Dr Susan Allingham - Nominated by Kathryn Solly
Dr Susan Allingham would make an ideal trustee for Early Education in my opinion due to
her longstanding role and responsibilities in local authorities taking a lead responsibility for
Early Years. Within her role in public life she has built up a broad and rich experience of
strategic planning, alongside the many varied skills of administration, finance, and legal
aspects of committee life. She also understands the difficulties of leading in these times of
austerity.
She is a longstanding member of Early Education who attends AGM’s and some events
when finances allow. Sue has a very wide experience of Early Years and its breadth across
the maintained and PVI sectors.
Sue is also well versed in working in deprived and affluent areas alongside multi ethnic, multi
cultural settings and schools. Her doctorate and other writing has provided teachers and
practitioners with clear yet creative documentation, which have enhanced their specific
knowledge, skills and expertise of such areas as transition which was hugely beneficial to
the whole staff team as well as children and families.
In my opinion she is a highly competent professional who is trustworthy, honest, hardworking
and thoroughly committed to the importance of the principles of Early Education. She
displays excellent judgement, good communication and consultation skills alongside sound
diplomacy skills. She is well used to working as part of a team and the various challenges
that brings in terms of personalities, strengths and weaknesses. She also recognises the
importance of high quality CPD and the value of Performance Management when extending
the qualities of a working team. I take great pleasure in wholeheartedly recommending her.
Sandra Mathers - Nominated by Kathy Silva
Sandra Mathers is a senior researcher and Principal Investigator at the University of Oxford.
Her main research interests are the quality of early years education and care, and the
relationships between quality and children’s development. Sandra’s research is strongly
policy-focused, and she has led a number of large-scale government evaluations of early
childhood initiatives. Recent research studies have included the Evaluation of the Graduate
Leader Fund, the Evaluation of the Early Education Pilot for Two Year Old Children,
Improving Quality in the Early Years, Sound Foundations and, most recently, Quality and
Inequality, which considered whether disadvantaged three and four year olds receive
comparable quality early years provision to children from more advantaged backgrounds.
Sandra’s research has had significant policy impact, and she is a regular adviser to
government. Outside her work at the University Sandra is a co-Director of A+ Education,
which supports local authorities and early years practitioners in improving early years quality,
and is a co-convener of the local authority ‘ECERS’ Quality Improvement Network. Through
these roles, Sandra has developed an excellent understanding of early years research,
policy and practice. She has experience in leading the development of small-to-mediumsized organisations, as co-founder of A+ Education Ltd. She is currently leading its move
towards becoming a social enterprise – Early Years Research in Action - to more fully reflect
the organisation’s values and ethos. She brings strategic planning skills and vision, as well
as the interpersonal skills needed to work within a team and to manage challenges positively
and creatively. Sandra would be delighted to have the opportunity to serve as a trustee of
Early Education.