• Professor Louise Paatsch
  • Educated Co-Lead and Chief Investigator
  • Deakin University

Professor Louise Paatsch’s research focuses on children’s and young people’s communication, language, pretend play, and literacy development, with a strong focus on metapragmatic and pragmatic language use and the link to social communication. She also investigates teachers’ talk patterns and intentional teaching practices in supporting children’s and young people’s communication, language, and play abilities. Louise’s work in the Centre will further understandings on the affordances of the digital in supporting children’s communication, language, play and literacy learning.

Louise brings to the Centre strong leadership experience as a lead investigator on 11 successful funded projects totalling over $1 million over the past 5 years, including a recent Department of Education and Training Victoria project on differentiated/play-based inquiry learning in the early years of schooling professional learning. Louise is widely published in the field, with more than  100 publications in high quality outlets, including a recently co-authored article on re-shaping home school connections in the digital age. Louise is the Associate Head of School (Research) in the School of Education, Deakin University, and Deputy Director of Deakin University’s Strategic Research Centre in Education – Research for Educational Impact (REDI).

Earliest digital memory
The excitement of owning my first CD Walkman – playing endless hours of ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Kelly and Neil Young…without disturbing anyone!!!