Improving Your Reflective Practice Through Stories of Practitioner Research

Improving Your Reflective Practice through Stories of Practitioner Research shows how research has informed and created effective and valuable reflective practice in early years education, and offers depth to the arguments for a research-orientated stance to this vital field of study.

This thought-provoking text explores and documents a variety of small-scale practitioner research projects from the home and early years settings. The stories are centred around real life for children, families and workers and offer practical ideas and support for early years students around the world. They engage in some of the most current debates in early childhood education today, such as:



how to support children as individuals


how young children learn and how parents support their learning


how to lead and facilitate change in a way that does not take power away from children, parents or workers


how to support children in taking risks


how to support parents in returning to learning.


Throughout this book, the ‘Pen Green’ attitude to practitioner research is actively encouraged. This involves fostering curiosity, being open to the views of others, questioning the ‘taken for granted’, making the implicit explicit and reflecting on one’s daily work. Any practitioner research in early years education and care will draw inspiration from this accessible and supportive text.

Cath Arnold is an Early Years Consultant and leads the MA in Integrated Provision for Children and Families in the Early Years at the renowned Pen Green Research Base, UK.

Introduction Cath Arnold 1. Treasuring Millie: Millie’s Use of Treasure Baskets Elaine Grant 2. One Child’s Use of a Story as a Transitional Object Gina Goody 3. Young Children’s Use of Digital Cameras to Share Home at Nursery: Bridges of Shared Understanding Clare Knight 4. ‘Is Breaking a Leg just Another Experience?’ – Using Video to gain a Bi-cultural Perspective of Risk-Taking in the Natural Environment Suzanne Taylor 5. How can we provide an optimal learning environment for young children’s imaginative play? David Westmore 6. Knowing Individual Children Through Involving Their Parents Janette Harcus 7. Acorns to Oaks: Growing Leadership in Community Nurseries Ana Sevilla 8. Effective Leadership, Effective Learning – It’s All About Relationships Gill Allen 9. Learning to return: What supports adults to return to learning? Anne Gladstone Conclusion Cath Arnold