Cris Townley
Cris is a researcher at Western Sydney University and holds a PhD from the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW. Her research interests are gender and sexuality, identity and parenting. Her research investigates how parental and family identity influences experiences of and choices about playgroup attendance. She has an BA Honours Degree in Mathematics and Education and a Certificate of Education from the University of Cambridge (1989), and a Masters Degree in the Sociology of Gender from the University of Essex (1993).
Cris has extensive experience across a range of areas, having worked in Education as a teacher, lectured in universities in Education and Business faculties, and in corporate Learning and Development, and Knowledge Management. Cris qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the UK, and has worked in professional services firms as an auditor, and in Human Capital. She has been on a number of boards, including Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and Playgroup NSW.
Cris has extensive experience across a range of areas, having worked in Education as a teacher, lectured in universities in Education and Business faculties, and in corporate Learning and Development, and Knowledge Management. Cris qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the UK, and has worked in professional services firms as an auditor, and in Human Capital. She has been on a number of boards, including Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and Playgroup NSW.
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I will discuss some preliminary findings of my PhD at the Social Research Policy Centre at the University of New South Wales (NSW). I will present themes and vignettes from my qualitative interviews with parents across four community playgroups in Western Sydney, framed by quantitative data derived from the Playgroup NSW database on playgroup types and member demographics.
I found that families want encounters with others. Many seek advice from online groups, existing friends and family, but still search out places to meet other families with children of similar age. Carers, overwhelmingly women, go to playgroups for adult company for themselves and socialization for their children.
Families choose playgroups that feel welcoming and respectful. For many this includes one or more groups that recognise a particular aspect of their identity. Carers make choices based on the multiple facets of their family identity, for themselves and for their children. Ideally, they attend local playgroups, but will travel for a space where they feel they belong.