Research

Projects

A cross-context comparison of educators perspectives and practices of risk-taking in early childhood education

2021-current

This project aims to provide a broad and rich understanding of risk-taking in early childhood education from the perspective of early childhood teachers and educators. Data is being collected from a range of contexts nationally and internationally via an online survey and interviews. The project is currently being undertaken in Australia (led by me) and Norway (led by Professor Ellen Sandseter and Anne Sivertsen).

International researchers interested in joining the project are invited to get in touch. Please email me at mandy.cooke@deakin.edu.au

Towards a reconceptualisation of risk-taking in early childhood education

2017-2020

As my PhD project, this study explored educators’ perceptions and practices of risk-taking in high quality early childhood education settings in Australia. The research identified new ways of thinking about children’s risk-taking and the important place of educator risk-taking in the pursuit of high quality early childhood education.

Publications

Robertson, N., Cooke, M., Bussey, K., Mooney, A., Blake, D. (2024). Reframing early childhood teacher education to support equity and access: The practice architectures of an enabling ‘degree-qualified’ pathway. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-67612-3_10

Cooke, M. (2024). Conceptualising risk-taking in educational settings for enabling pedagogies of courage. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491241260919

Salamon, A., Gibbs, L., Cooke, M. (2024). Democratic practices with and for our youngest citizens: Early childhood education, agency, and the education complex. In: Reimer, K.E., Kaukko, M., Windsor, S., Kemmis, S., Mahon, K. (eds) Living Well in a World Worth Living in for All. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-1848-1_6

Gibbs, L., Cooke, M., & Salamon, A. (2022). Unpacking the theory of practice architectures for research in early childhood education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 18369391221119834. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391221119834

Cooke, M. (2022). The good, the bad and the beautiful of risk-taking in early childhood education. ABC Kids Early Education. Online Journal. https://www.abc.net.au/abckids/early-education/reflective-journal/the-good,-the-bad-and-the-beautiful-of-risk-taking-in-early-chi/14017036

Press, F., Cooke, M., Gibbs, L., & Warren, R. (2021). Inequality, social justice and the purpose of early childhood education. Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research, 4, 510-524. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v16i4.09

Cooke, M. (2021). The risk of being researched: Re-envisioning educator research participation for high quality early childhood education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391211046681

Cooke, M. (2021). Cultivating happy, healthy and resilient children through risk-taking. Play and Learn Together Blog. https://www.playandlearntogether.com.au/play-blog/

Cooke, M., & Francisco, S. (2020). The practice architectures that enable and constrain educators’ risk-taking practices in high quality early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01112-x

Cooke, M., Francisco, S., Press, F., & Wong, S. (2020). Becoming a researcher: The process of ‘stirring in’ to data collection practices in early childhood education research. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 18(4), 404-417. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X209429511

Cooke, M., Press, F., & Wong, S. (2020). Educators’ risk-taking in high quality early childhood education. International Journal Early Years Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2020.1848531

Cooke, M., Wong, S., & Press, F. (2020). High quality educators' conceptualisation of children's risk-taking in early childhood education: Provoking educators to think more broadly. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28(3), 424-438. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1755499

Cooke, M. (2020). Towards a re-conceptualisation of risk-taking in early childhood education. Rattler. https://www.cela.org.au/rattler

Cooke, M. (2020). Courage and risk-taking in early childhood education. C & K Blog. https://www.candk.asn.au

Cooke, M., Wong, S., & Press, F. (2019). Towards a re-conceptualisation of risk in early childhood education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949119840740

Cooke, M. (2019). Does ‘safe’ bush kinder lose meaning? CELA Blog. https://www.cela.org.au/2019/01/14/safe-bush-kinder

Cooke, M. (2019). Early Childhood Education Handbook. Playground Ideas. https://playgroundideas.org

Resources

The theory of practice architectures in early childhood education

- a website

The purpose of this website is to make available a range of resources to support use of the theory of practice architectures in early childhood education research. This includes the resources discussed in the paper Unpacking the theory of practice architectures for research in early childhood education (see reference above)

www.practice-architectures-ece.com

A world worth living in

- a podcast

This podcast is based on the free book, Living Well in a World Worth Living in for All (see reference above).

The The World Worth Living In Podcast explores the two main purposes of education:
#1: That education can help us to live well
#2: That it can help us to create a world worth living in for everyone.
This podcast is part of a global project where researchers are listening to different groups of people, discovering how to live better and how to create a world more worth living in, through education.
This project is a collaboration between Monash University and the Pedagogy, Education and Praxis Network.