Influencing policy and practice through research on early childhood education

Authors

Brenda Taggart, University of London
Iram Siraj-Blatchford, University of WollongongFollow
Kathy Sylva, University of Oxford
Edward Melhuish, University of LondonFollow
Pam Sammons, University of Nottingham

RIS ID

94070

Publication Details

Taggart, B., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E. & Sammons, P. (2008). Influencing policy and practice through research on early childhood education. International Journal of Early Childhood Education, 14 (2), 7-21.

Abstract

This paper presents the scientific evidence from one study that has informed Early Years policy in the U.K. It begins with a description of the policy context in the early 1990s and shows how research was used to inform a decade of policy innovation. There have been many studies of ways that research has informed practice but fewer on instances of research shaping policy. This paper is one step in that direction, as advocated by Whitty (2007) and Huw, Nutley and Smith (2001).