Dr Fiona Mayne, Deputy Head of School (Research) at the Graduate School of Education, is a mid-career researcher whose work on young children’s rights, voice and agency in research has gained the attention of academics and practitioners. Fiona has a developing international profile, and has considerable expertise in qualitative participatory measures and methodologies for meaningful research with children. Her body of work to date has made a significant contribution to empirical, theoretical, and methodological knowledge in early years research ethics, children’s rights-based participatory research, and technology education.

Fiona's current research work in young children’s social emotional wellbeing successfully bridges the fields of Early Childhood Education and Allied Health. Her related research interests include children's voice and agency in research, developing and trialling a digital wellbeing game (MiStory) to empower young children to self-report wellbeing, and creating a measure to screen young children's subjective wellbeing in education settings towards early intervention and prevention of mental health issues.

Fiona has expertise in, and teaches into, technology education (primary), and child and adolescent development and pedagogy (primary/secondary) at the UWA Graduate School of Education.

Fiona is the author of the book entitled, The Narrative Approach to Informed Consent: Empowering Young Children’s Rights and Meaningful Participation. This book is significant as it supports the integration of child rights, agency and ethics as a living process, advocating for the transformation of the participatory experience of young children in research. 

Fiona is the co-creator, with Dr Gemma Scarparolo, of the Children's VOICE initiative, a partnership between UWA and UNICEF Australia.

QUALIFICATIONS

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

HDR STUDENTS

• Ongoing students: 8 EdD, 1 Masters
• Completed students: 1 Masters, 1 PhD

GOOGLE SCHOLAR CITATIONS

• Citations: 392, h-index 10, i10-index 10 (as at January 2024)

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES

• European Early Childhood Education Research Association
• Western Australian Institute for Educational Research

Full time Teaching Research (January 2018- ) UWA Graduate School of Education

• ITE: EDUC1011: Understanding Learners and Learning (2024-)
• ITE: Unit Coordinator EDUC5527 Child and Adolescent Development and Pedagogy (2023-)
• ITE: Unit Coordinator EDUC5529 Children Development and Pedagogy (2020-2021)
• ITE: Unit Developer and Coordinator EDUC5521 Technologies in the Curriculum (2018-)
• ITE: Unit Coordinator EDUC5529 Children, Development and Pedagogy (2020-)
• Certificate in Tertiary Teaching: Tutor EDUC5708: Digital Technologies for Learning (2016-) (Fully online)
• Broadening: Tutor EDUC1104 World of Mobile Learning (2018-)
• Broadening: Tutor EDUC1102 Learning Effectively, Improving Your Learning and Teaching (Semester 1 2016-)

Sessional Units UWA Graduate School of Education (2016-2017)

• Unit Manager and Lecturer EDUC1104: World of Mobile Learning (Managing 9 tutors and 500 students), UWA (2017)
• Tutor Master of Educational Leadership - EDUC5608: Integrating Pedagogy & Technology, UWA (Semester 2 2016)
• Tutor Master of Teaching - EDUC5618: Teaching & Learning with ICTs, UWA (Semester 2 2016)
• Sessional Tutor EDUC1104: World of Mobile Learning, UWA (Semester 1 2016)
• Sessional Tutor EDUC1102: Learning Effectively: Improving Your Learning and Teaching, UWA (Semester 1 2016)
• Sessional Lecturer in Science Education, UWA (2013)

Postgraduate studies

• PhD, Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia (2011-2015),  Enhancing young children’s meaningful participation in research ethics processes through an interactive narrative approach (ARC Linkage Grant (LP110200756) to Christine Howitt and Léonie J. Rennie, in partnership with Scitech and Rio Tinto Future Fund)

• Early Career Researcher - PhD Conferred August 2016
• Education Faculty Health & Safety Student Representative, UWA (2012, 2013)
• Education Faculty Postgraduate Students’ Association Representative, UWA (2013)

Curtin University/Online Universities Australia (OUA) Unit Coordinator and Sessional Tutor, School of Education (ECE), (2010-11)

Classroom Teacher, Primary Science Specialist and ECE/Primary Art Specialist, Carey Baptist College (2007-11)

Research Assistant, Science and Maths Education Centre, Curtin University (2005-06)

• Children's VOICE Conference
• Channel 7 Telethon Trust grant with Prof Stephen Houghton. This project will develop an interactive story (in the form of a digital game) to enhance the mental health and wellbeing trajectories of young children.
• The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) consultancy. This project (completed in December 2023) developed a prototype wellbeing measure for 3–8-year-old children. The measure developed as part of this AERO funding is intended to underpin the scoring system of the Telethon-funded digital game. 

Technology Education (Early Childhood and Primary)

Educational Psychology (Early Childhood and Primary)

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) consultancy research, Development of a measure to identify and monitor wellbeing in children aged 3-8 years, addressed the gap in assessing subjective wellbeing in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and wider educational contexts and emphasised understanding the child’s point of view on their own emerging sense of wellbeing to enhance academic and social outcomes. Recognising the close link between learning and wellbeing, the project aligned with Australia's concern for rising challenges to mental health among young children and aimed to contribute to early intervention efforts that set children up to flourish.

The project aligned with national calls to prioritise monitoring young children's wellbeing, responding to recommendations from the National Mental Health Commission (2021) and the Australian Human Rights Commission (2022). The aim was to provide a prototypical wellbeing self-report measure for young children that has the potential to support evidence-based wellbeing initiatives. Highlighting the critical role of social-emotional skills for children's wellbeing and future success, the project explored subjective and objective aspects of wellbeing. It recognised the multifaceted and dynamic nature of wellbeing during early childhood, viewing physical, mental, and social wellbeing as interconnected, alongside the need to consider both objective and subjective aspects.

The approach taken to creating the prototype measure was informed by best practices, and involved (1) existing wellbeing frameworks, (2) literature reviews, and (3) community consultations which formed the three theoretical pillars upon which this research was based. At multiple points throughout this process, stakeholder engagement with teachers, educators, psychologists, parents, and children was undertaken. The iterative process sought perspectives on wellbeing vulnerabilities, neurodiversity, and diverse backgrounds. The focus was on creating a rigorous scale for assessing a child’s self-reported wellbeing during early childhood in an inclusive, evidence-based way.