Early childhood and pre-school education
Developmental outcomes at an early age are the foundation for further development. For young children, stimulating development in the broadest sense is more likely to be successful than for older pupils and has a direct impact on later educational success. Through Professional Learning Communities we support lower primary teachers on topics such as learning through play, monitoring developmental progress and continuous learning line.
A vision of young children that emphasises the importance of the environment as a place where they can thrive includes learning through play, quality of education, monitoring of progress, positive behaviour support, and a continuous learning line between the ages of three and eight. We contribute to these issues through research and professionalisation.
Main research themes
This project started in a Professional Learning Community with a Learning through Play project to improve primary teachers' play supervision. It was followed up with training courses, for example at the Rivierenwijkschool in Deventer, and a theme page with an overview article and practical tools at the Netherlands Initiative for Educational Research (NRO).
The topic of 'monitoring young children's development' emerged from a field consultation with the National Expertise Centre for Young Children on urgent questions from practice. This topic was developed with a number of teacher training lecturers and professionals from childcare organisations and primary education. Points of attention and practical tools for improvement were reported. An overview of available systems for monitoring pupil progress was provided to assist in making decisions.
This project was conducted by the Childcare Expertise Centre. A development team worked on the building blocks for supporting positive behaviour in childcare. The results have been shared in several webinars, in a podcast and used in a practical pedagogic assignment.
Learning through Play
The insights and experiences gained from the Raak Publiek survey on 'Learning through Play' are implemented in our professionalisation programmes. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a sustainable approach to help lower primary teachers improve their play preparation and coaching of young children.
Our projects
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Positive Behavioural Support Development Team at the Childcare Expertise Centre
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Line of research ‘Monitoring Young Children’s Development’ National Expertise Centre for Young Children
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Training courses on learning through play in the early years’ foundation stage
Knowledge institutes & partners
We collaborate with parties at various levels, from individual schools to youth or education departments of municipalities or national knowledge centres.
How can we collaborate?
Collaboration is at the core of our research and consultancy work. Collaboration with partners from the field, such as schools, childcare organisations, libraries, consultancy firms, municipalities (local authorities) and province (regional authority). In addition, we collaborate closely with colleagues from other universities of applied sciences and research universities. We collaborate on the themes of VVE, Equal Opportunities and Language, and Personal Safety at School.
Would you like to collaborate on research? We always conduct research projects in collaboration with partners from the professional field. We investigate social issues that arise from practice.
Is there a need for professionalisation through in-service training? Based on our research, we offer refresher courses on current topics that are based on sound knowledge with theoretical depth. These courses enable schools to work on evidence-informed vision development and professionalisation.
Would you like to get in touch with other schools, the municipality or other experts? We have a large network and we would be delighted to help you on your way.
Would you like to collaborate with us? Please contact one of the researchers:
Cathy van Tuijl
Lector Early Child Education
dr. Ingrid Zijlstra
Senior lector/researcher
Simone Soomers
Lecturer/Researcher
Carlinda Boerdijk-Fuselier
Lecturer/Researcher
Young Child Expertise Centre
The Saxion Young Child Expertise Centre consists of a team of early childhood lecturers. It collaborates with the Early Childhood Education Research Group on quality development in early childhood education and care (0-7 years). We create learning networks where we collaborate and co-create, linking good practice with evidence. We also offer targeted and tailored training to support the development of professionals and organisations.