Rate My Professor Emma Cross

Dr Emma Cross is a Lecturer in the School of Education, Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University, specializing in Early Childhood Education. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in management and marketing, a Master of Teaching in early childhood education, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Early Childhood Educational Leadership from Curtin University, conferred in late 2025. Her doctoral research explored quality leadership practices and positionality in the Western Australian early childhood sector. Prior to her academic career, Cross served as a centre director for Australian early childhood service providers. At Curtin, she coordinates the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Educational Studies courses and acts as an Associate Investigator with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, investigating the impact of digital technologies on young children's creativity and connected learning experiences.

Cross's research focuses on leadership competencies in early childhood education, digital technologies to foster computational thinking, creative problem-solving through coding robots, children's agency in digital play, and educator pedagogies with tangible coding devices. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, including 'A framework for identifying and developing children's creative thinking while coding with digital technologies' (2020, Issues in Educational Research, 84 citations), 'Digital technologies and the early childhood sector: are we fostering digital capabilities and agency in young children?' (2024, The Australian Educational Researcher), 'Exploring the multimodal affordances of digital coding devices in fostering creative thinking in early childhood education' (2024, Thinking Skills and Creativity), 'Young children's computational thinking: educator pedagogy fostering children's play and learning with a tangible coding device' (2025, The Australian Educational Researcher), and 'Leadership competencies in early childhood education: Design and validation of a survey tool' (2024, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood). Her contributions have earned her the Early Childhood Australia Barbara Creaser Young Advocate of the Year award in 2022 and the ACEL National Award for New Voice in Early Childhood Educational Leadership. Through her scholarship, Cross influences advancements in digital literacies, leadership quality, and innovative pedagogies in early childhood settings.