Educational research

We're researching a broad range of issues related to education and educational practice. This includes promoting equity and inclusion, and the impacts of technology and learning approaches across the sector.

We work closely with educators, schools and policymakers to inform policy and practice that support meaningful change.

Explore our research priorities and learn why we’re the partner of choice for education research.

Early childhood education research

Early childhood education research values play, place and innovation.

We conduct research that enriches the lives of children, families, the sector and the wider community.

Our research areas include playwork and loose parts play, children’s agency, trauma in early childhood, mentoring, educator identity and child-friendly urban design.

We work in partnership with educators and communities to advance equity and quality in early childhood education.

: ECP3 project
We partnered with the Department of Education and Training and Goodstart Early Learning to deliver a program supporting pre-service teachers to complete their final professional placement in rural and regional areas of Victoria.
The project includes extra support for mentor teachers and pre-service teachers with the aim of improving the experience of placement and providing further training for mentors.
The findings of the research will inform the ways in which professional placements are delivered by VU in the future.
Playwork
Our team was involved in pop-up play spaces in urban environments.
Maddern Square, V-You play, partnerships with local councils
We work in collaboration with local councils and private enterprise to provide pop up play spaces in urban environments. In 2021 we facilitated Mini Maddern, a Pop-Up play space in Footscray, in collaboration with Maribyrnong City Council and Public Realm Lab. We have our own Pop-Up play space at VU Nicholson campus.
Remote Placements in Early Childhood at VU
In 2020, in response to COVID19, the early childhood team at VU developed an online (virtual) placement program to connect pre-service teachers with families and children.
Learn more about early childhood education at VU
: Student teachers participate in 'virtual placements' during COVID closures (VU news)
Pre-service teacher placement in the time of COVID-19 (The Spoke, Early Childhood Australia's blog)
Silver linings and unexpected outcomes—early childhood professional placements in the time of COVID-19 (The Spoke, Early Childhood Australia's blog).
: Read more about our research staff in their bios, via the links.
Jessica Grimes
Sarah Jobson
Patricia Mascarenhas
Professor Mary-Rose McLaren
Nathalie Nehma
Justine Walsh
: Goodstart
Hume City Council *
Maribyrnong City Council
Public Realm Lab
State Government of Victoria, Department of Education
* We have partnered with Hume City Council to offer their employees a well-supported and responsive offering of our Bachelor of Early Childhood. Diploma-qualified educators working and living in Hume.
Partnerships with overseas universities
We have international research partnerships with Dublin City University, Ireland and Karlstad University, Sweden.

Education for diversity research

Education for diversity research is a commitment to praxis, partnership and practice.

We work collaboratively with pre-service teachers, industry leaders, diverse communities and school colleagues to improve and enhance the quality of teacher education.

: We engage in participatory practitioner research in a range of fields tied to teacher education that span a teacher’s professional life. Through engaging in a range of situated research projects, we contribute to Federal and State policies related to pre-service teacher education, national accreditation and the national curriculum directions.
We also address continuing teacher education (also known as in-service education) in a range of settings, including education workplaces, award courses, participation in research projects and other professional development activities.
Pre-service teachers come from a variety of demographic backgrounds. We celebrate cultural diversity and offer a range of teacher education pathways that support individuals from economic, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Central to our work is questioning and critiquing pre-service teacher education settings, with the aim of changing assumptions of what constitutes effective teacher education programs.
We establish, trial and evaluate innovative teaching and learning approaches that inform pedagogical innovation around self-motivated, reflexive, meta-cognitive and independent learners.
Using diverse methodological approaches, we evidence and document research findings in a systematic way. Research findings are disseminated in leading journals books and presented in peer-reviewed conferences globally. National and international guest speakers are invited to lead seminar presentations on their areas of expertise, as well as supporting colleagues in a range of professional-development activities.
: Social Justice Intercultural Competency
Sustainability, Environment, Arts and Education (SEAE)
Contemporary Social and Ecological interactions
International Science and Evidence Based Education Assessment (ISEEA)
Teacher Identity
Arts and Creativity in Educational Contexts
Trauma Informed Teaching and Learning Practices
NETDS (National Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools)
Teacher Education and Professional Learning
Literacy in Education
Sexuality and Gender in Education
Narrative Methodologies in Education
Critical Theory in Education
Climate Change Education
: NETDS (National Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools)
Trauma Informed Teaching and Learning Practices
DSSL (Digital Student Support Leaders) in COVID-19 times
Teaching workforce development through integrated partnerships
Exploring how Victoria University teacher educators engage with contemporary pedagogies related to interactive e-learning
Sustainability, Environment, Arts and Education (SEAE) Research cluster project: Experimenting with Thought in a More-than-human Anthropocene
Instagram project: Teaching Storylines
: Meet our research team and read their biographies:
Staff
Professor Marcelle Cacciattolo
Associate Professor Mark Vicars
Dr Ligia Pelosi
Dr Helen Widdop-Quinton
Dr Efrat Eilam
Dr Oksana Razoumova
Dr Karen Charman
Dr Ron Baird
Dr Brian Mundy
Dr Peter Thomas
Adjuncts & honorary fellows
Dr Bill Eckersley
Dr Michael Hallpike
Professor Tarquam McKenna
Dr Deborah Lipson
Dr Barbara Black
PhD students
Amanda Muscat
Lawry Mahon
Shiona Long
Jane Hickey
Ingrid Lee
: Researchers in this program conduct research with other university and industry partners at local, national and international level.
These partnerships help to foster greater insight into teaching and learning practices that lead to transformational change.
Universities
ACU
Deakin University
Monash University
RMIT
La Trobe University
Mahidol university
Akita University
University of South Australia.
Organisations
Regional South Australian agencies
Gallery Sunshine Everywhere
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
The Smith Family