Conference Paper by Vikki Wynn and colleagues

Capturing the ‘magical possibilities’ within the Inspiring Foundations (IF) Team of

maintained nursery schools and valuing practitioner voices to enact change in early childhood education (ECE)

Vikki Wynn and Rebecca Cozens: University of Sunderland, Sarah Dixon-Jones and Laura

Scouler: Inspiring Foundations

Abstract

The ‘Inspiring Foundations’ (IF) Federation in Sunderland is heavily inspired by Reggio Emilia, particularly in working collaboratively with fellow professionals and those in other fields to expand their understanding of unique topics emerging from their bespoke curriculum. As with all settings, IF nurseries are directly affected by changes to national policy along with the retention crisis in the UK. Yet the Federation continues to thrive with a drive to develop further. We wondered about this, eager to know more about what motivates the teams and how the approach used by IF continues to be sustainable. A cross-sectional analysis provided an insight into how the IF team perceive the approach being used and supports the ongoing ethical practice. It is hoped that having the voices of everyone captured in this way will aid leaders in understanding what is valued, what the motivation continues to be and being agents of change.

Keywords: Early Childhood Education (ECE), Early Years Professionals, Early Years recruitment and retention, passionate leaders, capturing voices

See the fulll paper here: