Within professional development (PD), reflection is recognised as a key ingredient to developing high quality practice, however less is known about the context and mechanisms needed to enable this in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. This article explores video enhanced reflective practice (VERP), an innovative model of…

This paper draws on my experience working as a special needs support staff member in a special school in the UK for young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) issues. The purpose of this paper is to share my understanding of practices that enable staff in an SEMH school to attend to the needs of their students. Although I have…

The percentage of care-experienced young people in England progressing to university by the age of 19 currently stands at around 12-13% with a further 10% of care-experienced adults attending university during their 20s and 30s. This figure remains lower than both the general population and other groups of disadvantaged learners. It is well…

Political impetuses for raising the professional status of the careers sector in England have spanned more than a decade, driving an assiduous pursuit for professionalisation linked to the training and upskilling of its workforce. This paper builds on previous work by the authors and explores the necessity, and integration of theory for practice…

In 2019, the English government embarked upon revision to the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) document and to associated non-statutory guidance. At the time, concerns were raised that early childhood experts were insufficiently involved in drafting the document. Consequently, an Early Years Coalition of early childhood organisations…

This study aims to explore pupils' views on writing in primary school through focus group interviews conducted in the North East of England with children aged 7-11 years old. Pupils' views templates were used to stimulate children's ideas about their thoughts and feelings towards writing and acted as a starting point for discussion. All children…

Action learning has evolved with multiple variants and a multiplicity of interpretations which have moved it away from Revans Classical Principles. This account of practice describes the use of an adapted action learning set within the legal profession with a specific focus on a 'provided' problem and collective reflective practice in the form of…

Background: An earlier article in this journal provided a mapping of primary science teacher assessment practices in England using teacher reflections written for Round 4 of the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM). Purpose: In the intervening years, the National Curriculum and statutory assessment system of levels has been replaced with a system…

Reflective essays have become common in higher education, especially for modules and programmes focused on the development of practical skills. This paper analyses the efficacy of reflective essays specifically for social research methods education and training. In order to do so, a thematic analysis of qualitative survey data from undergraduate…

Pedagogic mediation from Pedagogy-in-Participation in Portugal, as a context-specific approach to professional development, provides a participatory framework through which practice enhancements are supported. This research introduced ten ECEC leaders and mentors, within a specific local authority in England, to the democratic nature of pedagogic…

I have had a close and long-standing relationship with the IOE (Institute of Education), UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (University College London, UK). In order to understand why and how for many years the IOE became my 'second home', I infuse this article with a combination of critical academic and political points and a detailed sense…

Research about dying is viewed as inherently sensitive because of how death is perceived in many societies. Such framing assumes participants are 'vulnerable' and at risk of 'harm' from research. Simultaneously, with increasing recognition of the importance of reflexivity, researchers can become (deeply) preoccupied with their actions and…

Grounded in Froebelian Principles, infused with Bakhtin's Dialogism, this paper draws from a larger ethnographic doctoral study to illuminate the way seven Early Childhood Educators based in England reflect on, and reconceptualise the voices of babies through engagement with a new reflective model, Video Interaction Dialogue (VID). Through a…

Professional curiosity is vital in early intervention and in keeping children safe from abuse and neglect, its significance has been a recurrent theme in inquiries into child abuse and neglect in the UK over the last decade. However, there is a notable lack of research into the lived experience of practitioners in being professionally curious with…

Implementation is making, and acting on, evidence-informed decisions. Yet awareness of evidence does not necessarily result in improved outcomes: implementation is critical for turning engagement with research into tangible changes in school practices and pupil outcomes, including, crucially, for pupils experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.…