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Our research

 

What?

 
 

Why?

 
 

How?

 

We have expertise in both national and international projects working with a range of organisations to research into:

  • Young children’s perspectives, experiences and relationships
  • Young children’s learning processes
  • Early childhood workforce and professional development
  • Pedagogic interface; Children’s wellbeing and health

 

We research to:

  • Advocate social justice for children, their families and the early childhood sector
  • Provide an evidence base to challenge policy and curriculum reform
  • Improve the quality of experiences, pedagogy, services and outcomes for young children

 

We are guided in our research by socio-cultural-historical theories of human development and approaches to studying human activity. We have expertise in a range of methods including:

  • A full range of qualitative methods
  • Mixed methods including online surveys; analysis of mass open-access data; case studies
  • Participatory methods including research with children
  • Systematic reviews

Research projects

Our ongoing and completed research projects fall into four major categories:

Young children’s perspectives, experiences and relationships

  • Young children’s curiosity and imagination: Facilitating and documenting through technology
  • Children’s Voice in Clinical Trials Research
  • The experiences of young children with learning disabilities attending both special and inclusive preschools
  • Young children’s social interactions in inclusive Early Childhood settings
  • Documentary Photography in Early Childhood: Slowing Down
  • Literacy experiences: an exploration of young children’s intentions, identities, and affective relations with text
  • Children’s empowerment in play
  • Re-connect/Re-collect: Crossing the Boundaries through Memories of Cold War Childhoods
  • Power relationships in play
Man using a laptop

Young children’s learning processes

Two toddlers are playing with toy bricks, holding hands and looking towards each other
  • BERA-TACTYC Early Childhood Research Review from 2003 to 2017
  • Using a listening approach to support children’s transition to Early Childhood settings
  • ‘A life ‘in and with nature?’ An exploration of outdoor provision in baby rooms.’ Froebel Trust. Systematic literature review; survey; and case studies
  • Exploring young migrant children’s ‘funds of knowledge’ through documentary photography
  • Surfacing complexity in shared book reading: the role of affordance, repetition and modal appropriation in children’s participation
  • Q-methodological study examining the features of mixed-age practice in Hungarian kindergartens
  • Chickenshed Theatre Company project, evaluating the impact of drama-based workshops to support young children’s language, literacy and numeracy 
  • TESSA – Teaching Early Reading in Africa Evaluation Study
  • International outdoor play

Early childhood workforce and professional development

  • Workforce composition, qualifications and professional development in English Montessori early childhood education and care settings
  • Australian early childhood teachers’ preparation for and participation in interprofessional practice in early years settings
  • Interprofessional practice as trajectories of participation in early years settings
  • Early Years Professional Status: researching reluctance for professionalization
  • The impact of practitioners using ‘In-the-Picture’ (a listening to children approach)
  • Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Interprofessional Learning in the Public Sector
  • A gendered contribution to play? Perceptions of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners in England on how their gender influences their approaches to play.
  • Teaching Early Reading in Africa: Evaluation of an Online Course
  • Higher Education Pedagogy, with particular interest in academic writing/academic literacy
  • Factors influencing parents choosing Early Childhood provision for their children
  • PAPIP- parent partnership project (UK, HU, Kazakshtan)
A teacher and diverse group of students play with coloured paper and stationery around a table

Pedagogic interface; Children’s wellbeing and health

A diverse group of children play in the wild - one is looking at leaves through a magnifying glass
  • Children and young people living through serious family illness
  • Health promotion on ECEC settings
  • How do practitioners create inclusive environments for children with chronic health conditions?
  • How do practitioners support children’s health and wellbeing?
  • Educating for integrated care: Rapid realist evidence synthesis of interprofessional interventions with potential to support integrated care