Rate My Professor Jane Webb-Williams

Dr Jane Webb-Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education within the College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences at Adelaide University. With a career spanning over 25 years in education, she has held positions including Program Director of the Master of Learning & Teaching, Deputy School Principal, and Early Years Teacher. She earned her PhD in Education and Psychology from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Dr Webb-Williams leads major undergraduate courses such as Foundations in Learning and Teaching 1: Learning through Play for more than 600 students annually, as well as postgraduate courses in Play, Learning and Development. She is eligible to supervise Masters and PhD students as co-supervisor.

A leading early childhood expert and highly experienced social researcher, her work focuses on play, playful pedagogies, playspace design, children's wellbeing, and social-emotional development. Specific research interests encompass the role of play in fostering community connectedness in disadvantaged multicultural communities, children's voices in playspace design, and co-constructed student-led pedagogies for early years engagement and learning. Recognized nationally and internationally as a play leader, Dr Webb-Williams contributes to the National Statement for Play for Australia, serves on the National Board of Play Australia and the Play Australia SA committee, and advocates through keynotes, invited lectures, and professional development for schools, NGOs, teachers, librarians, communities, and families. She collaborates on advisory and research projects with councils, landscape architects, Parks and Leisure Australia, Nature Play, and Recreation SA. In 2017, she received the Academic Excellence Award from the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences for industry-partnered research. Key publications include Kennedy-Behr, A., & Webb-Williams, J. L. (2024). Capturing children's play behaviours in outdoor environments. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 71(1), 76-87; Webb-Williams, J. (2021). Teachers' use of within-class ability groups in the primary classroom. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 728104; Webb-Williams, J. (2018). Science self-efficacy in the primary classroom. Research in Science Education, 48(5), 939-961 (197 citations); Webb-Williams, J. (2014). Gender differences in school children's self-efficacy beliefs. Educational Research and Reviews, 9(3), 75-82; and Webb-Williams, J. (2019). The power of play to engage and nurture creative independent learners. In D. Green & D. Price (Eds.), Making humanities and social sciences come alive (pp. 228-246). Cambridge University Press.