Professor Karen Thorpe
Professor

Karen Thorpe

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Background

Karen Thorpe is Australian Research Council, Laureate Professor and Group Leader in Child Development, Education and Care at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. Her research is grounded in the understanding that early learning experiences shape brain development and are critical in establishing trajectories of health, social inclusion and learning across the lifespan. A particular focus of her work is early care and education environments including parenting, parent work, quality of care and education, and the early years workforce.

Karen leads a multi-disciplinary team of developmental scientists undertaking large scale longitudinal studies with embedded studies to explicate mechanisms that enable or limit children’s life chances. She was Foundation Psychologist on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children at the University of Bristol, UK; led the evaluation of the Preparing School Trial for Queensland Government; led the Queensland team of the E4Kids study of quality in Australian Early Education and Care and a recent data linkage project with Queensland Government to track participants through their school journey. In partnership with Queensland Government, Goodstart Early Learning and the Creche and Kindergarten Association she led a large population study of the Australian ECEC workforce (ARC Linkage). Her current research, as a chief investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families across the life course, and through an ARC Laureate fellowship, is to examine barriers to providing high quality early learning services in developmentally vulnerable communities.

In 2013 and again in 2019 Karen was named by the Australian Financial Review as among Australia's 100 Women of Influence for the impacts of her research on educational and family policy. In 2020 she was recognised by Australian Government, Advance Global Awards for her international contribution to education. Karen chairs the Australian Early Years Reference Council for Evidence for Learning, Australia whose remit is to build a strong evidence-base in early childhood education and care with focus on translation into policy and practice. She is also director on the board of the Australian Research Council for Children and Youth and advisor to the national board of Beyond Blue – Be You.

Availability

Professor Karen Thorpe is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Early childhood education Education Education policy, sociology and philosophy Education systems Health Sciences Health promotion Human Society Paediatrics Policy and administration Psychology

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Bristol

Research interests

  • Effects of experiences in the early years of life

    Karen Thorpe is Australian Research Council, Laureate Professor and Group Leader in Child Development, Education and Care at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. Her research is grounded in the understanding that early learning experiences shape brain development and are critical in establishing trajectories of health, social inclusion and learning across the lifespan. A particular focus of her work is early care and education environments including parenting, parent work, quality of care and education, and the early years workforce.

  • Longitudinal studies

    Karen was the Foundation Psychologist on the British Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children - a study of 14,000 children tracked from pregnancy in 1991 until the present day. This unique study was the first to combine genetic, biological and social data collections to understand the influences on children' s life course development. She continues to analyse data from this study and collaborate with colleagues in at the University of Bristol where these data are housed. Since returning to Australia in 2002 Karen has applied her expertise in longitudinal studies to create longitudinal data sets focused on early education and care experiences. She has established 4 large Australian data sets focussed on ECEC and in 2023 will commence another longitudinal study focused of ECEC in disadvantaged Australian communities funded by an Australian Laureate fellowship.

  • Early Childhood Education and Care

    Karen's work focuses on 4 domains that influence children's experiences in their early childhood learning environments - Policy - the funding mechanisms and social and educational policies directed towards access and quality of ECEC Provider - the effects of the mixed market of provision and enablers and constraints that influence allocation of available funds and types of provision Place - the social setting and circumstances that enter the ECEC service and room that can affect children's needs and everyday experiences People - the ECEC workforce and their capacity to support children and families given the resources within their setting A key focus is the potential of ECEC to redress social inequities and identifying ways to remove barriers to this aim

Search Professor Karen Thorpe’s works on UQ eSpace

414 works between 1990 and 2025
All (414) Journal Article (165) Book Chapter (24) Conference Publication (157) Book (4) Other Outputs (64)

181 - 200 of 414 works

2017

Book Chapter

Friendships

Theobald, M., Danby, S., Thorpe, K. and Thompson, C. (2017). Friendships. Health and wellbeing in the early years. (pp. 141-160) edited by Susanne Garvis and Donna Pendergast. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781316780107.011

Friendships

2017

Journal Article

Psychometric properties of the classroom assessment scoring system (Pre-K): implications for measuring interaction quality in diverse early childhood settings

Cloney, Dan, Nguyen, Cuc, Adams, Raymond J., Tayler, Collette, Cleveland, Gordon and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Psychometric properties of the classroom assessment scoring system (Pre-K): implications for measuring interaction quality in diverse early childhood settings. Journal of Applied Measurement, 18 (3), 299-318.

Psychometric properties of the classroom assessment scoring system (Pre-K): implications for measuring interaction quality in diverse early childhood settings

2017

Other Outputs

Professional development package and resources for guiding sleep practices in early childhood education and care services in Queensland - Phase 1

Staton, S., Thorpe, K., Smith, S., Irvine, S., Pattinson, C,, Sinclair, D., Hassell, S., Fuller, T. and Wihardjo, K. (2017). Professional development package and resources for guiding sleep practices in early childhood education and care services in Queensland - Phase 1. Queensland: Department of Education and Training, Queensland Government.

Professional development package and resources for guiding sleep practices in early childhood education and care services in Queensland - Phase 1

2017

Conference Publication

SLEEP: Sleep learning for Early Education Professionals for Babies and Toddlers Workshop

Thorpe, K. and Staton, S. (2017). SLEEP: Sleep learning for Early Education Professionals for Babies and Toddlers Workshop. Early Start Conference, Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 27-29 September 2017.

SLEEP: Sleep learning for Early Education Professionals for Babies and Toddlers Workshop

2017

Conference Publication

Choosing Rest: Finding Effective Alternatives to Mandated Rest-times in ECEC

Staton, S., Thorpe, K., Irvine, S., Smith, S., Pattinson, C., McArdle, F., McNellie, P., Oakes, C. and Houen, S. (2017). Choosing Rest: Finding Effective Alternatives to Mandated Rest-times in ECEC. Queensland Government Department of Education and Training Research Forum, Brisbane, 2017.

Choosing Rest: Finding Effective Alternatives to Mandated Rest-times in ECEC

2017

Conference Publication

Providing safe and supportive sleep environments in early childhood education and care

Staton, S., Pattison, C., Irvine, S., Smith, S. and Thorpe, K. (2017). Providing safe and supportive sleep environments in early childhood education and care. Early Start Conference, Wollongong, Australia, 2017.

Providing safe and supportive sleep environments in early childhood education and care

2017

Conference Publication

What about the childcare educator? Sustaining positive ECEC experiences.

Thorpe, Karen , Jansen, Elena , Irvine, Sue , McDonald, Paula , Sullivan, Victoria , Lunn, Jo and Sumsion, Jennifer (2017). What about the childcare educator? Sustaining positive ECEC experiences. . European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Utrecht, Netherlands, 29 August-1 September 2017.

What about the childcare educator? Sustaining positive ECEC experiences.

2017

Conference Publication

It Takes Three to Tango: Connecting Policy, Practice and Research to improve Sleep, Rest and Relaxation in Early Childhood Education and Care

Staton, S., Irvine, S., Pattinson, C. and Thorpe, K. (2017). It Takes Three to Tango: Connecting Policy, Practice and Research to improve Sleep, Rest and Relaxation in Early Childhood Education and Care. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference, Canberra, Australia, 2017.

It Takes Three to Tango: Connecting Policy, Practice and Research to improve Sleep, Rest and Relaxation in Early Childhood Education and Care

2017

Other Outputs

Informing Queensland’s Workforce Action Plan for ECEC: Group and service level variation in educator engagement, satisfaction, training and retention.

Jensen, Elena, Sullivan, Victoria, Irvine, Sue and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Informing Queensland’s Workforce Action Plan for ECEC: Group and service level variation in educator engagement, satisfaction, training and retention. . Brisbane, Australia: Queensland University of Technology.

Informing Queensland’s Workforce Action Plan for ECEC: Group and service level variation in educator engagement, satisfaction, training and retention.

2017

Book Chapter

Assessment, early identifi cation and individualised learning

Mitchell, Sue and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Assessment, early identifi cation and individualised learning. Disability and Inclusion in Early Years Education. (pp. 26-56) Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781315637877-3

Assessment, early identifi cation and individualised learning

2017

Other Outputs

Professional development package and resources for guiding sleep practices in early childhood education and care services in Queensland - Phase 2 Follow-up Final Report

Staton, S., Thorpe, K., Smith, S.S., Irvine, S., Pattinson, C,, Rankin, P., Oakes, C., Teo, Y. and Cooke, E. (2017). Professional development package and resources for guiding sleep practices in early childhood education and care services in Queensland - Phase 2 Follow-up Final Report. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Department of Education, Queensland Government.

Professional development package and resources for guiding sleep practices in early childhood education and care services in Queensland - Phase 2 Follow-up Final Report

2017

Conference Publication

Sleep Learning for Early Education Professionals

Staton, S., Smith, S., Irvine, S., Pattinson, C. and Thorpe, K. (2017). Sleep Learning for Early Education Professionals. Queensland Government Department of Education and Training Research Forum, Brisbane, 2017.

Sleep Learning for Early Education Professionals

2017

Book Chapter

"Uh Oh": Multimodal meaning making during viewing of YouTube videos in preschool

Davidson, Christina, Danby, Susan J. and Thorpe, Karen (2017). "Uh Oh": Multimodal meaning making during viewing of YouTube videos in preschool. Multimodal perspectives of language, literacy, and learning in early childhood: the creative and critical "art" of making meaning. (pp. 233-255) edited by Marilyn J. Narey. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-44297-6_12

"Uh Oh": Multimodal meaning making during viewing of YouTube videos in preschool

2017

Conference Publication

ECEC quality assessed, observed and enabled

Thorpe, K. (2017). ECEC quality assessed, observed and enabled. In: Early Start Conference, Wollongong, NSW, Australia, (). 27-29 September 2017.

ECEC quality assessed, observed and enabled

2017

Book Chapter

Web searching as a context to build on young children’s displayed knowledge

Houen, Sandra, Danby, Susan, Farrell, Ann and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Web searching as a context to build on young children’s displayed knowledge. Children's knowledge-in-interaction: studies in conversation analysis. (pp. 57-72) edited by Amanda Bateman and Amelia Church. Singapore: Springer . doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-1703-2_4

Web searching as a context to build on young children’s displayed knowledge

2017

Book Chapter

Pretend play and technology: Young children making sense of their everyday social worlds

Danby, Susan, Davidson, Christina, Theobald, Maryanne, Houen, Sandra and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Pretend play and technology: Young children making sense of their everyday social worlds. Multidisciplinary perspectives on play from birth and beyond. (pp. 231-245) edited by Sandra Lynch, Deborah Pike and Cynthia à Beckett. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-2643-0_14

Pretend play and technology: Young children making sense of their everyday social worlds

2016

Other Outputs

Early childhood educators rely on families to prop up low income, research finds

McDonald, Paula, Thorpe, Karen and Irvine, Susan (2016, 11 24). Early childhood educators rely on families to prop up low income, research finds The Conversation

Early childhood educators rely on families to prop up low income, research finds

2016

Journal Article

Creating spaces for children’s agency: ‘I wonder…’ formulations in teacher–child interactions

Houen, Sandy, Danby, Susan, Farrell, Ann and Thorpe, Karen (2016). Creating spaces for children’s agency: ‘I wonder…’ formulations in teacher–child interactions. International Journal of Early Childhood, 48 (3), 259-276. doi: 10.1007/s13158-016-0170-4

Creating spaces for children’s agency: ‘I wonder…’ formulations in teacher–child interactions

2016

Journal Article

Facilitating young children’s use of the web in preschool

Davidson, Christina, Danby, Susan J., Given, Lisa M. and Thorpe, Karen J. (2016). Facilitating young children’s use of the web in preschool. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 30 (4), 569-584. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2016.1214193

Facilitating young children’s use of the web in preschool

2016

Journal Article

Watching young children “play” with information technology: everyday life information seeking in the home

Given, Lisa M., Winkler, Denise Cantrell, Willson, Rebekah, Davidson, Christina, Danby, Susan and Thorpe, Karen (2016). Watching young children “play” with information technology: everyday life information seeking in the home. Library and Information Science Research, 38 (4), 344-352. doi: 10.1016/j.lisr.2016.11.007

Watching young children “play” with information technology: everyday life information seeking in the home

Current funding

  • 2024 - 2028
    Thriving kids, active brains: A collaborative to support early child development
    Ian Potter Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2027
    10,000 Hours: Time in early education and care for better life opportunity
    ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2025
    Brain Builders Initiative
    Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2027
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course
    ARC Centres of Excellence
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2025
    The developmental significance of sleep transition in early childhood.
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2023
    Provision of exploratory research related to early childhood data
    Australian Education Research Organisation Limited
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2022
    Evaluation of the Queensland KindyLinQ Pilot Program
    Social Ventures Australia
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2020
    Evaluation of the Beyond the Broncos Girls Academy Program
    Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Club Limited
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2020
    Distributed leadership in family day care: Challenge, change and opportunities (Education Horizon Research Grant Scheme project administered by QUT)
    Queensland University of Technology
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2020
    The when, what, and how of observing and assessing practice in ECEC: Towards an observational framework for Authorised Officers in Queensland
    Education Horizon
    Open grant
  • 2018
    Review project on optimal timing for future waves of GUiNZ
    Ministry of Social Development (New Zealand)
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2021
    Evaluation of the national support for child and youth mental health program and longitudinal research plan
    Commonwealth Department of Health
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2020
    Evaluation of the Building Capacity in Australian Parents (BCAP) trial and the National Community Awareness Raising (NCAR) strategy
    Commonwealth Department of Social Services
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2020
    Understanding educational outcomes of Queensland 's investment on early education programs
    Queensland Department of Education and Training
    Open grant
  • 2017
    Professional Development Package and Resources for Guiding Sleep Practices in Early Childhood Education and Care Services (through the State of QLD (acting through the Dept of Education and Training))
    Queensland University of Technology
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Karen Thorpe is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Professor Karen Thorpe directly for media enquiries about:

  • child development
  • childcare
  • childcare educators work conditions
  • children
  • children's sleep
  • early education and care
  • early years workforce
  • ecec
  • educational policy
  • longitudinal studies
  • parenting
  • preschool
  • school readiness
  • twins

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