In Residence

Special Edition: ‘50 years of early years provision 1971-2021’ We are delighted to have such an eminent group of writers with direct research, policy development and service delivery experience for this special edition of the TCJ. Our first paper by Sonia Jackson reflects on ‘how the work of the Plowden Report (1967) sent Early Childhood … Read more

Pauline Weinstein (1930 – 2020) was an advocate for early years childcare and co-founder of the Hackney Playbus. The Playbus is still in operation after 50 years having been one of the first services of its kind in the UK. A qualified teacher, she worked at the therapeutic community Bodenham Manor under the management of … Read more

On a beach near Borth-y-Gest during August 2021 a visiting family greeted us as we arrived by sailing dinghy.  Once we had disembarked and stowed our buoyancy aids and lunch, the adults struck up conversation during which we discovered that our new-found friends had roots in Poland. Meanwhile one of the young girls in our … Read more

The inspiration for this piece was an unlikely combination of recent rain, and Melvyn Bragg’s BBC Radio 4 programme, In our Time. It was the rain in East London that brought out the snails, and Melvyn Bragg who introduced me to Comenius.  Let’s start chronologically…with Johan Amos Comenius (1592-1670).  If, like me you didn’t know … Read more

This span of 50 years saw a range of early years initiatives focussed on expanding early years services of different kinds, increasing take-up especially by disadvantaged families/ in disadvantaged areas, and improving outcomes particularly for the most disadvantaged. ‘Daycare’ is a slippery term with a number of meanings, from an all-encompassing term covering all forms of early … Read more

Naomi Eisenstadt is Designate Chair of Northamptonshire’s Integrated Care Board.  Naomi’s career has centred on children, poverty and family policy. She was the first Director of Sure Start, ran the Social Exclusion Task Force, and served as Poverty Advisor to the Scotland’s First Minister. She is a trustee of the Abdrn Financial Fairness Trust and … Read more

Dame Gillian Pugh was Director of the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children’s Bureau from 1986 – 1997 and Chief Executive of Coram from 1997 – 2005.  She was an adviser to the Department for Education from 1997 – 2010. Summary Services for young children in England in the 1970s were not a priority … Read more

How the Plowden Report (1967) sent Early Childhood Care and Education in Britain down the wrong path, and why we have never found our way since By Sonia Jackson UCL Social Research Institute Abstract The 1967 report of the Central Advisory Council for Education, chaired by Lady (Bridget) Plowden was hailed as a breakthrough at … Read more

This article originally appeared in the journal ‘Educational Therapy & Therapeutic Teaching’ the journal of the Caspari Foundation. There is currently a great deal of concern about children who are failing to thrive in our schools through difficulties around both learning and behaviour. One could say that these children lack self-awareness, self control and a … Read more

Danielle Gaye has a BSc (Hons) and is an ACSEP graduate. Danielle is a Registered Manager with the Cambian Group. Abstract: This best practice guide has been written following 15 months managing a residential children’s home in the South West of England. The home is registered to support four children and specialises in looking after … Read more

‘Love and freedom are vital to the creation and upbringing of a child’: exploring Sylvia Pankhurst’s visit to the Little Commonwealth Sylvia Pankhurst, with her friend and East London Federation of Suffragettes (ELF) colleague Norah Smyth, visited the Little Commonwealth in Dorset on 23 October 1915.[i] She was one of around a dozen suffragettes whose … Read more

Usually when I write a column for The TCJ based on a specific incident, conversation or occasion, I seek to get to work on it immediately to ensure that no details are forgotten.  But in this case I have waited almost a week to ponder what happened and make sense of the turning points in … Read more