You may not think of yourself as a researcher, but being an early years educator gives you quite a lot of knowledge about research. Working in an early years setting means using observations and analysing different types of data to understand children's progress in order to support their learning journey. Reflective practitioners observe and evaluate their own practice. Assess, plan, do, review, which you may have used to plan special needs support, is an action research cycle.
Early years educators who are well versed in researchful practice (i.e., ‘research-informed and research-active teaching’, (Giampapa and Lee 2022)) are able to base their decisions on evidence which relates directly to their own cohort of children, alongside evidence from external research.
I think it is vitally important for the early years education sector to develop a research-literate workforce that is able not only to access and engage with research but also create their own small-scale research projects.
I know early years settings are underfunded and understaffed. Also I recognise the frustration experienced by some of our early years colleagues in coping with directives or assessment practices that sometimes seem to have little relevance to their settings or the children within them and do little more than undervalue their professional judgement.
With all this in mind, I devised with the support of web designer Jez Butler and researcher Claire Lee the Researchful Practice Toolkit (see boxes below). We drew on ample evidence that practitioner enquiry energises teachers, building confidence and allowing them to gain insight. Four nursery teachers in Bristol, Gloucestershire and Berkshire trialled the toolkit, and we incorporated their feedback to develop it further.
ACTION RESEARCH
The toolkit has enabled early years teachers to develop small-scale research projects that were setting-focused. Johnny Swingler, acting head teacher at Filton Avenue Nursery School and Children's Centre in Bristol, conducted a qualitative interview-based study that focused on teachers’ lived experiences of using Observation, Play & Learning (OP&L), a summative assessment of learning that was being trialled across the local authority's early years settings. Nicky Brinkworth, teacher at St. Werburgh's Park Nursery School in Bristol, carried out a project titled ‘How does asking the question “What do you see?” support and encourage children to articulate their reasoning in problem solving activities?’. This was a qualitative investigation into the impact of effective open-ended questioning during problem-solving activities.
Lucy Sherman, manager of Little Explorers at Fairford Church of England Primary School in Gloucestershire, used a series of qualitative methods (observation, maps of use of the garden, interviews, collage or drawings of the garden areas and photos as discussion prompts) and incorporated children's voices to research outdoor play in order to fully understand what the children wanted from the garden area (see Case study). The following year, she relaunched the project, working with a new cohort of children, and her findings were then implemented into the reworking of the garden area once again.
GET INVOLVED
This past academic year as a university enterprise fellow (2023/24), I was user-testing a two-unit free sampler of the Researchful Practice Toolkit with early years educators across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in a lot of different types of settings, including PVIs. This year current, the toolkit has been licensed in Lancashire and is being used by settings in the county.
case study: using children's voice in outdoor play
Little Explorers’ Lucy Sherman says, ‘The children were not as engaged in the garden as I had expected and did not play in the way we had anticipated.
‘I decided to use what I had learned from the Researchful Practice Toolkit to design a qualitative project to find out from the children what they would like from the garden. I selected a group of ten children (five male/five female). I used a set of questions to initially ask children about what they liked or didn't like and why, and then what they would like in the garden. I did this one-to-one and in group discussions.
‘We looked at pictures of garden set-ups, as well as different equipment, and the children chose their favourites and stuck them to make a collage. I then worked with children in small groups and finally all together to go over what we had found out from the research. My data came from the collages and individual/group discussions.
‘The research showed that although the children wanted space to run, they also wanted little areas dedicated to different themes such as building, music, maths and sand play.
‘I found a company that used recycled pallets to create bespoke equipment to plan and create our garden area. The equipment was installed at the start of the academic year 2023-2024 and instantly there was a change. The children went from not really playing in the garden to purposeful play that mirrored their indoor learning and the themes of the setting. The children were excited to be in the different areas. Language and communication increased, and the children made their own games. They learned to take risks safely while exploring the equipment.
‘In the end, the Researchful Practice Toolkit reminded me to stand back and reflect. The toolkit supported me to give children a voice and to question my perceptions, allowing me to put something in place to test if it works and if it is in fact correct.’
doing your own research
- Starting any in-setting research begins with an idea or question that is instigated by an educational challenge, such as with Lucy's project (see Case study), which set about trying to understand how the children were using the outdoor play area.
- Consider what knowledge educators already have. What do you know from your professional reflections, through talking about what you see, hear and understand?
- What don't you know – what is the need for research? What are your research questions?
- What methods could you use to answer the research questions, and how will the data produced be analysed?
- How are you going to evaluate the success of your project, and what will you change?
- Using a tool such as the Researchful Practice Toolkit informs educators about different types of research and what is feasible in a setting. We particularly aim to help educators to develop qualitative research projects, i.e., using non-numerical data.
about the toolkit
What: An online six-unit, self-paced course covering the range of approaches to research, how to engage critically with research literature, qualitative research methods, ethics, analysing data, and designing achievable, bespoke research projects. It has reading material, film clips and activities such as short assignments.
How: The toolkit encourages working in pairs/small groups to support the development of ‘research learning communities’, and the creation of research champions, who are people who have used the toolkit and want to support others in their settings.
Funding: Developed with funding from the ESRC IAA project award at the University of Bristol in 2022/23. Further funding was awarded to user-test the toolkit and develop it in its current version.
FURTHER INFORMATION
- Email: Researchful-practicetoolkit@bristol.ac.uk
- www.bristol.ac.uk/research/impact/social-sciences-law/soe/researchful-practice-in-early-years-settings
