Kim Browne

My academic work intersects between Indigeneity, critical disability studies, and early childhood education and care.

I am currently a PhD candidate at Deakin University. The focus of my PhD research is my lived experiences of teaching in early childhood education as a person who lives everyday with and through disability. Along with my assistance dog, I hope to challenge current perceptions of disability and to reconceptualise understandings of work practices in early childhood education so that diversity - and all bodies and beings - are supported, belong, and welcomed as part of an early childhood workforce.

I am a lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges, at the NIKERI Institute, Deakin University at Waurn Ponds campus on Wadawurrung Country. Prior to working at Deakin University, I lectured in early childhood education and care at RMIT University.

As the National Treasurer for OMEP Australia - Organisation Mondiale pour l'Education Préscolaire (OMEP) - and the Chair of the OMEP Australia Reconciliation Action Plan Group, I foreground high-quality, inclusive, and equitable educational experiences in and for early childhood communities.

I grew up on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne, but am a proud descendant of Adnyamathanha and Nukunu Communities, with connections to Maralinga Tjarutja People, in South Australia. I value Indigenous ways of knowing; continuously and actively seeking to learn and create trustful and shared connections with Indigenous culture in my life and in my work with early childhood communities and all students.

I have over twenty-five years of experience as an early childhood practitioner in a wide range of community settings, including management organisations.

I currently am living on Wadawurrung Country and by Wadawurrung waterways. My interests range from spending time with family and friends to cooking. I am also interested in walking, movies, and conversing about early childhood education.

For research queries please contact me at [email protected]