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Taking a positive view is a fruitful way to prompt educators to reflect on and to develop their practice. Teachers, teacher educators and children bring a wide range of ideas that provide a powerful basis for developing understanding of the complexities of classroom practice. Using appreciate inquiry the authors show how they developed their understanding of professional development as they worked with groups of teachers who investigated their science teaching practice with young children and produced case studies of practice. The authors also show how the roles and ideas of themselves as university tutors were challenged and emerged to suit the range of contexts involved. Their view of Continuing Professional Development was influenced by the lived experiences of the teachers and themselves. They worked to systematise learning through identifying commonalities of experience and reflection along four dimensions: creating spaces for growth; working with emergent purposes; action research as rhizomatic growth; and collaborative and collective action. The rich variety of outcomes shows the value of creating space for growth for children and for adults. The energy and enthusiasm liberated motivated the participants to explore their worlds in ways that were difficult to predict at the start of the project.

Recent developments in early childhood education in the UK and other parts of Europe have emphasised the importance of dialogue between adults and children. In the UK, the EPPE project paid particular attention to the role of extended child-centred conversations ('sustained shared thinking ' -Sylva et al. 2003) as an important element or indicator of high quality in the practice of successful early years settings. On the political front, inspired by the practice of the Reggio Emilia pre-schools among others, Dahlberg and Moss (2005) and Rinaldi (2005) advocate a 'listening pedagogy' which pays attention to the concerns and constructs which young children have, rather than imposing institutionally focused goals. How do these twenty-first century insights reflect and relate to the work of Vygotsky (1978) in identifying the ways in which knowledge is developed in young children through dialogue? And how do young teachers incorporate these ideas in a developing teacher identity or 'professionality' (Moriarty 2000)? In this paper I analyse the reported experience of two cohorts of undergraduate teacher trainees in engaging children in preschool settings in 'sustained shared thinking'. This is done using the students' subsequent reflection on the events, using a writing frame. I relate outcomes to issues of legitimate peripheral participation in communities of learning and communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991) and discuss the implications for teacher development.RÉSUMÉ: Les développements récents dans l'éducation de la petite enfance au Royaume-Uni et dans d'autres parties de l'Europe ont souligné l'importance du dialogue entre les adultes et les enfants. Au Royaume-Uni, le projet EPPE a accordé une attention particulière au rôle des conversations prolongées centrées sur les enfants ('la pensée partagée soutenue ' -Sylva et al. 2003) comme élément important ou indicateur de qualité dans la pratique des équipements préscolaires. D'un point de vue politique, inspiré par la pratique des structures préscolaires de Reggio Emilia notamment, Dahlberg and Moss (2005) et Rinaldi (2005) plaident pour une 'pédagogie de l'écoute' qui prête attention aux préoccupations et aux idées des jeunes enfants, plutôt que d'imposer des objectifs déterminés institutionnellement. Dans quelle mesure ces conceptions du 21ème siècle renvoient et se rapportent à l'oeuvre de Vygotsky (1978) si l'on identifie les façons dont la connaissance des jeunes enfants se développe dans le dialogue ? Et comment les jeunes professeurs intègrent-ils ces idées en développant leur identité d'enseignant ou leur 'professionnalité' (Moriarty 2000)? Dans cet article, j'analyse l'expérience rapportée par deux cohortes d'enseignants-stagiaires pour engager des enfants de structures préscolaires dans une 'pensée partagée soutenue'. L'analyse s'appuie sur la réflexion ultérieure des étudiants sur ces événements, dans le cadre d'un travail d'écriture. Je relie ces résultats aux questions de la participation périphérique légitime dans les communautés *Email: bridg...

A B S T R A C T Children's views as service users are being increasingly sought and valued. A pictorial critical incident technique was developed to gain insights into the perceptions and experiences of children and young people (n = 30, ages 5-15 years) attending a child and adolescent outpatient mental health service for the first time. The methodology proved effective in eliciting children's views, both positive and negative. Findings show age differences in clients' anxieties about attending. The degree to which children and young people felt involved in the process of assessment also varied with age. In general, children and young people felt more positive when leaving the clinic compared with when they first arrived. Salient aspects of the initial visit emerged which may not have been tapped using a questionnaire or rating scale. Findings are discussed in the context of service delivery issues and the development of child-focused preparatory information. K E Y W O R D S child guidance, children's perceptions, critical incident technique

Sharing storybooks with babies increases their future achievements in literacy, especially in reading (Hall, 2001; Moore and Wade, 1997, 2003; Scarborough et al., 1991; Wade and Moore, 1998; Wells, 1985). This study, focusing on case studies of two 20-month-old children, attempts to identify the role the storybook plays in children’s vocabulary acquisition. Their mothers adopted a regime of daily reading of specific picture books over a six-week period, and recorded the children’s acquisition of new vocabulary, in order to explore what specific contribution these texts made to the children’s speech. The findings demonstrate that storybooks form one source of children’s newly-acquired vocabulary. Factors that might account for this were more difficult to determine through a study of this scale.