Gunn worked as an early childhood educator in both urban and rural not-for-profit childcare.
[1] Gunn completed a Master of Arts thesis Visual art education in early childhood centres : teachers' beliefs and practices at the University of Canterbury and a PhD titled Heteronormativity and early childhood education: Social justice and some puzzling queries at the University of Waikato.
[6][5] With Joce Nuttall of the Australian Catholic University, Gunn co-edited the third edition of Weaving te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice.
The award nomination said "She has been tireless in promoting social justice and equity in education and society in general for the marginalized, the underserved, the excluded, and those who are small and often not properly heard".
[8] Gunn was invited to present the Herbison Lecture at the 2023 New Zealand Association for Research in Education conference.