School of Teacher Education
Jennifer Sumsion
Sub-Dean Graduate Studies
BEconomics, (Uni Sydney), DipEd (Sydney Teachers College, MEd, (Uni Sydney), PHd (Uni Sydney)
Jennifer Sumsion
Charles Sturt University Faculty of Education
Bathurst, NSW, Australia
Ph:(02) 6338 4423
Fax:(02) 6338 4417
Email Jennifer SumsionBio
Jennifer is Foundation Professor of Early Childhood Education. Her scholarly and professional interests lie in the use of innovative conceptual, theoretical, methodological, pedagogical and collaborative approaches to address enduring challenges within early childhood education, early childhood teacher education and early childhood research. She is particularly interested in the potential of alternative perspectives for enhancing practice, strengthening research capacities and informing policy decision-making. She strongly believes in the importance of forging productive links and networks that extend beyond the traditional early childhood field.
Research
- workforce capacity building in early childhood education and care, including: professional preparation; professional identities, cultures and practices; governance, accountability and autonomy; recruitment, retention and attrition
- ‘quality’ in early childhood education, including: What constitutes quality? Who decides? How to identify quality and regulate for quality? How can we move beyond the current reliance measurement oriented approaches to quality? What can alternative theorisations and conceptualisations of quality offer?
- early childhood policy and curriculum, including: critical policy analysis and the politics of curriculum
Editorial Appointments
Current:
- Alberta Journal of Educational Research
- Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
- Hong Kong Teachers’ Centre Journal
- Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education
- Teaching and Teacher Education
Previous:
- Co-Editor, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education (2004-2007)
Professional Engagement
Jennifer was co-leader (with colleague A/Prof Linda Harrison) of the national consortium led by Charles Sturt University that was awarded the tender to develop and trial Belonging, Being and Becoming: the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. The Consortium consisted of 30 members from around Australia, including academics universities, representatives of peak early childhood organisations, employer groups, practitioners and consultants and the task involved working closely with representatives from the Council of Australian Governments. Producing a coherent framework that built on the strengths of the different theoretical perspectives, satisfied political imperatives, was responsive to feedback from national consultations and case study trials and respectful of diverse cultural perspectives was extremely challenging but rewarding. The model we developed to facilitate successful cross sectoral collaboration, discussion and debate has attracted considerable interest.
Jennifer is currently a:
- Board Member of the International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare, a multi-disciplinary research centre in the Cass School of Education, University of East London
- Fellow of the Australian Teacher Education Association
Recent Australian Research Council (ARC) Grants
- 2008-2011 Linkage Grant LP 0883913: What is life like for babies and toddlers in childcare? Understanding the ‘lived experience’ of infants through innovative mosaic methodology with L Harrison, F Press, S McLeod, B Bradley, J Goodfellow. Industry Partners: Family Day Care Australia and KU children’s Services. ARC Contribution $161.350, Industry Partner Cash Contribution: $65,101.
- 2008-2010 Discovery Grant DP0881729: A multi-modal investigation of current and proposed structures and processed determining and sustaining quality in Australian centre-based child care, with L Harrison, F Press, J Bowes and M Fenech. $257,196
- 2004-2006 Linkage Grant LP0454039: Optimising the quality of long day care: Early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact of regulation. Australian Research Council with Industry Partners: NSW Independent Education Union + Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils ARC Contribution $71,000, Industry Partner Cash Contribution $22,500
Publications
Selection of Recent Books
- Phelan, A, M, & Sumsion, J. (Eds.). (2008) Critical readings in teacher education: Provoking absences. Rotterdam: Sense Publications.
Selection of Book Chapters 2005 - 2010
- Sumsion, J., & Goodfellow, J. (2009). Parents as consumers of early childhood education and care: The feasibility of demand-led improvements to quality. In G. Meagher & D. King (Eds.). Perspectives on for profit paid care (pp. 168-201). Sydney: Sydney University Press.
- Sumsion, J. (2008 / 1999). Critical reflections on the experiences of a male early childhood worker. In E. Wood (Ed.). The Routledge reader in early childhood education (pp. 287-304). London and New York: Routledge: [Originally published in Gender and Education, 11(4), 455-468].
- Phelan, A. & Sumsion, J. (2008). Lines of articulation and lines of flight in teacher education. In A.M. Phelan, & J. Sumsion, (Eds.) (2008) Critical readings in teacher education: Provoking absences. Rotterdam: Sense Publications.
- Sumsion, J. (2007). The transformative potential of preservice teachers’ visual inquiry. In J.G. Knowles, A. Cole, & L. Neilsen (Eds.). The art of visual inquiry. Toronto: Centre for Arts-informed Inquiry at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
- Keesing-Styles, L., & Sumsion, J. (2007). Contentions, dissension and dialogue. In H. Hedges & L. Keesing-Styles (Eds.), Critical issues and trends in early childhood education: Australasian perspectives (pp. 211-230). Sydney: Pademelon Press.
- Sumsion, J. (2005). Putting postmodern theories into practice in early childhood teacher education. In S. Ryan & S. Grieshaber (Eds.), Practical transformations and transformational practices: Globalization, postmodernism and early childhood education (pp. 193-216). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- Sumsion, J. (2005). Preschool children's portrayals of their male teacher: a poststructural analysis. In N. Yelland (Ed.), Critical issues in early childhood education (pp. 58-81). Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.
Selection of refereed journal articles 2005 - 2010
- Bown, K., Sumsion, J., & Press, F. (In press, accepted 1/3/10). ‘Dark matter’: The gravitation pull of maternalist discourses in politicians’ decision making in early childhood education and care policy in Australia. Gender & Education.
- Logan, H., & Sumsion, J. (In press, accepted 22/12/09). Early childhood teachers’ understandings of and provision for quality. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.
- Sumsion, J., & Barnes, S., (in press, accepted 17/11/09) Images of early childhood educators in Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Hong Kong Journal of Early Childhood.
- Fenech, M., Sumsion, J. Shepherd, W., (2010). Early childhood teachers as professionals: Resisting sameness in early childhood education and care. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 11(1), 89-105.
- Sumsion, J., Barnes, S., Cheeseman, S., Harrison, L., Kennedy, A.M., Stonehouse, A. (2009) Insider Perspectives on developing Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning. Framework for Australia. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 34(4),4-13.
- Bown, K., Sumsion, J., & Press, F (2009). Influences on politicians' decision making for early childhood education and care policy: What do we know? What don't we know? Submitted to Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 10(3), 194-217.
- Fenech, M., Sumsion, J. & Goodfellow, J. (2008). Regulation and risk: Early childhood education and care services as sites where ‘the laugh of Foucault’ resounds. Journal of Education Policy. 23(1), 35-48.
- Fenech, M., Sumsion, J., Robertson, G., & Goodfellow, J. (2008). The regulatory environment: A source of job (dis)satisfaction for early childhood professionals? Early Child Development and Care, 178 (1), 1-14.
- Fenech, M. & Sumsion, (2007). Promoting high quality early education and care services: Beyond risk management, performative constructions of regulation. Journal of Early Childhood Research 5(3), 263-283.
- Sumsion, J. (2007). Sustaining the employment of early childhood teachers in long day care: A case for robust hope, critical imagination and critical action. Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(3), 311-327.
- Fenech, M., & Sumsion, J. (2007). Early childhood teachers and regulation: Complicating power relations using a Foucauldian lens. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 8(2), 109-122.
- Bown, K., & Sumsion, J. (2007). Voices from the other side of the fence: Early childhood teachers’ experience with mandatory requirements. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 8(1), 30-49.
- Fenech, M., Robertson, G., Sumsion, J., & Goodfellow, J. (2007). Working by the rules: Early childhood professionals' perceptions of regulatory requirements. Early Child Development and Care. 77(1), 93-106.
- Fenech, M., Sumsion, J., & Goodfellow, J. (2006). The regulatory environment in long day care: A ‘double edged sword’ for early childhood professional practice. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31(3), 49-58.
- Sumsion, J. (2006). The corporatization of Australian childcare: Towards an ethical audit and research agenda. Journal of Early Childhood Research 4(2), 99-120.
- Sumsion, J. (2006). From Whitlam to economic rationalism and beyond: A conceptual framework for political activism in children’s services. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31(1), 1-9.
- Sumsion, J. (2005). Staff shortages in children's services: Challenging taken-for-granted discourses. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(2), 40-48.
- Sumsion, J. (2005). Male teachers in early childhood education: Issues and case study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 20, 109-123.
- Lyons, M., Quinn, A., & Sumsion, J. (2005). Gender, the labour market, the workplace and policy in children's services: Parent, staff and student attitudes. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(1), 6-13.
- Lee-Thomas, K., Sumsion, J., & Roberts, S. (2005). Teacher understandings of and commitment to gender equity in the early childhood setting. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(1), 21-27.