Early years educators’ perceptions of professional development in England: An exploratory study of policy and practice.

This article explores the perceptions of professional development that are held by a selection of early years educators who have experience of working in statutory and private early years settings in the north of England. The research participants (n=20) reflected on their experiences of professional development in early years. The research process is based on a qualitative inductive methodology. The interview transcripts from these participants were processed using NVivo 10 software and thematic analysis helped generate the key findings. The participants perceive the business-facing agenda of private settings (the need to make money) results in professional development becoming a ‘low priority’. All the participants expressed reservations about completing professional development in early years. The research findings have been developed via a theoretical background of literacy as social practice. The ‘texts’ informing professional development (policy documents and their recommendations) result in CPD (Continuing Professional Development) ‘events’ and ‘activities’. The research explores the personal subjective experiences (or ‘practices’) of CPD experienced by the participants and considers the implications for professional development in this area

Finding The Lost Years: The MFC Foundation Transition initiative Evaluation

The research evaluation has taken place from May – July 2017. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an assessment of ‘The Transition Initiative’. The evaluation has explored the views of selected participants associated with the initiative in order to reflect on what has been achieved. The evaluation also makes recommendations on how to continue to develop the excellent work that is already being carried out by the staff from Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation (MFCF) in the future. The aim of the initiative is to improve the experiences of primary (‘year 6’) students who are moving into ‘year 7’ within the Tees Valley region. The initiative involves staff from MFCF who work alongside students in primary and secondary schools in Middlesbrough. The activities that are undertaken occur in the schools and at Middlesbrough Football Club and they are sports-based alongside linking to the formal school curriculum. The relationships that are established between the staff at the Foundation and the students are designed to help the children to settle more effectively into their secondary school. The initiative aims to discover what was referred to by one of the respondents as ‘the lost years’. As opposed to seeing children ‘drifting through’ their initial secondary school years, the project aims at building up the confidence of these students, which will also help them to raise their academic potential. The evaluation has explored the effectiveness of the project. The researcher (Dr Ewan Ingleby) has adopted a mixed-methods methodological approach in gathering the research data. Questionnaire data has been gathered from the students who have been involved with the initiative (n=209) alongside performance data from one of the secondary schools taking part in the project. Alongside this data, a series of 15 loosely structured interviews were completed with key participants from May to June 2017. These interviews were transcribed professionally and they identify key themes about the successes and future development of the project. The evaluation is based on delivering a ‘proof of concept’, in other words, a reflection on the feasibility of the initiative. This reflection is generated from the data sets that have been gathered about the transition initiative. All the research participants have identified aspects of excellent practice in terms of the effectiveness of the staff from MFCF and the impact that this work is having on young people in Middlesbrough. This represents a key finding of the evaluation