This TACTYC funded research highlights the role that Maintained Nursery Schools (MNS) play in supporting families within areas of extreme social deprivation in the UK. Data collected through survey and interview demonstrated the positive impact that these schools have upon disadvantaged children and their families, providing a breadth and depth of ongoing care, against a backdrop of ongoing fiscal cuts and uncertainty. Often this provision was in lieu of the reported minimisation of other social services support for struggling families. We argue in this paper that the loss of these state institutions could be highly detrimental to the families that they currently support.

This paper considers the effect on students from attending a university Foundation Degree programme delivered in partnership with six further education teaching institutions in England. The programme is situated within the early childhood education sector using an instructional design which promotes higher-level learning within the teaching institution and the workplace. Learning in one environment is aligned to the other. The research process actively involved students and was conducted within ethical parameters approved by a university ethics committee. A qualitative methodology examined data drawn from focus groups, an online survey and content analysis. Programme effect was seen as enhancing personal and professional capability and promoting higher order learning. The findings go some way towards theorisation and documentation of programme effect by identifying the influence of instructional design and extends knowledge about aligning the pace of teaching and learning with professional practice.

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How useful is Early Years Teacher training and what difference does it make to leading practice? Samantha Sutton-Tsang, senior lecturer from the Department for Children and Families at the University of Worcester, did some research on the subject