BSc(Hons)(AGR), MSc, DipTeach(EC), Med. PhD Linda completed her initial teacher education course, the 3-year Diploma of Teaching (Early Childhood), at Mitchell College of Advanced Education (later Charles Sturt University) and worked in Occasional Care and Family Day Care while undertaking higher degree studies. Her work as a tertiary educator at CSU, Macquarie University, and the University of Melbourne, and her research career, which focused on children’s learning, development and well-being, has provided her with a wide experience of early childhood education and care settings across a range of service types and contexts, including in Australia and South-East Asia. Linda is currently employed as a Professorial Research Fellow (part-time) in Early Childhood Education at Macquarie University, where she leads and supports cross-institutional research and higher degree studies with colleagues at Charles Sturt University. Linda taught at Charles Sturt University from 1985 – 1992 and 2000 to 2017. She was Associate Dean – Research for the Faculty of Arts and Education, from its establishment in July 2016 to July 2017, with responsibility for promoting and supporting research for a large number academic staff spanning disciplines that include education, information studies, Indigenous Australian studies, humanities and social sciences, communication and creative industries, theology, and Islamic studies.Previously she co-led the Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative ResearchNetwork (CRN), a three-year (2011-2015) research capacity building program for 70 staff and doctoral students at Charles Sturt University, Queensland University of Technology, and Monash University funded by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. She has supervised nine PhD graduate research students and three Master of Research students to completion. Linda’s research projects include: infants’ and toddlers’ interactions and learning experiences in education and care services; quality and quality improvement in long day care and family day care; studies of formative assessment practices prior-to-school; and the early childhood workforce. Linda is/has been a Chief Investigator on eight Australian Research Council (ARC) grants and currently leads the Observe, Reflect, Improve: a tool to enrich Children’s Learning (ORICL) Macquarie University ARC Linkage Project (LP210301171), partnering with Dr Elwick at CSU and Prof Irvine at QUT. Linda co-led the development and trial of Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) (2009) and the 2023 Update of the EYLF and My Time Our Place Framework for School-Age Care (MTOP) for the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). She was a key contributor to Australian government-funded Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Linda has held positions as an Honorary Fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Community Child Health Research Group (2013), the Goodstart Early Learning International Thought Leaders Advisory Group (2014 to 2019), and the Advisory Committee for the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation with the NSW Department of Education (2018 to 2022). She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a non-Executive Director on the Board KU Children’s Services (2019 – current).
Adjunct Staff
Professor Linda J Harrison
Adjunct Professor of Early Childhood Education
Bathurst