Marianne Fenech
Biographic Data
| ID | 6192190 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marianne Fenech |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marianne |
| FAMILY NAME | Fenech |
| SIGNATURE | FENECH M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4892-5585 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
“My Emotions Do Matter”
Early childhood educators in Australia and internationally face unprecedented wellbeing challenges, contributing to and stemming from wider workforce attrition issues that adversely impact early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality. Addressing workforce challenges requires understanding educators’ day-to-day work demands and associated wellbeing implications. One area of practice where these understandings are unclear is emotional labour i…
Emotional labour while working with families
Partnering with families is an explicit regulatory and role requirement for early childhood educators, yet the emotional labour involved is implicit and relatively unacknowledged. While research has found that complex work demands jeopardise educator wellbeing – resulting in unprecedented turnover and attrition in Australia and internationally – little research has investigated emotional labour and associated educator wellbeing in relation to par…
From burden to adaptation
Early childhood trauma is widely experienced and can lead to diverse outcomes. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators are expected to implement trauma-informed approaches as a strategy to reduce potential negative outcomes of trauma experiences. This requirement, however, assumes that there is agreement on meanings of trauma and that educators can implement trauma-informed approaches. As the first step to exploring this assumption, t…
Educators’ perceptions of Australia’s early childhood education and care quality assurance rating system
High-quality early childhood education and care is of critical importance to children’s optimal development and wellbeing, and to a nation’s social and economic capital. Consequently, assessing and monitoring quality through regulatory mechanisms has become increasingly significant across the world. Yet, literature pertaining to the impact of regulatory and quality assurance systems is contentious, and there is a paucity of research that has inve…
Quality early childhood education through self, workplace, or regulatory support
Teacher registration is increasingly utilised as a governance mechanism to audit teachers’ work and drive professional practice. There is limited and mixed empirical evidence, however, as to whether registration drives teaching quality. Our study extends this limited empirical base by critically examining the policy trajectory in Australia to bring early childhood teachers into a uniform system of registration with primary and secondary teachers.…
Problematising early childhood teacher registration as a mechanism to improve quality early childhood education and care
Regulatory drivers of teacher quality and teacher professionalism are increasingly being utilised in Australia and internationally to improve children’s outcomes. In the context of a recent national review on teacher registration, this article reports on findings from a small-scale study that investigated three early childhood teachers’ perceptions of teacher registration in New South Wales, Australia. The participants rejected discursive truths …
Attracting, retaining and sustaining early childhood teachers
Supporting the inclusion of low-income families in early childhood education
It is well established that families facing financial adversity have low enrolment rates in early childhood education and care services. This paper reports on a study that utilised Nancy Fraser's theorising of social justice to analyse the approaches and practices of five centres in Australia with a reputation for doing inclusion well. Findings showed that five-fold interconnected ‘E’ strategies were utilised in the participating centres – Equity…
The representation of the national quality framework in the australian print media
While research investigating the mediatisation of education policy has primarily been undertaken in school contexts, this paper reports on a study conducted in the context of early childhood education. The paper examines how a major policy in early childhood education in Australia – the National Quality Framework – has been mediatised in selected newspapers. Drawing on Foucauldian, critical discourse analysis and mediatisation theorising, we util…
Problematising Australia's Nanny Pilot Program as evidence‐based policy
In a notable departure from long‐standing childcare policy in Australia, in January 2016 fee relief was extended to nannies providing in‐home care in a 2‐year pilot program. This policy is significant as fee relief is not tied to the meeting of regulatory requirements designed to ensure quality early learning and care for young children. Drawing on Carol Bacchi's approach to policy analysis, this paper extends previous problematising of evidence‐…
Discerning childcare quality
In the context of market-based childcare provision, governments in many industrialised countries use regulation to ensure quality standards and practices. Limited research, however, has investigated parents' perceptions of childcare quality and whether what parents value as contributors to quality resonates with regulatory frameworks. This article critically uses the Bourdieuian notion of ‘taste’ to explore the perspectives of parent users of hig…
Regulation and risk
This article problematises the construction of regulation as an effective manager of risks to children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Adopting a Foucaldian, governmentalist approach to regulation and risk, the authors suggest that governments in Australia have ‘risk colonised’ regulation to meet their own interests rather than make effective use of regulation as a mechanism for quality assurance. They propose that the risk…
Promoting High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Services
Whilst regulation is utilized by governments in Australia and internationally as a means of promoting quality standards in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, a growing body of literature is critical of the detrimental effect of this regulation. Drawing on our investigation into early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact of regulation on quality practices we suggest that the way regulation is constructed limits its capaci…
Supporting the inclusion of low-income families in early childhood education
It is well established that families facing financial adversity have low enrolment rates in early childhood education and care services. This paper reports on a study that utilised Nancy Fraser's theorising of social justice to analyse the approaches and practices of five centres in Australia with a reputation for doing inclusion well. Findings showed that five-fold interconnected ‘E’ strategies were utilised in the participating centres – Equity…
Promoting High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Services
Whilst regulation is utilized by governments in Australia and internationally as a means of promoting quality standards in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, a growing body of literature is critical of the detrimental effect of this regulation. Drawing on our investigation into early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact of regulation on quality practices we suggest that the way regulation is constructed limits its capaci…
The representation of the national quality framework in the australian print media
While research investigating the mediatisation of education policy has primarily been undertaken in school contexts, this paper reports on a study conducted in the context of early childhood education. The paper examines how a major policy in early childhood education in Australia – the National Quality Framework – has been mediatised in selected newspapers. Drawing on Foucauldian, critical discourse analysis and mediatisation theorising, we util…
Discerning childcare quality
In the context of market-based childcare provision, governments in many industrialised countries use regulation to ensure quality standards and practices. Limited research, however, has investigated parents' perceptions of childcare quality and whether what parents value as contributors to quality resonates with regulatory frameworks. This article critically uses the Bourdieuian notion of ‘taste’ to explore the perspectives of parent users of hig…
Regulation and risk
This article problematises the construction of regulation as an effective manager of risks to children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Adopting a Foucaldian, governmentalist approach to regulation and risk, the authors suggest that governments in Australia have ‘risk colonised’ regulation to meet their own interests rather than make effective use of regulation as a mechanism for quality assurance. They propose that the risk…
Promoting High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Services
Whilst regulation is utilized by governments in Australia and internationally as a means of promoting quality standards in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, a growing body of literature is critical of the detrimental effect of this regulation. Drawing on our investigation into early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact of regulation on quality practices we suggest that the way regulation is constructed limits its capaci…
Regulation and risk
This article problematises the construction of regulation as an effective manager of risks to children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Adopting a Foucaldian, governmentalist approach to regulation and risk, the authors suggest that governments in Australia have ‘risk colonised’ regulation to meet their own interests rather than make effective use of regulation as a mechanism for quality assurance. They propose that the risk…
Discerning childcare quality
In the context of market-based childcare provision, governments in many industrialised countries use regulation to ensure quality standards and practices. Limited research, however, has investigated parents' perceptions of childcare quality and whether what parents value as contributors to quality resonates with regulatory frameworks. This article critically uses the Bourdieuian notion of ‘taste’ to explore the perspectives of parent users of hig…
Problematising Australia's Nanny Pilot Program as evidence‐based policy
In a notable departure from long‐standing childcare policy in Australia, in January 2016 fee relief was extended to nannies providing in‐home care in a 2‐year pilot program. This policy is significant as fee relief is not tied to the meeting of regulatory requirements designed to ensure quality early learning and care for young children. Drawing on Carol Bacchi's approach to policy analysis, this paper extends previous problematising of evidence‐…
Supporting the inclusion of low-income families in early childhood education
It is well established that families facing financial adversity have low enrolment rates in early childhood education and care services. This paper reports on a study that utilised Nancy Fraser's theorising of social justice to analyse the approaches and practices of five centres in Australia with a reputation for doing inclusion well. Findings showed that five-fold interconnected ‘E’ strategies were utilised in the participating centres – Equity…
The representation of the national quality framework in the australian print media
While research investigating the mediatisation of education policy has primarily been undertaken in school contexts, this paper reports on a study conducted in the context of early childhood education. The paper examines how a major policy in early childhood education in Australia – the National Quality Framework – has been mediatised in selected newspapers. Drawing on Foucauldian, critical discourse analysis and mediatisation theorising, we util…
Problematising early childhood teacher registration as a mechanism to improve quality early childhood education and care
Regulatory drivers of teacher quality and teacher professionalism are increasingly being utilised in Australia and internationally to improve children’s outcomes. In the context of a recent national review on teacher registration, this article reports on findings from a small-scale study that investigated three early childhood teachers’ perceptions of teacher registration in New South Wales, Australia. The participants rejected discursive truths …
Attracting, retaining and sustaining early childhood teachers
Educators’ perceptions of Australia’s early childhood education and care quality assurance rating system
High-quality early childhood education and care is of critical importance to children’s optimal development and wellbeing, and to a nation’s social and economic capital. Consequently, assessing and monitoring quality through regulatory mechanisms has become increasingly significant across the world. Yet, literature pertaining to the impact of regulatory and quality assurance systems is contentious, and there is a paucity of research that has inve…
Quality early childhood education through self, workplace, or regulatory support
Teacher registration is increasingly utilised as a governance mechanism to audit teachers’ work and drive professional practice. There is limited and mixed empirical evidence, however, as to whether registration drives teaching quality. Our study extends this limited empirical base by critically examining the policy trajectory in Australia to bring early childhood teachers into a uniform system of registration with primary and secondary teachers.…
“My Emotions Do Matter”
Early childhood educators in Australia and internationally face unprecedented wellbeing challenges, contributing to and stemming from wider workforce attrition issues that adversely impact early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality. Addressing workforce challenges requires understanding educators’ day-to-day work demands and associated wellbeing implications. One area of practice where these understandings are unclear is emotional labour i…
Emotional labour while working with families
Partnering with families is an explicit regulatory and role requirement for early childhood educators, yet the emotional labour involved is implicit and relatively unacknowledged. While research has found that complex work demands jeopardise educator wellbeing – resulting in unprecedented turnover and attrition in Australia and internationally – little research has investigated emotional labour and associated educator wellbeing in relation to par…
From burden to adaptation
Early childhood trauma is widely experienced and can lead to diverse outcomes. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators are expected to implement trauma-informed approaches as a strategy to reduce potential negative outcomes of trauma experiences. This requirement, however, assumes that there is agreement on meanings of trauma and that educators can implement trauma-informed approaches. As the first step to exploring this assumption, t…
Early childhood education (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Early childhood (9 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Pedagogy (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Developmental psychology (6 works) · Business (4 works)