This paper focuses on the long-standing relationship between early childhood academics in a university and early
years’ practitioners in a combined nursery school and children's centre in Manchester, United Kingdom. The
paper explores its development into a unique collaboration, centred on a belief in the importance of research–
informed practice and practice–informed research in improving practice and outcomes for children and families.
In the UK, the closest parallel is with work carried out by the Pen Green Centre, Corby and St Thomas’ Children’s
Centre and the Centre for Research in Early Childhood, Birmingham. The paper uses Holland et al's concept of
'figured worlds' (1998) and Foucauldian notions of power to explore the meeting of academic, practitioner and
political worlds. The research is longitudinal and includes both qualitative (exploring lived experience) and
quantitative (measurement of impact) aspects as we explore the transformation of life chances in a particular
community. A key feature is the attention given to the diverse agendas of children, parents, community
collaborators, experienced early years practitioners, students of early childhood, early childhood academics,
local authority quality officers and university leaders. The paper highlights the tensions and successes inherent
in attending to the competing needs and demands of children, families, local government, funding agencies and
the academy.We explore the ways in which the different positional identities come to affect the relative power
held by the different stakeholders and what we have learnt about the processes of joint working required for
success in negotiating a path between competing concerns
