Professor Alex Gunn, Our People, College of Education, University of Otago, New Zealand

Alex Gunn image Professor
DipTchg(ECE) BEd MA EdD

Dunedin Campus
Tel +64 3 479 4261
Email alex.gunn@otago.ac.nz

Biography

After teaching in urban and rural not-for-profit and community based early childhood settings with children aged between birth and school-age, I took a position in early childhood teacher education in Christchurch. I moved to my position at the University of Otago College of Education in 2011 where I teach and research in early childhood education, inclusive education, teacher education, and assessment. I am interested in teachers' beliefs and practices, and in how the things we do in education come to reflect and (re)produce certain norms. Furthermore, I am intrigued by how teachers take up normative understandings in ways that enable and constrain particular subjects, understandings, and ideas.

Teaching Areas

Teacher education
Inclusive education (difference, diversity, and social justice in early childhood education)
Contemporary views on children as learners
Gender and education
Curriculum and pedagogy in early childhood education
Professional practices of teaching
Assessment education
Qualitative research design and implementation

Research Interests

Teacher education
Early childhood education (various aspects, e.g., gender, assessment, inclusion, teachers' practices, policy)
Inclusive education and social justice (particularly queer concerns and heteronormativity)
Educational assessment (sociocultural and narrative approaches)

Key Methodologies and Methods

Qualitative approaches (nVivo user)
Ethnography and genealogy
Queer theory
Practitioner research
Foucaultian discourse analysis
Interview and focus group methods
Cultural historical research and activity theory
Questionnaire method

Currently supervising students in the areas of:

Culturally responsive teaching
Male teachers recruitment and retention
Democratic early childhood education
Home school partnerships for children in residential care
Inclusive early childhood education (disability focus)
Inclusive early childhood education (refugee/immigrant focus)
Constructions of gifted and talented learners in New Zealand education

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Publications

Gunn, A. C. (2021). Three decades weaving: Promise, practice and policy reflections on working with Te Whāriki in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education [Plenary]. Proceedings of the ENNEA International Professional Interdisciplinary Community of Expert Learning Conference in Early and Preschool Education. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkI0iKGcP1k

Gunn, A. C., Bissenden, M., & Kroeger, J. (2020). Trans* affirmative practices in early childhood education: New gender questions for inclusion. In A. C. Gunn, N. Surtees, D. Gordon-Burns & K. Purdue (Eds.), Te aotūroa tātaki: Inclusive early childhood education: Perspectives on inclusion, social justice and equity from Aotearoa New Zealand. (2nd ed.) (pp. 196-213). Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press.

Gunn, A. C., Hill, M. F., Berg, D. A. G., & Haigh, M. (2020). The promise and practice of university teacher education: Insights from Aotearoa New Zealand. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 208p. doi: 10.5040/9781350073517

Gunn, A. C., Surtees, N., Gordon-Burns, D., & Purdue, K. (Eds.). (2020). Te aotūroa tātaki: Inclusive early childhood education: Perspectives on inclusion, social justice and equity from Aotearoa New Zealand (2nd ed.). Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press, 258p.

Gunn, A. C., & Trevethan, H. (2020). Constructing the problem of initial teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Policy formation and risk, 2010-2018. New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 24, 5-20. doi: 10.26686/nzaroe.v24i0.6322

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Chapter in Book - Research

Authored Book - Research

Edited Book - Research

Journal - Research Article

White, E. J., Rooney, T., Gunn, A. C., & Nuttall, J. (2021). Understanding how early childhood educators ‘see’ learning through digitally cast eyes: Some preliminary concepts concerning the use of digital documentation platforms. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 46(1), 6-18. doi: 10.1177/1836939120979066

Journal - Research Article

Agnew, S., & Gunn, A. C. (2019). Students’ engagement with alternative discursive construction of menstruation. Health Education Journal, 78(6), 670-680. doi: 10.1177/0017896919835862

Journal - Research Article

Gaches, S., & Gunn, A. C. (2019). (New) critical readings of Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood policy and practice. International Critical Childhood Policy Studies, 7(1), 1-5. [Editorial].

Journal - Research Other

Gunn, A. C. (2019). Foucauldian discourse analysis and early childhood education. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.333

Chapter in Book - Research

Gunn, A. C., & Nuttall, J. (Eds.). (2019). Weaving Te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice (3rd ed.). Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 253p.

Edited Book - Research

Gunn, A. C., & Reeves, D. (2019). Click, drag, drop, resize, omit: An activity theory view of how technology is mediating the production of learning in early childhood education. In A. C. Gunn & J. Nuttall (Eds.), Weaving Te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice. (3rd ed.) (pp. 149-161). Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Chapter in Book - Research

Gunn, A., & Surtees, N. (2019). "Go NZ YAS!!": Children's news media text as curriculum resources in Aotearoa New Zealand. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(4), 337-349. doi: 10.1177/1463949119888496

Journal - Research Article

Kroeger, J., Recker, A. E., & Gunn, A. C. (2019). Tate and the pink coat: Exploring gender and enacting anti-bias principles. Young Children, 74(1), 83-92.

Journal - Research Article

Reese, E., Gunn, A., Bateman, A., & Carr, M. (2021). Teacher-child talk about learning stories in New Zealand: A strategy for eliciting children’s complex language. Early Years, 41(5), 506-521. doi: 10.1080/09575146.2019.1621804

Journal - Research Article

Bateman, A., Carr, M., & Gunn, A. C. (2017). Children's use of objects in their storytelling. In A. C. Gunn & C. A. Hruska (Eds.), Interactions in early childhood education: Recent research and emergent concepts. (pp. 37-53). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-4879-1

Chapter in Book - Research

Berg, D. A. G., Gunn, A. C., Hill, M. F., & Haigh, M. (2017). Building professionals and elevating the profession? The work of university-based initial teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand. In P. M. Bamber & J. C. Moore (Eds.), Teacher education in challenging times: Lessons for professionalism, partnership and practice. (pp. 29-40). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bissenden, M., & Gunn, A. C. (2017). Consent, assent and dissent: A case study of one child's understanding of research. Early Childhood Folio, 21(1), 11-15. doi: 10.18296/ecf.0035

Journal - Research Article

Gunn, A. C. (2017). Shaping gender relations in early childhood education: Children's interactions and learning about gender. In A. C. Gunn & C. A. Hruska (Eds.), Interactions in early childhood education: Recent research and emergent concepts. (pp. 69-80). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-4879-1

Chapter in Book - Research

Gunn, A. C. (2017). Using insights from interactions research to improve policy and practice in early childhood education. In A. C. Gunn & C. A. Hruska (Eds.), Interactions in early childhood education: Recent research and emergent concepts. (pp. 161-170). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-4879-1

Chapter in Book - Research

Gunn, A. C., & Gasson, N. R. (2017). The spectre of standards in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education and care. In M. Li, J. L. Fox & S. Grieshaber (Eds.), Contemporary issues and challenge in early childhood education in the Asia-Pacific region. (pp. 165-179). Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4

Chapter in Book - Research

Gunn, A. C., & Hruska, C. A. (Eds.). (2017). Interactions in early childhood education: Recent research and emergent concepts. Singapore: Springer, 170p. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-4879-1

Edited Book - Research

Berg, D. A. G., Gunn, A. C., Hill, M. F., & Haigh, M. (2016). Research in the work of New Zealand teacher educators: A cultural-historical activity theory perspective. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(6), 1125-1138. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2016.1149694

Journal - Research Article

Gunn, A. C., Hill, M. F., Berg, D., & Haigh, M. (2016). The changing work of teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand: A view through activity theory. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 44(4), 306-319. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2016.1174815

Journal - Research Article

Gunn, A. C. (2015). The potential of queer theorising in early childhood education: Disrupting heteronormativity and practising for inclusion. In A. C. Gunn & L. A. Smith (Eds.), Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education. (pp. 21-34). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Gunn, A. C. (2015). Research work as curriculum work in New Zealand early childhood settings: What should be taught and learned? Journal of Pedagogy, 6(2), 103-117. doi: 10.1515/jped-2015-0016

Journal - Research Article

Gunn, A. C., Berg, D., Hill, M. F., & Haigh, M. (2015). Constructing the academic category of teacher educator in universities' recruitment processes in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Journal of Education for Teaching, 41(3), 307-320. doi: 10.1080/02607476.2015.1041288

Journal - Research Article

Gunn, A. C., & Smith, L. A. (Eds.). (2015). Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 256p.

Edited Book - Research

Smith, L. A., & Gunn, A. C. (2015). Challenging the pervasiveness of heteronormativity. In A. C. Gunn & L. A. Smith (Eds.), Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education. (pp. 209-239). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

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