Introduction

This book has three key aims, all linked to current developments in education. The first is to give ‘nature and nurture’ information specifically for this age group of children so that all those who have the responsibility of caring for them – i.e. parents, carers and professionals/practitioners in all kinds of settings – gain an enhanced understanding of their development. The second aim, emanating from the first, is to support those who wish to gain further qualifications. Across the UK there is a requirement that teachers and other professionals in the field, such as nursery nurses, nursery managers, social workers and childminders, keep abreast of current research so that their practice facilitates the optimum development of the children in their care. To support this, a range of opportunities to gain different levels of qualification has been provided. These include Foundation degrees, Early Childhood Studies degrees, Social Work and Teaching degrees and EYPS (Early Years Professional Status). They all highlight the link between academic knowledge and practice in the field, and this text is written to provide this kind of information – i.e. to illuminate, ‘the individual and diverse ways in which children develop and learn from birth’ and ‘how children's well-being, development, learning and behaviour can be affected by a range of influences and transitions from inside and outside the setting’ (Best Practice Network 2010) EYPS standards document and the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland (2009) (City of Edinburgh Council 2008). Each of the different qualifications provides enhanced status to the ‘takers’, and to their settings, for colleagues and parents can be reassured that ‘professionals who study’ are keen to learn more and are likely to give their children the best start in the long educational journey they must make. The third aim is to encourage practitioners to carry out research in their own settings with their own children. This would allow them to test ideas or form new ones that would then underpin best practice.