Our Reflection papers have been going since 2005 and contain a rich insight into the history of Early Years research from a wide range of key thinkers across all stakeholders.
Navigate through this vast store of work here:
2006 - Professionalism, Passion and Policy: Reclaiming Purpose in the Early Years
The 2006 TACTYC reflections bring together a passionate and critical series of perspectives on professionalism, pedagogy, and the politics of early childhood education. Avril Brock questions whether current frameworks truly capture the passion, ethics, and personal values that define early years professionalism, while Liz Brooker critiques the ethics of reality-style TV parenting programmes that undermine children’s rights in the name of education. Theodora Papatheodorou shares rich insights from Reggio Emilia, offering a window into its relational pedagogy and careful scaffolding of children’s thinking. Margaret Simms explores the recruitment and retention crisis in private nurseries, showing how stress, low pay, and undervaluing continue to drive practitioners away despite their love for the job. Sue Vermes unpacks the complex history and concerns around synthetic phonics, situating the Rose Report in a wider educational and ideological context. Responses to these debates—like those from Hilary McEvoy and Margaret Clark—challenge the rush to one-size-fits-all solutions, instead calling for balanced, evidence-informed, and child-centred approaches. Across the collection, the voices of practitioners, researchers, and policy thinkers intersect with a shared goal: to elevate early years practice with integrity and heart.
2005 - What Really Counts? Rethinking Leadership, Learning and the Child’s Voice
The 2005 TACTYC reflections present a compelling collection of critical thinking, creative practice, and professional questioning at a time of shifting priorities in early childhood education. Across the papers, authors grapple with the tensions between performance-driven policy and the deeper relational, ethical, and developmental work of early years practice. Deborah Albon’s reflections with a five-year-old participant reveal the powerful insights children can offer—even into research processes themselves—while Carol Aubrey’s study explores the long-term impact of the National Numeracy Strategy on young children’s mathematical development. Jayne Woodhouse and Amanda France both tackle the emotional and social effects of broader societal issues—divorce and debt—on children’s lives, arguing for more joined-up, inclusive support. Jillian Rodd makes a powerful case for leadership as essential (not optional) to quality provision, and Hilary Fabian challenges traditional academic formats, experimenting with creative ways to make research resonate with practitioners. Other reflections delve into transition, creativity in mathematics, and the often overlooked importance of seeing children as capable contributors in both learning and research. Altogether, these papers offer an early call to rethink what counts in early years education—and who gets to decide.
