A master at fostering understanding.
Always fair, constructive, and supportive.
Always goes the extra mile for students.
Inspires a love for learning in everyone.
Dr Loraine A Fordham is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, affiliated with the Macquarie School of Education. Possessing a PhD in early childhood education centered on families' experiences of family-centred practice, complemented by MECh, Dip Fam Th, and LCST qualifications, she has built a career as an academic, researcher, and speech pathologist in early childhood, health, academic, and community organizations. Between 2014 and 2016, she held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Children's Protection Society in Melbourne, evaluating high-quality early education and care practices for vulnerable children and families. Previously, she served as a Lecturer at Charles Sturt University from November 2010 to August 2019.
Fordham's research specializations include relational pedagogy for birth-to-two-year-olds, family-centred practices, inclusive early years education, speech and language development, children's well-being, and high-quality early childhood education and care. Her scholarly output comprises 25 research items, including peer-reviewed articles, commissioned reports, book chapters, and an encyclopedia entry. Key publications include "Moving towards a new Australian model of family-school partnerships through the authentic inclusion of families and children" (2025, Education 3-13, with E. Woo and F. Hadley), "Nothing for us without us: student-identified approaches that can support the inclusion of deaf students in South African secondary schools" (2024, Deafness & Education International, with I. Skrebneva), "Unpacking and unpicking the challenge of 600 hours of preschool attendance" (2024, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, with L. J. Harrison et al.), "Family-centred practice for inclusive early years education" (2023, in Inclusive education in the early years: right from the start, 2nd ed., with C. Johnston), and "Supporting Participation in Early Childhood Education (SPiECE) of children from low socio-economic status backgrounds – a 2018-2022 research project" (2023, with L. J. Harrison et al.).
