Janet Taylor

Janet Taylor is a Senior Researcher at the Brotherhood of St Laurence and an Honorary Senior Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne. She has a particular interest in disadvantaged families and social exclusion. She joined the Brotherhood of St Laurence in 1988 and her research areas have included immigrant and refugee settlement, health needs, young people, unemployment and attitudes to poverty. Projects include the longitudinal Life Chances Study and the Understanding Poverty Project. Janet has a MA Sociology from La Trobe University, and a BA and Diploma, Social Studies from the University of Melbourne.

Research interests

Transition from school to work
Equity in education
Poverty and social inclusion
Narrative methods
Refugee settlement
Attitudes to poverty

Current research projects

Life Chances Study
Making a difference: building on young people’s perspectives on economic adversity (ARC partner with SPRC, UNSW and others)
Families at the Centre: negotiating Australia’s mixed market in early education and care (ARC partner with SPRC, UNSW and others)

Selected recent publications

Taylor, J and Allan, M 2013, Now we are 21: an overview of the longitudinal Life Chances Study Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy

Taylor, J, Borlagdan, J and Allan, M 2012, Turning 21: life chances and uncertain transitions (PDF file, 560 KB) Summary (PDF file, 97 KB) Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy

Taylor, J 2011, ‘What happened to the babies?’ Disadvantage and advantage across 18 years’, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 36, no. 4 , pp.147–152.

Taylor, J and Gee, N 2010, Turning 18: pathways and plans: Life Chances Study stage 9, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy.

Taylor, J 2009, Stories of early school leaving: pointers for policy and practice, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy.

Taylor, J and Nelms, L 2008, Life Chances at 16: Life Chances Study stage 8, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy.

Taylor, J 2006, ‘Life chances: including the children’s view’, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 31–9.

Taylor, J and Nelms, L 2006, School engagement and life chances: 15 year olds in transition, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy.

Taylor, J and Stanovic, D 2005, Refugees and regional settlement: balancing priorities, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy.

Taylor, J 2003, ‘The health of children’ in Liamputtong, P and Gardner, H (eds), Health, social change and communities, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.