Upcoming event
Co-hosted with London Metropolitan University.
We are pleased to announce a call for presentation and poster abstracts for the Socio-Cultural Theory in Early Childhood Education conference. This is the first joint event between Socio-Cultural and CHAT and Early Childhood and Care SIG. In this event, we aim to bring together researchers at all career stages to share their work in Early Childhood Education (ECE) that takes a sociocultural approach or a Cultural Historical Activity Theory perspective. These theories recognise that children’s development is shaped by interactions, relationships, and the environment, and that children are active creators of knowledge, constructing and modifying their practices and understandings through their experiences and social interactions.
Early Childhood Education is facing multiple challenges in the current socio-political context including the funding crisis, the impact on recruitment and retainment of staff in the early years workforce, and austerity policies. Furthermore, the full impact that the COVID lockdown has had on children’s learning, development and readiness for school is already emerging and is likely to exacerbate existing inequalities at this critical stage. We invite academics, teachers and research students to consider how these current challenges in ECE can be addressed, and the possibilities of new framings towards a more holistic, agentic and democratic way of working with young children.
We aim to facilitate a discursive and collaborative space where relevant stakeholders can come together to discuss current debates in early childhood education with a focus on socio-cultural theories and practices.
Featuring keynote talks by Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford and Dr Liz Chesworth, successfully submitted presentations will be 15 minutes each with time for discussion in each session. Poster presenters will also have the opportunity to give an optional short 5 minute presentation of their work.
We particularly welcome submissions from Early Career Researchers (Post-graduate Student, New Researcher, Post-doctoral Researcher), Early Years practitioners and colleagues from under-represented groups.
We look forward to your contributions at this exciting event!
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...
Senior Lecturer in Education at London Metropolitan University
Mabel has a strong commitment and passion for equality, diversity, and social inclusion. She is a Senior Lecturer in Education at London Metropolitan University. Her current research topic is Creative Strategies in Early Years Learning. One the...
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...
Lecturer at Brunel University
I am currently director of a small group of nurseries in Berkshire and Director of Teaching and Learning at Brunel University, specialising in leadership and management. My EdD research brings these areas together and is focused on developing a...
Senior Lecturer in early childhood education at University of Sheffield
Liz Chesworth is a Senior Lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Sheffield. Liz’s research focuses upon contemporary play cultures and dynamic approaches to curriculum in early childhood. In recent years she has led two...
Professor of Child Development and Education at University of Oxford
Iram has an international reputation for longitudinal research and policy expertise, she has co-directed a number of influential studies, including the Effective Provision of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE, DfE, 1997-2015)...
Socio-cultural theory is becoming an increasingly important focus of theoretical work, evident from the establishment of research groups and centres across the UK, including the Bath Centre for...
The incoming editors of the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ) intend to publish a number of special issues during their tenure, which commences in January 2024. They are therefore...
As the highly successful BERA Blog continues to grow in output and readership, we are delighted to announce that we are expanding its editorial team. In the coming months, the BERA Blog will...
Research Intelligence issue 157: Research & practice on migration & education across the four nations of the UK