Sheila Degotardi

Sheila Degotardi is a Professor of Early Childhood Education. She is the Director of the Macquarie University Early Childhood Education Research Centre,  and is a Deputy Research Leader in the federally funded Care Economy Cooperative Research Centre.  

Sheila specialises in infant-toddler pedagogies and learning in early childhood education centres. With a deep interest in relationship-based pedagogies, she investigates the nature of social interactions between children, their educators and peers, to consider how these interactions contribute towards very young children’s learning.

Sheila has attracted over $3 million in external research funds. Three projects investigate the language interactions in infant-toddler early childhood classrooms: The language environment of infant-toddler early childhood rooms (ARC Discovery 2014-2017) significantly increased current knowledge about the interaction features that can promote language development and learning. 'Language for Learning' (ARC Discovery 2018-2024) is investigating the features of infants' language environment the support or constrain the development of learning-oriented talk. 'Toddler TaLK' (2022-2023) tracked the developmental trajectories of learning-oriented talk used by toddlers aged 2.5 to 2.5 years. A current ARC Linkage (2023-2026) addressed how an documentation tool 'ORICL' can support improvements in infant-toddler pedagogy.

Sheila also researches to improve early childhood education systems. She is the early childhood education research lead for the newly formed Care Economy Cooperative Research Centre (2025-2035). She is a member of the ACECQA funded project (2025-2026) to develop the Inclusive Practice Framework for Australian early childhood services. She led the Early Childhood National Workforce Strategy research on educator pay and conditions (2023) and led an MRFF funded project (2022) on processes of health communication by both early childhood and health organisations. She has also been a co-researcher in project that aimed to inform about early childhood enrolment and attendance of families from low SES backgrounds.   

Sheila supervises Higher Degree Research students and welcomes inquiries from potential candidates whose project interests align with her areas of specialisation. 

Sheila works closely with the early childhood sector to conduct and communicate research that will directly benefit educators and young children. She provides professional learning programs and produces resources for early childhood educators, particularly those working with infants and toddlers. Sheila is on the Editorial Boards for the International Journal of Early Years Education.  

Sheila teaches in the undergraduate and post graduate early childhood programs. She currently convenes:

• ECHE3110: Infant and Toddler Curriculum and Pedagogy.
• ECED8320: Contemporary Approaches to Infant-toddler Theory and Practice
• ECHE6000: Early Childhood Philosophy and Pedagogy