Biographical note

Peter Whiteman is Associate Director of The Children and Families Research Centre at the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University, Australia. He supervises research students and teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate early childhood programs. Peter's research interests span early childhood music education and musical development, musical cultures, emergent symbol systems and reconstructed childhoods.Katey De Gioia lectures in professional experience at the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University, Australia. Her research interests include addressing transition to school and into school for migrants and refugee children and families from a community perspective. She also advocates for the importance of family-teacher relationships to ensure cultural practices are respected in the early years. More recently, Katey has been engaging in practitioner enquiry research, shifting the focus to teachers' practices as key in outcomes for children and families within local communities.