Following an interesting roundtable discussion led by three UK universities at the recent BECERA conference, Professor Denise Hevey from The University of Northampton has put together a statement in response to the EY Teacher proposal in More Great Childcare.

We are pleased to announce that CREC in Birmingham Charitable Trust (Reg. No. 1121861) is launching a PhD bursary in the field of Early Years Education.

Europe is constantly changing and evolving and these developments happen at every level - local, regional, national & European. In the EU the main trends in demographic change include an aging population, low birth rates, changing family and household structures and migration.

CREC's Director Professor Chris Pascal has won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nursery World Awards 2012. Chris has had an impressive career so far and although the award recognized the achievements to date, Chris says that she certainly hasn't finished yet.

Have you been to the 22nd EECERA Confreence in Porto, Portugal?

Currently studying Psychology at The University of Lancaster, Alice Bennett is now on work experience with us for 6 weeks.

CREC has been part of the research programme Starting Well: Benchmarking early education across the world. The report which ranks the preschool environments in 45 countries was commissioned by the Lieu Foundation and managed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). During the construction of this white paper, CREC has interviewed a number of childcare experts, academics, practitioners and policy specialists and the report findings have now been published.

Ann Gross, Director of Early Years, Extended Services and Special Needs Group, Department for Education & Karen Pearson, Head of Early Years & Service Integration, Directorate of Children, Young People & Families, Birmingham City Council have met with CREC Directors, Professors Chris Pascal & Tony Bertram on Thursday 14th June for an information seminar led by the CREC Directors.

We are pleased to announce that the National College has awarded the CREC consortium the contract to deliver the NPQICL programme in the West Midlands again in 2012/13.

Professors Chris Pascal & Tony Bertram have visited Dubai in June to provide professional development for early years teachers at Little GEMS International.

The University of Wolverhampton is organising its annual research conference on 21st June 2012.

A recent report commissioned by the National Trust, concluded that today's generation of children are out of touch with nature.

The Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) welcomes Helen Moylett as a trustee

Why does being outdoors matter so much for young children? What does really effective and satisfying outdoor play look like?

David Fitzgerald, Deputy Director, Early Education and Childcare Division at the Department for Education and his colleague,.

CREC's own Professor Chris Pascal was one of the keynotes in the 'Inspection and Regulation in Early Years' Conference on 18th January 2012

Margaret Clark has worked as a primary school teacher, clinical psychologist and lecturer and has undertaken funded research in literacy and early education in Scotland and England. She was personally commissioned by The Secretary of State to undertake a critical evaluation of the relevance of research to the education of children under five and was awarded her OBE for services to early years education.

The Government has launched the Early Education and Childcare Consultation, which reflects commitments made in July's policy reform statement 'Supporting Families in the Foundation Years'.

Practitioner Research is, as the name suggests, research carried out by practitioners, but importantly it is ‘for the purpose o f advancing their own practice’ (McLeod 1999).

Data is now available to all Early Years Professionals on the Foundations Years website, a project led by 4Children and the Early Years Strategic Partnership.