It’s the beginning of a new academic year and the first years are arriving on campuses across the UK ready to continue their academic journey – and hopefully have a bit of fun, make some new friends and be inspired and challenged. There’s always one group of students my heart goes out to; those who …

Continue reading Let’s hear it for the mums! The impact of a mother’s education on outcomes for her children.

A thought provoking post this week from Ian Durrant who is a senior lecturer in a Faculty of Education. 

Welcome back to Contemplating Childhoods...

We can hardly believe  'Contemplating Childhoods' has been going for almost a year now.  It has certainly been a discipline to make sure that we have our 500 words ready for 8 am each Friday morning.  Thank you to all our loyal readers and those of you who have taken the time to comment on …

Continue reading Summer break

This week’s post has been written by Karen Matthews, a current MA in Early Childhood Education student and early years practitioner. Karen is sharing her reflection on transitions within early childhood.

A slightly different tone to the blog this week as we thought we would let you know some of the exciting events that have been happening in our professional lives.

The changes to children’s hospital experiences between 1948 and 2018 highlight the key role of conducting research (as Robertson and Robertson did) for identifying the need to change practice.

Are you enjoying the World Cup? We decided we couldn’t let it pass by without allowing Contemplating Childhoods to comment on it. We are sure if you are working with young children then some of them will have been discussing it with you; you may even have chosen to acknowledge it through activities you have …

Continue reading Football crazy: What’s the World Cup got to do with Early Years?

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, and it got us thinking about what we know about the role of fathers in modern Britain.

Practitioners will define passion in different ways depending on the context they are working within but certainly it is a word that practitioners often use