Starting School in Australia

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About Me

Hello and welcome to my website. I grew up in the North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales. Public school educated; I thoroughly enjoyed my own schooling experiences. So much so, it was an easy decision to become a teacher myself when I finished school. I regularly tell my students that I loved school so much that I have never left.

During the course of my career, I have worked across all education systems: Public, Catholic and Independent. I have over 20 years of experience teaching in secondary education, including six years as Head of Department (PDHPE and Sport). I also have two years of experience working in primary education, where I was the Physical Education specialist teacher and taught across all stages. Whilst undertaking my Doctoral Studies, I taught at tertiary level at the Australian College of Physical Education. I am currently a Research Assistant and Marker at the Australian Catholic University and work part-time as a Health and Physical Education (HPE) and Religion teacher in a high school in Queensland.

My interest in the topic of “when children should start school” arose when my own son Lachlan turned three. Born in January, I needed to decide whether to send him to school at the earliest opportunity (where he would possibly be one of the youngest in the year) or send him at the latest opportunity. I chose the latter. You can read more about my own personal experience with this important decision in the designated blog.

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0558-2964

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Education (Secondary Education) (Human Movement and Health Education) – 2001- University of Sydney
  • Master of Educational Leadership – 2013- Australian Catholic University
  • Master of Religious Education – 2015- Australian Catholic University
  • Doctor of Education – 2024- Australian Catholic University

Awards

  • Australian Catholic University – 2012 – Dean’s List – Academic Excellence –
  • Australian Catholic University – 2016 – Brother MB Hanrahan Religious Education Prize – Academic Excellence

Publications

MacKinnon, K. (2019). Parental decision-making about school start age in Australia: Democratic for whom? In V. Margrain & A. L. Hultman (Eds.), Challenging democracy in early childhood education, (pp. 57-74). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7771-6_5

Thesis Summary

My Doctoral thesis explored parents’ decision-making experiences concerning when their child should commence formal schooling in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 parents and four focus group interviews with parents from various regions across NSW. Key findings revealed parents often experienced cycles of indecision and feelings of ambiguity as they navigated this important decision. These were attributed to a clear misalignment between early childhood and school sectors in relation to school readiness attributes during this important transition. This qualitative study has made a significant contribution to the field of research, which to date has been predominantly quantitative research. This study also employed a unique methodology to explore the experiences of parents in detail.