Rate My Professor Sonya Gaches

Sonya Gaches is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the University of Otago College of Education. Originally from the United States, she earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education from Kansas State University and a Doctor of Education from Arizona State University. Gaches spent over twenty years teaching at various early childhood levels in Arizona, starting with infants and toddlers. Following her doctoral studies, she served as a teacher educator at the University of Arizona in Tucson for six years. In 2017, she joined the University of Otago, where she continues to prepare future educators.

Her teaching areas encompass childhood studies, children's rights and participation, child development, curriculum and pedagogy in early childhood education and care, and assessment and documentation in early childhood. Gaches' research focuses on teachers' narratives of their lived classroom experiences, especially concerning social justice, inclusion, and care; children's rights and participation; and policy impacts on teachers, children, and families. She has co-edited the book Home in Early Childhood Care and Education (2024, Springer Nature) and contributed chapters such as "The Things of Home: Histories, People, Stories, Belonging" (2024) and "Juggling in Three Dimensions All the Time: Complex Interdependencies in Infant and Toddler Settings" (2025, Springer Nature). Notable articles include "Sharing their ideas with the world: The views and voices of young children" (2023), "Can I Share Your Ideas With the World? Young Children's Consent in the Research Process" (2021), and "Refocusing care as central to teaching within ECE" (2024). Recent works also feature "It's not, it's not random: Teaching and learning in infant and toddler settings" (2024) and collaborations on learning dispositions in infants and toddlers (2025). Through her scholarship, Gaches advances critical perspectives in early childhood pedagogy.