Department of Diversity, Equity and Sustainability

Close-up of children's hands colouring in an educational activity sheetOur students, teachers and researchers explore early childhood education and health, physical education and sports studies. Diversity, equity and sustainability underpin all our courses and teaching and learning interactions.

Our focus on diversity, equity and sustainability ensures our student teachers are equipped to celebrate, nurture and cater for individual difference and that they can help children become socially and environmentally responsible global citizens.

Our courses draw on the latest research both in Australia and internationally to design and deliver modern, innovative and relevant content that helps our students think critically and creatively about their role in delivering a contemporary education experience.


Our subject areas

Our subjects help educators to empower children to grow in ability and confidence, and reach their potential in learning and life. We are passionate about new ideas, possibilities and your professional growth.


Our partnerships

We partner with a range of industry bodies and schools to inform school curriculum design and deliver professional development training. Our international programs help promote and progress the education profession worldwide.

Bhutan education partnership

We have a unique and strong partnership with Bhutan, spanning 30 years. Known for implementing Gross National Happiness as a key policy framework and for its focus on Buddhist practices and sustainability, this Himalayan kingdom offers our students and researchers a fresh perspective on education, from kindergarten to university practices.

Our researchers and lecturers were awarded a tender through UNICEF to partnered with the Paro College of Education, Royal University of Bhutan and the Ministry of Education to develop the country's first early childhood education courses, including a demonstration school, where student teacher can get practical experience. Our physical education and sports studies lecturers are developing the first qualifications (diploma and bachelor) for Bhutan's teachers in physical education and sports coaching.

Our staff regularly supervise Bhutanese students completing higher degree research at UNE's Armidale campus.

Students have the opportunity to take part in an annual funded short-term study opportunity in Bhutan for an immersive cultural and educational experience.

Project partners: Royal University of Bhutan Paro College, UNICEF, Bhutan Ministry of Education

ResearchersA/Prof Judith Miller, Dr Margaret Brooks, A/Prof Brenda Wolodko

Health and physical education in New England Schools

Our UNE teacher education students have opportunity through our connections with local schools in the New England to put their knowledge and skills from their health and physical education teacher studies to the test. Our schools regularly request assistance from our students to help develop particular athletic skills, such as motor skills enhancement, and to help with sports coaching and sport carnival organisation. Students conduct these real-world project opportunities under the expert guidance of our staff.

Project leaders: Associate Professor Judith Miller and Dr John Haynes

Our research

We maintain a high level of understanding and add to the evidence-base for best practice contemporary teaching and learning methods. We apply our research to real-world problems to strengthen our schools and communities.

Social inclusion in sport and physical activity 2021-2022

Sport and physical activity can be important ways to develop social and community connections in a regional community, but a range of linguistic, cultural and socioeconomic factors can make it difficult for newly arrived refugees and migrants to equally participate.

To encourage participation and social inclusion in the Armidale community, our researchers are developing a program of free and flexible sport, fitness and swimming classes for Armidale's Ezidi community and other refugee and migrant groups to run in 2021.

The program will be developed with the help of a $204,252 federal government grant, as part of an Australian Government Department of Health Driving social inclusion through sport and physical activity initiative.

Researchers: Dr Kristy O'Neill and A/Prof Pep Serow

Early childhood resources for defence families

We are leading a project to create, pilot and evaluate some much-needed resources for young children of Australian Defence Force (ADF) families and their educators.

Young children can struggle to understand and to cope with the frequent and sometimes long-term absence of a parent due to training and deployment, and to other unique challenges, such as frequently moving to new houses and towns. Additionally, some families experience the added stress of a parent returning home with a physical injury and/or mental health condition, or tragically, not returning home at all. These stresses can impact children's development, particularly during the early vital years, so early intervention is key.

These new resources will be based on extensive research including the first-hand experiences of children and parents in ADF families, offering practical strategies and activities to help children and families adjust and cope with their changing situation.

This project has received funding from The Ian Potter Foundation and UNE.

Follow progress on the Early Childhood Defence Programs project website.

Lead researcher: Dr Marg Rogers

Project partners: The Ian Potter Foundation

Child-centred early childhood education

Through regular research collaborations with international experts, our researchers help bring a range of child-centred and play-based approaches to the fore in early childhood education.

Working with colleagues from a diverse range of countries and regions including Scandinavia, North America, the UK, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Bhutan and Japan, our researchers help advance and advocate for child-centred and play-based education. They offer approaches drawing on Froebel and Montessori pedagogies, outdoor nature-focussed pedagogies, and emerging education for sustainability philosophies and practices in early childhood education.

These diverse approaches share a common starting point in the famous quote by Friedrich Froebel:

"Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child's soul" (1887, p.55).

From this starting point, our expertise offers our students a well-rounded knowledge of both long recognised and emerging early childhood education philosophies and practices in Australia and around the world.

Researchers: Dr Sue Elliott (Education for Sustainability), Associate Professor Susan Feez (Montessori education)

Creativity in early childhood education

Many of our researchers explore the value of creativity in early childhood education in their research endeavours. This covers the full spectrum of creative expression; from music and drama, to writing and visual media.

Our understanding of creative practice in early childhood education benefits from our global perspective and experience.

Our research includes:

  • Cross-cultural comparative study of teachers’ beliefs in creativity – a comparative study across the national curriculum frameworks of eight countries, four from the West: Australia, New Zealand, France and United Kingdom; and four from Eastern cultures: Iran, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore. Researcher: Somayeh Ba Akhlagh
  • The Reggio Emilia approach – an approach we specialise in that values children’s creativity. The founder of this approach, Loris Malaguzzi (1998) in Italy, suggested the best condition to develop creativity is in children’s experiences, and emphasises the interaction between the child and adult. This core principle of this approach is that children are citizens with fundamental rights. Researcher: Somayeh Ba Akhlagh is a member of the Reggio Australia Eastern Suburbs Provocation Group with extensive knowledge in the Reggio approach.

Projects and activity

We regularly participate in projects of national and international significance, to further the profession of education, improve our student's experience and deliver better outcomes in our schools and for our communities.

Girls in sport 

Our researchers have been involved in some high-profile funded projects to better understand the issues impacting involvement in sport. This project investigated the important issue surrounding the decline in physical activity levels of girls in year 8 to year 10 in NSW.

The 'Girls in Sport Project' helped generate new knowledge regarding the engagement of adolescent girls in physical activity. Our researchers have since responded to the findings by developing and now delivering a specific unit in our teacher program designed to address this issue.

Researcher: Associate Professor Judith Miller

Rural student university experience 

As a foundational regional university in Australia that developed from a vision to deliver quality teacher training to serve country Australia, we remain passionate about regional communities. Whether working with regional and remote schools and universities around the globe or here in Australia and the New England, we aim to ensure all have access to quality education and teacher education training.

We're involved in a cross-institutional project underway to compare the sociocultural experiences of rural students in universities to determine greater measures of student support for individuals from these cohorts. Better support bettter serves our communities through improved educational outcomes.

Researcher: Dr Kristy O'Neill

Contact us

To find out more about our department, please contact:

Head of Department, Diversity, Equity and Sustainability
Professor Caroline Cohrssen

Email: eduhod-des@une.edu.au