BERA EC sig/TACTYC events
Tues, 30th April 2013, 11.00-15.45
Faculty of Education, Health and Social Care,
University of Winchester,
West Hill, Winchester SO22 4NR
King Alfred Campus, St Edburga Building, rooms
303 & 301
Poster summaries
1. Assessment practice: A game of two halves?
Jo Basford, Manchester Metropolitan University
Summary
To work with a student group to obtain a collection of data through: documentary evidence, focus
group discussion, practitioner journals and the provision of an online focus group. The group is made
up of practitioners in their final year of a BA Early Years & Childhood Studies course. They will share
their experiences of assessment practice in order to gain understanding of how they attempt to
mediate national policy assessment expectations with their own philosophical positioning.
Early findings indicate pressure to conform to school readiness and adopting a technical approach to
assessment, whilst being able to do ‘what is right’ for the children. Implications for the study are
around using documentation and assessment that allows for authentic judgements of children’s
interests, attitudes and learning dispositions, as well as authentically giving a voice and agency to the
child and family in the assessment process.
2. Policy pressures and desirable practice: Are our schools allowed to be ready for our children?
Dr Philip Hood, The University of Nottingham
Summary
As Whitebread and Bingham (2012) conclude: 'The
problem
is
not
that
children
are
not
ready
for
school, but
that our
schools
are
not
ready
for
children.
' Readiness is a
complex concept for this reason. Policy documents in England tend to emphasise the need for
children to be made ready for schools and lay this out as a necessary step to address in-built
inequalities in our society. But elsewhere in the world, for example Northern Europe, there is a
greater emphasis on social-emotional capabilities and on children's individual developmental
timeline, ie a willingness on the part of settings to be ready for children. This poster takes the above
quotation as an organiser to look at literature under the headings of different types of development:
cognitive; social and emotional; physical; neural and to consider where a further literature review, as
a developmental aspect of this collaboration between BERA and TACTYC, might begin.
3. The ‘School Readiness’ Discourse of Early Pedagogy
Dr. Guy Roberts-Holmes, Institute of Education, University of London
Summary
Discourses of ‘school readiness’, along with an intensification of marketisation policies, are apparent
in an increasing range of Government early intervention policies, for example, More Great Childcare
(DfE, 2013). Critics argue that rather than focusing upon the richness of children’s early learning,
such policies tend to focus upon deficit parenting (Whitbread & Bingham, 2012).
Nursery, reception and head teachers were involved in focus group discussions around the various
understandings of ‘school readiness’ and the impacts of this discourse upon early years pedagogy
and in particular upon approaches to play.
Findings indicate that the school readiness discourse focuses upon predetermined performance
criteria thus affecting pedagogy, for example, the imposed systematic teaching of phonics in the
early years (Moss, 2013). In a similar way, the normativity and perfomativity of schools’ ‘standards
agendas’ impact upon practitioners’ interpretations of what counts as children’s play so that
interventions become directed to meeting adult-imposed targets (Rogers, 2010).
Implications are that the paper critically examines the impact of the ‘school readiness’ and
increased marketisation discourse upon early years pedagogy, suggesting that any such relationship
between the early years and compulsory schooling needs to be understood within a wider historical
and political context.
4. Landscapes of Love: Stories and poems about love in Early Childhood Education and Care
contexts
Sarah Cousins, University of Bedfordshire
Summary
This poster builds on Page’s (2011) call to develop a language about “professional love”. The
government notes that “high quality early education and childcare, delivered with love and care, can
have a powerful impact on young children” (DfE 2013, p.13) and suggests that relationships should
be “warm and loving” (Early Education 2012, p.2). The word ‘love’ is on the page.
The government acknowledges the need for a “quality workforce” (DfE 2012c, p.7). To this end, it
commissioned an independent inquiry into training routes into the profession. In this review,
Nutbrown stresses the need for “infant-appropriate pedagogies of looking, listening and loving” (DfE
2012a p.51) and suggests that practitioners should provide “the warmth and love children need to
develop emotionally” (DfE 2012b, p.19). There is an acknowledgement that high quality care and
education encompasses ‘love’. The inquiry, however, was taken up to a disappointingly limited
extent.
The research adopts a narrative inquiry approach, with some findings presented through poetry, to
convey the research messages in a different form and with the aim of standing out of the page,
being read out loud and having an impact on policy.
The findings tell five stories of very experienced practitioners from diverse educational, cultural and
social backgrounds, and working in contrasting outer London settings. Explaining how they bring
their understanding of love, learned through their own life experiences of it, to develop unique,
holistic, loving approaches.
The implications are that training programmes and policy documents should focus on the
importance of adopting a reflexive and conscious pedagogy, whereby practitioners articulate their
unique approaches, develop their personal strengths and interests and are open about the
importance of love.
5. Mathematical semiosis in pretend play: situated, mediated and meaningful
Maulfry Worthington, Doctoral student at Vrije University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Summary
The aim is to trace the genesis of young children’s mathematical graphics in their social pretend play
to identify cultural and social influences on children’s representations and how these contribute to
their developing semiotic modes and mathematical thinking.
Drawing on a cultural-historical perspective of learning and play (Vygotsky, 1976) it is informed by
social-semiotic research. Using longitudinal, ethnographic case studies of young children, (aged 3-4
years) the data gathered in an inner-city nursery in the south west of England. (BERA’s ethical
guidelines underpinned this research) includes written observations and photographs of the
children’s pretend play and graphicacy. Analysis is supported by computer assisted qualitative data
analysis software (CAQDAS) - ‘ATLAS-ti’. Analysis of the visual data is within an interpretative
paradigm, drawing on social semiotic research including Vygotsky’s (1978), and Kress’s research on
multimodality (1997).
The findings of this data include:
 Analysis of the data showed that the culturally situated contexts of the children’s play
narratives provided rich opportunities for children to explore their ‘funds of knowledge’,
(Moll et al., 1992).
 The children’s understandings of graphicacy and mathematics were most highly developed
in sustained play episodes, allowing ideas to be explored and developed, and sometimes revisited over time.
 The children spontaneously explored a wide range of graphics including mathematical, to
communicate to their peers.
 They explored a diverse range of genres in their writing and mathematical graphics.
 The findings reinforce the view of young children as powerful, capable and curious learners,
pointing to democratic, post-structural perspectives of early childhood education.
Implications: Children’s social pretend play and graphicacy need to be better understood;
recognition should be given to the spontaneous mathematical concepts and cultural knowledge
children children develop within their play; and the social and cultural aspects of writing and
mathematics are best understood in play, rather than in the current ‘skills-based’ teaching
6. Graduate leaders and impact, a regional study
Dr Geraldine Davis, Anglia Ruskin University
Summary
The study aimed to explore the impact of Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) on outcomes for
children in one county of England. Through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus
groups with Early Years Professionals (EYPs) and those they work with, data collection was carried
out in 2010, 2011 and 2012. A documentary analysis of Ofsted reports was also carried out in 2012.
The research was funded by Essex County Council and the findings indicate:
 Early Years Professional Status is having a positive impact on outcomes for children against
all five outcome areas of Every Child Matters. Outcomes are enabled through engagement
with children, parents and staff.
 Access to continuing professional development and networking opportunities provided by
the local authority were very important factors following achievement of EYPS. They
enabled greater application of knowledge and understanding and further improved practice,
resulting in a positive impact for children.
 There are challenges in giving EYPs financial recognition, which are exacerbated by sector
constraints.
Consideration should be given to modelling the continuing professional development and
networking provision within this local authority at a national level. The sector is under financial
pressure, and relies on parental incomes. The government should acknowledge and address the
financial implications for settings employing an Early Years Professional or Early Years Teacher
(Truss, 2013) by supporting pay and conditions equivalent to primary school teachers. The transition
from EYP to Early Years Teacher with QTS needs to be handled sensitively so that the huge resource
within the EYPs is valued and continues to be used to optimal effect in improving outcomes for
children.
7. Comparative curriculum of Home Nations
Nicky Hirst and Diane Boyd, Liverpool John Moores University
Summary
Through leading an Effective Pedagogy module, there was a realisation that there was a lack of any
supporting literature for students that detailed the 4 different approaches when considering the 4
Home Nations early years curricula. Practice based research was organised for the module, initially
using video links linking with practitioners/lecturers/researchers in the University of Highlands and
Islands in Perthshire, Scotland, and of Stranmillis University College in Belfast.
A Welsh practitioner cascaded to the students about the Welsh Foundation phase before the
students visited 2 Welsh schools to see it in practice. One visit was to consider ‘thinking skills’ as part
of the approach and the other visit to look at Forest school/outdoor learning. This consolidated the
theoretical aspect of the curriculum, as the Welsh approach has many characteristics of NI and
Scotland.
After visiting 3 very diverse settings in Scotland to support our understanding of their curriculum,
the Scottish practitioners are interested in furthering the visit by collaborating in a student text book
that compares the 4 Home Nations. This student text book has been mentioned to Sage publications
as a possible book proposal. In June a visit to NI has been arranged to visit settings and meet with
Glenda Walsh who was the video link for the module and has also shown interest in writing from the
NI perspective in the student book. The aims are to explore the possibility of a student text book
that discusses the differences and similarities of the 4 countries of the UK.
8. Perception, promotion and participation: a collaborative research project between UK and
Sweden
Sally Palmer and Sian Wyman, University of Gloucestershire
Summary
The research aims to develop a virtual learning environment (VLE), by setting up an ‘Early Year’s
Sweden Online discussion forum’ to promote international peer-shared learning and research
interests between UoG students and practitioners in Stockholm and students at Stockholm
University. Also to evaluate:
 the learning experiences of ECS degree students visiting early years settings in a foreign
country and clarify ways in which such experiences have an impact upon their principles and
practice and
 the learning experiences of ECS degree students using the VLE, to clarify ways in which such
experiences have an impact upon their principles and practice.
 Finally, to create a reciprocal visit from Sweden to Gloucestershire’s Early Years settings to
increase opportunities for interactive learning and student participation.
Research Methods include qualitative and quantitative data via
 Questionnaires
 Interviews
 VLE participation tracking
The findings are on-going; by the date of the meeting we will have initial findings to present
The implications of the research project are that data will be used to inform and improve the
structure, participation and delivery of learning and teaching strategies in HE and create wider
participation and collaboration between practitioners, students, settings and the university.
It is hoped that the findings of the research project will be of much interest to all those working in
Children’s Services, educational settings and professional training institutions.
9. Steiner Education- Expansion in England
Sylvia Turner, University of Winchester
Summary
Evidence from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2012) suggests
that in countries in Europe where there is more diversity and greater parental involvement, the
quality of education is significantly higher. In England, there is the potential for significant expansion
in Steiner education due to current government policy which reflects this research as is evident with
the introduction of academy and free school status whereby such schools can apply for government
funding.

Are there major characteristics of Steiner education which cross cultural and national
boundaries?
 What national influences affect the process of the proliferation or scarcity of Steiner
schools?
 Can cross national generalisations be used in evaluating Steiner education?
 Are there key strengths that can be drawn from Steiner education which are applicable to a
range of schooling?
The research was an exploratory study of alternative practices to illuminate practice in England. Two
elements to the design include a case study approach to selected schools in England and a sample of
European countries chosen for logistic reasons and desk databases.
Preliminary evidence indicates that although there are similarities between Steiner schools in
Europe and England in terms of philosophy, there are significant differences, in size, funding and the
curriculum which would be beyond variables in a particular community. Viability in terms of funding
would seem to be one indicator of the quality of provision on offer.
Considerations are that although the OECD research validates the Steiner approach, it is
questionable whether the evidence can be generalised outside Germany on which the evidence was
based either by country or school. There will be further research, such as visits to schools in England
that have applied for free schools status and further visits to European schools, along with further
desk-based research analysis of key principles
10. Movement for Learning
Pat Preedy, Workplace outreach tutor at University of Winchester for the Master’s Programme
Summary
Primitive reflexes located in the brain stem are necessary for the birth process and for early survival.
By about 12 months of age, the primitive reflexes should be replaced by postural reflexes (located in
the mid brain) enabling maintenance of the head and trunk in a specific position when the body
position is altered. (Refer to Annex 1; Goddard Blythe, S.,(2005) The Well Balanced Child, Hawthorn
Press, UK) Primitive reflexes may be retained as a result of some problem during the development of
the foetus and/or during the birth process. They may also remain if children do not have a variety of
movement and play opportunities during early childhood. Retention of the primitive reflexes and
failure to develop the postural reflexes affects the following which are the necessary physical
foundations for successful learning: balance, auditory processing, visual processing, muscle tone, coordination, posture, fine motor skills, left/right orientation, hand-eye co-ordination. Sensory systems
need to be developed and integrated in order for the child to be able to process information
accurately and efficiently. Difficulties with reading, writing and spelling are frequently linked to
immature physical development.
The original research was funded by the Welsh Lottery. A movement programme for multiple birth
children was developed aiming to provide opportunities for: parents to develop a close and trusting
bond with each individual child; multiple birth children to develop identity and individuality;
multiples to develop their relationship with each other; multiples to experience a range of
movements to help to develop their motor and sensory systems requiring minimum equipment.
Research methods include qualitative research carried out in 12 case studies, working intensively
with families over a 12 month period.
Findings indicate that parents identified the following benefits from the programme:
 the treasure basket method enabled them to focus on one child whilst keeping the other
occupied; the method worked best with babies and children up to about 14 months –
parents then adapted the treasure basket with activities;

parents were able to focus on one child in order to develop a bond with each child as an
individual;
 each child had an opportunity to develop his or her identity and relationship with the parent
as an individual;
 the programme involved all of the family with older and younger siblings being able to join
in;
 the multiples learnt to play together, take turns and to occupy themselves individually;
 the movements were beneficial for motor and sensory development;
 The programme was a framework upon which they could build; having gained confidence
they added further songs, movements and experiences.
Implications for the research include that Physical Development has been identified as one of the
core areas of learning: how can parents and settings ensure that children are provided with
appropriate opportunities?
Following this and other research: The Movement for Multiples Programme is available on the
Tamba website; The ‘Ready, Steady. Go’ programme has been developed for parents of singletons
(birth to 3 years) and the school programme ‘Stretch and Learn’ from 3 months to 5 years.
11. Space Matters: young children’s experiences of active physical play
Ros Garrick, Sheffield Hallam University
Summary
There is increasing concern in the UK about the incidence of preventable illnesses, such as diabetes,
linked to rising obesity levels. Researchers argue that this relates to life-style changes over recent
decades, particularly changes in diet and physical activity levels from childhood onwards. Recent
government policies promote young children’s health and wellbeing, as, for example, the revised
Early Years Foundation Stage that highlights Physical Development as a prime area of learning and
development, with related learning goals. Set against this, there is no current requirement for early
years settings to have outdoor space and, most recently, a DfE (2013) report proposes loosening
regulations relating to indoor floorspace. Given this context, the research aims were to explore
young children’s experience of active physical play across sixteen early years settings as well as the
affordances of physical environments in supporting and motivating such play.
The study used a range of participatory methods to access the perspectives of three to five years
olds. Researchers worked with children to create personalised books, using digital photographs of
the physical environment and children’s comments on their ‘best’ day at the setting. They invited
children to lead setting tours, using a visiting teddy or puppet with younger children. Further
methods were participant observation and conversational interviews focused on photographs in
children’s records.
Findings: some settings offered limited opportunities for active play indoors; outdoor opportunities
varied in terms of the range of activities and levels of challenge; and some children appeared critical
of provision or unengaged.
Implications: I argue that that the availability of space is one of a range of factors affecting young
children’s enjoyment of and motivation to engage in physically active play. Therefore, the
availability, size and quality of indoor and outdoor spaces matters if early years settings are to meet
important government aims for children’s health and physical wellbeing.
12. A Map of Learning. Learning: what matters to children
Diane Rich, Rich Learning Opportunities
Summary
The study aims to demonstrate that looking at what learners do is a good way for educators to learn
more about learning, to support educators in seeing more clearly and more completely the depth
and richness of children’s learning and to build on the themes of the initial 2005 project, ‘First hand
experience: what matters to children.’
Methods involved a joint project conducted by three consultants, working collaboratively;
 Analysis of evidence relating to worthwhile children’s learning from an eclectic range of
thinkers, both contemporary and historical.
 Observation of, and semi-structured interview/informal conversations with, children and
educators in schools and other settings for young children.
 Critical reflections on their own work with children from birth to 11, their work with
educators, their reading, their research, evaluation and development projects.
 Examination of ‘learning stories’- educators’ accounts of children learning from first hand
experiences.
 Regular dialogue/ongoing debate with a team of professional education
consultants/researchers to clarify and develop issues as they arose.
 Analysis of feedback from over 4000 delegates at conferences throughout UK to whom our
work was introduced.
The findings confirm of the necessity of first-hand experience as the basis for worthwhile learning
and that children’s learning can be represented in four inter-related domains of children’s
spontaneous activity: being in the world, acting on the world, exploring the world and thinking about
the world. These four domains relate to ‘what matters to children’ as introduced in the first project,
but have been significantly redesigned in light of findings in the follow-up project. The effective
characteristics of children’s learning/the richness of what learners do are identified in a map of
learning. Educators respond positively to new ways of thinking, ‘big ideas’, ‘food & exercise’, ‘what
matters to children’.
The project documentation, ‘Learning: what matters to children;’
 Supports educators in reviewing the quality of their provision for all the different things that
learners do.
 It helps them to think about learners and what learners do.
 It encourages them to consider the consequences of the choices they make, and more
accurately evaluate the worthwhileness of the children’s learning.
13. Early years practitioners and children in the social practice of interprofessional working
Dr Jane Payler, University of Winchester; Dr Jan Georgeson, Plymouth University
Summary
Aims: To analyse the participation of early years staff (EYPS and level 3 practitioners) and children in
the complex social practice of interprofessional practice in different types of early years settings in
England. Early years practitioners, few with training for interprofessional practice, play a key role in
the care and education of young children identified as having special needs in England. However, the
ways in which they work interprofessionally to meet children’s special needs, and young children’s
participation in this, are under-researched and under-developed, particularly outside children’s
centres.
Study: theoretical framework was based on Social Practice Theory (Holland and Lave, 2009) and
concepts of personal action potency in trajectories of participation (Dreier, 1999; 2002; 2008).
Design included a survey (N=52) and case studies (N=5) involving in total 61 early years practitioners.
Methods comprised video observations, semi-structured and informal interviews, questionnaires,
field and diary notes. Analysis was structured around qualitative, iterative and inductive
interpretation of video data supported by interviews, field and diary notes and survey data. The
case studies examined the distinct features of interprofessional practice as exemplified in the daily
lives of the young children and how the children and staff participate in and react to such practice.
Findings and implications: resources and constraints of structural arrangements, interpersonal
relationships, history and contentions influenced practitioners’ and children’s participation in
interprofessional practice, but were not entirely deterministic. Analysis of children’s participation is
on-going. The potential to act to provide interprofessionally designed and implemented care and
education for young children is a shared capacity in settings, and practitioners' competence in
boundary crossing can contribute to this. Attention to the features identified in our analysis could
further enhance that capacity.
14. How are inclusive environments created for children with chronic health condition
(anaphylaxis, asthma, diabetes, eczema and epilepsy)?
Jackie Musgrave, University of Worcester
Summary
This small-scale study aims to explore how practitioners adapt the EYFS in order to make an inclusive
environment for children with chronic health conditions. It used mixed methods approach of postal
survey to 60 settings (33% return rate) and 4 case studies with interviews and observations. Findings
indicate:
 Parents and practitioners working together are essential
 Knowledge and training is essential to give practitioners confidence to make adaptations to
the environment and activities in order to include children in the setting with chronic health
conditions
 Adapting the environment and activities – innovation and imagination are necessary
because sensory and outdoor play can be challenges for children with chronic health
conditions
 Creating safe places for food: is a source of tension for practitioners trying to balance social
inclusion and safety for children with potentially fatal allergies who require dietary needs
 Young children exhibit behavior that suggests they make connections between the
symptoms of their condition and how to reduce the impact.
Implications of the study relate to challenges for practitioners considering adaptations for children
with chronic health conditions, the role of parents and others as advocates, tensions for
practitioners balancing the safety needs with social and inclusive practice and training, which is
essential but not always easily accessible.
15. Emotion coaching: a strategy for supporting and promoting sustainable emotional and
behavioural well-being in babies and young children through the adoption of emotion coaching
techniques into community – wide professional and parental practice
Dr Janet Rose, Bath Spa University
Summary
The research is based on the premise that emotion coaching (Gottman, Katz and Hooven, 1997,
Havighurst et al, 2009) promotes empathetic communication that supports self-management of
behaviour/emotions and the promotion of resilience, and is supported by neuroscience (Gerdes,
Segal, Jackson & Mulllins, 2011, Shonkoff Lantieri, 2008; Klein & Knitzer, 2006). The technique
endorses development and practice of a repertoire of supportive internal and external socioemotional regulatory skills.
Participants (parents and multi-agency professionals from early years settings within disadvantaged
rural areas) were trained in emotion coaching techniques. Over one year they were supported by
network/booster meetings to adopt, adapt and sustain emotion coaching into their practice.
Within ethical research guidelines, the impact on the adults and children was assessed through
quantitative and qualitative measures. Findings included;
 Emotion coaching promotes young children’s self-awareness of their emotions, positive selfregulation of their behaviour and generates nurturing relationships with babies.

It enables adults to communicate more effectively, sensitively and consistently with children
in stressful situations and helps to de-escalate volatile situations.
 Through using emotion coaching, adults find difficult situations less stressful and exhausting
with a positive impact on adult well-being, as well as children's.
Emotion coaching provides a contextual model for promoting empathetic responses and thought
constructions that support behavioural self-management in young children as well as nurturing and
emotionally supporting relationships which can provide optimal contexts for the promotion of
resilience and sustainable futures. The technique can be used to generate a community-wide,
consistent approach to supporting young children's well-being.
16. The Birth of the Young Artist
Suzy Tutchell, University of Winchester
Summary
“Child art is the most beautiful and most precious. I value highly those things done by small children.
They are the first and purest source of artistic creation.” (Franz Cizek)
‘Young Children as Artists’, due for publication in September 2013, examines the birth of young art.
From the moment a child is born, they interact with the sensory world, looking at colours, feeling
textures; making mental and physical images of what they see and experience. Such encounters
form the foundations of early art experiences. They make available to children a richness of
opportunity to investigate ideas and feelings in relation to an external world of things seen and an
internal world of things imagined. Art allows our youngest children to share their inner worlds in
ways that cannot be as easily communicated through other forms. It is a richly expresssive domain
translated, particularly for the pre-verbal child, through making and creating – a language which is
about their hands, eyes and minds. Art motivates a young child’s embodied imagination where they
are able to transcend and interpret a space which can tell themselves about themselves.
Young children’s sensorimotor skills, combined with their developing sensory awareness, cast
moments of great power in the making experience as they continue to discover aspects of their
emerging and expressively alert characters. Their ability to work as ‘artists’ is unselfconscious and
dynamic. Young children have a capacity to create art in a way that is abstract to the adult
perception. Their ability to wildly create, uninhibited by expectation and stringent rules, affords
them the title of contemporary artists. They are the artists of the here and now and their art is,
therefore of today.
As art and early years educators, we are acutely aware of the significant benefits art makes to
children’s overall development. In art, young children learn ways of experiencing, developing,
representing and understanding ideas, emotions, values and cultural beliefs. They learn to take risks,
be imaginative, explore alternative solutions and develop skills. Some of this, it could be argued, are
only collectively so possible in the visual arts as it asks the individual to engage in their own unique
way and continues to do so for a lifetime of experiences.
The ‘allure’ of art is one to be felt early in childhood; the need to make a mark on a steamed-up
window or sculpt castles out of sand. Such a desire does not disappear with the demise of childhood.
If we, as adults, remember what it is to be the young artist, we can begin to thoroughly enjoy that
experience too, and that, is what forms the content of ‘Young Children as Artists’
(Published by Routledge, September 2013)
17. What is it like to be two?
Penny Lawrence, University of Winchester
Summary
The pilot study for my doctoral thesis aims to develop the methods and background knowledge I will
use later to undertake my main thesis. The rationale for making this study is that the expectations
placed on two year olds are often based on the expectations of older children and according to the
agendas of adults, such as classroom management. The context is that an increasing number of
children are currently being placed within institutional settings as part of the Two Year Old
Entitlement policy of the UK Government. I wish to study what can be known about the two year old
children's experience.
The key research method is derived from social semiotics, I video children and use multi-modal
analysis (Norris 2004). The video allows me to study the children's experience through their speech,
intonation, gaze, facial expressions, gestures and movements, when they "think with their hands". I
am particularly interested in moments when children make decisions. I consider what we can know,
and how this method may help us know, imagine and interpret the experience of these two year
olds. I consider moments of inter-subjectivity, of encounters between self and other, as part of the
process of constructing a sense of identity in the young child (Dalli et al, 2011 and Stern 2004).
Where the focus children families consent we may also record the child in familial settings,
Vanenbroeck (2009) identifies that this is an area of the child's experience that is rarely inquired
into, and yet, as Brooker argues (2011), knowledge of what happens outside the setting can change
our perspective on provision within the setting.
The research work is still in progress.
Implications: Observations, pedagogy in the early years workforce, and parental involvement in the
two-year old check.
18. Sustained Shared Thinking: The Dance of Interaction
Dr Bridget Egan and Penny Lawrence, University of Winchester
Summary
In the UK, the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project paid particular attention to
the role of extended child and adult-initiated conversations (‘sustained shared thinking’ (SST) – Sylva
et al.: 2003) as an important element or indicator of high quality in the practice of successful early
years settings. The focus on SST has been largely on the verbal and mathematical. This poster
extends the research of SST into the non-verbal interactions between adult and child. The
philosophical question of where ‘meaning’ can be said to exist is at the heart of this exploration;
Mercer and Littleton (2007) propose an ‘Intermental Development Zone’ in meaningful educational
dialogue. The research aims to increase the understanding of SST in Early Years Education.
Derived from the paradigm of social semiotics, the methodology uses fine-grained multi-modal video
analysis (Norris, 2011) of critical episodes of inter-subjective interaction (Trevarthen and Schögler,
2007). This methodology foregrounds where the attention of the children is and indicates potential
meaning making. The small unit of analysis is also informed by Stern (2004)'s thinking about The
Present Moment and the position of the adult in the research is informed by Buber’s (1937) I-You
dialogic relationships. The study is informed by multi-modality (jewitt and Oyama, 2001) and
embodiment (Daum, 2009) which value non-verbal communication and meaning making particularly
important in the understanding of younger children.
The pilot material has had an impact on the understanding of SST with Early Years specialists on the
BA Primary Education degree at The University of Winchester. The work is on-going research in
progress.
Trainee Teachers and those Continuing Professional Development can access and increase
understanding of SST through awareness of embodiment and the use of multi-modal video analysis.