Rate My Professor Valentina Bertotti

Valentina Bertotti is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Education from Flinders University. Her doctoral thesis, "Selecting a preschool: A discursive-affective analysis of parental choice in South Australia," investigates the discursive and affective processes influencing parental choices in preschool settings. This research was presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference in Melbourne from November 26 to 30, 2023. Bertotti is recognized as an early-career academic and educational researcher with interests in social justice, equality issues, structural access to education, and the role of marketing in shaping educational choices.

Bertotti's scholarship employs discursive-semiotic and affective analyses to explore neoliberal influences on early childhood education. Key publications include "Choice, marketing and subjectivities: A discursive-semiotic analysis of six Montessori websites," published in Discourse Studies in 2024, and "The emotional power of educational branding: exploring parental decision-making in South Australia's preschool market," published in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education in 2025. Her work appears in the Southern Cross University research portal, affirming her contributions to the Faculty of Education. With over 15 years of teaching experience across early childhood and other educational settings, Bertotti focuses on advancing equity and inclusion. She has secured funding as Chief Investigator for the Educators’ Diversity Project (CRESI Seed Funding, $6,000), examining diversity and inclusion in early childhood contexts, and contributes to the de Lissa Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Pedagogies Project (2025–2028, $300,000).