Rate My Professor Shirley Wyver

Shirley Wyver is a senior lecturer in child development in the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University's School of Education. She holds a PhD in developmental psychology and is a registered psychologist. Her research specializations encompass outdoor play and learning, early vision impairment and blindness, and early bilingualism. As Director of Research Training in the Macquarie School of Education, Wyver is affiliated with the Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre, the Smart Green Cities Research Centre, and the Early Childhood Education Research Centre. She has served as chief investigator in the Sydney Playground Project, investigating physical and social outcomes for young children arising from outdoor play interventions. Wyver has contributed to multiple research projects, including 'Facilitators or barriers: The influence of COVID-19 health measures on children’s outdoor activity in Chinese and Australian early childhood education and care centres' (2021–2024) and 'Enhancing the learning of children from diverse language backgrounds' (2021–2023). Her research activity spans from 1996 to 2025, with involvement in 10 projects and over 100 research outputs.

Wyver holds editorial board positions for the Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Children's Health Section), and serves on the Executive Board of the Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association. She received the IJERPH 2019 Outstanding Reviewer Award on 3 March 2020. Key publications include 'Outdoor play: Does avoiding the risks reduce the benefits?' with Helen Little (2008, Australian Journal of Early Childhood), 'Play and divergent problem solving: evidence supporting a reciprocal relationship' with Susan H. Spence (1999, Early Child Development and Care), 'Outdoor play and cognitive development' (2017, The SAGE Handbook of Outdoor Play and Learning), 'Loose parts on the school playground: a playful approach to promoting health and wellbeing for children of all abilities' with Anita Bundy, Lina Engelen, Anita Niehues, and Irina Skrebneva (2024, Health and Wellbeing in Childhood, 4th ed.), and 'Children’s access to outdoors in early childhood education and care centres in China during the COVID pandemic' with Junjie Liu, Muhammad Chutiyami, and Helen Little (2023, Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education). Her contributions have informed practices in early childhood education regarding outdoor play benefits.