Associate Professor I-Fang Lee
Associate Professor
School of Education (Education)
- Email:i-fang.lee@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4348 4128
All the colours of childhood
Associate Professor I-Fang Lee’s intercultural research is scrutinising and challenging our contemporary construction of what consists an ‘ideal’ child and childhood, revealing new perspectives that can strengthen early childhood education pedagogy.
What does society consider a ‘normal’ child and why? How do modern educational policies disadvantage children who fall outside this cultural idea of ‘normal’? In her research, Associate Professor I-Fang Lee doesn’t shy away from challenging the status quo if it means creating better support for our youngest community members.
“My research trajectories and scholarly interests have focused on contemporary issues relating to equity and justice in the field of early childhood care and education. In my work, I have continued to ask critical questions and explore layers of contemporary childhoods.”
By critically examining these accepted narratives across cultures—particularly as they relate to Asian childhoods—I-Fang hopes to shift the way we see children within society and create more appropriate and inclusive early schooling support.
“I take a ‘hard’ and ‘different’ look at what is taken for granted in research, policy, curriculum and pedagogical practices related to childhoods, families and programs.
“For me, it is important to employ critical perspectives to integrate the effects of the dominant construction of, and about, children and their lifeworlds.
“Critical theoretical lenses enable us to re-think and act with inclusivity toward social justice for greater equality and equity in and across global and local contexts.”
Inclusive and holistic education
I-Fang’s research is tackling some of the most pervasive challenges in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC), including an alarming trend of commoditising children’s educations and futures.
“ECEC has been rationalised as a great social investment for all children, which promises to yield future success—both social and personal advancements. While this thread of economic reasoning has effectively promoted the importance of ECEC, it has also dangerously legitimatised the commodification of education globally and locally.
“As ECEC has been commodified, issues of affordability, accessibility and accountability have become of critical importance with political, social, cultural and educational dimensions. For instance, whose children can afford quality ECEC? How do we define what constitutes quality ECEC programs?
“Without asking such questions, we may be perpetuating the status quo and further marginalising already disadvantaged groups of children. These critical questions allow us to unpack, as well as address, challenges relating to inclusion and exclusion in early childhood education for greater equity and equality.”
I-Fang also identifies the trend of ‘schoolification’ as a significant challenge for childhood care and education within today’s global political economy. She explains that there is increasing pressure on early learning centres to focus heavily on preparing children for primary school—and this can come with a risk of compromising the provision of holistic and age-appropriate care.
“The making of ‘miniature students’ in preschool years is changing the landscape of teaching and learning in the early years. What’s important in ECEC is a holistic approach to support children’s belonging, being and becoming in their growth and wellbeing.
“As much as we advocate for the importance of play in early childhood education, over-emphasis on measurable learning outcomes in early literacy and numeracy can be problematic. It changes children’s contemporary schooling experience by reducing it to academic performance and achievement. Children’s agency and voice can become lost through the schooling process.”
Creating local and global impact
I-Fang’s academic journey has spanned the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, where she has been involved in developing and implementing several international projects in collaboration with global scholars.
“At the international level, I have been participating and leading research projects that contribute to carving out a space to support ongoing critical discussions relating to childhoods.”
I-Fang has also contributed to global research progress and knowledge exchange through her roles as co-editor and associate editors for two international journals: Global Studies of Childhood and International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Journal.
While I-Fang is passionate about making a global impact, her work is also creating change at national and local levels. Most recently, she has worked as chief investigator for a multi-year, multi-site Australian Research Council Discovery Project: Global Childhoods in the Asian Century: Connecting Policy, Educational Experiences and Everyday Lifeworlds of Children in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
“This project explores and investigates connections between policy contexts, school experiences and children's everyday activities to enable policy makers, educators and parents to provide improved learning opportunities in children's lives.
“This work contributes a holistic understanding of children’s lifeworlds in schools and their homes across different cultural settings to better understand the constructions of childhoods and studenthoods.”
Empowering early childhood teachers
I-Fang is also shaping the future of early childhood learning through her teaching roles with the University, where she is heavily involved in designing and delivering high-quality courses grounded in research.
I-Fang supervises several higher research students, is the course coordinator for several undergraduate and master courses and holds the role of program convenor for the Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood/Primary) (Honours) and Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood/Primary) programs. Every year, I-Fang facilitates intercultural learning by leading multiple New Colombo Plan Mobility Projects with the University, providing students with the opportunity to learn overseas.
While empowering the next generation of early childhood teachers, I-Fang also partners with local centres to support current practice. In recent years, I-Fang has built a strong relationship with the Early Learning Working Party at the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese School Office where she offers critical perspectives to support and advocate for children’s rights to play in school settings.
“This standpoint on the importance of play and its positive implications for education and wellbeing has been well recognised as one of the key themes in the Early Learning Policy within the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools.”
Working alongside early learning teachers is a career highlight for I-Fang. She revels in seeing how research is starting to inform practice, empowering teachers to question misguided practice and advocate for children’s rights on a day-to-day basis.
“One of the proud moments that keeps me going in the field of early childhood education and care is seeing how early childhood educators and teachers (both pre-service and in-service) are beginning to ask critical questions in their daily practices to rethink why they did what they did in the classrooms with children.”
“This means that my work has the capacity to create impact for teachers, working with them to unpack dominant narratives in education. I believe if we don’t question and challenge the taken-for-granted ‘truth’ in our education settings, we are providing a mis-education for all children.”
All the colours of childhood
Associate Professor I-Fang Lee’s intercultural research is scrutinising and challenging our contemporary construction of what consists an ‘ideal’ child and childhood, revealing new perspectives that can strengthen early childhood education pedagogy.What does society consider a ‘normal’ child and why? How…
Career Summary
Biography
Dr. I-Fang Lee is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle. Prior to joining UON, I-Fang was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at the Education University of Hong Kong (2006-2012). I-Fang's current research foci are on contemporary issues relating to changes and reforms in early childhood education and care, constructions of Asian childhoods, children's mental health and wellbeing, and global knowledge on appropriate pedagogical practices in the early years. Fundamental to these research foci are her critical perspectives on issues relating to equity and justice across different early childhood care and education systems in multiple cultural contexts.
Research Expertise:
Dr. Lee is currently a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project entitled: Global Childhoods in the Asian Century: Connecting Policy, Educational Experiences and Everyday Lifeworlds of Children in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. This project explores and investigates connections between policy contexts, school experiences and children's everyday activities to enable policy makers, educators and parents to provide improved learning opportunities in children's lives.
I-Fang's ongoing research trajectories focus on:
- Reconceptualising the constructions of global and Asian childhoods
- Education and care reform policies
- Global knowledge/power matrix for the productions of dominant pedagogical practices
I-Fang draws on critical theories and post-structural theoretical frameworks to challenge the making of social inclusion/exclusion and to rethink issues concerning equity in the early years.
More recently, I-Fang collaborates on several interdisciplinary projects with School of Nursing and Midwifery to explore children's emotional well-being and mental health issues.
Teaching Expertise:
I-Fang's philosophy of teaching and learning is deeply rooted in and shaped by critical theories and pedagogies. Dr. Lee draws from a diverse selection of critical analytical tools such as post-structural theories, critical race theory, critical theories and pedagogies and other related theoretical/conceptual frameworks to engage all students in rethinking why we think what we think in the field of education. I-Fang seeks to unpack the dominant pedagogical practices in early childhood education and care with the goal to understand educational and social justice issues concerning equity, diversity and inclusion for all.
At the undergraduate level, I-Fang teaches courses in early childhood education including diversity and inclusion, leadership and advocacy, approaches to early childhood education, contemporary issues and reforms in early childhood education. I-Fang also supervises Honours, Master of Philosophy, PhD students on topics relating to early childhood education and care.
Administrative Expertise:
I-Fang is the Program Convenor of the Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood/Primary) (Honours) and Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood/Primary) programs. She is also a course coordinator for several undergraduate and master courses for both Central Coast (Ourimbah) and Callaghan campuses at the University of Newcastle.
New Colombo Plan Mobility Program Projects:
I-Fang leads several multi-year New Colombo Mobility Projects.
Teaching in China (2017-2019). This project offers inter-cultural teaching and learning opportunity for Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood/Primary) (Honours) program students. This is a mobility scholarship program funded by the the Australian Government.
A Semester of Study in Hong Kong (2018-2020). This project offers students an opportunity to a full semester of study experience at the Education University of Hong Kong. This is a mobility scholarship program funded by the Australian Government.
Nursing, Midwifery, Oral Health and Early Childhood & Primary Teaching students’ clinical practice in Vanuatu (2018-2019). This project offers Education student a unique interdisciplinary filed experience to collaborate with students in School of Nursing and Midwifery, and School of Oral Health.
International Research Collaborations:
Dr. I-Fang Lee is a co-founder 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). In 2010-2014, 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. The Collaborative is committed to social justice, peace, and equity for younger human beings.
In 2016, I-Fang is a Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I-Fang is interested in international collaborations with researchers and HDR students on topics related to education and care in early years.
Journal Editor:
I-Fang is an Editor for the Global Studies of Childhood and an Associate Editor for The International Critical Childhood Policy Studies.
Global Studies of Childhood was conceptualized as a multidisciplinary space for researchers to share work that interrogates and challenges the complexities inherent to young people’s lives in the 21st century. Over seven years it has been at the forefront of innovation from its inception as an online-only journal with alternative and cutting edge papers from authors in the disciplines of Education, the Social Sciences and Humanities.
The International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Journal is an open-access, peer-reviewed e-journal for researchers, practitioners, and activists concerned with critical (e.g. poststructural, feminist, postcolonial) examinations of childhood policy conceptualizations and practices in a range of fields. Research projects and theoretical papers related to complexity, social justice, equity, and the re-constitution/re-inscription of oppression/privilege are highly encouraged.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison - USA
- Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), Ohio State University - USA
- Master of Arts, Ohio State University - USA
Keywords
- Children's Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Comparative Education
- Contemporary Issues of Equity and Diversity in Early Years
- Cultural Studies
- Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood
- Early Childhood Education Policies and Changes
- Early Childhood Education Policy
- Foundations of Early Childhood Education
- Leadership and Advocacy in Early Years
- Paly
- Poststructuralism in Early Childhood
Languages
- Mandarin (Fluent)
- Cantonese (Working)
Fields of Research
Code | Description | Percentage |
---|---|---|
390302 | Early childhood education | 70 |
390299 | Education policy, sociology and philosophy not elsewhere classified | 30 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|
Associate Professor | University of Newcastle School of Education Australia |
Academic appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|---|
1/8/2006 - 1/1/2012 | Assistant Professor | The Hong Kong Institute of Education Department of Early Childhood Education Hong Kong |
Awards
Teaching Award
Year | Award |
---|---|
2018 |
2018 Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence and Contribution to Student Learning The University of Newcastle |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Book (3 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 |
Lee I-F, Saltmarsh S, Yelland N, Childhood, Learning & Everyday Life in Three Asia-Pacific Cities Experiences from Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore, Springer, 0 (2023)
|
||||
2016 |
Cannella GS, Perez MS, Lee I-F, Critical examinations of quality in early education and care: regulation, disqualification, and erasure (Childhood Studies), Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 190 (2016)
|
||||
2009 |
Lee I-F, Promising What through Preschool Vouchers? Illusions of Freedom, Equality, Democracy, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, New York, U.S.A., 152 (2009) [A1]
|
Chapter (15 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 |
Lee I-F, 'Everyday Learning Looks Like This: Classroom Ethnographies in Three Global Cities', Childhood, Learning & Everyday Life in Three Asia-Pacific Cities Experiences from Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore, Springer Nature, Singapore (2023)
|
||||||||||
2023 |
Lee I-F, Saltmarsh S, Yelland N, 'The Global Childhoods Project: Learning and Everyday Life in Three Global Cities', Childhood, Learning & Everyday Life in Three Asia-Pacific Cities Experiences from Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore, Springer Nature, Singapore (2023)
|
||||||||||
2023 |
Lee I-F, Saltmarsh S, 'Rethinking the Global Childhoods Project: Learning and Everyday Life in Three Global Cities', Childhood, Learning & Everyday Life in Three Asia-Pacific Cities Experiences from Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore, Springer Nature, Singapore (2023)
|
||||||||||
2023 |
Syed S, Lee I-F, 'An intersectional understanding of international female doctoral students' experiences: A narrative inquiry', International Graduate and Doctoral Student Experience: Navigating Relationship, Resources, and Resilience, Star Scholars Network, USA 10-22 (2023) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2021 |
Lee I-F, 'Politics of Childhoods: Paradoxical Moments of Be(com)ing', Childhoods in More Just Worlds : An International Handbook, Myers Education Press, Bloomfield, USA 121-136 (2021) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2016 |
Lee I, ' I Can t Bring My Imagination to School. It Gets Me in Trouble : Learning How to Think and Fit Inside the Box in Kindergarten.', Women Education Scholars and their Children's Schooling, Routledge, New York 160-175 (2016) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2016 |
Lee I, 'The dangers of the neoliberal imaginary of quality: the making of early childhood education and care as a service industry', Critical Examinations of Quality in Early Education and Care, Peter Lang, New York 105-121 (2016) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2016 |
Lee I, 'Paradoxical moments in children's contemporary lives: childhoods in East Asia', Politics, Citizenship and Rights, Springer, Singapore 73-87 (2016) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2015 |
Lee I, Tseng CL, Jun HJ, 'Reforming early childhood education as a smart investment for the future: Stories from East Asia', Global Perspectives on Human Capital in Early Childhood Education: Reconceptualizing Theory, Policy and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 119-141 (2015) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2014 |
Lee I, Nicola Yelland, 'The Global Childhood Project: Complexities of Learning and Living with a Bi-Literate and Trilingual Literacy Policy', Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Care and Education: Critical Questions, New Imaginaries and Social Activism, Peter Lang, New York 313-324 (2014) [B1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
Show 12 more chapters |
Journal article (25 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 |
Ailwood J, Lee IF, Arndt S, Tesar M, Aslanian TK, Gibbons A, Heimer L, 'Communities of care: A collective writing project on philosophies, politics and pedagogies of care and education in the early years', Policy Futures in Education, (2022) [C1] This collective writing project considers the central issue of how we account for, understand, and talk about, the professional work of care in early childhood education. As an in... [more] This collective writing project considers the central issue of how we account for, understand, and talk about, the professional work of care in early childhood education. As an international collective, we stake out some of the messiness, the specificities and complexities of care in early childhood education. Each scholar explores the issue of foregrounding care in the professional work of early childhood educators and reflects on the complexities of care in early childhood education and care. While these musing are collected together in this paper, they are each a standalone provocation to grapple with diverse issues of care in relation to etymology, policy, risk, relationships, power, and racism. As a collective, we explore ways of engaging in the messiness of care and education with a spirit of vulnerability and the courage of risk taking to unpack care in early childhood education.
|
Nova | |||||||||
2021 |
Saltmarsh S, Lee IF, 'Playing with happiness: Biopolitics, childhood and representations of play', Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 22 296-311 (2021) [C1] Play is a central discourse in policy and practice pertaining to young children's learning, development and well-being in many countries around the world. Dominant ways of un... [more] Play is a central discourse in policy and practice pertaining to young children's learning, development and well-being in many countries around the world. Dominant ways of understanding and advocating for play often construct universalising notions of children and childhood, overlooking that play is always-already culturally situated and ideologically inflected. In play discourse, happiness is constituted as an unproblematised condition, goal and outcome of children's play, and as an antidote to contemporary childhoods burdened by geopolitical, social and environmental issues. In this article, the authors analyse images of children at play in curriculum frameworks, documents and reports, exploring the ways that happiness consistently features as a largely unspoken/unwritten expectation and rationale for policies and policy advocacy concerning play in early childhood. Informed by post-structural theories of biopolitical power, everyday practices and the cultural politics of emotion, and utilising analytical techniques from social semiotics and discourse analysis, the authors argue that visual representations in the documents analysed depict play and happiness as co-implicated. They contend that these representations function in the production of play discourses that both assume and obligate children and childhood to happiness. They interrogate play in these terms, critiquing discursive tropes that are contingent on the co-implication of play and happiness with biopolitical subjectification in order to consider the relevance and utility of play as a policy and pedagogical export to diverse parts of the world.
|
Nova | |||||||||
2021 |
Yelland N, Muspratt S, Bartholomaeus C, Karthikeyan N, Chan AKW, Leung VWM, et al., 'Lifeworlds of nine- and ten-year-old children: out-of-school activities in three global cities', Globalisation, Societies and Education, 19 259-273 (2021) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2020 |
Lee IF, 'Crisis of care and education in the early years: Paradoxical moments in the global pandemic', Global Studies of Childhood, 10 385-394 (2020) [C1] Care in the early years entails more than childcare. This paper has three major sections. In the first section, I begin with an introduction and a quick overview of the ECEC syste... [more] Care in the early years entails more than childcare. This paper has three major sections. In the first section, I begin with an introduction and a quick overview of the ECEC system in Australia. This snapshot of the Australian ECEC system presents a messy map of the care and education system for young children under a neoliberal political economy to elucidate what this may mean in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this contextual background of the ECEC system in Australia, in the second section I discuss my theoretical, ethical, political, ontological, and epistemological positioning when re-imagining and reconceptualizing what a socially just ECEC landscape might look like through the lens of a feminism approach. This onto-epistemological discussion explains the shift toward a feminist approach and how this enables me to (re)think about care and education in the early years differently. Taking up this different set of analytical tools with a post-structural sensibility of the politics of caring, in the third section, I continue on to critical analyses and discussions, highlighting the paradoxes of care and education in the early years. A key aim of this paper is to un-settle the taken-for-granted ways of thinking and talking about ECEC in Australia. I build my discussions by unsettling the dominant ways of thinking about care and education in the early years to deconstruct the narrowed political rhetoric of care in the early years as childcare only. I assert such a critical analytical position requires a new language from a new onto-epistemological positioning to mobilize a different system of reasoning as a strategy for re-imagining a new landscape toward an ethical world with social justice and greater social inclusion for all children.
|
Nova | |||||||||
2020 |
Boyd W, Wong S, Fenech M, Mahony L, Warren J, Lee IF, Cheeseman S, 'Employers perspectives of how well prepared early childhood teacher graduates are to work in early childhood education and care services', Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 45 215-227 (2020) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2019 |
Lee IF, 'Editorial', Global Studies of Childhood, 9 3-4 (2019)
|
||||||||||
2018 |
Lee IF, '(Re)Landscaping early childhood education in East Asia: A neoliberal economic and political imaginary', Policy Futures in Education, 16 53-65 (2018) [C1] This article unpacks how neoliberal discourse functions as a dominant but problematic system of reasoning that changes and shifts the ways in which we come to think about early ch... [more] This article unpacks how neoliberal discourse functions as a dominant but problematic system of reasoning that changes and shifts the ways in which we come to think about early childhood education and care. A post-structuralist lens is deployed to understand the production of fears and hopes under the looming shadows of contemporary education reforms and social policies. Highlighting Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea as three cases from East Asian cultures, this article seeks to elucidate how a similar neoliberal economic and political imaginary is at work to (re)construct East Asian children as human capital for the alchemy of productive citizens in the 21st century.
|
Nova | |||||||||
2017 |
Lee IF, Yelland NJ, 'Crafting Miniature Students in the Early Years: Schooling for Desirable Childhoods in East Asia', International Journal of Early Childhood, 49 39-56 (2017) [C1] This paper explores the concept of miniature students to interrogate the ways in which early childhood care and education systems in East Asian countries are being constructed. Ex... [more] This paper explores the concept of miniature students to interrogate the ways in which early childhood care and education systems in East Asian countries are being constructed. Experiences drawn from working in the Hong Kong education system and observations of teaching and researching in Hong Kong have enabled an analysis about the ways in which young children are conceptualized, normalized, and governed from the beginning of preschool. The purpose of the analysis presented is not to create an alternative grand narrative of childhood or studenthood, but rather to explicate the ways in which young children are being shaped into miniature students from the beginning of their (in)formal educational experiences. A post-structuralist lens is used to explore the ways in which this concept has become manifested within the context of a privatized system, regulated by government and supported by new forms of funding to increase participation. Going beyond the geopolitical space of Asia, the making of miniature students can also be observed in many other countries in which governments focus on ¿rigorous¿ assessment schemes or systems that are considered to result in improved high stakes test scores. The making of miniature students is perpetuated by a drive by governments toward narrow education outcomes.
|
Nova | |||||||||
2015 |
Lee I-F, 'Special issue (Part 1): Regulating childhoods: Disrupting discourses of control', Global Studies of Childhood, 5 223-225 (2015) [C3]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2014 |
Lee I-F, 'Assemblages of Quality Early Childhood Education and Care in the Cross-Taiwan Strait Geopolitical Space in Asia. Interplay of Opportunity and Risk', International Review of Qualitative Research, 7 80-92 (2014) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2014 |
LEE I-FANG, 'Contemporary Childhoods in Asia: becoming (pre)school students in Hong Kong', Global Studies of Childhood, 4 157-168 (2014) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2013 |
Lee I, 'Neoliberal imaginaries in early childhood education and care.', The International Journal of Early Childhood Learning, 19 27-35 (2013) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2013 |
Lee IF, Tseng CL, 'Young children's living and learning experiences under the biliterate and trilingual education policy in Hong Kong', Global Studies of Childhood, 3 26-39 (2013) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2012 |
Lee I-F, 'Unpacking neoliberal policies: Interrupting the global and local production of the norms', Journal of Pedagogy, 3 30-42 (2012) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2012 |
Lee I-F, 'Global childhoods: Portraits of living and literacy learning in Hong Kong', The International Journal of Learning, 18 17-27 (2012) [C1]
|
Nova | |||||||||
2008 |
Lee IF, Tseng CL, 'Cultural conflicts of the child-centered approach to early childhood education in Taiwan', Early Years, 28 183-196 (2008) [C1] This paper discusses the cultural conflicts around the Western notion of child-centeredness in Taiwanese preschools. The implementation and translation of Developmentally Appropri... [more] This paper discusses the cultural conflicts around the Western notion of child-centeredness in Taiwanese preschools. The implementation and translation of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) in Taiwan is highlighted as an example to understand productions of differences, norms and cultural conflicts in Taiwanese early childhood education. Throughout this paper, it is argued that multiplicities and differences are not acknowledged but instead are dangerously ignored while assumptions are made about a singular norm and homogeneous universal standard. From this perspective, it is asserted that the global circulation of a particular Western notion of child-centeredness should be (re)conceptualized as a cultural construct through which a particular system of reasoning or cultural knowledge is perpetuated. © 2008, TACTYC.
|
Nova | |||||||||
Show 22 more journal articles |
Conference (9 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 |
Lee I, 'The Promise of Montessori Approach to Early Childhood Education in Today's Education Climate', The Promise of Montessori Approach to Early Education in Today s Education Climate, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2017)
|
||||
2016 |
Lee I, Tseng C-L, 'The Alchemy of New Citizens in East Asian Schooling Systems: Fears and Hopes for Whose Children', Taupo, New Zealand (2016)
|
||||
2015 |
Lee I, Yelland N, 'Schooling the body for the desirable studenthood in the early years: Interrogating the making of miniature students in East Asia', American Educational Research Association, Chicago, U.S.A. (2015) [E3]
|
||||
2015 |
Lee I, 'Narratives of childhoods: Be(com)ing miniature students.', Dublin, Ireland (2015) [O1]
|
||||
2014 |
Lee I, Yelland N, 'Understanding contemporary childhoods and studenthoods in the Asia Pacific Region', The Power of Education Research for Innovation in Practice and Policy, Philadelphia, PA (2014) [E1]
|
Nova | |||
2013 |
Lee I, 'Unpacking neoliberal imaginary in Asia: Envisioning better early childhood education?', Abstracts. 9th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign (2013) [E3]
|
||||
2013 |
Lee I, 'Unpacking neoliberal imaginaries of early childhood education and care in East Asia', Abstracts. 9th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign (2013) [E3]
|
||||
2012 |
Lee I-F, 'Constructing quality early childhood care and education for all: A cultural perspective', Trans-Disciplinary Conference on Early Childhood Development and Education. Programme, Cape Town, South Africa (2012) [E3]
|
||||
2012 |
Lee I-F, Yelland NJ, Tseng CL, 'Global childhoods: Portraits of living in the 21st century', AERA 2012 Abstracts, Vancouver, BC (2012) [E3]
|
||||
Show 6 more conferences |
Other (1 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 |
Lee I, Yelland N, Saltmarsh S, 'Contemporary childhoods in Asia: Becoming (pre)school students in Hong Kong.', ( pp.28-28): Common Ground Publishing (2014) [O1]
|
Grants and Funding
Summary
Number of grants | 19 |
---|---|
Total funding | $609,706 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
Highlighted grants and funding
Global childhoods: Life-worlds and educational success in Australia and Asia. $337,295
Global childhoods: Life-worlds and educational success in Australia and Asia.
This project aims to investigate how everyday life-worlds of year four students (nine-ten years of age) in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore shape children’s orientations to educational success. Situated in the global cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, the study explores connections between policy contexts, school experiences and everyday activities of children growing up in the Asian Century. Findings will advance knowledge of factors that contribute to children’s understandings of how their experiences in and out of school prepare them for futures in a global world. This will enable policy-makers, educators and parents to provide improved learning opportunities in children’s lives.
Funding body: Australia Research Council
Funding body | Australia Research Council |
---|---|
Project Team | Prof Nicola Yelland (CI) Prof Sue Saltmarsh (CI) A/Prof I-Fang Lee (CI) A/Prof Kam Lim (PI) Dr Anita Chan (PI) |
Scheme | Discovery Projects |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2021 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | C1200 - Aust Competitive - ARC |
Category | 1200 |
UON | N |
20231 grants / $5,407
Pre-service Early Childhood Teachers Learning About and Enacting Care on Professional Experience Placement$5,407
Funding body: College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle
Funding body | College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Project Team | Joanne Ailwood (Lead) I-Fang Lee (Co-Investigator) |
Scheme | CHSF - Pilot Research Scheme: Projects, Pivots, Partnerships |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2023 |
Funding Finish | 2023 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20211 grants / $11,466
Philosophy, politics and pedagogies of care in early childhood education and care$11,466
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Project Team | A/Professor Joanne Ailwood (Lead); A/Prof I-Fang Lee; Dr S Arndt (Melbourne); A/Prof M Tesar (Auckland); A/Prof A Gibbons (Auckland); Dr T Aslanian (South-East Norway); A/Prof L Heimer (Wisconsin-Whitewater) |
Scheme | Strategic Network and Pilot Project Grants Scheme |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2021 |
Funding Finish | 2021 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20201 grants / $12,997
Engaging with Industry: Exploring the perceptions of early childhood educators on working with children who stutter to develop an education package that informs future professional development and curriculum$12,997
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Project Team | Dr Rachael Unicomb (Lead), A/Prof Sally Hewat and A/Prof I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | Strategic Network and Pilot Project Grants Scheme |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20192 grants / $3,000
27th International RECE Confererence, 31 October - 5 November 2019, New Mexico$2,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Scheme | FEDUA Conference Travel Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2019 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
2019 Ourimbah Strategic Research Grant$1,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Scheme | Faculty funding |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2019 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20188 grants / $519,495
Global childhoods: Life-worlds and educational success in Australia and Asia. $337,295
Global childhoods: Life-worlds and educational success in Australia and Asia.
This project aims to investigate how everyday life-worlds of year four students (nine-ten years of age) in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore shape children’s orientations to educational success. Situated in the global cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, the study explores connections between policy contexts, school experiences and everyday activities of children growing up in the Asian Century. Findings will advance knowledge of factors that contribute to children’s understandings of how their experiences in and out of school prepare them for futures in a global world. This will enable policy-makers, educators and parents to provide improved learning opportunities in children’s lives.
Funding body: Australia Research Council
Funding body | Australia Research Council |
---|---|
Project Team | Prof Nicola Yelland (CI) Prof Sue Saltmarsh (CI) A/Prof I-Fang Lee (CI) A/Prof Kam Lim (PI) Dr Anita Chan (PI) |
Scheme | Discovery Projects |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2021 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | C1200 - Aust Competitive - ARC |
Category | 1200 |
UON | N |
New Colombo Plan Mobility Program-A Semester in Hong Kong$77,000
Funding body: Australian Government
Funding body | Australian Government |
---|---|
Project Team | I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | New Colombo Plan |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | C2120 - Aust Commonwealth - Other |
Category | 2120 |
UON | N |
Play in Australian Early Childhood and Care Settings: Theory and Practice$48,000
Funding body: The Education Universtiy of Hong Kong
Funding body | The Education Universtiy of Hong Kong |
---|---|
Project Team | I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | Department of Early Childhood Education Study Tour Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | International - Competitive |
Category | 3IFA |
UON | N |
New Colombo Plan Mobility Program-Nursing, Midwifery, Oral Health and Early Childhood & Primary Teaching students’ clinical practice in Vanuatu$46,200
Funding body: Australian Government
Funding body | Australian Government |
---|---|
Project Team | Associate Prof. Sarah Yeun-Sim Jeong, Dr. Janet Wallace, and Dr. I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | New Colombo Plan |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Aust Competitive - Commonwealth |
Category | 1CS |
UON | N |
Supporting Wellness in Early Learning Environments (SWELE): A Feasibility Study of Children’s Physical, Emotional and Social Wellbeing.$7,000
Funding body: The University of Newcastle - Faculty of Health and Medicine
Funding body | The University of Newcastle - Faculty of Health and Medicine |
---|---|
Project Team | R. Lee, S. Lane, S. Chan, and I. Lee |
Scheme | Strategic Pilot Grant |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
26th International RECE Conference, Denmark, 14 - 18 October 2018$2,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Scheme | FEDUA Conference Travel Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
Developing a Protocol for Unstructured Play $1,000
Funding body: Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Project Team | R. Lee, S. Lane, S. Chan and I.L |
Scheme | Faculty Grant |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
Developing a Children’s Happiness Index$1,000
Funding body: Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Project Team | S. Jeong, R. Rosina, I.Lee and S. Chan |
Scheme | Faculty Grant |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20172 grants / $34,000
New Colombo Plan Mobility Program-Teaching in China$33,000
Funding body: Australian Government
Funding body | Australian Government |
---|---|
Project Team | I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | New Colombo Plan |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2017 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Aust Competitive - Commonwealth |
Category | 1CS |
UON | N |
Children’s Mental Health & Wellbeing: Connecting Education and Health Science$1,000
Funding body: Ourimbah Strategic Research Grant
Funding body | Ourimbah Strategic Research Grant |
---|---|
Project Team | Dr. I-Fang Lee, Associate Prof. Sarah Yeun-Sim Jeong, Dr. Robyn Rosina |
Scheme | Ourimbah Strategic Research Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2017 |
Funding Finish | 2017 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20151 grants / $2,000
International Conference: Anji Play from International Perspectives, China 11-14 June$2,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
---|---|
Project Team | Associate Professor I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | Travel Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2015 |
Funding Finish | 2015 |
GNo | G1500843 |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | Y |
20132 grants / $19,841
A Contract in Care: Investigating Families and their Relationships within Early Years Provision$15,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
---|---|
Project Team | Joanne Ailwood; I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | FEDUA Strategic Networks and Pilot Projects (SNaPP) |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2013 |
Funding Finish | 2013 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
Global Childhoods: Portraits of Children’s Living and Learning in the Asia-Pacific$4,841
Funding body: University of Newcastle
Funding body | University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Project Team | Associate Professor I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | New Staff Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2013 |
Funding Finish | 2013 |
GNo | G1300090 |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | Y |
20121 grants / $1,500
American Educational Research Association (AERA), Vancouver Canada, 13 - 17 April 2012$1,500
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
---|---|
Project Team | Associate Professor I-Fang Lee |
Scheme | Travel Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2012 |
Funding Finish | 2013 |
GNo | G1200552 |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | Y |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | PhD | Predictors Of Professional Competence Among Kindergarten Female Teachers: The Role Of Social Media | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2023 | PhD | The Effectiveness of a Proposed Program Based on the Use of Virtual Museums in Developing Some Artistic Appreciation Skills for Children at the Kindergarten Level | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2023 | PhD | The Effectiveness of an E-Gaming Program in Giving a Kindergarten Saudi Child a Concept of Citizenship | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2022 | PhD | The Impact of Qualifying Special Education Teachers in Light of the Necessary Competencies of Special Education Teachers on the Achievement of Children with Special Needs in Kindergarten | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
2022 | PhD | The Impact of National Professional Standards from Early Childhood Teachers’ Perspectives | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2019 | PhD | Studying the Effect of Augmented Reality Technology on Early Childhood Children's Academic Performance in Saudi Arabia | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2018 | PhD | Constructing Early English as a Foreign Language Education in China: A Case Study of Parents' Choices in a Changing Educational Context | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2018 | PhD | Examining the Power Effects that Influence Educator's Decision Making when Planning with the Early Years Learning Framework | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
2018 | PhD | Understanding Early Childhood Teacher Education Practicum Programs in Saudi Arabia | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
Past Supervision
Year | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | PhD | Exploring International Female Doctoral Students' Narratives through the Lenses of Intersectionality and Feminist Standpoint Theory | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
2018 | PhD | The Representations of Life Outside Vietnam in First-Year Technical University Textbooks in Hanoi and their Influence on Students’ Intercultural Communicative Competence in English Learning | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
2017 | PhD | "She Doesn't Choose To Do Well": An Examination of the Discursive Constitution of Academic Underachievement | PhD (Education), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
Research Projects
International Critical Childhood Studies Collaborative 2010 - 2020
The International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Collaborative is founded by Professor able Cannella in 2010 with group members from the European Union, Norway, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Australia.
See: International Critical Childhood Policy Studies
A Semester of Study in Hong Kong at the Education Uiversity of Hong Kong (The New Colombo Plan Mobility Program 2018-2020) 2018 - 2020
This Mobility project will offer students in the Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood/Primary) (Honours) program a combined opportunity to undertake a semester of study experience at the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) and a week of study tour at the schools in Anji, Zhejiang to increase their engagement and knowledge of Chinese cultures and education. By expanding partnerships to collaborate with the EdUHK and the Anji Bureau of Education (Early Education Office) in Zhejiang, this project aims to expand student mobility into greater China as well as to increase student knowledge of China.
For a semester of study experience in Hong Kong allows the students to deepen their knowledge of Hong Kong and greater China. UON students will be buddied up with EdUHK Early Childhood Education students and local teachers in Hong Kong and Anji to foster cross-cultural understandings and cultivate professional linkages/networks to sustain the ongoing bilateral relation in the future.
Nursing, Midwifery, Oral Health and Early Childhood & Primary Teaching students’ clinical practice in Vanuatu 2018 - 2020
The School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Oral Health and School of Education will coordinate a 2-week clinical placement and filed experience in collaboration with the partner organisations listed in this NCP Mobility project. The objective of this project is to provide the students an opportunity to increase knowledge of Pacific in Australia; to understand the social determinants of health; and to gain a first-hand experience of nursing, midwifery and oral health practice, and the social and cultural importance of education in Vanuatu. Education students will organise playgroups and learning sessions in the Northern Provincial Primary schools in Luganville Santo Island. Students will examine the impact of social-political-economic challenges on equity, justice, resources and health, and the influence of culture of their own and others on health and education. They will be ‘work ready’ by enhancing their understanding of global interconnectivity, social responsibility and interdisciplinary team work.
Teaching in China (The New Colombo Plan Moblity Program) 2017 - 2019
This multi-year NCP Mobility project creates a unique pathway by combining EDUC3800 and a component of Teaching in China in Chinese-English bilingual kindergartens in China. The students in the Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood/Primary) (Honours) program at UON will gain in-depth understanding of contemporary China, Chinese cultures and language, and professional knowledge of Chinese early childhood education and care system to become reflective, thoughtful, and competent emerging leaders in the field of education.
123 AustChina Education Consultancy Group (123) is a private sector early childhood education and care provider and will act as host organisation for UON students in their multiple international kindergartens at Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. This NCP Mobility Teaching in China project offers UON students opportunities to put theory into practice though direct learning, rich inter-cultural understandings and full engagement with local Chinese communities.
ARC Dsicovery Project- Global childhoods: Lifeworlds and educational success in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore 2018 - 2020
This project investigates how everyday lifeworlds of Year 4 (9-10 year of age) students in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore shape children's orientations to educational success. Situated in the global cities of Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore, this study explores connections between policy contexts, school experiences and everyday activities of children growing up in the Asian Century. Findings will advance knowledge of factors and contribute to children's understandings of how their experiences in and out of school prepare them for future in a global world. This will enable policy-makers, educators and parents to provide improved learning opportunities in children's lives.
Global Childhoods 2011 - 2020
Global Childhoods is an interdisciplinary, transnational, multi-sited research project based in the Asia-Pacific geopolitical region. This project was first initiated by Dr. I-Fang Lee and Prof. Nicola Yelland and funded by the Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation at the Education University of Hong Kong during September 2010- January 2012. The purpose of this research project is 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). In order not to over-simplify the multiplicities of global childhoods to a singular globalized childhood, we seek to reconceptualize children’s lived experiences in multiple lifeworlds including homes, schools and communities. Our overarching goal is to understand how children’s various experiences, both in and out of schools in their homes, communities and sociocultural networks may impact on their learning experiences in schools.
Edit
Research Collaborations
The map is a representation of a researchers co-authorship with collaborators across the globe. The map displays the number of publications against a country, where there is at least one co-author based in that country. Data is sourced from the University of Newcastle research publication management system (NURO) and may not fully represent the authors complete body of work.
Country | Count of Publications | |
---|---|---|
Australia | 20 | |
Hong Kong | 9 | |
China | 5 | |
United States | 3 | |
Norway | 1 | |
More... |
Associate Professor I-Fang Lee
Position
Associate Professor
School of Education
School of Education
College of Human and Social Futures
Focus area
Education
Contact Details
i-fang.lee@newcastle.edu.au | |
Phone | (02) 4348 4128 |
Fax | (02) 4348 4075 |
Office
Room | EN.208 |
---|---|
Building | Education and Nursing |
Location | Ourimbah 10 Chittaway Road Ourimbah, NSW 2258 Australia |