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Yesterday, CREC Director, Chris Pascal, had the honour of overseeing the official opening of the brand new Goodway Nursery School building in Great Barr. Goodway Nursery School is a long-standing local authority maintained nursery s..

The May 2017 instalment of Learning Circle Reflections comes from Helen Lyndon: Elisabetta Biffi joined us from Italy to share her research; her visit was part of an Erasmus exchange organised through Ioanna Palaiologou. There are further n..

As we near the end of another academic year, our current cohort of SCITT students have been reflecting on their teacher training journey and have begun to look to the future, graduation, and the start of their NQT year in September. We tho..

Continuing our #studywithCREC series, Helen Moylett, lead tutor for our Leading Learning with Two-year-olds MA module, explains a bit about what it means to be two and sheds some light on the importance of this pivotal stage in our development. ..

The April 'Learning Circle Reflections' come from Donna Gaywood. This month's session on 26th April focused Children's Rights and was led by Alison Moore and Aline Cole-Albäck. During this session, we were able to look ..

We're delighted to announce that our popular Learning Outdoors in Early Childhood MA module is back from this September! The renewed module will be led by Kathryn Peckham who shares some of her thoughts on the importance of Outdoor Learning be..

The March 'Learning Circle Reflections' come from Faye Stanley. This month's Learning Circle on March 23rd focussed on preparing for a PhD viva (defending your doctoral thesis). Doctor Jenny Worsley from Wolverhampton University offered..

Find out what it takes to secure your first teaching job from two of our trainees that have done just that, before they've even completed their teacher training! Clair Sammons, CREC SCITT Trainee, 2016/17 ..

This pre-BECERA (http://www.becera.org.uk/) session, held on 16th February, was run by Faye Stanley. The February 'Learning Circle Reflections' come from Aline Cole-Albäck (https://twitter.com/AColeAlbaeck). In preparation for the BECER..

Scalchemy Training and Development (http://scalchemy.co.uk/) are working in partnership with CREC to offer more settings the opportunity to undertake the Effective Early Learning (EEL) and/or Baby Effective Early Learning (BEEL) ..

Newspapers and websites across the UK have been reporting on the imminent threat to our nation's maintained nursery schools for the last few months: The Sun - 22/09/16: Hundreds of nurseries to shut if Government’s free childcare plans go ah..

Next week the team at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood are celebrating 21 years of raising the quality of early childhood education and care through research, training and consultancy. To mark such a wonderful occasion, we’re reun..

Recruitment for all the teacher training courses starting in September 2017 is well underway and we’re thrilled to have already received a lot of interest in our school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT). Why study with us? Ou..

If I had to sum up my experience of the programme, I would say it was very much hands-on. Being in placement each week allowed me to build connections between theory and practice, and develop a better understanding of the profession. A w..

In celebration of the holiday season, CREC office will be closed 24th December - 3rd January 2017. From all the team here at CREC, we wish our friends, colleagues and students a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you and worki..

The session on Informant Groups, held on 13th December, was run by Paola Pedrelli. The December instalment of 'Learning Circle Reflections' comes from Aline Cole-Albäck (https://twitter.com/AColeAlbaeck). "At tonight’s Learning Circle..

This December, to highlight the upcoming BECERA conference (http://www.becera.org.uk/) on the topic of Play, we created a special advent calendar to highlight and celebrate the importance of play in early childhood. Everyday in the run up to..

Commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (http://www.rwjf.org/) (RWJF), American Institutes for Research (http://www.air.org/about-us) (AIR) approached our directors, Professor Chris Pascal and Professor Tony Bertram to ga..

We've just signed up to Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day! On Thursday 15th December everyone in the CREC office (including our trainee teachers on the SCITT programme) will be donning their favourite festive knitwear ..

Onkar, one of our wonderful trainee teachers enrolled on the School Centred Initial Teacher Training course at CREC (http://www.earlyyearsteachertraining.co.uk/), shares his experience since starting his training in September 2016... Before..

We NEED YOUR HELP! The government is proposing drastic funding cuts for all state run Nursery Schools (https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/hundreds-nursery-schools-could-close-under-funding-changes) across th..

The 'Call for Papers' for the BECERA 2017 conference is now open! All interested parties are invited to submit an abstract (http://www.becera.org.uk/my-account) in line with this year's theme: PLAY-BASED PEDAGOGY: (http://www.becera...

We are pleased to announce that the Teachers Leadership Development Programme that we ran last November, in partnership with the Birmingham Nursery Schools Teaching Schools Alliance, will be running again in January 2017. The DfE is once aga..

The second Learning Circle meeting of 2016/17 was last Thursday and we were delighted to welcome some new members to the group. This month's meeting focused on 'Publishing Platforms' and we heard from a number of Learning Circle members about..

Music Educators and Researchers of Young Children (MERYC) UK (http://www.meryc.co.uk/index.html), now MERYC England, has recently been awarded charitable status (http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityFramewo..

The new academic year is upon us which can only mean one thing... The CREC Learning Circle (http://www.crec.co.uk/Learning-Circle) is back! The first meeting of 2016/17 took place last week and it was great to see everyone again after, what w..

The CREC Early Years Partnership School Centred Initial Teacher Training Programme for 2017/18 is now open for pre-registration. If you would like to express your interest in enrolling on our SCITT programme in the school year 2017..

CREC directors, Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram, joined the folks at the Early Years Podcast (http://earlyyears.academy/crec-high-achieving-white-working-class-boys-research-project-013/) last month to talk about the HAWWC Boys Research Project (h..

We continue our exploration of the exciting new MA modules at CREC (http://www.crec.co.uk/ma-in-education) , with this piece from Rose Drury. Rose will be heading up the Leading Multilingual Settings module and has a wealth of experience studyin..

Multiple Cardiff settings to embed Effective Early Learning (EEL) Programme to improve practice Last month we had the pleasure of hosting an EEL training session for a group of dedicated practitioners from Cardiff. We were approached by ..

The third instalment of our #studywithCREC series comes from Sally Teare, who will be delivering the new Leading Literacy and Phonics MA module, starting in September 2016. Year 1 Phonics Screening Check - What does it really test and how use..

Well, it's been a week since the Euro's kicked off in France and with England currently sitting top of their group there's no sign of 'Football Fever' dying down any time soon! But far from being a distraction for the kids in your class, Euro..

The second instalment of our #studywithCREC series comes from Pete Sturgess, lead tutor of the Physical Activity in Early Childhood module (http://www.crec.co.uk/physical-activity-early-childhood), another of the new MA modules coming to CREC (ht..

The Early Years Nutrition (EYN) Partnership (http://www.eynp.org/) has been established as an independent social enterprise with the ambition that every child in England aged under five will have access to expert nutrition support within their ea..

To highlight some of the exciting new MA modules on offer at CREC (http://www.crec.co.uk/ma-in-education), we've asked a few of our fantastic tutors to tell us a little bit more about the modules they'll be teaching to help you decide whether you..

CREC’s view is that the best early years system, which has the highest outcomes for children, is one which supports and develops a highly qualified workforce. There has been much discussion recently about GCSE Maths and English requirements ..

Since 2013 CREC has been working with the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) on an international study on early childhood education (ECES). The first ECES report (Early Childhood Policies and Systems in E..

The next APPG meeting on Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes has been booked for Tuesday 17th May at Westminster! We received the following invitation from the secretariat: Dear Colleagues and friends, There has been an enormous flur..

As I’m sure many of you will have already seen, today the Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan has presented the white paper – ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’. The paper sets out the government’s plans ..

Tune into Listening was a Mac Makes Music (https://macbirmingham.co.uk/project/mac-makes-music/) yearlong action research project involving Hillfields Children’s Centre in Coventry and Allens Croft Children’s Centre in Birmingham. Early Childhood..

Well it's been just over a week since the BECERA Conference wrapped for another year and we're just about coming down from a jam-packed day of early years conversations and lively debate! We would like to extend our thanks, once again, to ou..

Please note that recruitment for our 2016/17 SCITT course has now closed. This is due to the fact that we have filled our quota of available places. The scheduled open evenings that were advertised for Monday 29th February & Thursday 17th Ma..

Having had feedback from quite a number of regular BECERA attendees regarding the increasing difficulties of attending conferences due to finance and work commitments, we have for this year only, decided to condense the programme into one intensive d..

Ex-CREC MA Student and Early Childhood Music Specialist, Nicola Burke, has led a yearlong piece of research into auditory environments in early childhood settings and the use of recorded music (CD’s, MP3 players). The overarching question h..

The CREC office will be closed over the Christmas period from Wednesday 23rd December and will re-open on Monday 4th January 2016. From all the team here at CREC, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing C..

Learning through Landscapes and CREC present: What makes a powerful outdoor environment for young children? This high-level course, which will run in April 2016, is a special development day to enhance and extend your current qualific..

Are you a male or BME teacher working in the early years in Birmingham or Solihull? Interested in a free, fully accredited leadership programme to develop your career? We are currently accepting applications for a new Leadership Devel..

Sue Duglan, an MA student who studied Physical Development at CREC, has had her action research project featured in Nursery World this month. The project helped to develop a nursery garden to better provide open-ended opportunities for learni..

This week our EEL & BEEL training has been featured on the Astec Solutions blog, where they discuss it's value for early years settings. The folks from Astec Solutions attended our two-day training earlier this year and have been busy..

The HAWWC project aims to addresses the policy of how we might enhance the educational achievement of young, white working class boys to close the gap in their attainment on entry to compulsory schooling, improve access to the free early educatio..

The CREC Early Years Partnership will be holding an Open Evening on Thursday 15th October, 4.00-6.00pm. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the Early Years Teacher Training on offer for 2016/17, ask questions and meet s..

Read CREC's Post-Election Statement here (http://www.crec.co.uk/docs/Post-election%20statement%202015.pdf)..

In an Open Letter from Early Education yesterday, Early Years experts including CREC Co-Director Tony Bertram (Early Education President) ask for Quality not Quantity in Early Years. You can read the letter here (https://www.early-education.org.u..

We are pleased to have been awarded a grant for £97,00 by the Department for Education to undertake a national 12 month project to identify how the achievement levels of white working class boys can be improved. At the end of the proje..

21st April 2015 Centre for Research in Early Childhood, St Thomas Children’s Centre, Birmingham, B15 2AF 9.30. – 3.30 Leading Localities – challenges and chances This day will be facilitated by Mike Gasper an..

The CREC Early Years Partnership will be holding a second Open Evening on Monday 9th March, 4.00-5.30pm. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the Early Years Teacher Training on offer, ask questions and meet some of the ..

Are you an Early Years practitioner who wants to become a practitioner researcher in your own setting? You can now book your place on the next EEL/ BEEL Training, being held at CREC on 3rd & 4th March 2015. For more ..

You can now view the BECERA Conference book online (here (http://www.becera.org.uk/CONFERENCE%20BOOK%20BECERA%2015%20UPDATED.pdf)) to view the timetable of the conference and read abstracts in order to decide which presentations you would like to..

The CREC Early Years Partnership will be holding an opening evening on Tuesday 27th January, 4.00-5.30pm. Come along to find out more about the Early Years Teacher Training Programme on offer. This will be held at the St. Thomas Centre N..

The CREC Office will close over the Christmas period from Christmas Eve until Monday 5th January 2015. We look forward to seeing CREC friends and colleagues in the New Year. Merry Christmas to everyone!..

The BECERA 2015 Conference will be held at MAC Birmingham on 17th & 18th February 2015 Conference theme: We are now accepting papers for presentation at the conference - the deadline is 31st December 2015. Yo..

CREC are delighted to announce that St Thomas Centre Nursery has gained DfE accreditation to be a School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) provider and that from September 2015 up to 50 Teacher Trainees will be able to gain Qualified Teach..

Press release taken from: https://www.early-education.org.uk/press-release/integrated-early-years-services-must-go-back-top-agenda Wednesday, 5 November, 2014 A literature review by leading early years experts has found that curren..

National Centre for Research Methods is organising the 6th ESRC Research Methods Festival, once again at the St Catherine's College in Oxford. The Festival offers a varied programme (http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/RMF2014/prog.php) with over 50 sessions a..

Last week (20th March 2014) Sir Michael Wilshaw issued a letter to Early Years Inspectors. The content of this letter was of concern to many in the sector, so CREC, Early Education, and TACTYC have issued the following joint response . ..

Having a good grasp of theories of child development and what these look like in practice, can make a positive difference to how you understand babies and children and the ways in which they learn. This guide offers easy access to a wide range of..

We are running a competition on twitter. All you need to do is follow us and tweet an original photo about learning outdoors using the hashtags: #janwhite and #learningoutdoors. Jan is one of the MA in Education (Early Years) tutors at CREC...

The 'Participatory Research Methods in Early Childhood' seminar, part of the Festival of Social Science was a success. The group met in Birmingham and the session was led by Professor Chris Pascal, Director of The Centre for Research in Earl..

This week sees the launch of an exciting new partnership project for the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) working together with NFER and IEA in Hamburg to develop the ‘Early Childhood Education Study (ECES)’ – an impor..

CREC and the ESRC co-organised an event on participatory Research Methods in Early Childhood, part of the Festival of Social Sciences. This is a seminar for Early Years Practitioner Researchers who want to learn more about participatory resea..

CREC is looking to recruit a Communications & Events Officer. The role is full-time and permanent. Some of the duties include: Responsibility for organisation of CREC conferences and training events throughout the year including..

CREC in Birmingham (Charitable Trust) is pleased to announce that it has selected two new students who they will support to complete a PhD in conjunction with University of Wolverhampton. The Board of Trustees have selected to fund Menna Godfrey,..

The IEA International Early Childhood Education Study (ECES) (http://www.iea.nl/eces.html) is a new comparative research program of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The purpose of ECES is to explo..

From sitting up on their own to throwing a ball, children gradually develop the physical skills needed for their adult lives. Physical development includes both growth and the ability to use muscles and body parts for particular skills. Both..

A recent report by Play England, Play Wales , Play Scotland and Play Board Northern Ireland, found that more than 50% of adults played out at least seven times a week when growing, conmapred to less than a quarter of children today. The report hi..

The Department for Education commissioned CREC to produce ‘Comparisons of International Childcare Systems’ drawing on data gathered from an earlier study for the Economist Intelligence Unit entitled ‘Starting Strong: Benchmarkin..

In late 2012, CREC was commissioned by Ofsted to evaluate the available evidence (published within the past 10 years) on what Early Years interventions made a proven difference in closing the gap in educational attainment caused by socio-economic..

With the support of the University of Wolverhampton, CREC in Birmingham is very excited to announce that we will be funding two more PhD's, following the success of our latest intake. In view of supporting the development of outstanding res..

Professor Cathy Nutbrown's reflection on the relationship between the final report of the Nutbrown Review and current policy proposals can be downloaded here (http://www.crec.co.uk/docs/Shaking_the_foundations_of_quality.pdf). -- Intere..

Following an interesting roundtable discussion led by three UK universities at the recent BECERA conference, Professor Denise Hevey from The University of Northampton has put together a statement in response to the EY Teacher proposal in Mo..

Over the past few years there has been a massive growth in the number of Children’s Centres which are being operated on a ‘cluster’ or ‘locality’ basis with one leader having responsibility for several multi-agency t..

We are pleased to announce that CREC in Birmingham Charitable Trust (Reg. No. 1121861) is launching a PhD bursary in the field of Early Years Education. Have a look at this fantastic new opportunity to study at CREC for a full-time PhD or MPhil w..

Europe is constantly changing and evolving and these developments happen at every level - local, regional, national & European. In the EU the main trends in demographic change include an ageing population, low birth rates, changing family and..

CREC's Director Professor Chris Pascal has won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nursery World Awards 2012. Chris has had an impressive career so far and although the award recognized the achievements to date, Chris says that she certainly h..

Have you been to the 22nd EECERA Confreence in Porto, Portugal? The theme of the conference was 'Pre-bith to three: identitiies, learning, diversities' and the CREC Directors Professor Tony Bertram & Professor Chris Pascal ha..

Meet Alice Bennett Currently studying Psychology at The University of Lancaster, Alice Bennett is now on work experience with us for 6 weeks. Alice wants to work as a clinical psychologist or in human resources. Her favourite sport is..

CREC has been part of the research programme Starting Well: Benchmarking early education across the world. The report which ranks the preschool environments in 45 countries was commisioned by the Lieu Foundation and managed by the Economist..

Ann Gross, Director of Early Years, Extended Services and Special Needs Group, Department for Education & Karen Pearson, Head of Early Years & Service Integration, Directorate of Children, Young People & Families, Birmingham City Coun..

We are pleased to announce that the National College has awarded the CREC consortium the contract to deliver the NPQICL programme in the West Midlands again in 2012/13. The National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leade..

Professors Chris Pascal & Tony Bertram have visited Dubai in June to provide professional development for early years teachers at Little GEMS International. Little GEMS International pre-schools are part of GEMS Education, the world&rsquo..

The University of Wolverhampton is organising its annual reseach conference on 21st June 2012. This free event at the School of Education Futures, will feature various presentations covering all areas of education delivered by the Universit..

You are invited to attend a FREE information evening at CREC about the NPQH. The National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) is for aspiring headteachers and principals. You should be highly motivated to become a he..

A recent report commisioned by the National Trust, concluded that today's generation of children are out of touch with nature. The report, entitled 'Natural Childhood' by TV producer Stephen Moss, asks parents and grandparents to help reconne..

Last week, Nursery World magazine has published an article about Quality Assurance, where the CREC programmes EEL and BEEL got a great review. EEL and BEEL, developed by Professor Chris Pascal, Professor Tony Bertram and Maureen Saunders (Pro..

The Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) welcomes Helen Moylett as a trustee. Helen is an independent early years consultant, trainer and writer. She has been a primary, nursery and home school liaison teacher, a local authority senior ..

Why does being outdoors matter so much for young children? What does really effective and satisfying outdoor play look like? How can practitioners be supported to provide inspirational learning in the outdoors? Learning outdoors in early chi..

David Fitzgerald, Deputy Director, Early Education and Childcare Division at the Department for Education and his colleague, Sophie Faber, who has a particular interest in the 2 year old pilot initiative visited CREC and St Thomas Children..

CREC's own Professor Chris Pascal was one of the keynotes in the 'Inspection and Regulation in Early Years' Conference on 18th January 2012 Chris questioned: How can children be best supported in early leaning at different ages? What ..

The 2nd BECERA Conference is only a month away and the team is working hard to put together a programme that delegates will enjoy. Following last years success, BECERA prides itself in giving a space to all practitioners to discuss current early ..

Evidencing Outcomes & Measuring Impact 2 day Training Would you like clear, practical guidance and support on how to measure and demonstrate the effectiveness of your services? Look no further! CREC offers an excellent, bespoke 2..

Click here (http://www.crec.co.uk/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=View&VID=8953008&KID=13708)to read CREC's November newsletter on Evidencing Outcomes & Tracking Changes...

Read our latest newsletter by clicking here (http://www.crec.co.uk/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=View&VID=8953008&KID=12052)...

An invitation to an open seminar discussion Tuesday 29th of November 6pm to 7.30pm University of Wolverhampton, School of Education, Walsall Campus, Gorway Road, Walsall, WS1 3BD in room WN002 Margar..

The Government has launched the Early Education and Childcare Consultation, which reflects commitments made in July's policy reform statement 'Supporting Families in the Foundation Years'. One of the key aims of this work is the extension of free..

Practitioner Research is, as the name suggests, research carried out by practitioners, but importantly it is ‘for the purpose o f advancing their own practice’ (McLeod 1999). It is about those involved in the delivery of a service not j..

Data is now available to all Early Years Professionals on the Foundations Years website, a project led by 4Children and the Early Years Strategic Partnership. The website 'offers professionals who work in the foundation years a 'one stop sh..

The 2nd BECERA Conference is taking place at the Midlands Arts Centre (mac), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham on 15th & 16th February 2012. You can now submit your proposal and book a place online. To read the call for papers click..

Dr Susan Young from the University of Exeter leads the bespoke Early Years Music Module at CREC. This module is part of the Post Graduate Study Pathway at CREC that allows Early Years Practitioners to gain Post Graduate accreditation whilst worki..

The University of Wolverhampton is planning to invest £1.2M in MPhil/PhD bursaries over the next three years. These bursaries will be invested strategically in areas of research. The University’s aim is to match the very best students..

The Department for Education and the Department of Health have published a package setting out the Government’s vision for the foundation years. The foundation years are critically important for children and their families, and these publicatio..

All of us at CREC would like to congratulate the NPQICL students. To see the end of year video CREC has created please click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPaK6oXTJiE). ..

The BECERA conference, hosted by the Centre for Research in Early Childhood in February 2011 is going ahead in 2012. BECERA is an independent self-funding organisation run by the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) which has ..

Enhancing Young Children’s Play and Thinking Skills Conference National Conference - Aberystwyth University Campus Friday 01.07.2011 Professor Chris Pascal from CREC is one of the keynote speakers at the 'Enhancing Young Childre..

According to the British Council, the UK's diversity is 'a great asset and part of the fabric of life, but it also brings challenges and recently has given rise to discussion of issues around multiculturalism, immigration and national identity'. ..

Please note that the following training dates have changed: Evidencing Outcomes & Measuring Impact cohort 3: Previously 29/09 and 01/11 now 12/10 and 10/11. Leadership & Management day 2: The Skills and Competencies of Effective Lea..

Learning Circle The CREC learning circle is a ‘community of practice’ (Wenger 2002). Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better by interacting regul..