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  • A portrait image of Associate Professor Christine Robinson smiling and staning in front of some trees.

    Associate Professor Christine Robinson

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Associate Professor Christine Robinson

Associate Professor

Staff Member Details
Email: christine.robinson@ecu.edu.au
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8938-2994

Christine is the Course Coordinator for the Graduate Diploma of Early Childhood Teaching in the School of Education.

Background

Associate Professor Christine Robinson has previously held the positions of Associate Dean (Research) for the national Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Theology at The University of Notre Dame (UNDA). Also at UNDA, for over 10 years, Christine was the coordinator of the early childhood programs including the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood & Care: 0-8 years), the Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood and the Master of Education (Early Childhood). Prior to entering academia, Christine taught within the Catholic Education system where she has held the positions of classroom teacher in the early childhood and primary years as well as Assistant Principal. Christine has lead large teams in teaching and research, and held substantial leadership roles in your career to date.

Current Teaching

  • LAN3356: Literacy Learning in Junior Primary
  • LAN3370: Supporting all Language and Literacy Learners
  • EPA6175: Leading Family and Community in the Early Years

Professional Associations

  • 2025 - Current, Australian Early Childhood Teacher Education Network (AECTEN) (Member)
  • 2025 - Current, West Australian Early Childhood Teacher Education Network (WAECTEN) (Chair)
  • 2025 - Present, Human Research Ethics Committee member for University of Notre Dame
  • 2025 - Present, Early Childhood Australia (Member)
  • 2024 - Present, Melbourne Catholic Education advisory committee (Member)
  • 2022 - Present, OMEP Australia (Member)
  • 2018 - 2019, Early Childhood Australia (Member)
  • 2017 - 2019, Beaconsfield Primary School Board
  • 2016 - Current, Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (G.R.A.C.E) Lead Convenor (Chair)

Awards and Recognition

National and International Awards:

  • 2026 - ECU SED Teaching and Learning Grant
  • 2025 - Senior Fellow of the HIgher Education Academy
  • 2019 - Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning​
  • 2019 - Education Publishers Awards Australia (EPAA)
  • 2017 - Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning (UNDA National)
  • 2017 - 3-Minute Thesis UNDA Award Winner and National Representative
  • 2015 - Catherine McCauley Award for Women in Leadership

University and National Teaching Awards:

  • 2014 - Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (UNDA)
  • 2013 - UniJobs Lecturer of the Year Nomination
  • 2014 - Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (UNDA)

National and International Research Awards:

  • 2019 - West Australian Institute for Educational Research Award

Research Interests

  • Early childhood development and learning
  • Play-based pedagogies
  • Spirituality in the early years
  • Holistic and relational pedagogies
  • Literacy in the early years
  • Teacher formation
  • Religious Education
  • Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Australia, 2017.

Research Outputs

2026

Books

2025

Journal Articles

  • Robinson, C., Cranley, L. (2025). A hopeful or hopeless future? Perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in Catholic education. International Studies in Catholic Education, 17(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/19422539.2025.2482209.
  • Robinson, C., O'Connor, D., Wynne, S., Manners, W., Pietracatella, M. (2025). Pedagogical growth journeys: perspectives of spirituality within holistic approaches to early years education. International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 30(1), 20 pages. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2025.2458825.
  • Oakley, G., Steele, C., Robinson, C., Dobinson, T., Dovchin, S., Cunningham-Potvin, W. (2025). Towards a playworld translanguaging approach in early childhood education. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 2025(Article in press), 891–911. https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24132.oak.
  • Robinson, C., Hyde, B., Forlin, C., Best, M. (2025). The experience and expression of spirituality in childhood: A systematic review and qualitative synthesis of the literature. Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 14(2), 16 pages. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2025.2475058.

2024

Book Chapters

  • Robinson, C. (2024). Reframing Play through the Spiritual Lens. Nurturing Young Children as Spiritual Beings in a Globalised World (). Bloomsbury Academic.

Journal Articles

  • Robinson, C., Williams, H. (2024). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Learnings from Employing IPA as a Qualitative Methodology in Educational Research. Qualitative Report: an online journal dedicated to qualitative research since 1990, 29(4), 939-952. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.6487.

2023

Journal Articles

  • Robinson, C., Cranley, L., O’connell, D. (2023). The Journey to G.R.A.C.E: Creating an International Community of Practice. Religions, 14(1), article number 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010043.

2022

Journal Articles

  • Cranley, L., Robinson, C., Hine, G., O’connor, D. (2022). The desks have changed; it must be NAPLAN time: How NAPLAN affects teaching and learning of mathematics. Issues in Educational Research, 32(4), 1306-1320.

2020

Journal Articles

  • O’connor, D., Robinson, C., Cranley, L., Johnson, G., Robinson, A. (2020). Love in education: West Australian early childhood pre-service teachers’ perspectives on children’s right to be loved and its actualisation within their future practice. Early Child Development and Care, 190(15), 2402-2413. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2019.1574778.

Research Projects

  • Leading for Leaders in the Early Years, Catholic Education Office of WA, Grant, 2025 ‑ 2027, $40,786.
  • Researching the Journey and Impact of Early Years Leadership and Pedagogical Growth in Western Australian Regional Catholic Schools 2023, Catholic Education Office of WA, Grant, 2025 ‑ 2026, $7,000.

Research Student Supervision

Current Supervisions

Principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Teacher Agency and Pedagogical Decision-Making in Phonics Instruction: Exploring Pre-Primary Educators’ Perspectives in Western Australia

Associate Supervisor

  • Master of Education, Forming an Identity as an Early Childhood Teacher: An Investigation into Pre-Service Teachers Perspectives of their Professional Identity During Professional Placement

Completed Supervisions

No data available
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