Qualifications & Memberships
Research Interests
My interdisciplinary scholarship encompasses family sociology and early childhood education. Family diversity and the novel family relationships, forms of relatedness and processes of kin differentiation that are generated through the use of assisted reproductive technologies are ongoing research agendas. The ways in which early childhood education settings become places where every family experiences belonging and wellbeing is a core theme in my work. How early childhood teachers might engage in socially just and inclusive practices, including anti-racism advocacy, while addressing issues of exclusion are related themes. Heteronormativity and sexuality and gender matters in the early childhood sector are also focus areas.
Recent Publications
- Surtees N. (2023) Divorce discourse as a kinship resource in lesbian known donor reproduction: “The dad has bubba on the weekend”. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal : 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/27703371.2023.2184437.
- Sotardi VA., Surtees N., Vincent K. and Johnston H. (2022) Belonging and adjustment for LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ students during the social transition to university.. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 15(6): 755-765. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000305.
- Surtees N. and Morgan K. (2022) “I can be a girl if I want to”: Supporting or silencing children’s working theories during counter-heteronormative picturebook sessions in early childhood education. Waikato Journal of Education 27(1): 133-146. http://dx.doi.org/10.15663/wje.v26i1.893.
- Surtees N., Taleni LT., Ismail R., Rarere-Briggs B. and Stark R. (2021) Sailiga tomai ma malamalama’aga fa’a-Pasifika—Seeking Pasifika Knowledge to Support Student Learning: Reflections on Cultural Values Following an Educational Journey to Samoa. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 56(2): 269-283. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40841-021-00210-7.
- Surtees N. and Bremner P. (2020) Gay and Lesbian Collaborative Co-Parenting in New Zealand and the United Kingdom: ‘The Law Doesn’t Protect the Third Parent’. Social and Legal Studies 29(4): 507-526. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0964663919874861.