Catherine is mum to a 3 year-old girl, Lou, and lives in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). She has a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education, a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, a Master of Education, AMI 3-6 Montessori Training from Perugia, Italy and has recently completed a PhD in child practices in the Ngaanyatjarra and Pintupi region of the Western Desert with the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy and Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University (ANU).

Publications:

  • Holmes, C. (2016). The introduction of Montessori teaching and learning practices in an early childhood classroom in a remote Indigenous school. (Master by Dissertation, The University of Notre Dame, Fremantle). https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/136/
  • Holmes, C. (2018). Montessori education in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. Journal of Montessori Research, 4(2), 33-60. https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v4i2.6715
  • Holmes, C. (2020). Childhood, play and school: a literature review in Australia. Magis, Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación, 13, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.m13.cpsl
  • Holmes, C. (2020). Baby sharks in the desert: lotta’little lights everywhere. Rural Society, 29(3), 187-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371656.2020.1834672
  • Holmes, C. (2022). Children have big stories: an ethnographic multi-sited study of contemporary Ngaanyatjarra and Pintupi early years practices. (Unpublished PhD Thesis, examination in process). Australian National University.

Presentations:

  • Knowledge Intersection Symposium, Mparntwe (Alice Springs): Keynote speaker (2022)
  • Montessori Australia National Conference, Gold Coast: Keynote speaker (2022)
  • Knowledge Intersection Symposium, Mparntwe (Alice Springs) (2019)
  • Magis, Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación, Argentina. (2019)
  • International Montessori Congress, Prague, Czech Republic (2017)
  • Western Australian Institute for Educational Research, Perth (2016)
  • International Montessori Congress, Portland, United States (2013)
  • Australian Montessori Conference, Canberra (2012)