DrDeb Moore

I have a professional background as a Kindergarten Teacher in sessional kindergartens in and around Melbourne for over 20 years, prior to working in local government as a Preschool field officer and an Early years sustainability officer for the City of Knox, developing the inaugural early childhood sustainability programs, KinderGardens for Wildlife and Seedlings as a state-wide pilot. Taking up a scholarship from ACU to work on my PhD in 2012, my thesis was based on an intergenerational narrative inquiry with four families (grandparents, parents, primary and kindergarten children) into childhood imaginative play practices and places and was completed in 2015. From July 2017 to November 2021, I was employed as an Early Years Curriculum and Pedagogy lecturer and researcher at Deakin University, primarily teaching into the Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) degree, while researching with Deakin colleagues on young children's natural playspaces, and later, on issues around the early childhood workforce and professional placement experiences for preservice teachers. From November 2022, I worked as a Research Fellow with Professor Andrea Nolan at Deakin University on a variety of early years issues, including the National Early Years Workforce Strategy (2023) and Young children in digital society (2022-2025). From February 2026, I am working as a Research Fellow (Literacy Education) alongside a team of Deakin University researchers from REDI on early years literacy, particularly in relation to the impact of policy and pedagogical practices on children's enjoyment of and motivation to read.