Amanda NilandDr Amanda Niland (PhD) is a senior lecturer in early childhood at the University of Sydney and program director of the Master of Teaching Early Childhood. Amanda has extensive experience as an early childhood teacher, music specialist and earl childhood intervention teacher. Her research interests are in the creative arts, particularly music and children's literature, with a focus on their potential for supporting a positive sense of identity and belonging for all children. Amanda has published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and monographs, and is an editorial committee member for the International Journal of Music Education, International Journal of Music in Early Childhood and Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. She enjoys singing, playing the piano and ukulele, and writing songs and stories for children, and is the author of two picture books.