Jo Grimmond is a proud Dharug woman, a strong advocate for the early childhood education sector, and a lecturer and researcher at Charles Sturt University. Her expertise and research interests focus on early mathematics, STEM, play-based assessment, and early childhood pedagogy and practice. Jo is passionate about exploring ways to build capacities of early childhood educators' mathematical pedagogy within play-based environments, and examine educator attitudes, confidence and beliefs towards early mathematics that may be barriers of practice.   

With a passion for block play, Jo's PhD research focused on the development of a play-based formative assessment for educators to use with preschoolers using blocks - the Numeracy and Mathematics Block-Based Assessment (NUMBBA) - to showcase children's mathematical capacities in patterning, symmetry and number skills.  As an early career researcher Jo is also interested in exploring ways to support student retention and engagement within Early Childhood Teacher Education programs, particularly in the online learning environment. 

Jo joined Charles Sturt University in 2023 after an extensive career in early childhood education which spanned over 30 years. Her career included positions both in Australia and in Canada as teacher and director within early childhood education contexts and primary schools. Jo's professional sector experience included roles of community engagement coordinator supporting early childhood services in regional and remote areas of NSW, and professional learning manager, facilitator, and content creator for peak early childhood national organisations to provide quality professional development for educators. Jo has been lecturing in early childhood education for over 10 years, and involved in a number of large-scale research projects focusing on educator practice.