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Victoria Whitington is Dean of Programs: Education Futures at the University of South Australia, and a senior member of the UniSA Research into Education and Social Inclusion concentration. She has worked for many years teaching and researching in the early childhood field, and has been Lady Gowrie Child Centre Board Chair since 2000. Whitington’s research has three major elements. (1) children’s wellbeing, particularly children who live in low SES circumstances, including Aboriginal, diverse and refugee communities. She has an ongoing partnership with Communities for Children, the Salvation Army and the Schools Ministry Group that has involved a series of funded projects to develop ‘The Wellbeing Classroom’, an... Read more
About me
Victoria Whitington is Dean of Programs: Education Futures at the University of South Australia, and a senior member of the UniSA Research into Education and Social Inclusion concentration. She has worked for many years teaching and researching in the early childhood field, and has been Lady Gowrie Child Centre Board Chair since 2000. Whitington’s research has three major elements. (1) children’s wellbeing, particularly children who live in low SES circumstances, including Aboriginal, diverse and refugee communities. She has an ongoing partnership with Communities for Children, the Salvation Army and the Schools Ministry Group that has involved a series of funded projects to develop ‘The Wellbeing Classroom’, an approach now employed in over 50 classrooms across the state, and recently comprised an evaluation of a whole school wellbeing approach, with accompanying publications, reports and refereed journal papers. (2) Whitington has conducted research concerned with creating rich learning environments for young children via educator inquiry to reimagine early childhood, and has collaborated with external teams to progress state government funded projects in this area, as well as publishing with partners, and also with research students. (3) Whitington has worked on early childhood workforce issues arising from the 2007 Australian National Quality Agenda These funded projects arose as part of the implementation of the federal and state government policies regarding improving workforce qualifications, and the pathways to them, including in-service programs for those in the early childhood field to become four year degree teacher qualified. In sum, Whitington’s research, which has been published in key national and international journals has made a substantial contribution to how teachers and education settings support children’s wellbeing, to supporting how teachers and educators create engaging learning environments, and to workforce planning policy implementation.
About me
About me
Doctor of Philosophy Flinders University
Master of Art University of Victoria
Graduate Diploma of Community and School South Australian College of Advanced Education
Bachelor of Education Flinders University
Children developing in context intellectually, socially and emotionally, children's development in long day childcare, culture and early childhood education, early childhood education workforce development in VET and Higher Education, learning and teaching in Higher Education.
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
The history of early childhood education in South Australia – innovators, educators, crusaders: milestones identified in historical context, History Trust of South Australia, 03/02/2020 - 31/12/2020
Wellbeing Classroom Evaluation – Phase 2, Salvation Army (SA) Property Trust, 25/01/2019 - 30/12/2019
Investigating the Reconceptualising of Early Childhood Education in South Australia, SA Dept for Education and Children's Services, 01/10/2017 - 14/12/2018
Providing Development and Support to Non-Government Preschools in partnership with Lady Gowrie Child Care Centre, Lady Gowrie Child Care Centre, 28/04/2014 - 31/03/2015
Communities for Children national evaluations, Salvation Army - Youth Services, 10/03/2014 - 30/06/2014
Well Being Classroom (TIC) extension, Salvation Army - Youth Services, 25/07/2013 - 31/12/2013
Research
Research since 2008 is shown below. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2020 |
1
1
6
|
| 2018 |
Open access
|
| 2017 |
1
|
| 2015 |
|
| 2009 |
25
15
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2017 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2020 |
|
| 2016 |
|
| 2015 |
|
| 2014 |
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2020 |
1
1
6
|
| 2020 |
Open access
2
|
| 2017 |
|
| 2017 |
1
|
| 2015 |
Open access
3
|
| 2015 |
1
|
| 2015 |
Open access
|
| 2014 |
|
| 2014 |
Open access
3
|
| 2014 |
6
4
|
| 2013 |
|
| 2009 |
25
15
|
| 2009 |
4
4
|
| 2008 |
Open access
1
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2019 |
|
| 2013 |
Open access
|
| 2012 |
Open access
|
| 2010 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2020 |
Open access
|
| 2018 |
Open access
|
| 2014 |
Open access
|
| 2014 |
|
| 2013 |
Open access
|
Research
Children developing in context intellectually, socially and emotionally, children's development in long day childcare, culture and early childhood education, early childhood education workforce development in VET and Higher Education, learning and teaching in Higher Education.
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Charles Darwin University | AUSTRALIA |
| Flinders University | AUSTRALIA |
| Gowrie SA | AUSTRALIA |
| Private Individual | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Georgia | UNITED STATES |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
Invited panellistMedia Centre for Education Research Australia |
2019 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2017 |
High Achievement (PG Teaching) Student Evaluation Attainment AwardDivision of Education, Arts and Social Sciences, University of South Australia |
2017 |
MemberEuropean Early Childhood Education Research Association |
2017 |
MemberEarly Childhood Australia |
2017 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2016 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2015 |
Member, Approvals, Registration and Regulation CommitteeEducation and Early Childhood Services Registration and Standards Board of SA |
2015 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2014 |
Member, Approvals, Registration and Regulation CommitteeEducation and Early Childhood Services Registration and Standards Board of SA |
2014 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2013 |
Member, Approvals, Registration and Regulation CommitteeEducation and Early Childhood Services Registration and Standards Board of SA |
2013 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2012 |
Member, Approvals, Registration and Regulation CommitteeEducation and Early Childhood Services Registration and Standards Board of SA |
2012 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2011 |
ChairLady Gowrie Child Centre - Gowrie Board |
2010 |
Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student LearningOffice for Learning and Teaching, Department of Education and Training, Australian Government |
2010 |
Children's cognitive, social and emotional development, learning, early brain development, research with young children,culture and development, professional pathways and learning for early childhood educators,the impact of stress and trauma on children's capacity to learn and participate in group settings.
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| Concepts of social identity and well-being of pasifika students and engagement in the primary school level in New Zealand schools | Current |
| Effective teachers documentation behaviors in a Reggio-Emilia program | Current |
| Limitations of current pre-service teacher programs | Current |
| Fostering children’s capacity for empathic reasoning: the role of community of inquiry in an empathic pedagogy | Completed |
| It's not just low wages and status : retention issues facing Australian childcare services | Completed |
