Investigating Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care
Our Members
Professor Jennifer Sumsion
BEc, MEd, Dip Ed, PhD (Sydney) 
Jennifer leads the Investigating Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Multi-Perspectives Approach (IQECEC) research group. She has a sustained record of research and publication focusing on aspects of quality in early childhood education and care extending over the past 12 years. Her research focuses primarily on early childhood teachers' professional practice as a key contributor to quality and on the utilisation of diverse theoretical frames to understand the complexities of professional practice. Her 2004-06 ARC Linkage Project with Joy Goodfellow and Marianne Fenech investigated how the regulatory environment governing long day care provision enables and constrains the capacity of early childhood teachers to provide high quality care and education. With IQECEC colleagues, Linda Harrison, Frances Press, and Marianne Fenech, together with Jennifer Bowes (Macquarie University), and supported by an 2008-10 ARC Discovery grant, she is currently extending on that work by investigating what professional practice looks like in high quality long day care and how expert practitioners from 'lighthouse' centres might work with staff in other centres to support ongoing quality improvement.
Jennifer is also undertaking an ARC Linkage Project (2008-11) entitled "What is life like for babies and toddlers in childcare?" that brings together IQECEC colleagues from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including psychology (Linda Harrison and Ben Bradley), early childhood policy (Fran Press), early childhood education (Joy Goodfellow) and speech pathology (Sharynne McLeod). The project is being conducted with Industry Partners, Family Day Care Australia and KU Children's Services.
In 2007, Jennifer co-guest edited with Frances Press two special issues of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood focusing on policy and politics in early childhood education and care. She is currently co-guest editing, with Professor Helen Penn and Professor Peter Moss, a special issue of the Early Childhood Research Quarterly focusing on globalization and knowledge flows in early childhood policy and practice. Jennifer is a foundation member of the international advisory board of the International Centre for Research into the Mixed Economy of Child Care at the University of East London. She has been an Expert Witness in childcare related pay cases for the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) and the NSW Independent Education Union, and is an invited member of the LHMU expert advisory panel on childcare.