Expert Profile
Dr Rebecca English
Lecturer, Faculty of Education (QUT)
Dr Rebecca English is a researcher, teacher and mother whose work is concerned with parenting and education.
She has an interest in the ways parents make choices for their children that align with their beliefs about family, parenting and other factors. She is interested in how parenting practices and beliefs are enacted in families and how these practices and beliefs lead to parents making certain choices for their children.
Her work is concerned with how cultural and social values are transferred through family choices for their children. For example, how school experiences link with family choices, and the engagement between schools and families, and how these engagements affect and influence education choices and satisfaction.
Rebecca qualified as a teacher in 1998 and has been teaching for 20 years. She has worked with a number of different schools teaching in the senior-secondary and middle years. She currently teaches research methods, film and English Curriculum units at QUT.
In 2016, she co-edited her first book, Gender Considerations in Online Consumption and Internet Use. She continues to publish widely in academic and popular press. She has been interviewed for television programs such as The Project, ABC Mornings and SBS/Vice's short productions as well as dailies including the Sydney Morning Herald, Courier Mail and various other publications.
Questions answered by Dr Rebecca English
Raising an 'alpha' child
Hi, I fear that my child (3 years) is an alpha child and that is due to our poor attachment. How can I make it right with my toddler? Please give me strategies through examples. Thank you
Learning to be gentle
My little one is 13 months old, recently especially when he is over tired he is rough with our dog. Pulling his hair and grabbing his face sometimes to the point where the dog squeals. I do remind him that we give Cooper gentle pats and show him how, which he does copy, but it will only be moments before he is over the top with him again. I have picked him up and used a gruff voice, but this doesn't bother him and he thinks it's a game and laughs. How do I amend this behaviour?
Is my grandson school ready?
I live in NSW and I foster my grandson. He turns 5 in February. He is bright, socially excellent but has some maturity issues sometimes. I have probably equal numbers saying he is fine to start school and also hold him back. I just want to make the best decision for him. Can you help?
Vomiting when he doesn't get his way
My grandson vomits when he does not get his own way. Any ideas how to stop it? Thanks. He is going too be 3 end of this month.
Struggling with daycare drop off and bedtime
My daughter is almost four and has been attending daycare for almost three years, and loved it. Recently however she's really struggled with both daycare drop off and bedtime (she's usually great at bedtime too). She hides, cries, whimpers and shouts "don't go!" She seems genuinely upset and it breaks my heart to leave her but bedtime now is so difficult when I need to get my one year old to bed as well. It seems to be getting worse rather than better. What do I do?
