Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Manjula’s expertise focus on educational leadership, early childhood policy especially on quality matters, as well as child and family diversity, and professional learning, mentoring and career development of early childhood personnel. For her contribution to the study of early childhood educational leadership, Manjula was awarded a Honoris Causa in Education by the University of Tampere, Finland. Manjula has been exploring the conceptualisation and enactment of leadership within Early Childhood settings for almost two decades. She initiated the dialogue on theorising distributed leadership paradigm in Early Childhood settings, and this research continues to evolve through collaborations with Scandinavian researchers.
Manjula has an extensive track record of working in the Early Childhood sector in a variety of roles comprising being a classroom practitioner, a parent, a policy analyst, an advocate, a teacher educator, an academic writer and researcher. She has a deep knowledge of Early Childhood policy and practice built through teaching, research and active involvement in the sector for over three decades, including holding office in various community organisations including Early Childhood Australia and UNICEF Australia. Manjula’s continuing interests in cross-cultural research have been built through collaborations with colleagues from diverse countries especially those from Estonia, Finland, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore and South Africa. In connection with this work Manjula was appointed the Editor-in-Chief for Early Childhood Education by Bloomsbury Publishers. She is one of four international scholars who oversees the preparation of articles from around the world, for inclusion in Bloomsbury’s digital platform dedicated to Education and Childhood Studies (www.becs-bloomsbury.com).
External positions
Adjunct Professor (Docentship), University of Tampere
Sep 2008 → …
Visiting Professor of Early Childhood Research, University of Oulu
1998 → 1999
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Network
Projects
- 10 Finished
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Early Childhood Education Scholarships Mentoring Program – Grants Programs
Andrews, R., Hadley, F., Waniganayake, M., Hay, I. & Holt, L.
1/01/22 → 31/12/22
Project: Research
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MRFF: Harnessing the health communication power of the early childhood sector
Degotardi, S., Amin, J., Bull, R., Harrison, L. J., Waniganayake, M., Hadley, F., Wong, S., Zurynski, Y., Donovan, M., Mendham, M., O'Connell, M., Highfield, K., Death, E., Boehm, N., Fox, S., Cannen, E., Paterson, A., McNicholas, J., Payne, R. & Dahm, M.
1/02/21 → 1/10/21
Project: Research
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NSW Dept Edu: Mentoring and Coaching for New NSW Early Childhood Teachers
Hadley, F., Andrews, R., Waniganayake, M., Hay, I., Harrison, L. J. & Jones, C.
1/09/20 → 31/12/21
Project: Research
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QIRP: Quality Improvement Research Project
Harrison, L. J., Irvine, S., Hadley, F., Andrews, R., Barblett, L., Davis, B., Hatzigianni, M., Li, P., Mulhearn, G. & Waniganayake, M.
6/02/19 → 30/09/19
Project: Research
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Singing with young children: The impact of regular singing on teacher-identified learning outcomes in early years programmes
1/01/19 → 31/12/20
Project: Research
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Harnessing the health communication potential of the early childhood sector
Degotardi, S., Amin, J., Bull, R., Dahm, M. R., Donovan, M., Hadley, F., Harrison, L. J., Sadow, L., Trần, D., Waniganayake, M., Wong, S. & Zurynski, Y., 13 Apr 2023, North Ryde, NSW: Macquarie University. 22 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open AccessFile7 Downloads (Pure) -
Mentoring program for scholarship holders within the NSW Department of Education’s early childhood education scholarship programs
Andrews, R., Waniganayake, M., Hadley, F., Hay, I. & Grime, L., Feb 2023, Parramatta, NSW: NSW Department of Education. 42 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
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Readability and beyond - Health literacy and numeracy and COVID-19 communications in Early Childhood Education: are we communicating effectively?
Dahm, M., Bull, R., Sadow, L., Trần, D., Zurynski, Y., Amin, J., Hadley, F., Harrison, L. J., Waniganayake, M., Wong, S. & Degotardi, S., 25 May 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: Patient Education and Counseling.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Structures and systems influencing quality improvement in Australian early childhood education and care centres
Harrison, L. J., Waniganayake, M., Brown, J., Andrews, R., Li, H., Hadley, F., Irvine, S., Barblett, L., Davis, B. & Hatzigianni, M., 4 Jan 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: The Australian Educational Researcher. 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
The leadership role of Australian early childhood organisations in communicating health information during COVID-19: lessons from elite interviews
Wong, S., Sadow, L., Waniganayake, M., Zurynski, Y., Amin, J., Bull, R., Dahm, M. R., Degotardi, S., Donovan, M. J., Hadley, F. & Harrison, L. J., 2023, Early childhood education leadership in times of crisis: international studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fonsén, E., Ahtiainen, R., Heikkinen, K-M., Heikonen, L., Strehmel, P. & Tamir, E. (eds.). Opladen, Germany: Verlag Barbara Budrich, p. 135-150 16 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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Embracing workforce challenges: What matters in early childhood mentor preparation?
Fay Hadley (Speaker) & Manjula Waniganayake (Speaker)
Feb 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Building capacity and sustainability: Mentoring Early Childhood Teachers.
Fay Hadley (Speaker), Rebecca Andrews (Speaker), Manjula Waniganayake (Speaker), Iain Hay (Speaker) & Catherine Jones (Speaker)
Oct 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Including same-sex families in early childhood settings in Australia: Perspectives of parents of Chinese ancestry.
Meg Liang (Speaker), Fay Hadley (Speaker) & Manjula Waniganayake (Speaker)
Jul 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Leadership preparation through mentoring: Benefits of outsourcing. Online presentation to the International Leadership Research Forum, ADA University, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Manjula Waniganayake (Speaker), Fay Hadley (Speaker), Rebecca Andrews (Speaker), Iain Hay (Speaker) & Catherine Jones (Speaker)
Aug 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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System leadership and change: Quality complexities and strengthening workforce capabilities.
Fay Hadley (Speaker), Sue Irvine (Speaker) & Manjula Waniganayake (Speaker)
Feb 2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation