Research Interests
Applied Sociology Applied sociology, program evaluation and social impact assessment Child protection Cultural responsiveness and working with Pacific Peoples communities education Early Childhood Education Education policy, sociology and philosophy Law and society and socio-legal research Pacific Peoples early childhood education Sociology of Education Sociology of family and relationshipsTeaching Strengths
Prof Elspeth McInnes
Professor of Sociology in Education
School of Education
College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
My teaching and research provides expertise in two fields: child protection and wellbeing in early childhood education, and Australian family violence laws and policies impacting family safety. I have a strong research-teaching-engagement nexus. My program of research investigates ways in which educators can support young children’s wellbeing and learning and social policy impacts on vulnerable families.
- Families and Separation
- Child abuse and child protection
- Gender and Violence
- Social policy and social inequality
- Women in Small Business
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 - 2025 | Professor of Sociology in Education | University of South Australia |
| Date | Type | Title | Institution Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Honour | Member of the Order of Australia | Australian Honours | Australia | - |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 - 2001 | Flinders University | Australia | PhD |
| 1989 - 1991 | Flinders University | Australia | Bachelor of Arts Honours 1 |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Mills-Bayne, M. (2017). Fostering children's capacity for empathic reasoning: the role of community of inquiry in an empathic pedagogy. (University of South Australia). |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Bagshaw, D., Brown, T., Campbell, A., McInnes, E., Tinning, B., Batagol, B., . . . Fernandez Arias, P. (2010). Family Violence and Family Law in Australia: The Experience and Views of Children and Adults from Families who Separated Post - 1995 and Post 2006: Volume 1. DOI |
| - | McInnes, E., Ey, L. -A., & Tippett, N. (n.d.). Families’ Perspectives on Services’ Responses to Australian Children’s Harmful Sexual Behaviours. DOI |
| - | McInnes, E., Whitington, V., & Neill, B. (n.d.). The Wellbeing Classroom as a Whole School Approach. DOI |
-
North-West Adelaide Communities for Children Evaluation of Emergency Housing Services for Families with Children Under 12 Years of Age, Uniting SA, 29/04/2025 - 30/06/2026
-
Implementing a Family Literacy Approach to Promoting Children's and Families' Literacy in Home Languages and English in the Early Years Phases 1 and 2, Scanlon Foundation, 30/01/2023 - 30/06/2025
-
Assessing the Impacts of a Wellbeing Approach on Young Children's Transitions from Preschool to Junior Primary School, Salvation Army (SA) Property Trust, 30/01/2023 - 06/01/2025
-
Western Australian Catholic Teacher’s understanding of Problematic Sexual Behaviour and their Training Needs, Catholic Education Office of WA, 03/12/2021 - 15/12/2023
-
Developing a Family Literacy Approach to Promoting English Literacy in the Early Years, Scanlon Foundation, 01/01/2022 - 31/05/2023
-
Wellbeing in Early Childhood Settings, Salvation Army (SA) Property Trust, 24/02/2021 - 31/07/2022
-
Wellbeing Classroom Evaluation – Phase 2, Salvation Army (SA) Property Trust, 25/01/2019 - 30/12/2019
Courses I teach
- EDUC 3001 Children in Families and Communities (2025)
- EDUC 3001 Children in Families and Communities (2024)
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Supporting teachers to respond effectively to students experiencing trauma | Doctor of Education | Doctorate | Part Time | Mrs Erin Louise Mann |
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | In what ways do culturally relevant resources support Young Children's Language and Literacy Development? | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Alessandra Perna |
| 2023 | Co-Supervisor | Risks of harm and child sexual abuse in Australian family law cases: do judicial and legislative responses uphold a childs right to protection? | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Courtney Louise Dolphin |
| 2023 | Co-Supervisor | Risks of harm and child sexual abuse in Australian family law cases: do judicial and legislative responses uphold a child?s right to protection? | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Miss Courtney Dolphin |
| 2019 | Principal Supervisor | The exploration of domestic violence within culturally and linguistically diverse multicultural communities and the intersectionality to accessing domestic violence services and the responses of cultu | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Mrs Renee Romeo |
| 2012 | Principal Supervisor | Managing life in two homes: what are the routines, relationships and experience of primary school children from separated homes and their parents and teachers within the school environment | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Miss Luisa Matacin |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 - 2022 | Principal Supervisor | Sankofa education: bridging the rural–urban gap in Ghana’s education outcomes through culturally responsive pedagogy to decolonise schooling and meet community needs | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Moses Anlimachie |
| 2016 - 2018 | Co-Supervisor | An exploration of children's expression of spirituality and the connection to the Reggio Emilia approach | Master of Education | Master | Part Time | Mrs Helena Card |
| 2016 - 2020 | Co-Supervisor | Literacy experiences of emergent bilingual preschool children from Afghan refugee families | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mrs Gunay Aghayeva |
| 2014 - 2015 | Principal Supervisor | Supporting the development of written representations of mathematical thinking in the early years classroom | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Mrs Nicola Godwin |
| 2012 - 2016 | Co-Supervisor | The impact of crucible events on the development of female political leaders in Kenya | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Lanoi Maloiy |
| 2012 - 2016 | Principal Supervisor | Student engagement: a useful quality concept in the Vietnamese higher education system | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Trang Nguyen |
| 2011 - 2015 | Principal Supervisor | Revealing the real role of the 'un' real nurse: the professional constitution of the modern hospital based nurse educator role and the impact on hospital based nurse educator practice | Doctor of Education | Doctorate | Part Time | Mrs Karleen Thornton |
| 2011 - 2020 | Co-Supervisor | Culturally responsive pedagogy on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands | Doctor of Education | Doctorate | Part Time | Mr Ian Thomson |
| 2011 - 2017 | Co-Supervisor | Fostering children’s capacity for empathic reasoning: the role of community of inquiry in an empathic pedagogy | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Dr Martyn Mills-Bayne |
| 2010 - 2014 | Principal Supervisor | Young children's engagement with contemporary music media and their gender-role and self-identity | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Lesley-Anne Ey |
| 2010 - 2013 | Co-Supervisor | Parental partnership in the learning of children with learning disabilities in inclusive classes in Malaysia | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mrs Norshidah Abu Husin |
| 2009 - 2015 | Principal Supervisor | Talking with toddlers in childcare: making a difference to young children's vocabulary development | Doctor of Education | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Carolyn Cole |
| 2008 - 2013 | Principal Supervisor | Can emotional competence be 'caught' and 'taught' in OSHC programs? - skilling OSHC educators to develop children's emotional competence | Master of Education | Master | Part Time | Ms Mandy Richardson |
| 2007 - 2011 | Co-Supervisor | The tyranny of difference: an investigation into the construction and influences of working-class identities on the formal learning of white, baby-boomer males | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Mr Trevor Lovett |
| 2006 - 2013 | Principal Supervisor | Activism in the academy: a study of activism in the South Australian higher education workforce 1998-2008 | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Ann Lawless |
| 2000 - 2016 | Principal Supervisor | Value Guided Practice: the ethics of care and justice in early childhood education and care | Doctor of Education | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Gerardine Mulhearn |
| Date | Role | Committee | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 - 2025 | Chair | Human Research Ethics Committee | University of South Australia | Australia |
| Date | Role | Editorial Board Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Member | Journal of Family Trauma, Child Custody, and Child Development Editorial Board | Taylor and Francis Online | United States |
| 2023 - ongoing | Member | Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Editorial Board | Taylor and Francis Online | United States |
| 2012 - ongoing | Member | New Zealand Journal of International Research in Early Childhood Editorial Board | Office of Early Childhood Education New Zealand | New Zealand |
Available For Media Comment.