Biography

Lesley’s teaching experience is in the early childhood sector where she taught in both the kindergarten and care and education contexts. She currently teaches visual arts in the early years and languages and cultures. Prior to this Lesley was a lecturer in the teacher education programme at Unitec New Zealand

She is a member of ANZAAE (Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art) and has presented at these conferences highlighting examples of visual arts in early childhood education. Lesley is also a member of the Reggio Provocation group and has a strong interest in this approach to teaching and learning.
 

Research and creative outputs

Lesley has co-authored a chapter in the book Insights: Behind pedagogical documentation. This chapter uses several examples of practice to examine the themes of social justice, pedagogical documentation and Te Whāriki.

Lesley has had several exemplars of practice included in the Ministry of Education (2004, 2007) publications Kei Tua o te Pae Assessment for Learning: Early childhood exemplars.

Her article, Visual art: A valuable medium for promoting peer collaboration in early childhood contexts was published in the Early Education Journal in 2006.

Lesley is particularly interested in how teachers perceive visual arts in early childhood education and what theories of teaching and learning inform their practice in relation to this medium.