Linda Mitchell | |
---|---|
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Victoria University of Wellington |
Thesis | |
Doctoral advisor | |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Waikato |
Linda Mary Mitchell is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Waikato, specialising in early childhood education, education policy, and education internationally.
Mitchell completed a Bachelor's degree in education at Victoria University of Wellington, followed by a Master of Education Research at the University of Lancaster. She returned to Victoria to complete a PhD titled A New Debate About Children and Childhood. Could it Make a Difference to Early Childhood Pedagogy and Policy?.[1][2] Mitchell then joined the faculty of the University of Waikato, rising to full professor in 2019.[3] She researches within the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Education, and is Director of the Early Years Research Centre. Mitchell was Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2022 and 2023, working with Frances Press on democratic education across different contexts.[2]
Mitchell is critical of privatisation and profit-making in the early childhood sector, and some of her books and articles lay out ways in which education can be made more democratic.[2][4][5][6] With Bronwen Cowie, Mitchell leads research on a two-year Teaching and Learning Research Initiative, and Mitchell leads a team that was awarded a Marsden grant in 2017.[7][8] These grants were both concerned with increasing belonging (mana whenua) for migrant and immigrant families through early childhood experiences, and resulted in the production of materials for use in multicultural ECE settings.[7][9] Mitchell has also worked on the impact of COVID-19 on the early childhood education sector.[2]