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...

BERA-TACTYC Early Childhood Research Review 2003-2017

We are pleased to announce the launch of the BERA/TACTYC Review of Early Childhood Education and Care in the UK, 2003-2017. This  review has involved a wide range of early childhood specialists,...

Critical Pedagogies: Are the benefits of alternative schooling being overlooked?

With increasing criticism of the English government regarding over-testing and high pressure in state schools, alternatives to early years formal education, such as practitioners of the Montessori...

The digital home lives of young New Zealanders

International trends indicate that internet access is now widespread in developed countries around the world including New Zealand. So you may be surprised to discover that not all New Zealanders...

Working together or working apart? An effective approach to parent-school relationships

It is not a new argument that parents and family in general have a very strong impact on children’s cognitive and social performance. This argument originates back in the ecological theory of...

How care-full is early childhood assessment?

The first priority in education – if by education we mean learning to be human – is learning to live in personal relation to other people…I call this the first priority because failure in...