Kate E Williams

Dean, School of Education and Tertiary Access

Member, Education and Learning Futures Research Cluster

Email: kwilliams4@usc.edu.au

Telephone: +61 7 5456 3039

Researcher identifiers

ORCiD: 0000-0001-8983-5503
Scopus: 56423836400
ResearcherID: L-9886-2013

Keywords

Self-regulation
Parenting
Sleep
Evaluation
Early childhood
Development
Intervention
Randomised control trial
Playgroup
Executive function

Kate Williams is a developmental scientist, intervention designer, evaluator, and leader, working at the intersection of health and education to address inequities that often arise from early childhood. She is recognised as an international expert on social-emotional, self-regulation, executive function, cognitive, and sleep development, and the parenting, educational, and intervention contexts that support such. Kate typically uses large population datasets, program design and evaluation, and modern quantitative and mixed method approaches across her research program. She is an expert in the use of flagship Australian population datasets including the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, and the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children, and is a leading international playgroup researcher. Kate is also a Registered Music Therapist and so is interested in the ways that music can be used to support development and wellbeing. Her ARC DECRA fellowship saw Kate develop the Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) program, which has been commercialised and is disseminated internationally.

Kate brings extensive industry experience having held executive leadership roles in a national not for profit organisation delivering services to children, families, and communities, and maintains multiple board roles. Core to Kate’s approach are collegial team-building across disciplines, and collaborative relationships with research end users in community, industry, government, and non-government organisations. She brings strong stakeholder engagement and a focus on capability building, implementation science, knowledge translation, and research impact to every research project she undertakes.

Research

Publications

Journal article | Peer reviewed

Mapping digital confidence in initial teacher education: A Rasch-based self-audit tool for curriculum improvement ↗

by David A Martin, Natalie McMaster, Kate E Williams, Michael D Carey and Natalie Kidd

14 March 2026
Education and Information Technologies

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an initial teacher education (ITE) programme within a higher education setting in preparing Primary school preservice teachers (PSTs) to integrate information, communication, digital, and robotics technologies (ICDRTs) into classroom teaching. While situated in an ITE programme, the methodology, based on a Rasch-calibrated self-audit, offers an actionable approach to evaluating students’ digital confidence and learning needs across higher education disciplines. Using a Rasch-validated 77-item self-audit instrument, responses from 490 final-year PSTs were analysed to identify curriculum gaps and assess the programme’s capacity to develop digital pedagogical readiness. Regression analysis examined associations between readiness and socio-demographic variables (sex, age group, and qualification) to explore equity-related differences. The findings revealed consistent shortfalls in ICDRT readiness related to spreadsheets, robotics, and commonly used classroom technologies, aligning with broader concerns about digital capability in initial teacher preparation. These results offer actionable evidence for curriculum redesign and institutional evaluation within higher education and demonstrate the value of structured student self-audits as institutional evaluation tools. The study contributes to equity-focused, data-driven approaches to programme improvement in higher education.

Journal article | Peer reviewed

Effectiveness of rhythm and movement for self-regulation (RAMSR) for low socioeconomic preschoolers delivered by teachers trained online in Hong Kong ↗

by Yiying Wan, Kate E Williams, Laura Bentley, Siu-Ping Ng, Yingying Pan and Alfredo Bautista

10 March 2026
Child Development

A randomized controlled trial in Hong Kong examined the effectiveness of the Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) intervention for low socioeconomic status children's self-regulation. This is the first study of the intervention outside of Australia, and in which teachers were trained online to deliver the intervention (16 sessions over 8 weeks). Participants were 286 4-5-year-old children randomized at the classroom level (129 experimental, 157 control; 48.6% girls; 91% Chinese; Mage = 53 months) and their teachers (9 experimental, 8 control). Results from multi-level modeling revealed significant intervention effects for the intervention group across three time points (2022-2023) for teacher-reported self-regulation (np2 = .019), and the Head Toes Knees Shoulders task tapping executive function (np2 = .034).

Journal article | Peer reviewed

Facilitators and Barriers of Implementing evidence-based Programs Delivered by Teachers in Early Childhood Education: Findings from the Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) Program as a Case Study ↗

by Sonia L. J. White, Sally Savage, Kate E Williams and Laura Bentley

5 February 2026
Early Childhood Education Journal

Evidenced-based programs designed for education settings often prove effective under research conditions, but are underexplored in real world contexts, revealing a research-to-practice gap. Understanding teachers’ implementation experiences, including facilitators and barriers, is crucial to inform the future scale-up of effective approaches. This study explored the implementation experiences of early childhood teachers (n = 7) incorporating a rhythm and movement intervention into their everyday educational practice. Qualitative interviews investigating the facilitators and barriers teachers experienced were thematically analyzed deductively using an existing ecological framework derived from implementation science. Key findings emerged across the individual, intervention, and contextual levels of the framework. At the individual level, aligning program goals with teachers’ interests increased engagement. Coaching options and realistic examples of expected behavioral changes addressed varying levels of professional preparedness and workload constraints. At the intervention level, offering flexible training formats and providing clear evidenced-based rationales boosted teacher engagement. Hard copy materials, troubleshooting guides, and adaptable program design supported individual teacher preferences. Contextually, clear program descriptors enabled teachers to effectively communicate the program’s value to leadership. Clear recommendations are made for future program designers and implementers to support the successful scale-up of evidence-based programs within diverse educational environments.

Journal article | Peer reviewed

A Decade of Elementary School Improvement Data: Documenting Longitudinal Associations Among Attendance, Suspension, School Climate, and Achievement ↗

by Kristin R Laurens, Megan Kimber, Suzanne Carrington, Kate E Williams, Nicole Hayes, Nerida Spina and Rebecca Spooner-Lane

2026
Improving Schools

School improvement is generally assessed by the extent to which several indicators show improvement over time. However, much less is known about the ways in which these indicators interact over time. This study analyses 10 years of school-level administrative data from over 896 elementary schools in Queensland, Australia, using a cross-lagged panel model to explore bidirectional associations among school improvement indicators. Descriptive statistics show net improvement over the decade on indicators of academic achievement and student attendance, and an increase in the use of exclusionary discipline. In the cross-lagged panel model, there were associations between unexplained absences and out-of-school suspensions with later declines in achievement data and satisfaction. There was some indication that the reverse was also true, with achievement associated with later non-achievement indicators, though these paths were less consistent. The findings point to potentially modifiable factors within the school context likely to enhance achievement over time.

Journal article | Peer reviewed

A Preschool Rhythm and Movement Intervention: RCT Evidence for Improved Social and Behavioral Development ↗

by Kate E Williams and Laura Bentley

2026
Behavioral Sciences

Active music and movement engagement has been widely integrated in human socialization across history and cultures, and is particularly prevalent in early childhood play and learning. For clinical populations, music therapy is known to support social skills and wellbeing for young children. However, there is less evidence for the value of active music engagement for non-clinical populations in terms of supporting social and behavioral wellbeing in the early years. This study reports results from the Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) program delivered by generalist kindergarten teachers in low socioeconomic communities. This randomized control trial involved 213 children across eight preschools in disadvantaged communities in Queensland, Australia. The intervention group received 16 to 20 sessions of RAMSR over eight weeks, while the control group undertook usual preschool programs. Data was collected through teacher report at pre and post intervention, and again six months later once children had transitioned into their first year of school. Robust mixed models accounting for repeated measures and clustering of children within kindergartens (random effects), evidenced significant intervention effects across the three time points for improved prosocial skills (p = 0.04, n p 2 = 0.02), and reduced externalizing (p < 0.01, n p 2 = 0.03) and internalizing behavior problems (p = 0.04; n p 2 = 0.02), with small to moderate effect sizes. These findings highlight the valuable role that intentional active music engagement in universal settings such as preschool can play in terms of social and behavioral wellbeing. The importance of these results lies in the fact that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to experience risks to social and behavioral development, requiring additional supports, yet experience inequities in access to high-quality music and movement programs.

Showing the five most recent publications. Explore all Kate E Williams's publications in UniSC Research Bank

Grants

1 August 2025

Scaling up evidence-based interventions and professional learning in education

University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
Grant no. 0980030668.

Isaac Coffie, Vicki Schriever, Rachael Dwyer and Kate Williams

21 May 2024 - 23 May 2025

LSIC Early Childhood Research Report

Department of Social Services (Australia, Canberra) - DSS
Grant no. 0980028951.

Kate Williams

13 February 2025

Thriving kids, active brains: A collaborative to support early child development

Ian Potter Foundation (Australia, Melbourne)
Grant no. 0980028422.

Daniel Hermens, Kara Lilly, Elaine Jefford, Kate Williams, Anne Drabble, Karen-Ann Clarke, Kelley Burton and Jeanine Young

1 January 2025

Do Re ME and YOU: Music-based parenting intervention to improve quality of parent-infant interaction among families from low socioeconomic status

National Endowment for the Arts (United States, Washington) - NEA
Grant no. 0980030207.

Mariah Chrans, Amy Smith, Helena Laroche, Kai Ling Kong and Kate Williams

31 May 2020 - 29 June 2024

Effectiveness of an Early Childhood Intervention to Promote Healthy Child Development and Prevent Chronic Disease in Families Attending Community Playgroups: A Multi-Centre Cluster Randomised Trial

Australian Department of Health and Ageing
Grant no. DOHA-KW-MRFF.

Rebecca K. Golley, Hayley E. Christian, Rebecca Byrne, Kate Williams and Stewart G. Trost

Showing the five most recent grants. Explore all Kate E Williams's grants in UniSC Research Bank