Christine Andell is the Project Officer who coordinates the delivery of the YRP. She has a background as a children book specialist - working with schools, early educators, librarians, publishers, authors , illustrators , families and readers themselves for the past 20 years. With a wealth of knowledge and experience in the children’s book and reading promotion sector, she passionately advocates for the role of reading in young people’s lives and the positive effect it has on health and wellbeing and resulting social outcomes. Her broad background in education, community, theatre and book selling both internationally and locally, has equipped her well to address the activities of coordinating the Young Readers Program - a ubiquitous reading promotion program.

Nairn Walker has worked across Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK with tens of thousands of people to raise awareness of Dr Ruby Payneís insights into the issues presented by poverty in every level of our communities, schools and businesses. She is committed to raising awareness, understanding and outcomes through sharing strategies that make a difference. To this end, her audiences have included educators, community and government practitioners, police and justice workers, doctors, nurses, allied health, social service, youth and support professionals, employers and businesses. Described as dynamic, entertaining and compelling, Nairn never loses sight of the serious nature of her subject matter, providing a depth of understanding of the nature and culture of poverty that is often new to people who have spent many years working in underprivileged areas. She has been engaged with Dr Payneís Framework for Understanding Poverty material for a decade now, since being introduced to the material in her role as a Program and Campus Manager for disadvantaged and challenging students and their families in Northern Tasmania. Nairnís vocational background is in education and administration, with a strong interest and fifteen yearsí experience in community development and a passionate commitment to social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. To this end, Nairn co-founded and chaired the Mt Arthur Centre in Tasmania, dedicated to individual and community wellbeing. She trains professionals, employers, parents and community members in the MESH (Mental, Emotional, Social and Spiritual Health) Support Group Facilitation Program which is a powerful experiential model having a most positive and profound effect on participants of all ages through-out Australia in businesses, schools and community agencies. For several years Nairn also taught Equity and Social Justice at the University of Tasmania (School of Education). Nairn loves her role as a trainer and consultant with Social Solutions and is truly committed to their mission -Educating for a positive now. For more information on Nairn, Social Solutions and the various training programs on offer, please visit www.socialsolutions.com.au.

Pamela Oberhuemer worked as a researcher at the Munich-based State Institute of Early Childhood Research in Germany for 35 years. Her most recent work is a study commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Family and Youth Affairs on professional profiles within the early childhood workforce in Europe, focusing in particular on the newer EU member states – Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia (SEEPRO project). The findings were published in book form in both English and German early in 2010, together with updated country profiles from an earlier study in the EU15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom). Pamela was a member of the research consortium in the German National Quality Initiative, with a particular focus on developing quality indicators and self-evaluation measures for the diversity of service providers in Germany. She contributed towards the first-time official early childhood curricula in the German federal states of Bavaria (2003) and Hesse (2005), and in the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano in Italy (2008). As rapporteur for Ireland and the United States of America, Pamela contributed to the OECD Starting Strong review (OECD, 2006). She has been a long-term editorial board member of International Journal of Early Years Education and Early Years – An International Journal of Research and Development (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) and is currently academic co-editor of the latter. She was a founding member of the special interest group on professionalism within the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). She is past-president (2001-2004) and long-serving board member of the Pestalozzi-Froebel Association in Berlin. For seven years she was the leading representative of the German national committee of OMEP. For 16 years she chaired a consultative committee on continuing professional development for early childhood educators in Bavaria. Since 2003 she has been a member of three steering groups concerned with the planning of seminars and in-house training on the implementation of the Bavarian Early Childhood Curriculum: 2004-2006 for the directors of early childhood centres; 2006-2008 for pedagogues in early childhood centres and the first two years of primary school; 2008 and ongoing for teams in early childhood centres. Throughout her career, Pamela has published widely, including many co-authored and co-edited editions and more than 150 contributions in national and international books and journals. Her book with Michaela Ulich on Working with Young Children in Europe (1977) was published in German, English and Japanese. Her most recent book publication in English (with Inge Schreyer and Michelle Neuman) is Professionals in early childhood education and care systems – European profiles and perspectives (Barbara Budrich publishers, 2010).

Philip is a former Early Childhood teacher who has worked in 21 countries over the last forty years. largely for OECD, UNESCO and not-govt organisations. He was Dean of Education (Nottingham) and former President of the British Association of Early Childhood Education (BAECE), a governor of Froebel College, London and a frequent teacher in Finland. He is also Trustee for CREC (UK), the Centre for Research in Early Childhood, founder member of EECERA and assistant editor of several international journals. He holds doctorate in Psychology and recently has been adviser to DECS, SA. He has published widely on social psychology and policy in ECEC.

Catharine Hydon began as a teacher in a sessional kindergarten program and has gone on to manage a range of services for children and their families from childcare in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne to school based programs in Papua New Guinea.

Following her work in children service’s Catharine moved to a support and training role for early childhood professionals at the FKA Multicultural Resource Center, where she coordinated the training program. Catharine then moved to the Brotherhood of St Laurence where she led several early years projects that contributed to a strategic advocacy agenda for young children living in disadvantage. A major feature of her work was a collaborative project to progress the establishment of an integrated service on a public housing estate in inner Melbourne. Catharine is now working as an independent early childhood consultant.

Catharine has been a long time member of the Executive of Victorian Branch of Early Childhood Australia, and significantly, was a co-founder of Real Rights for Refugee Children, an advocacy group for the promotion of refugee children’s place in early childhood services. In 2003 Catharine was awarded the Barbara Creaser Memorial Award for outstanding contribution to early childhood education. Catharine is a Director on the National Board of Early Childhood Australia representing Victoria and contributed to the review of the ECA code of ethics.

Helen is a registered Maternal and Child Health Nurse and Early yearís educator with extensive background and experience in Management, teaching, group facilitation and clinical expertise. During the past four years, Helen has managed early yearís projects for Family and Childrenís Services at Hume City Council which has included the design and research trial of a competency based early parenting program for the Hume City Council Maternal and Child Health Service to support new mothers - Babies in Hume . (This evidenced based program is central to Helenís Masters of Education Research ëSupporting Early Mother Baby Communicationí.) Throughout 2009 Helen has led and supported research through case study trials to effect the 2010 implementation of the National Early years Framework across Hume City Councilís Early Years Services, which includes Maternal and Child Health Services. This experience, along with strong academic qualifications, has cultivated a deep appreciation of the importance and passion for leadership across both Maternal and Child Health and the Early childhood sector to encourage innovative thinking and creative approaches to support families and early yearís educators across both health and early years education.

Zora is the Project Coordinator of the KPV OH&S Champions Project. She has been employed at KPV since 2007. She has 20 years experience in industrial relations. She has a keen interest in occupational health and safety and supporting the sector to find solutions to make the workplace safer.

As Executive Director of the Parenting Research Centre, Warren Cann leads the organisation in knowledge exchange programs and research development that explore the links between parenting and child outcomes and finds more effective ways of supporting parents. Under his leadership, government, practitioners and professionals working with parents have come to recognise the Parenting Research Centre as a leading agency in dealing with parenting research, support and education. The father of four young children, Warren has more than 20 years experience working with families, training and supporting health and welfare professionals who work with families, and developing and implementing parenting support initiatives. He has worked with families of children with developmental delay, intellectual disability and severe behaviour problems and has written a large range of materials for parents, and professionals.

A preschool teacher since 1984 Karen has educated the children in the kindergarten group through a play based approach. While reflecting on her practice Karen has undertaken many other employment opportunities. Karen is a speaker covering topics on philosophy, value of play, science, music, language development and more recently co-presented sessions on the Victorian Early Years Learning Development Framework. Karen was invited to join the Victorian Practioners group on Transition and was a support worker for Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority’s trial and validation of the framework. This year Karen has been employed with Yooralla as a team leader of an outreach programs

Joseph Sparling, an early childhood educator and former schoolteacher and principal, has been a co-principal investigator on three longitudinal research projects known as the Abecedarian studies. These studies provide high-level scientific evidence that quality early childhood programs in the first 5 years of life produce long-lasting child and family benefits. In addition to many scholarly articles, Dr. Sparling is the author of LearningGames, Partners for Learning, and Conversation Books, educational resources for parents and teachers of very young children. He is a Research Professor at Georgetown University Center on Health and Education and a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina, USA.

Elicia Napoli is the Coordinator of Altona North Child Care Centre and has been working at Altona North for 6 years, 2 of which she has been Coordinating. Sue Downey and Lin McPherson Coordinator Altona Meadows Child Care Centre and have been there both for 15-20 years. Both Centres’ are managed by Hobsons Bay City Council and their sustainable work has strengthened the partnership between the centres and the council.

I am originally from County Durham in North East England and have lived in Australia for twenty three years. I am married to the lovely Debbie and we have four grown up children. I have been a Social Worker for fourteen years, working in youth services, family services, crisis intervention and private practice. At present I am employed by Anglicare Victoria as the team leader of the Eastern Parentzone program. For many years now I have had a passion for assisting parents who have children impacted by various forms of Dyslexia / Specific Learning Disability (SLD). I believe that SLD is a much misunderstood condition that has a profound impact on children, families, school communities and the wider community at large. However, I also believe that SLD can be managed appropriately via tailored interventions and ongoing, respectful communication between the home and school environments.

Helen Eddy is the Coordinator of Early Childhood Education Resources at Education.au with responsibility for the Early Childhood Education section of the edna (Education Network Australia) website. She is editor of the Early Childhood News, a monthly email newsletter with close to 3,000 subscribers. Helen has a Master of Education Studies and over 12 years experience in a range of early childhood education roles including junior primary teacher, preschool teacher, child care team leader, and playgroup leader. She has also worked as Research Librarian to the policy section of the SA Department of Education and Children’s Services. Her current role at Education.au is in supporting early childhood professionals in the use of online resources, digital technologies and professional networking and learning communities.

Mark Carthew is an award winning children’s author and educator, well known for his workshops and conference presentations exploring wordplay, music, movement, drama and humour. His numerous books include the internationally acclaimed illustrated play script series VoiceWorks and the beautiful picture books Five Little Owls and The Gobbling Tree (New Frontier) shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards. His anthology of early childhood rhymes Can You Keep a Secret? Timeless rhymes to share and treasure? (Random House) was a 2009 Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book - Early Childhood. Mark is currently completing his PhD at Swinburne University. www.markcarthew.com.au

Ranu has over 20 years experience in the child care industry including working directly with children, families and staff as a teacher, manager, trainer, resource developer, adviser and more recently working directly with remote aboriginal children's services in the NT. Ranu has both a personal and professional interest in working musically, cross culturally and with adults with ESL and low literacy within the child care industry. She is one of the founding members of Drum Drum. Drum Drum grew out of the cultural activities of the PNG community in Darwin. It is a family group that consists of second generation Papua New Guinean Australians, Haitians, and Anglo Australians. They perform traditional and contemporary music and dance from the Pacific Islands. The group also composes and choreographs their own music.Some of the contemporary repertoire extends into Aboriginal influences and the use of western instruments and jazz and reggae. Ranu was also until recently a member of Sunameke Pacific Island Dance group. She has played the flute, double bass and piccolo with Arafura Ensemble and Darwin Symphony Orchestra.