Sam is a qualified early childhood educator and primary school teacher and has worked across a range of settings within the early childhood sector in Australia. She is a skilled communicator and critical thinker and enjoys applying these skills to solve complex problems. Her doctoral thesis focussed on parent and professional experiences of inclusion in early childhood programs in Victoria. She has experience in both qualitative and quantitative analysis, program evaluation, and workshop facilitation.

Prior to dandolo, Sam:  

• Managed a not-for-profit community kindergarten, 

• Delivered workshops to early childhood professionals on creating inclusive ECEC programs for children with a disability, 

• Lectured postgraduate students studying to become early childhood teachers, 

• Evaluated a model of inclusive playgroups across Australia for children with a disability and their families.  

Since joining dandolo, Sam has contributed to several projects in the education sector. Key examples of this work include:

• A national review of measures taken to support school students with disability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• A needs-analysis to inform a pipeline of work for a key disability inclusion reform initiative on behalf of a state education department.

• Developing an insights paper for a place-based initiative, which focussed on the barriers to accessing allied health for children requiring specialist supports.

• Conducting a scoping study to understand the barriers and opportunities in scaling up a maternal child health sustained nurse home visiting program.

Sam has a PhD in early childhood education from RMIT University and has worked in the early childhood sector in Australia as an educator, centre director, lecturer and training facilitator.