About the Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Tim Waller is Professor of Child and Family Studies in the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education at Anglia Ruskin University. Tim is a Convener of the Outdoor Learning SIG in the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). He has worked in higher education for over twenty years. Previously he taught in nursery, infant and primary schools in London and has also worked in the USA. His research interests include wellbeing, outdoor learning, pedagogy and social justice in early childhood. Tim is leading the UK research contributing to the SUPREME project (Suicide Prevention by Internet and Media Based Mental Health Promotion), aimed at developing an internet-based mental health promotion and suicide preven­tion programme, targeting young people aged 14–24. Anglia Ruskin has joined aca­demic institutions in Sweden, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania and Spain to carry out the study. Tim was Co-Director of the Longitudinal Evaluation of the Role and Impact of Early Years Professionals (in England) – commissioned by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (2009–12). Since September 2003 he has been coordinating an ongoing research project designed to investigate children’s perspectives on their out­door play. This project has involved developing and using a range of ‘participatory’ methods for research with young children. Recently, he has edited a Special Edition of the European Early Childhood Education Association Journal on Outdoor Play and Learning and, with Deborah Harcourt and Bob Perry, Researching Young Children’s Perspectives: Debating the Ethics and Dilemmas of Educational Research with Children (published by Routledge in March 2011).

Geraldine Davis is Principal Lecturer and Director of the Doctorate in Education at Anglia Ruskin University. She has worked in higher education for 12 years, with a par­ticular focus on professional learning and how theory is translated into effective prac­tice. Prior to her work in universities, Geraldine worked in the health service and then taught in further education and in the health service both in the UK and in Australia. Geraldine’s research interests lie in the field of professional learning across the educa­tion and health sectors and she has investigated uses of knowledge in nursing practice, midwives use of knowledge in health education of women, and Early Years graduate leaders use of their knowledge to impact on their leadership practice, a three-year funded study into the impact of graduate leader status on outcomes for children. Her work successfully integrates teaching and research. She leads the Masters degree in Early Years Professional Practice, with students who are graduate leaders in their work settings. This has been an exciting venture demonstrating the continued value of pro­fessional development for the early childhood workforce beyond graduate status. Research based on this work has led to an emerging theory of leadership in early childhood settings. She teaches human development, leadership and professional issues, and research methodology and supervises students undertaking Masters and Doctoral research studies.

 

About the Contributors

Celia Doyle is a Research Associate with the University of Northampton. Formerly, as Senior Lecturer at the University she taught child development, welfare and protection in the Schools of Health and Education. Earlier in her career she specialised in child­care and protection, initially as a local authority social worker then as an NSPCC team member. She has published extensively on childcare and protection and has recently published the fourth edition of Working with Abused Children. With co-author Charles Timms, she has written a forthcoming book on child neglect and emotional abuse. A key theme of her current research is how children, especially those experiencing emotional distress, can be helped to communicate their experiences, emotions, opin­ions and wishes.

Libby Lee Hammond is Associate Professor of early childhood education at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. Areas of special interest include social justice, Aboriginal education, bush schools (outdoor learning) and the use of technologies to support teaching and learning. Her current research focuses on partnerships between Aboriginal communities and schools, in particular the transition to school, school engagement and retention of young Aboriginal children.

Gill Handley is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Northampton, teaching on the BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies, Sure Start Foundation degree and Early Years Professional programmes. Her background is in social work, having over twenty years’ experience working in a variety of adoption and child protection roles, most recently as a manager in the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, representing the interests of children in court proceedings. She has also taught on the Open University social work programmes and acted as a mentor and supervisor for post-qualifying awards in social work.

Tania Hart is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health in the School of Health at the University of Northampton. Tania’s background is in mental health nursing whereby, as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, Tania worked in the field of child and adolescent men­tal health and, more specifically, children’s eating disorders. Tania is particularly inter­ested in how children’s mental health can be better supported by non-health professionals, such as teachers and nursery care workers, and at present Tania is undertaking a PhD study that looks to explore how children with identified mental health difficulties can be better supported in mainstream education.

Denise Hevey is Professor of Early Years and Head of the Division of Early Years in the School of Education, University of Northampton. Her background includes the production of distance-learning materials in areas such as child abuse and neglect, and in working with children and young people. She also has particular knowledge of relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, and government policy relating to children’s services from experience at a senior level in Ofsted and the (former) Department for Education and Skills.

Christine Hickman has taught in secondary, primary and special schools in Leicestershire. She moved into being a Learning and Support Advisor for Leicester City LEA, having autism as her specialism. She has worked in higher education since 2000, having been at the University of Northampton before moving to Liverpool John Moores University. Her academic background is in both art and special educational needs. At Northampton, Christine was School of Education Art coordinator and taught on all Initial Teacher Training courses. Christine has an interest in creative and therapeutic approaches, especially in the fields of art and music. She is involved in various international link pro­grammes, especially in Sweden. She is Programme Leader for the PGCE Early Years programme at LJMU. In addition, Christine teaches across several programmes, including the MA programme and both postgraduate and undergraduate ITT courses.

Caroline Jones is Course Director for the Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degree in Early Years (SEFDEY) at the University of Warwick. She started her career as a teacher in mainstream primary and special education, working across the Midlands area for fifteen years. Caroline first joined the University of Warwick in 1994 as a part-time associate tutor on the undergraduate teacher-training programme (BA QTS). She taught on a variety of programmes and assumed responsibility for the Early Years Foundation Degree when it was introduced in 2001. She is a founder member of the National SEFDEY Network and Chair of the Midlands Region.

Kyffin Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Northampton. Prior to joining the university, Kyffin worked as an advisory teacher for SEN and has taught in both special and mainstream schools in the UK and the USA. Currently he has responsibility for the Erasmus programme at the School of Education and facilitates study visits to Sweden and The Netherlands with groups of students. Current research is focused on the nature of ‘fitting in’ at school and the implications of this for inclusive practice.

Paulette Luff joined Anglia Ruskin University in 2003 and is currently a senior lec­turer in the Department of Education. She currently leads the MA course in Early Childhood Professional Practice and is also convenor of the Early Childhood Research Group. Paulette has worked in the field of early childhood throughout her career as a teacher, foster carer, school–home liaison worker, nursery practitioner and advisor, and as a lecturer in further education.

Eunice Lumsden is Head of Early Years at the University of Northampton. Prior to joining the university she was a social work practitioner. She has contributed to a number of research projects and her doctoral research was into the development of the Early Years Professional.

Jane Murray is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton where she has led on the MA Education (Early Years) and the early years undergraduate teacher training programme. Jane currently works as a researcher within the Centre for Education and Research at The University of Northampton; she has a varied port­folio which includes project work for the EU Commission and the Norwegian and Georgian governments as well as small-scale neighbourhood projects. Jane’s specialist research interests include early childhood pedagogies, epistemology and young chil­dren’s agency and participation; she has numerous publications in these areas. Jane supervises PhD students and continues to do some teaching on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Before moving to work in higher education, Jane was an early years and primary teacher and she is a qualified headteacher.

Jane O’Connor is a Senior Researcher in early years at Birmingham City University. Her background is in education and she worked as a primary school teacher before entering academia. Her thesis on child stardom formed the basis of her first book, which was published by Routledge in 2008. Her research interests lie with representa­tions of children in the media, especially ‘exceptional’ children and child stars. Jane is currently working on a project investigating parental attitudes towards 0–3-year-olds’ use of touch screen technology. She is also co-authoring a paper on the child stars of the 2012 London Olympics.

Sharon Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Early Years and Child Health at the University of Northampton. Sharon has a varied background in child health, trained as a chil­dren’s nurse and is an experienced health visitor. Sharon led the Health Visiting course at the University and is now course leader for the Foundation Degree in Early Years. Her teaching focus is predominantly child and family health promotion. She is cur­rently a doctoral student; her research interests include infant nutrition, maternal mental health and the role of non-health professionals in supporting health outcomes.

Prospera Tedam is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Northampton, where she has worked since 2006. A qualified and registered social worker by training, Prospera has worked in the statutory and voluntary sectors since qualifying in 1996, specialising in Children and Family Social Work. Prospera is currently undertaking a professional doctorate and has research interests in equality and diversity, cultural competence and social justice and is a member of the Independent Family Returns Panel at the Home Office.

Helen Tovey is Principal Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Roehampton, London, where she teaches on BA and MA and professional develop­ment courses. Her main research interests are outdoor play and young children’s risk-taking outdoors. Helen is a Froebel-trained teacher and a former nursery school headteacher. She is author of numerous texts, including Playing Outdoors, Spaces and Places, Risk and Challenge, published by Open University Press (2007), and Bringing the Froebel Approach to your Early Years Practice, published by Routledge (2013).

Jane Waters is the Director of Primary Initial Teacher Education and Training in the South West Wales Centre of Teacher Education at University of Wales Trinity Saint David: Swansea Metropolitan. Jane lectures in outdoor play and learning, adult–child interaction, early years education and the ethics of research with young children. Current research projects include working with international colleagues to consider pedagogical intersubjectivity in early education contexts in different countries.

Michael Wyness is an Associate Professor in Childhood Studies in the Institute of Education. His research interests are in the sociologies of childhood and education. His book Childhood and Society (2006, Palgrave) has just gone into a second edition (2012). His previous books were Contesting Childhood (1999) and Schooling Welfare and Parental Responsibility (1995), both published by RoutledgeFalmer. His research interests are in children’s participation, childhood and theory, children’s transitions and home–school relations.