CREC MA in Education Tutors
Prof. Chris Pascal
Prof. Chris Pascal is CREC's Director, she has done extensive work at government level to support the development of early years policy; sitting on a number of national committees. She has served as a ministerial advisor and as an Early Years Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Education . She has written extensively on early childhood development and the quality of early education services. She is the President of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA).
Prof. Tony Bertram
Prof. Tony Bertram is CREC's Director. He has been a member of the Ministerial Early Education Advisory Group (EEAG), which advised the government on the development of the Foundation Stage curriculum. He has a particular interest in cross-national, European early childhood projects and has worked extensively abroad for the British Council and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD). He is the Co-ordinating Editor of the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ).
Dr Helen Lyndon
Dr Helen LYNDON, PhD, MA, NPQICL, PGCE (QTS), BSc is a senior research fellow and postgraduate programme lead at CREC, sub-editor of EECERJ and country coordinator for EECERA. She is a teacher by training and has worked within primary schools, children’s centres and now higher education and research. She gained her PhD in 2021 with research focusing on the development of practice and methods which listen to young children utilising ethnographic techniques when working with both professionals and children. Recent research projects include explorations of creative approaches within community environments supporting communication and language, an evaluation of a physical literacy programme, and Helen liaised with researchers in New Zealand on CREC’s Froebel partnership.
Email: H.lyndon@crec.co.uk
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/helenlyndon.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-helen-lyndon-98403773/
Recent publications:
Lyndon, H. (2024) “Pedagogic mediation for praxis development: supporting leaders and mentors in the English ECEC context”. European Early Childhood Research Journal 32 (6)
Lyndon, H. (2023) “Embracing the breadth of ethical considerations in early childhood research”. European Early Childhood Research Journal 31 (2)
Lyndon, H. (2023) “Hundreds and Thousands of ways of speaking: evaluation report for Moonbeams 2022/23”. Available online https://www.crec.co.uk/moonbeams
Lyndon, H. (2020) “Pedagogic mediation in the Early Years”. In Gasper and Walker (Ed) “Mentoring and Coaching in the Early Years”. London: Bloomsbury.
Lyndon H., Bertram T., Brown Z. and Pascal C. (2019) “Pedagogically Mediated Listening Practices; the Development of Pedagogy through the Development of Trust.” European Early Childhood Research Journal 27 (3)
Debi Keyte-Hartland
Debi Keyte-Hartland MA, BA (Hons) is an independent early childhood consultant working extensively across the UK and internationally. Debi works on She specialises in expressive arts and design and the creative and reflective pedagogies which support young children’s thinking, enquiry and flourishing. She is an associate consultant with Early Education and worked as part of the collaborative team developing Birth to Five Matters. Recent research includes an ESRC funded project researching participatory pedagogies as part of the Children's Participation in Schools project in Wales and she is a pedagogical coach-mentor on SPACE to Flourish - Supporting Pedagogy in Art and Creativity in Early Years - funded by the Mercers’ Company. She undertook her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education researching young children’s approaches to graphicacy. She has written about art and ecological research with young children.
Email: debikeytehartland@mac.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/debikeyte-hartland.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debi-keyte-hartland-420b131a/
Recent publications:
(2025) Foster, Gunning & Keyte-Hartland “Expressive Arts and Design Matters” in Lee, K & Veale, V. (Eds) School Readiness Matters: Embedded and Threaded Transitions. TACTYC
(2025) Keyte-Hartland & Lowings Learning to Live Well Together: Art and Ecological Research with Young Children
(2024) Keyte-Hartland Attending to Vitality and Liveliness in Learning. Innovations. Innovations in Early Education: The International Reggio Emilia Exchange, 31,2, Summer
(2024) Keyte-Hartland Focusing on Drawing in Early Childhood: Moving beyond realism to cultivating a dynamic engagement with art in the environment
Kate Comberti
Kate Comberti is a violinist and research practitioner using improvisation to work through musical play in a variety of settings from early years to people living with dementia and their carers. Currently she is mentoring CREC MA Year 1 students preparing to submit their small scale project assignment.