Is a shared understanding the key to effective learning?

A child starts learning in the womb, but real learning is perceived to start much later and is certainly not often associated with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).  Real learning is often...

The value of Literacy as a Social Practice approach to exploring young children’s experience of being taught to read and write in school

Over the last thirty years in English and Welsh State primary education, successive governments have placed increasing emphasis on ‘raising standards’ in literacy. Children’s attainment or...

Hyper-governance and datafication in early years education: children as ‘abilities-machines’ or ‘like sausages in a factory’

The growing use of data in education has both been lauded as a revolution and criticized as detrimental to teachers and children; no wonder then that it is increasingly a focus for educational...

What younger children really think and understand about internet safety: The value of stories and role play as research methods

Younger children under the age of eight are increasingly embracing the digital world (Mekinc, Smailbegovic & Kokic, 2013). My intention at this year’s BERA conference is to consider younger...

Biscuits or Banquets?

Becoming a lifetime reader is dependent on developing a love of reading[1] and few would argue against the fact that the ability and motivation to read impacts on the life chances of all...

Observing to Understand – Using the Tavistock Method of Observation to Support Reflective Practice

The Tavistock method of infant observation has developed and grown since its original use as a tool to train psychotherapists at the Tavistock clinic. It is now widely used across many...

Participation in recreational activities: views, experiences and choices from children and young people with cerebral palsy

  http://www.playwales.org.uk/eng/ ‘All children and young people have the right to rest, leisure, play and recreation and to take part in cultural and artistic...

The Missing Link? Brain and Body in early learning and development – what the research review does and doesn’t tell us

BERA Blog Special Issues: BERA/TACTYC

The early years education field has always emphasised the holistic nature of early development and learning despite the continued prevalence of separate subject- or development-based domains...

Early years as a career? Policy, practice and professionalism 2003-2017

BERA Blog Special Issues: BERA/TACTYC

In March 2017, the long-awaited Early Years Workforce Strategy for England was published by the DfE. It aims to put in place a number of measures to address some of the difficulties currently...

Giving a Voice to Mothers

BERA Blog Special Issues: BERA/TACTYC

My work on the Parenting chapter of the BERA/ TACTYC Review of the Early Years Literature triggered some questions that I felt compelled to further investigate. The literature that I accessed...

Play and Pedagogy

BERA Blog Special Issues: BERA/TACTYC

Carrying out the research for the section on Play and Pedagogy was a pleasure. This was because the field of play scholarship is extensive, international, multi-disciplinary and progressive in...

Are we all ready in 2017?

BERA Blog Special Issues: BERA/TACTYC

The formalisation process which the review shows has been happening in Early Childhood Education, particularly since 2010, has moved into a new phase in 2016-17. The OECD has been considering a...