Keynote speaker bios

Catherine Liddle

Chief Executive Officer, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children
An Arrernte/Luritja woman from Central Australia, Catherine has been a leading advocate in upholding the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on a national, regional and local level. Catherine has held senior management positions in First Nations organisations including First Nations Media and Jawun Indigenous Corporate Partnerships, as well as within the Northern Territory Education Department, the ABC and NITV/SBS.

A journalist by trade, Catherine’s motivation has always been to drive change that leads to positive outcomes and options for First Nations people. Over the past 10 years she has led multidisciplinary teams, overseen workplace transformations, and advocated for policy reform. Catherine is the CEO for SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, the national non-governmental peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children that works for the fulfilment of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in particular to ensure their safety, development and wellbeing.

Nirmala Rao is Serena H C Yang Professor in Early Childhood Development and Education and Chair Professor of Child Development and Education, and Director of the Consortium for Research on Early Childhood Development and Education (CORE), Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong (HKU).  A Developmental and Chartered (Educational) Psychologist by training, her research on early childhood development and education in Asian cultural contexts has been recognised internationally. This work has focused on the development of psychometrically robust and culturally-sensitive measures of both early childhood development and the quality of Early Childhood Education; early educational policy in the Asia-Pacific; evaluation of early childhood programmes; and culture, policy and pedagogy in the early years.  

Professor Rao has published widely; serves on the Editorial Board for premier scholarly journals; has participated in high-level international meetings; written advocacy materials, and undertaken consultancies for international organisations. She has received awards for both research and teaching. Furthermore, she has also had significant administrative leadership roles in the Faculty of Education and at the Graduate School of HKU.

Abstract: Measuring Global Progress in Meeting Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2 

Global recognition of the importance of the early childhood period for human and societal development is reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.2 (by 2030, all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education). High-quality data are needed to monitor progress towards all SDG Targets, and this talk illustrates challenges associated with measuring global progress towards the two indicators of SDG Target 4.2. They are the percentage of children under five years who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being (Indicator 4.2.1) and participation rates in organised learning one year before the official primary school entry age (Indicator 4.2.2).

Data inadequacy limits the extent to which progress or lack thereof towards SDG Target 4.2 can be gauged. Data on Target Indicator 4.2.1 are available from less than 50% of 193 United Nations Member States. There are concerns about the assessment methods adopted for Target Indicator SDG 4.2.1, and our research in Asia demonstrates disparities in findings from parent report and direct assessment of on-track status. Data on SDG Target indicator 4.2.2 are now available for most countries, but comprehensive data are only available from a few countries. It should be noted that data on preschool attendance in some countries in the Asia Pacific region vary based on whether they were collected from household surveys or Ministries of Education. Worldwide (i) about 75% of children between 24 to 59 months are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being; (ii) the enrolment rate in organised learning one year before the official primary school entry age was 75% in 2020. There are noticeable disparities across SDG regions and for all indicators associated with SDG Target 4.2. For example, Australia and New Zealand have an enrolment rate of 83% compared to 50% in Western Asia. Wealth-based inequalities for all indicators of SDG 4.2 exist worldwide, and many countries have residence-based disparities in these indicators. Efforts must be continued to ensure that reliable data, the foundation of evidence-based policy-making, are collected and reported.   

Dr Ingrid Engdahl, Associate Professor in Child and Youth Sciences is a preschool teacher and psychologist, with a PhD in Child and Youth Sciences from Stockholm University, Sweden. Since 2019, she is a senior researcher and was between 2019 and 2021, the European president for OMEP, the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education. Since 2009, Engdahl has been one of the leaders for the OMEP World projects on early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). She is from the beginning in 2010 a member of the research network Transnational dialogues in research on early childhood education for sustainability (TND).

Professor Engdahl worked 25 years in preschool education, in different teaching positions, including five years as a principal. Then she was a lecturer and professor at Stockholm Institute of Education and Stockholm University for around 20 years, mostly in Teacher Education Programmes and as researcher and professor within Child and Youth Studies. Her PhD was focussing toddlers and play: Toddlers as social actors in the Swedish preschool.

Professor Engdahl’s main research interests are the holistic development of early childhood education, focusing on toddlers, play, the perspective of the child, education for sustainability and the rights of the child. Ingrid Engdahl has been the Editor of ECE Journals, published several articles, books and reports as well as columns in magazines for professionals, and is appointed reviewer by around 10 journals within her field of expertise.

Dr Diane Boyd is a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University and specializes in early childhood education for sustainability with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals. Diane has developed a useful resource for practitioners and students to be empowered to embed them into their pedagogical practice in an authentic way, for example, by highlighting how literacy and numeracy can be reflected through authentic opportunities drawn from children's provocations. Diane’s SDG resource won an international award at the 74th World OMEP conference in Athens in 2022 recognising its potential for embedding sustainability into early childhood pedagogical practice. 

Diane was part of the United Kingdom’s Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) action group to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention of Climate Chane. She is now developing Sustainability Matters for the Department of Education (DfE) and currently writing Sustainability Matters in Early Childhood for the DfE. 

Abstract: Embedding the principle of sustainability (EYLF) in practice through the 17 SDGs

This presentation will highlight the need for sustainability to be clearly embedded into all aspects of early childhood through the UNESCO (2015) Sustainability Development Goals. The SDGs offer potential for all children to become empowered citizens of their world in authentic and agentic ways. The presentation will feature research I am conducting in Wales UK  that demonstrates the positivity of embedding the SDG/3 Pillars of Sustainability into pedagogical practice. The example shared will focus on children being and becoming ‘economic agents of sustainability’, highlighting the importance of early childhood when fundamental values and attitudes are developed and contrasting previous research that suggests this is not possible. It will conclude with the introduction and launch of the Australian SDG free resource for early childhood that will empower both educators and children to transform their world through positive actions, as detailed in SDG 12.8 (UNESCO,2015).

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