Mandy Cooke

Mandy is a senior lecturer in Early Childhood Education in the School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. She is the current Course Director for the suite of undergraduate early childhood education courses and teaches in both undergraduate and postgraduate units. Before becoming an academic, Mandy had a long career as a primary and early childhood teacher. Over 20+ years, she worked with range of pedagogical approaches in Australia and overseas, including Montessori Education, IB PYP and the Reggio Emilia approach. She held leadership positions, including Lower School Principal at K International School, Tokyo. In 2021, Mandy began the move to academia by completing a PhD in early childhood education at Charles Sturt University. On graduation, she received the Higher Degree by Research University Medal. In all aspects of her work, Mandy focuses on critically reflective practices that support empowerment, flourishing, and strong socially just communities.

Mandy's research focuses on pedagogical practices within early childhood and preservice teacher education. Her main areas of interest are pedagogical risk-taking for children and teachers/educators, and the development and delivery of high quality initial early childhood teacher education programs. Mandy has worked on a number of large research projects, including the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Exemplary Early Childhood Educators at Work. She is currently leading an international project on risk-taking in early childhood education, and is part of a team delivering and researching the Victorian Department of Education funded employment based pathway program at Deakin (2021 - present).

Mandy uses the theory of practice architectures as a comprehensive tool for exploring practices, the conditions that enable and constrain practices, and sustainable ways to transform practices for the good of individuals and society. She currently leads a Deakin HDR discussion and support group for students using the theory of practice architectures in their post graduate work.