1347313
Emeritus Professor
Ann Farrell
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education
Biography
Ann Farrell is Professor Emeritus and, for 15 years, Head of the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Faculty of Education, QUT:- Earned PhD from The University of Queensland (1996). Her comparative international study of children and their mothers in prisons (United Kingdom, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) generated prison reform for children and families impacted by incarceration
- Awarded Honorary Doctorate from Gothenburg University (Sweden) (2012) for international leadership in early childhood research
- Awarded national Barbara Creaser Memorial Award (2021) by Early Childhood Australia, for valued contribution to the early childhood profession and advocacy for young children
- Professional experience as an early childhood teacher in rural and urban Australia and British Columbia (1976-1989); and Preschool Adviser with Creche and Kindergarten Association (C&K) QLD (1990)
- International authority in Early Childhood Education and Care research and advocacy evidenced in more than 100 scholarly publications, $6m in research funding and invited presentations to academic and professional audiences in 25 countries
- Collaborative Australian Research Council (ARC) research into teachers reporting suspected child sexual abuse led to legislative change in Queensland and her ARC research into integrated child and family services provided impetus to Australia's national 'hubs' initiatives
- Expertise in research ethics, children’s rights to protection and participation, childhood and families studies, children in the legal and criminal justice systems, researching with young children, Early Childhood Education and Care, early childhood teacher education, globalization and diversity
- Appointed as Minister's Nominee to Board of the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), Australia's national body supporting the National Quality Framework for of ECEC (2016-2022), Deputy Chair (2019-2022
- Invited member of the Collaborative Research Network "Excellence in Research in Early Years Education" involving QUT, Charles Sturt University (lead) and Monash University and funded by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (2011-2015) $5.3M
- Led six-university consortium for international mobility involving 54 students and 36 staff in "Intercultural dialogue for global leadership and citizenship in early childhood education" (2010-2014), funded by the European Union and Australia's Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, with QUT (Australian leader), Charles Sturt University, Monash University, Gothenburg University (EU leader), University College of Northern Denmark and University of East London.
- Appointed to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Expert Panel (Teacher Education: Early Childhood) (2013 onwards)
- Ministerial Appointee to the Early Childhood Education and Care Forum, a sector-wide consultative body for Towards Q2. Tomorrow’s Queensland; and Ministerial Appointee to the Office of Higher Education Review Panel, Department of Education, Training and Employment (Queensland)
- International review panels Gothenburg University (Sweden) (2019-2022), University of Pretoria (South Africa) (2013) and Malardarlen University (Sweden) (2014)
- ARC International Reader (IntReader), contributing special early years expertise in assessing ARC grants and collaborative bids between the ARC and the United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council. She serves as an External Assessor for the NHMRC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and South Africa's National Research Foundation, Reviews and Evaluation Directorate
- Recognized by Department of Education, Training and Employment (Qld) as an expert in research, academic and evaluation services
Personal details
Positions
- Adjunct Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education - Emeritus Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
Office of the Exec Dean, CI, Edu & Soc Justice
Keywords
Child Rights to Participation and Protection, Early Childood Education and Care: Policy and Practice, Early Childhood Teacher Education, Researching with Young Children, Globalisation, Intercultural Learning and Teaching, Research Ethics, Children's Health and Wellbeing, Mixed Method, Evaluation and Policy Research, Diversity in the Early Years
Research field
Education systems, Other law and legal studies, Sociology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Honorary Doctorate (Goteborg University)
- PhD (University of Queensland)
- MEdSt (University of Queensland)
- BEdSt (University of Queensland)
- DipT(EC) (Brisbane Kind T.C.)
- Graduate Australian Institute of Company Directors (Australian Institute of Company Directors)
Professional memberships and associations
Advisory panels/committees
- European Early Childhood Research Association (EECERA) Conference Scientific Committee (Brighton, United Kingdom, 2024; Lisbon, Portugal, 2023)
- London Economics (Indecon), International Expert Adviser, Review of Early Learning and Care and School Age Child Care Operating System, Republic of Ireland (2021); Design of National Early Learning and Childhood Agency in Ireland (2024); invited paper "Governance and regulation of Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland: Perspectives on the Australian experience" (2024)
- Beyond Blue BeYou, National Advisory Council, National Education Initiative (2017 onwards)
- Early Childhood Australia, Queensland Executive (appointed by election, 2024 onwards)
- University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) Review of Master of Education Expert Panel (2023)
- Education University of Hong Kong, External Review Panel, Early Childhood Education Area, Master of Education (2022)
- Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) Board, Minister's Nominee (2016-2021), Deputy Chair (2019-2021)
- Performance-based Research Fund (New Zealand), Education Panel (2018-2019)
- International Advisory Board, Faculty of Education, Gothenburg University (2019-2022)
- Education University of Hong Kong, Chair Review Panel, Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) (2018)
- European Union, Erasmus Mundis International Review Panel, Masters of Early Childhood (2016)
- Early Childhood Australia, Publications Advisory Panel (2016 onwards)
- Australian Aid Program Education Panel, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2015 onwards)
- Mälardalen University (Sweden), International Research Review Panel (2014)
- Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), appointment to Expert Panel (Teacher Education: Early Childhood) (2013 onwards)
- University of Pretoria (South Africa), Corporate Review Panel, Early Childhood Education Courses (2013)
- Early Childhood Education and Care Forum, Ministerial Appointment to sector-wide consultative body established to inform the implementation of Queensland’s early childhood reform agenda (2009-2010)
- Office of Higher Education, Ministerial Appointment to Review Panel, Queensland Department of Education and Training
Professional bodies
- Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) (2018)
- World Organisation for Early Childhood (OMEP)
- International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
- Australasian Bioethics Association
- Australian Association for Research in Education
- Australian Alliance for Children and Youth
- Higher Education Research & Development Society Australasia
- Australian College of Educators
- Early Childhood Australia
Teaching
Professor Farrell's teaching expertise spans undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programs, with expertise in:
- Early childhood education and care: Curriculum policy and practice
- Young children, families and communities
- Research ethics
Professor Farrell has supervised 13 doctorates to completion:
- graduates are represented in academic positions in Brunei, New South Wales and Queensland
- four graduates are members of the professoriate in their respective universities
- two graduates hold senior executive positions, one in Canberra and one in a national education organization
Professor Farrell's international cohort-teaching spans:
- China
- Indonesia
- Papua New Guinea
- Singapore
- Sweden
- Norway
- Denmark
- United Kingdom
Professor Farrell's highlights in international teaching include:
- Papua New Guinea (PNG) Partnerships for Improving Education, Deputy Project Leader & Co-Designer, Flexbile Mode Course Development and Training for Elementary Teachers (2023-2027)
- Jiangsu International Foundation for Education Excellence (JIFEE), China - course design, leadership and teaching in a large-scale professional development program for >1800 early childhood teachers (2012-2015); devoted approximately 4 weeks per year of face-to-face teaching with cohorts of 120 teachers at Hongwen College, Suzhou (2012-2015)
- International Master of Early Childhood, Gothenburg University, Sweden & Oslo Akerhus University College, Norway (2015)
- "Enhancing sustainable leadership for quality Early Childhood Education teacher training in Indonesia" - course design, team leadership and teaching 16 fellows from Indonesia Directorate of Development for Early Childhood in Australian Awards Fellowship program, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (2015-2016)
- "Intercultural dialogue for global leadership and citizenship in early childhood education", funded by the European Union and Australia's Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - course design, leadership and teaching in a six-university consortium providing international mobility for 54 students and 33 staff. Consortium members: QUT (Australian lead), Charles Sturt University, Monash University, Gothenburg University (EU lead), University College of Northern Denmark and University of East London (2011-2014)
Experience
Professor Farrell experience includes:
- University Superviser of preservice teachers undertaking field experience in Early Childhood Education and Care contexts, within teacher education programs accredited with Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)
- International Reader for the Australian Research Council and specialist early years expertise in assessing ARC and collaborative ARC/ESRC (UK) bids
- Expert reviewer for Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF), Reviews and Evaluation Directorate
- Expert in research, academic ad evaluation services, Department of Education, Training and Employment QLD
- Invited member of international meeting on "Global Clinical Pediatric Trials" with the National Institute of Health/Food and Drug Administration, Washington DC (2009)
- Ministerial Appointee to Queensland's Early Childhood Education and Care Forum and to the Office of Higher Education, Review Panel, Queensland Department of Education and Training QLD
Publications
- Farrell, A., (2021). Young children's rights to provision, participation and protection: Challenges of applying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia. In A. Visnijic Jevtic, AR. Sadownik & I. Engdahl (Eds.), Young Children in the World and Their Rights: Thirty Years with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (pp. 151–166). Springer. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/211866
- Houen, S., Danby, S., Farrell, A. & Thorpe, K. (2019). Adopting an unknowing stance in teacher-child interactions through 'I wonder...' formulations. Classroom Discourse, 10(2), 151–167. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128259
- Farrell, A., Kagan, S. & Tisdall, E. (2016). The SAGE handbook of early childhood research. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/90858
- Farrell, A. & Pramling Samuelsson, I. (2016). Diversity in the early years: Intercultural learning and teaching. Oxford University Press. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/94140
- Cleland, P., Byrne, R., Vidgen, H., Irvine, S., Farrell, A. & Gallegos, D. (2018). Advancing Australia's agenda for young children's health and wellbeing: Empirical insights into educator knowledge, confidence and intentions in promoting children's Learning, Eating, active play and sleep (LEAPS). Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 43(2), 55–63. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/224005
- Houen, S., Danby, S., Farrell, A. & Thorpe, K. (2017). Web searching as a context to build on young children's displayed knowledge. In A. Church & A. Bateman (Eds.), Children's knowledge-in-interaction: studies in conversation analysis (pp. 57–72). Springer. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/103536
- Farrell, A. & Danby, S. (2015). How does homework 'work' for young children? Children's accounts of homework in their everyday lives. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(2), 250–269. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/61883
- Walsh, K., Mathews, B., Rassafiani, M., Farrell, A. & Butler, D. (2013). Elementary teachers' knowledge of legislative and policy duties for reporting child sexual abuse. Elementary School Journal, 114(2), 178–199. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/65615
- Daniels, L., Magarey, A., Battistutta, D., Nicholson, J., Farrell, A., Davidson, G. & Cleghorn, G. (2009). The NOURISH randomised control trial: Positive feeding practices and food preferences in early childhood - a primary prevention program for childhood obesity. BMC Public Health, 9(387), 1–10. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/27823
- Farrell, A., (2005). Ethical Research with Children. Open University Press/ McGraw-Hill Education. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/6432
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Ann, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2012
- Details
- Honorary Doctorate awarded by Gothenburg University for international leadership in early childhood research
- Type
- Membership of a Statutory Committee
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Appointed as the Minister's Nominee to the Board of the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), Australia's national body supporting the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care (2016 onwards)
- Type
- Appointment to Prestigious Positions
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Appointment to International Review Panel, Erasmus Mundis International Masters of Early Childhood (Malta, Ireland, Sweden & Norway)
- Type
- Editor of a Prestigious Work of Reference
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Lead editor of the "Sage Handbook of Early Childhood Research" (2016) published by Sage Publications London. Co-editors are Professor Sharon Lynn Kagan, Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York and Professor Adjunct at Yale University's Child Study Centre; and Professor E. Kay M. Tisdall, Professor of Childhood Policy at the University of Edinburgh. She is also lead editor of "Diversity in the Early Years. Intercultural Learning and Teaching" (2016) published by Oxford University Press. Her co-editor is Professor Ingrid Pramling-Samuelsson, UNESCO Chair in Early Childhood Education and Sustainable Development and Professor of Early childhood Education at Gothenburg University, Sweden.
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Appointed AUSAID Expert (GRM International)for expert services provided under the Education Resource Facility (Global) 20014-2015
- Type
- Assessor, Examiner or Supervisor Role
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- Member of Research Review Panel, Malardalen University, Vasteras, Sweden (2014), review of social sciences research
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence "Team Award" for international leadership of early childhood teacher program with Jiangsu International Foundation for Education Excellence, China
- Type
- Appointment to Prestigious Positions
- Reference year
- 2013
- Details
- Member, Corporate Review Panel University of Pretoria (2013), review of Early Childhood Teacher Education and Research
- Type
- Appointment to Prestigious Positions
- Reference year
- 2013
- Details
- Appointment to Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), appointment to Expert Panel (Teacher Education: Early Childhood) (2013 onwards)
- Type
- International Collaboration
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- Professor Farrell was part of an invitation-only working meeting reviewing the ethical conduct of global clinical trials involving children, hosted by the National Institute of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, Washington DC.
Selected research projects
- Title
- Promoting Protective Feeding Practices to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Follow Up of a Successful Obesity Prevention Program Commencing in Infancy
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 1021065
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Obesity; Prevention; Feeding Practices; Infant; Child Health; Randomised Trial
- Title
- Positive Feeding Practices and Food Preferences in Very Early Childhood - A Primary Care Obesity Prevention Strategy
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 426704
- Start year
- 2008
- Keywords
- Nutrition and Dietetics; Health Promotion; Community Child Health; Peadiatrics
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Early Childhood Education and Care Preservice Teachers' Experiences of Articulation from Vocational Education and Training to Higher Education (2018)
- Teacher Talk: "I wonder..." Request Designs (2017)
- Prevalence and Consequences of Negative Workplace Cyber Communications in the Australian Public Sector (2015)
- Investigating the school experiences of girls whose parents are separated or divorced: Implications for practice (2014)
- A study of Parents' Conceptions of Their Roles as Home Educators of Their Children (2011)
- The Social Orders of Family Mealtime (2011)
- Conceptions of Learning held by Upper Primary Children in government Schools in Brunei Darussalam (2009)
- Constructing ideas and theories about quality: the accounts of young children in two early childhood classrooms in Singapore (2008)
- Young children's social organisation of peer interactions (2008)
- Parent Conceptions of their Role in Early Childhood Education and Care: a Phenomenographic Study from Queensland, Australia (2005)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.