Professor Fay Hadley holds the position of Deputy Director of Macquarie University Early Childhood Reserach Centre and 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 was the lead Chief Investigator (CI) on the recent Approved Learning Frameworks (ALFs) Update project.

As lead CI, I led the team that was awarded the NSWDoE Mentoring and Coaching for New NSW Early Childhood Teachers project and was one of the CIs for the Early Childhood Education Scholarships Mentoring Program – Grants Programs for NSW Department of Education. These programs including 1) training experienced Early Childhood Teachers (ECTs) to mentor new ECTs, and 2) supporting students studying to be an Early Childhood Teacher - matching them with an experienced Early Childhood Teacher (mentor) from the previous program.

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

Teaching awards: In 2022 I was the recipient of the Faculty of Arts Educational Leader Award with my colleagues Dr Rebecca Andrews, Professor Iain Hay, Associate Professor Michael Cavanagh and Dr John Ehrich. We were awarded this for the program titled: Macquarie University Teaching Performance Assessment – An authentic assessment for Teacher Education Students in the Macquarie School of Education. 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 contributes to the early childhood sector as an active member of Early Childhood Australia, which is the nationally advocacy peak body for early childhood.