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Special Interest Group

Early Childhood Education and Care

Shaping Futures, Illuminating Possibilities: Advancing Early Childhood Education and Care through Research and Practice

The mission of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) SIG is to promote and disseminate high quality theoretical and empirical research on teaching and learning, development and well being, in national and international contexts, in order to enhance the lives of all young children, their families and communities, as well as their educators. The SIG brings together all those seeking to generate substantive, methodological and ethical knowledge that will have an impact on the early childhood policy to professional practice context. 

Research interests:

  • Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
  • Professionalism, leadership and teacher knowledge
  • Early years workforce
  • Early Childhood Education policy
  • Digital literacies
  • Sustainability 
  • Quality of Early Childhood Education and Care 
  • Interdisciplinary research
  • Working with families and communities
  • Early Childhood heritage across socio-cultural contexts
  • Play, children’s interests and funds of knowledge
  • Mental health and well-being

Aims:

  • construct and interpret relevant theoretical frameworks;
  • analyse critically the foundational disciplines as well as inter-disciplinary links that underpin the early childhood field;
  • interrogate the boundaries between education and care;
  • contribute to debate about on-going changes in the political, social, cultural and moral landscape that impact upon professional practice in the field;
  • encourage and provide mentor support for peers as well as new researchers in the field;
  • consider the practical applications and implications of research that will contribute to professional training and practice in the service of young children and their families;
  • inform key stakeholders of the expanding knowledge base;
  • forge strong links between existing early childhood research groups, both nationally and internationally.

Early Childhood Education and Care Newsletters

Downloads

Download
Early Childhood Education and Care Annual Report 2020
PDF 129 KB
Download
Early Childhood Education and Care Flyer
PDF 504 KB
Download
Early Childhood Education and Care Annual Report 2021
PDF 163 KB

SIG Convenors

Profile picture of Louise Kay
Louise Kay, Dr

Lecturer at University of Sheffield

Louise Kay is a lecturer in early childhood in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. She is a qualified teacher and has worked across all three primary key stages, with the majority of her career spent teaching in the early...

Profile picture of Fengling Tang
Fengling Tang, Dr

Senior Lecturer at University of Roehampton

I am a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies, Centre for Learning, Teaching and Human Development, School of Education, Froebel College, University of Roehampton. I had worked in schools and further education in China and a nursery school in...

Profile picture of Lewis Fogarty
Lewis Fogarty, Mr

Lecturer at Brunel University

I am currently director of a small group of nurseries in Berkshire and lead the MA Education programme at Brunel University, specialising in leadership and management. My EdD research brings these areas together and is focused on developing a new...

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