Workforces wellbeing in learning & development
The Workforces program of research led by Dr Laetitia Coles examines how early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforces can be supported to deliver inclusive, high-quality care and education for young children, particularly children with disability and developmental differences.
Our research focuses on three interconnected strands: (1) identifying priority research and intervention needs for disability inclusion in ECEC; (2) examining educator capability, confidence, and capacity to support diverse developmental needs in everyday practice; and (3) specifying models for effective cross-sector collaboration across education, health, and disability systems.
This work is underpinned by a strong commitment to co-production and translation. We partner with ECEC providers, healthcare professionals, and consumer and advocacy organisations to ensure that lived experience, professional expertise, and system knowledge inform research design, interpretation, and impact.
Project lead: Dr Laetitia Coles
Dr Coles is a health sociologist whose research focuses on improving health and developmental outcomes for children with disability by embedding lived experience into research design, policy, and practice. Her work spans sociology, education, and health, with a strong emphasis on early childhood inclusion, family wellbeing, and workforce development. Laetitia leads transdisciplinary research projects that centre the voices of children, families, and educators. She leads the Workforces component of the Thriving Queensland Kids Brain Builders Initiative (https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-builders) in support of the generation, translation, and application of knowledge from neurosciences into policy and practice, as well as leading the award-winning project entitled Families in Focus: Amplifying the voices of children with disability and their families (https://child-health-research.centre.uq.edu.au/event/5632/families-focus), in collaboration with Queensland Children's Hospital. She was recently awarded a HERA Collaborate grant for the project Early childhood inclusion in focus, which co-develops tools and priorities to support inclusive early childhood education and care (ECEC). She is also the Workforces Lead for the $3 million Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership – Brain Builders Initiative. With over $3.5 million in research funding and a portfolio of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and policy reports, Laetitia’s work has informed strategic planning at Children’s Health Queensland and contributed to national policy evaluations. She sits on the Foundational Supports 0–9 Working Group (Autism Queensland) and serves on editorial boards for Health Sociology Review and Community, Work and Family. Laetitia welcomes collaboration with researchers, policymakers, and community organisations committed to inclusive, impact-driven research.
Research team:
Isha Shen
Ella McGergor
Grace Langdon
Thriving educators, Thriving kids
Our team has a long track record of studying the Early years workforce based in the knowledge that high-quality ECEC is based on well trained and well educators. We are particularly interested in the growing number of children who have disabilities or who are neurodiverse, aiming to examine required supports. For the workforce
Exploring Work Readiness Capability Among Vocational Education and Training Educators and Students Supporting Young Children with Disability
Australia’s disability and early childhood sectors are undergoing significant reform, creating new expectations for the VET workforce supporting children aged 0–8 years with disability and/or developmental delay and their families. However, there is limited evidence regarding the knowledge, skills, capabilities and professional attitudes required for work readiness across contemporary VET pathways. Our research study will investigate these capability requirements through a staged, participatory design involving four stakeholder groups: TAFE educators; TAFE students and recent graduates; employers and service providers; and parents/carers, lived-experience partners and advocates. Perspectives will be gathered and integrated across surveys, role-based focus groups, interviews and co-design activities, enabling stakeholder experiences to inform both capability development and learning resource design. Participants who express interest through the survey may be invited to subsequent stages. Findings will inform a mapped capability framework and a suite of universally accessible Learning Episodes translating developmental, brain and neuro-informed knowledge into practical VET learning. A separate final usability-testing stage with a fresh sample of educators and students/recent graduates will assess the resources’ clarity, accessibility, relevance and usability, informing refinement and implementation guidance. This project is funded by a TAFE Qld Centres of Excellence Grant.
The experiences and wellbeing of immigrant ECEC educators
Australia’s workforce strategy for the next decade includes in its proposals for retention the attraction of overseas educators. The number of ECEC educators from overseas has increased significantly. Our work is examining their experiences of training pathways, motivations for working in ECEC and experiences of being an ECEC educator in Australia.