Presenters
Associate Professor Tara McLaughlin
Dr Tara McLaughlin is an Associate Professor in Early Years Education and the founder and director of the Early Years Research Lab at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa | Massey University. She is the Head of the Institute of Education, leading the teams working across academic and professional programmes in education. Before joining Massey University in 2013, she was a Research Scientist at the University of Florida’s Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies after completing her PhD in 2011 from the UF College of Education. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher across the United States and New Zealand.
Karen Mackay
Karen Mackay is Professional Clinician in Early Childhood Education at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa | Massey University. She has many years’ experience in Early Childhood Education as a teacher, head teacher, and professional learning facilitator. She worked on Kei Tua o te Pae (the Assessment for Learning project), and was part of the facilitation team for the New Zealand Teachers Council’s national workshop series ‘Guidelines for Induction and Mentoring and Mentor Teachers’.