Nicola Yelland

Nicola Yelland is the Professor of Early Childhood Studies in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Education, at the University of Melbourne. She earned her PhD in Education from the University of Queensland between 1989 and 1992 and holds a Bachelors Degree with Honours from the University of Exeter. Her distinguished career spans several Australian universities; previously, she served as Research Professor in the School of Education at Victoria University, where she was also Assistant Dean for Research in the Faculty of Education. She currently directs the Global Childhoods Research Hub and leads the Early Childhood Education Academic Group at the University of Melbourne. Yelland also holds an Honorary Professorship in the Centre for International Research on Education Systems at Victoria University.

Professor Yelland's research focuses on innovative pedagogies and curriculum designs for young children, emphasizing new technologies for learning, multimodal literacies, STEM and STEAM in early childhood, Internet of Toys, early mathematics, and children's lifeworlds. Her projects have been funded by the Australian Research Council and the Minderoo Foundation. Notable publications include Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education (2005), Gender in Early Childhood (2005), Shift to the Future: Rethinking Learning with New Technologies in Education (2007), Early Mathematical Explorations (2014), and the co-edited The SAGE Handbook of Global Childhoods (2021). Key articles encompass 'A pedagogy of multiliteracies: young children and multimodal learning with tablets,' 'Young children's Internet of Toys play at home: status quo and associations with academic performance,' 'STEM Learning Ecologies: Productive Partnerships Supporting Transitions from Preschool to School,' and 'Researching children's lifeworlds through an innovative case study methodology.' She has received the Distinguished Career Award (2022) and the American Educational Research Association SIG Award for Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Education (2020). Yelland contributes editorially to journals and delivers public lectures on early childhood topics.

Professional Email: nyelland@unimelb.edu.au