Tune into Listening was a Mac Makes Music yearlong action research project involving Hillfields Children’s Centre in Coventry and Allens Croft Children’s Centre in Birmingham. Early Childhood Music Specialist and former MA student at CREC, Nicola Burke worked in close partnership with Hillfields and Allens Croft to explore how to create rich music listening experiences for young children. The overarching question was: ‘How can we use recorded music effectively?’

Well it's been just over a week since the BECERA Conference wrapped for another year and we're just about coming down from a jam-packed day of early years conversations and lively debate!

22-Feb-2016Please note that recruitment for our 2016/17 SCITT course has now closed. This is due to the fact that we have filled our quota of available places.

The scheduled open evenings that were advertised for Monday 29th February & Thursday 17th March will no longer take place. We are sorry for any disappointment.

Having had feedback from quite a number of regular BECERA attendees regarding the increasing difficulties of attending conferences due to finance and work commitments, we have for this year only, decided to condense the programme into one intensive day to allow more people to attend and participate.

Ex-CREC MA Student and Early Childhood Music Specialist, Nicola Burke, has led a yearlong piece of research into auditory environments in early childhood settings and the use of recorded music (CD’s, MP3 players). The overarching question has been “How can we use recorded music effectively in early childhood settings?” The aim was to explore this and to raise awareness in the sector regarding auditory environments. We often think very visually and tangibly about how we set up spaces for children’s play, the auditory environment is often not considered and there are limited guidelines around this subject.

The CREC office will be closed over the Christmas period from Wednesday 23rd December and will re-open on Monday 4th January 2016.

This high-level course, which will run in April 2016, is a special development day to enhance and extend your current qualifications and experience in the field of outdoor education and design for schools and early years settings. Focusing on the product of the design process, it examines the landscapes, spaces and materials we provide for young children outdoors.

Are you a male or BME teacher working in the early years in Birmingham or Solihull? Interested in a free, fully accredited leadership programme to develop your career?

Sue Duglan, an MA student who studied Physical Development at CREC, has had her action research project featured in Nursery World this month.

16-Oct-2015This week our EEL & BEEL training has been featured on the Astec Solutions blog, where they discuss it's value for early years settings.

The HAWWC project aims to addresses the policy of how we might enhance the educational achievement of young, white working class boys to close the gap in their attainment on entry to compulsory schooling, improve access to the free early education offer and enable greater social mobility.

Read CREC's Post-Election Statement here

In an Open Letter from Early Education yesterday, Early Years experts including CREC Co-Director Tony Bertram (Early Education President) ask for Quality not Quantity in Early Years. You can read the letter here.

We are pleased to have been awarded a grant for £97,00 by the Department for Education to undertake a national 12 month project to identify how the achievement levels of white working class boys can be improved.

27-Feb-2015 21st April 2015 Centre for Research in Early Childhood, St Thomas Children’s Centre, Birmingham, B15 2AF

9.30. – 3.30

The CREC Early Years Partnership will be holding a second Open Evening on Monday 9th March, 4.00-5.30pm.

Are you an Early Years practitioner who wants to become a practitioner researcher in your own setting?

You can now view the BECERA Conference book online (here) to view the timetable of the conference and read abstracts in order to decide which presentations you would like to attend!

The CREC Early Years Partnership will be holding an opening evening on Tuesday 27th January, 4.00-5.30pm. Come along to find out more about the Early Years Teacher Training Programme on offer.

CREC OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS