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Literacy, science and the impact of emotion on child development and learning are some of the issues to be discussed at the Early Years Forum at The University of Western Australia on this Friday 23 October.

Professor Collette Taylor , Chair in Early Childhood Education and Care at The University of Melbourne, is keynote speaker. Her work explores the interplay of emotion, cognition, place and time.

Other experts at the forum include:

Winthrop Professor Helen Wildy, Dean of the Faculty of Education at UWA, who is also Director of Performance Indicators for Primary Schools Australia, a literacy and numeracy assessment program used by more than 800 Australian schools.

Research Assistant Professor Steve Heath , clinical psychologist and teacher at the UWA Child Study Centre, who has examined early literacy development in four cohorts of WA children from 1996 to identify students at high risk of literacy failure.

Stefania Giamminuti , an early childhood educator from Rome, who is completing her PhD at UWA. Her study examines values, culture, relationships and community.

David Ansell , inaugural WA Manager for The Smith Family and former Principal at Mount Magnet District High School, and High Wycombe and East Maddington Primary Schools, is currently Acting Executive Director of the WA Office of Early Childhood Development and Learning.

Dr Christine Howitt, from the Science and Mathematics Education Centre at Curtin University of Technology, whose research relates to young children's science learning and helping pre-service teachers to teach science in the early childhood classroom.

Susan Hall, Deputy Principal, Camboon Primary School, Noranda, whose school was a trial school for the Early Years Learning Framework and is involved in establishing partnerships with Ngala and other community organisations.

The Forum will be held from 9am to 3.30pm on Friday 23 October at the University Club of Western Australia's Banquet Hall. The forum is fully booked, but media are welcome to attend.

Media references

Marina Kailis (Faculty Manager, UWA Graduate School of Education)  (+61 8) 6488 2388
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8) 6488 5563 / (+61 4) 32 637 71