Assistant Professor (PhD, M.Ed, B.ECE)
Available for Graduate Advisement
Dr. Barratt is a Registered Early Childhood Educator with a multidisciplinary background in Health and Education. Her research focuses on fostering physical literacy among Early Childhood Educators, recognizing their pivotal role in shaping young children’s movement valuation and holistic well-being.
Notably, she developed the Effective Early Childhood Physical Literacy Pedagogue model and corresponding instrument to measure educators’ physical literacy, knowledge, and practice.
Her work spans nationally funded projects and international collaborations examining physical literacy, outdoor and active play, and educator professional learning. Recent contributions include queer theory in ECE, trauma-informed school-based active play, and innovative approaches to AI assessment in higher education.
- Development of physical literacy
- Early Childhood Educator well-being
- Pre-service Early Childhood Education
- Physical activity across the lifespan
- AI Assessment and Innovation
- Ontario College of Early Childhood Educators (CECE)
- Journal of Physical Activity and Health (JPAH)
- Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity (ASPA)
- Early Childhood Australia (ECA)
Barratt, J., & Pakkal, O. (in press). From Policing to Partnering: Posthumanist Pedagogy in an Asynchronous Capstone Course. In C. Johnson, & N. Delanoy (Eds.), AI and the Future of Learning: Pedagogical Shifts in K–12 and Higher Education. Springer.
Barratt, J., Della Porta, S., Di Cesare, D. M., & Hooper, S. (2026). Celebrating our educators: Reflections from Brock University’s B.ECE program. eceLINK, 21–26.
Barratt, J., & Harwood, D. (2026). Yes! Bare feet are allowed outdoors: Shifting perceptions and practices of outdoor nature play in Canada. In L. Prochner & K. Nawrotzki (Eds.), Nature and early education: Global perspectives on outdoor learning for young children (pp. 153–173). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003652380-7
Barratt, J., Goss, H., Erskine, N., James, M., Töpfer, C., Pfeifer, K., Cairney, J., & Carl, J. (2026). Experiences, influencing factors, and perceived outcomes from physical literacy interventions: A qualitative meta-synthesis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 21(1), Article 2613973. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2026.2613973
Barratt, J., Harwood, D. (2026). No Bare Feet Allowed Outdoors”: Supporting Educators’ Shifting Perceptions and Practices with Outdoor Play in Canada. In L. Prochner, & K. Nawrotzki (Eds.), Take it Outside: Recent Perspectives on Nature Education and Young Children.
Lawson, E., Barratt, J., Hall, E., Cairney, J., & Wheeler, K. (2026). Multi-Disciplinary Partnering in School-Based Trauma-Informed Active Play. In E. Berger, S.D. Crosby, & K.E. Martin (Eds.), Understanding and Implementing Trauma-Informed Practice in Schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003436034
Di Cesare, D., Barratt, J., & Davies, A. (2025). Disrupting Developmentalism through Queer Theory in Post-Secondary Early Childhood Education: A Document Analysis. In A. Davies, Z. Abawi, & B. Richardson (Eds.), Disrupting Developmentalism in Canadian Early Years Education: Critical Activist Knowledges. Canadian Scholars Press.
Harwood, D., Barratt, J., Donison, L., & Frizelle, C. (2025). “I could list one million benefits!” Exploring perceptions & practices of outdoor play in the YMCA from a bioecological perspective. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-024-00182-4
Barratt, J., Dudley, D., Stylianou, M., Thomas, G., Wheeler, K., & Cairney, J. (2025). Construct Validity and Reliability of the Effective Early Childhood Physical Literacy Pedagogue (ECE-PLP) Self-Report Instrument. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/1091367X.2024.2422309
Erskine, N., Barratt, J., & Cairney, J. (2024). Paediatric motor difficulties and internalising problems: an integrative review on the environmental stress hypothesis. Frontiers in Paediatrics, 12, 1320338. doi.org/10.3389/fped.2024.1320338
Carl, J., Mazzoli, E., Mouton, A., Sum, R. K. W., Singh, A., Niederberger, M., … Barratt, J., & Barnett, L. M. (2024). Development of a Global Physical Literacy (GloPL) Action Framework: Study protocol for a consensus process. Plos one, 19(8), e0307000. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307000
Barratt, J., Dudley, D., Stylianou, M., & Cairney, J. (2024). Conceptual Model of an Effective Early Childhood Physical Literacy Pedagogue. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X231219580
Carl, J., Barratt, J., Arbour-Nicitopoulos, K. P., Barnett, L. M., Dudley, D. A., Holler, P., … & Cairney, J. (2023). Development, explanation, and presentation of the Physical Literacy Interventions Reporting Template (PLIRT). International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 20(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01423-3
Carl, J., Barratt, J., Wanner, P., Töpfer, C., Cairney, J., & Pfeifer, K. (2022). The Effectiveness of Physical Literacy Interventions: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine, 52, 2965-2999. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01738-4
- 2025–2026 Partnership Engage Grant ($15,672), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- 2025-2026 Faculty of Education Research Mentorship Award, Brock University
- 2024-2025 Research Initiative Award ($2,000), Brock University
- 2023 Graduate Research Assistant Development (GRAD) Fund, Brock University
- 2020 – 2023 Research Training Scholarship ($96,000), University of Queensland
- 2021 Human Movement and Nutrition Science Higher Degree Research Student Travel Award ($500), University of Queensland
- ECEC 4D50 Early Childhood Education Honours Thesis
- ECEC 4D51 Early Childhood Education Honours Project
- ECEC 4P81 Research Methods in Early Childhood Education
- EDUC 5P92 An Introduction to Educational Research
