Fay Hadley holds the position of Director of Education in the Macquarie School of Education and is an Associate Professor who specialises in leadership in early childhood education and partnerships with families.

Research: Fay’s primary area of research examines leadership in early childhood education. This includes investigating mentoring, professional learning and career pathways for early childhood teachers. She is especially interested in the socio-political environment and how this affects early childhood teachers’ work.

Fay also researches in partnerships with diverse families in educational settings and the impacts this has on outcomes for children. This was the focus of Fay’s PhD and has led to her extend on these findings with studies with early childhood centres in NSW and the ACT, as well as working with colleagues in Canada and Belgium.  

Fay is currently one of the Chief Investigators for the Early Childhood Education Scholarships Mentoring Program – Grants Programs for NSW Department of Education. This program is supporting students studying to be an Early Childhood Teacher and builds on the mentoring program we ran in 2021 for new Early Childhood Teachers who were matched to an experienced Early Childhood Teacher (mentor).

Fay supervises Higher Degree Research students whose projects lie within her areas of research specialisation. 

Teaching: Fay teaches in the undergraduate and postgraduate early childhood programs offered by the Macquarie School of Education. She currently convenes

• ECH3260: Children, Families and Communities in a Diverse Society
• ECHE8200: Families in Context
• ECHP4240: Professional Experience 7

Teaching awards: In 2012, Fay, along with her colleagues Dr Katey De Gioia and Dr Kate Highfield, was a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Programs that Enhance Learning for the program entitled Supporting international students during Professional Experience as well as a Recipient of the Deans Award for Programs that Enhance Learning for the same program.

Community: Fay is on the editorial board for Australasian Journal of Early Childhood and was previously the Deputy Editor of the journal. Fay contributes to the early childhood sector as an active member of Early Childhood Australia, which is the nationally advocacy peak body for early childhood.