Dr I-Fang Lee

Biography

Dr. I-Fang Lee joined the University of Newcastle in March 2012. Prior to that she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education in Hong Kong from 2006-2012. I-Fang's current research trajectories focus on contemporary issues relating to changes and reforms in early childhood education and care, constructions of Asian childhoods, and global knowledge on appropriate pedagogical practices in the early years.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison - USA, 2006
• Master of Arts, Ohio State University - USA, 1999
• Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), Ohio State University - USA, 1997

Research

Research keywords

• Contemporary Issues of Equity and Diversity in Early Years
• Early Childhood Education Policies and Changes
• Poststructuralism in Early Childhood

Research expertise

Dr. I-Fang Lee's research trajectories focus on contemporary issues relating to changes and reforms in early childhood education and care, constructions of Asian childhoods, and global knowledge on appropriate pedagogical practices in the early years. I-Fang draws on critical theories and post-structural theoretical frameworks to reconceptualise and challenge mainstream socio-political rhetoric on reforms and policies through which a dominant construction of a desirable cosmopolitan childhood is fabricated. More recently, I-Fang seeks to illuminate the making of quality early childhood education and care in reform policies while unpacking constructions of social inclusion/exclusion to rethink issues concerning equity in the early years.

Collaboration

I-Fang Lee is a co-founder and a core member of the Global Childhoods Collective that is associated with the Global Childhoods project. This project aims to explore and understand the experiences of childhoods in Asia. The participating Asian cultural locations are Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand (in alphabetical order).

Global Childhoods Project: http://www.globalchildhoods.net/

In 2010, I-Fang was invited to become Velma E. Schmidt Fellow in the College of Education at the University of North Texas and became a member of the International Critical Childhood Studies Collaborative. This Collaborative has twelve international scholars from the globe and it is a network of researchers committed to social justice, peace, and equity for younger human beings. Currently, the Collaborative focuses on an international research partnership that uses critical qualitative research methods to unmask the policy assemblages related to childhood public policy in diverse geopolitical locations.

Critical Childhood Studies Collaborative: http://www.coe.unt.edu/velma-e-schmidt-endowed-chair/international-fellows

Languages

• Cantonese
• Chinese
• Hokkien
• Mandarin

Fields of Research

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood
• Early Childhood Education Policy
• Foundations of Early Childhood Education
• Leadership and Advocacy in Early Years

Teaching expertise

I-Fang has taught courses in early childhood education including diversity and inclusion, leadership and advocacy, approaches to early childhood education, and policy for early childhood education.