Understanding Research in Early Education ─ The Relevance for the Future of Lessons from the Past

In this newly revised edition of Understanding Research in Early Education, Margaret Clark demonstrates the continuing relevance of research in the homes of young children and in preschool units.

Through rigorous yet understandable language, the text stresses the importance of research, acknowledging how easy it can be, amidst the change and flood of documents on early education and care, to overlook the insights to be gained from past research. The author draws on her own studies, and those of others, to illustrate how to avoid common pitfalls, ask the right questions to inform students’ research projects, and critically apply findings in the classroom or nursery. The book is one of the few texts for students to bring research alive, analysing key research to consider its limitations and the extent to which results are relevant to policy and practice.

Without requiring any prior expertise in research and research methodologies, the third edition will prove invaluable for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in early years’ education, and practitioners undertaking continuing professional development. New content includes: fully revised chapters, an updated reference list, and a new chapter discussing current research on baseline assessment.

Margaret M. Clark OBE has an international reputation for research in early education and literacy. She is Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Birmingham and Visiting Professor at Newman University, Birmingham. Margaret holds an OBE for services to early childhood education. She has recently published Learning to be Literate 2016 (Routledge).