Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon

Michael GaffneySenior Lecturer | Pūkenga Matua
Member of the Kaiāwhina Māori – Māori student support team
PhD, MA, MEd, BA, Dip Tchg

Kāi Tahu

Dunedin Campus
Waea | Tel +64 3 479 4214
Īmēra | Email michael.gaffney@otago.ac.nz
Tari | Office 2.04, Tower Block, College of Education, Dunedin

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Early Childhood Education Programme.

My research interests are quite broad as a result of working at the Childrenʻs Issues Centre, University of Otago from 1995–2010 as a researcher and lecturer. During this time I was involved in the development and teaching of the Post Graduate Diploma of Child Advocacy and supervising students in the Masters of Childhood and Youth Studies programme.

My current research interests often take me into evaluation studies of social and education service providers. I am particularly interested in how people learn to be parents and how communities, including early childhood settings, can support them. I am involved in a couple of Ministry of Social Development activities locally – Strengthening Families http://www.strengtheningfamilies.govt.nz and Community Response Forums https://www.communityresponse.org.nz

Research interests

  • Childhood Studies: Children and Young People's views of their experiences
  • Disability Studies and inclusion
  • Socio-Cultural theory and Communities of Practice
  • Social and Educational Evaluation

Publications

Gunn, A. C., Carvalho, R., Gaches, S., & Gaffney, M. (2025). Preservice teachers learning about mentors' care(full) teaching. Proceedings of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) Conference. Retrieved from https://www.nzare.org.nz/conference Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

McAnelly, K., & Gaffney, M. (2025). Ahakoa he aha te rākau he hua rei roto: Reviewing the Teaching Council's draft Inclusive Teaching Practice Guidance through a children's rights oriented lens. Proceedings of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) Conference. Retrieved from https://www.nzare.org.nz/conference Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

McAnelly, K., & Gaffney, M. (2024). “I am fun and fun is me!”: What's fun got to do with rights-based inclusive teaching and learning? Proceedings of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) Conference. 38. Retrieved from https://nzare.org.nz/ Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Gunn, A. C., Carvalho, R., Gaches, S., & Gaffney, M. (2024). Influencing teacher learning with narratives of care-full teaching. Proceedings of the 32nd European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Annual Conference. A16. [Abstract] Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Gaches, S., Gunn, A., Gaffney, M., & Carvalho, R. (2024). Refocusing care as central to teaching within ECE. Early Childhood Folio, 28(1), 13-17. doi: 10.18296/ecf.1137 Journal - Research Article

Back to top