COLLETTE TAYLER holds the Chair of Early Childhood Education and Care in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Collette leads the academic direction of the Master of Teaching Early Childhood program. This work includes the establishment and tracking of integrated Early Childhood Services networks to enable team professional learning. The Networks operate in partnership with Local Government Authorities. The primary focus of the teams (teaching fellows, clinical specialists, early childhood pedagogues and teacher candidates) is to build and sustain program effectiveness in diverse early childhood settings, using the evidence gathered to improve child and family outcomes and grow the expertise of professionals.

PhD, BEd, DipT. FACE

Early Childhood Care and Education Policy and Provision
ECEC curriculum and pedagogy

Collette conducts local and cross-national studies of the ways that social, family and educational policies and practices affect early childhood education and care outcomes. Her studies address access and engagement by children, families and communities; public and private investments; program standards, quality and effectiveness; the curriculum and pedagogy applied in different services; leadership and staff engagement; child and family involvement; different ECEC program types and human and social capital trajectories.
Collette's work explains both universal principles and contextual variation in the effective care, education and upbringing of young children from pre-birth to age eight years. Recent studies include:

(with J. Bennett) Starting Strong II: The OECD Thematic Reviews of Early Childhood Education and Care. http://www.oecd.org/edu/startingstrong2

(with K. Thorpe, D. Cloney & C. Wilson) Early Childhood Intervention programs: Towards a cost-benefit analysis for Australia. A research report for Australian Education Systems Officials Committee (AESOC) Early Childhood Reference Group. The AESOC serves the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).


(with M. Wills, J. Hayden & C. Wilson). A review of the approach to setting national standards and assuring the quality of care in Australian child care services. A research report commissioned by the Children’s Services Sub Committee of the Community Services Ministers’ Advisory Council. Australian Government Department of Families and Community Services, www.facsia.gov.au

(with A Farrell) The Queensland Hubs study. A review of integrated child care and family support programs and analysis of the social capital, sense of community and general wellbeing in selected Queensland communities.

Recent publications include:

Tayler, C., Sebastian Gilles & Bharti. (2007) The Brain and Learning in Early Childhood, In Understanding the Brain (Vol. 2): The Birth of a Learning Science, OECD, Paris. www.oecd.org/edu/brain

Tayler, C., Thorpe, K., Cloney D & Wilson, C. (2007). Early cjildhood intervention programs: Towards a cost-benefit analysis for Australia. Report for AESOC/MCEETYA.

OECD, (2006) Starting Strong II. Early Childhood Education and Care. Paris: OECD.

Tayler, C., McArdle, F., Richer, S., & Brennan, C. (2006) "Learning partnership with parents of young children. Studying the impact of a major festival of early childhood in Australia". Eurpoean Early Childhood Education Research Journal,14 (2), 7-20.

Tayler, C. (2006) Challenging partnerships in early childhood, Early Years,26 (3), 249-265.

Tayler, C., Wills, M, Hayden, J. & Wilson, C. (2005) A review of the approach to setting national standards and assuring the quality of care in Australian child care services, (211pgs) Research Report for the Children’s Services Sub-Committee of the Community Services Ministers Advisory Council.

Tayler, C, Farrell, A., Tennent, L., & Patterson, C. (2005) Researching Communities: Towards Beneficence in Farrell, A. (Ed). Ethical Research with Children. Open University Press, McGraw Hill Education.

Thorpe, K., Tayler, C., Bridgstock, R., Grieshaber, S., Skoien, P., Danby, S. & Petriwskyj, A. (2004). Preparing for School. Report of the Queensland Preparing for School Trials 2003/4. Go Print. Queensland Government.

The E4Kids study (Effective Early Education Experiences). An ARC Linkage project providing evidence about the effectiveness of ECEC programs in diverse Australian communities. The study examines the contribution of different ECEC provision to children’s attainments at school entry and through to the first national testing at age 8. Measured outcomes address the COAG productivity agenda to include health, social inclusion and education. Findings will inform theory internationally and policy, investment and ECEC practices in Australia. Evaluation of 'Communities for Children', Mt Isa

Integrated early childhood service provision: social and human capital development

Honorary Professor, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology

Honorary Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

National Program Committee, Save the Children Australia

Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) New Investigator Network Team