ProfessorAndrea Nolan

Andrea's personal research interests include exploring the capability of the Early Childhood Education and Care workforce, mentoring, the professional learning of teachers, early childhood pedagogy, and the use of reflective practice as a way to enhance teachers' professional growth.

HDR supervisory theses titles

* A Narrative Inquiry into childhood learning experiences during and beyond armed conflicts

* The capability to continue teaching: A multiple-case study into Early Childhood Teacher agency and retention
* Teaching with/in/through dis/abilities in an early childhood centre: An autoethnographic encounter
* Educator perceptions about transition-to-school practices: A Bourdieusian analysis
* Identifying and facilitating young children's resilience in action within early childhood education and care
* Effective family partnerships in early childhood education and care - an investigation of the nature of interactions between educators and parents
* Development and efficacy of the Teacher's Optimal Relationship Approach (TORA)
* Mentoring in early childhood/primary pre-service teacher education: the Kinda Kinder Program
* Problematising 'quality' in early childhood education and care policy reform in Australia
* Children's Agency: Exploring early childhood educator-child interactions
* Children's educational experiences during times of conflict: A Narrative Inquiry
* Towards inclusive workforce development: Socio-economic diversity in the Australian early childhood workforce and its implications for practice
* Family school partnerships within an era of reform
* Supporting parent-child relationships in early childhood to improve children's development
* Children at risk of school exclusion: the role of NDPT within the support system
* Engaging with the Early Years Learning Framework

Knowledge Areas
* Early childhood workforce capabilities
* Professional learning
* Transition to school
* Early language and literacy learning
* Early childhood pedagogy


Projects
Major projects in the past 10 years include:

2025-2026 Belonging as an early childhood professional: Family Day Care educators. 

2023 Mentoring, induction and professional networks in early childhood education and care. Australian Education Research Organisation.

2022-2024 Growing a transnational food literacy education partnership. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

2021-2022 Cottage by the Sea: The difference Take-a-break makes. Cottage by the Sea.

2021 Professional learning and best practice resources to support differentiated play-based/inquiry learning for Foundation teachers. Victorian
Department of Education and Training.

2021-2022 Supporting oral language development (SOLD). Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools.

2020- 2023 Teachers deliberating practice: The Aurora School project. Aurora School.

2020- 2021 A pedagogical continuous improvement framework for the Wyndham early childhood education and care workforce. Wyndham Council.

2020-2024 Young children in digital society: An online tool for service provision. ARC LP190100387.

2019-2024 Supporting oral language development (SOLD). Victorian Department of Education.

2019-2023 Early childhood professional practice practice partnership. Department of Education and Training (Victoria).

2018 - 2022 All Play Learn. Victorian Department of Education and Training.

2018 - 2019 Culture change in early childhood education and practice in long day care. Association of Graduates of Early Childhood Studies (AGECS).

2017 - 2022 A best practice framework for playgroups-in-schools. ARC LP160101759.

2016 - 2017 Transition to school practice review. Victorian Department of Education and Training.

2015 - 2018 Early childhood educators as agents in improving intergenerational educational outcomes. ARC DP150104534.

2013 - 2014 Development and trial of a 'Transition to School' statement. NSW Department of Education and Communities.