Emma initially trained as a primary teacher, completing a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Melbourne in 2003. Between 2004 and 2011, she taught in Victorian Government Primary Schools as a generalist teacher.

In 2005, Emma was involved in a professional learning action research project to continue the development of the “Developmental Curriculum Play & Inquiry Approach” to learning and teaching. In 2006, her school was awarded the Best National Achievement in School Improvement, having worked closely with consultant Kathy Walker to adopt this developmental curriculum approach to the Prep-2 level program. Because of the high profile of this curriculum initiative, Emma, as Prep Coordinator, regularly ran professional learning activities for groups of visiting principals and teachers who wanted to learn more about this curriculum approach so that they could develop strategies to adopt it in their own schools.

In 2007, Emma completed a Master of Education degree in Learning and Teaching at the University of Melbourne, undertaking a number of units that focused on teaching and support structures for students with specific learning difficulties (particularly within the areas of numeracy and literacy).

She has also completed a number of courses in qualitative research methods, program evaluation, and statistical analysis through the Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research Inc. (ACSPRI) programs.

In 2010, Emma again became involved in innovating classroom teaching and learning practices. Moving into Middle Years classrooms, Emma implemented a fully collaborative, “negotiated” curriculum based on learning by inquiry. This required a change in pedagogy, organisation, and teaching spaces. During this time, Emma team-taught with up to three staff members and 75 children in open, purpose-built spaces. This innovative teaching built on Emma’s understanding of children becoming self-reflective, self-motivated learners. This style of teaching has also cemented Emma’s belief in the importance of differentiated, targeted, explicit teaching.

During 2009-2010, Emma led her school through a change management process, supported by funding through the DEECD Wider Workforce Field Trial to evaluate and then innovate using a wider workforce within a school setting to support teachers to best implement student-centred inquiry learning. This culminated in a study tour of five London schools in late 2010. The project also led to the employment of a community relations coordinator for the school, who managed the involvement of community organisations and volunteer workers within classrooms throughout.

In 2011, Emma was appointed Numeracy Coordinator for her school, which she led through the process of re-writing the Numeracy curriculum, looking at the mathematical ‘big ideas’ that form the fundamentals of all mathematical understandings. This re-development of numeracy within the school was supported through Emma’s involvement with the Northern Metropolitan Regions AIZ numeracy program.

Emma also brings a strong eLearning background to SREAMS. While studying at Melbourne University, she worked as a Research Assistant in developing online interactive ArtTeach software, presenting on this topic at seminars. She also studied the effects of Web 2.0 technologies in classrooms during her Masters degree and was a committee member of the State Council of the ICTEV (the Professional Teachers’ Association for Information Communication Technology in Education) from 2008-2009. As such, she was involved in organising a number of state ICTEV conferences.

In 2012-2013, Emma took time out of her career to have two beautiful children, who have helped to strengthen her understanding of childhood development and children’s amazing capacities for learning.

In 2021, Emma also undertook further extensive training in using synthetic phonics programs in the classroom. In particular, she trained in using the SoundsWrite program.