Edge Hill University Launches a New International Centre for Early Years Education with a Collective Call to Action for the Early Years Sector and UKLA Funding Success
Edge Hill University is delighted to announce the establishment of the International Centre for Early Years Education (ICEYE) with the release of ‘Play Matters’ and United Kingdom Literacy Association funding.
Based in the Faculty of Education, ICEYE will serve as the principal hub for academics, professionals, researchers, children, families, and communities.
ICEYE will work collaboratively with key stakeholders, including children, parents, families, communities, charities, advocacy networks, policymakers, and other organisations. One of the first activities of the Centre is to highlight a ‘call to action’ for the Early Years Education sector. Dr. Karen Boardman, along with colleagues nationally and internationally, contributed to a groundbreaking free guide to champion the power of play in early childhood - ‘Play Matters’. Edited by Dr. Aaron Bradbury, the collaborative work unites leading professionals from education, psychology, and health to advocate for the transformative power of play for children from birth to 8 years old. ‘Play Matters’ challenges traditional perceptions of play in education, emphasising its critical role in fostering holistic development.
Dr. Karen Boardman said: “It is such a privilege to be invited to contribute to ‘Play Matters’ and to work with four other colleagues on our chapter ‘Playful learning from birth’. The idea that play is being eroded from our early years pedagogies is astonishing, given that we know that children learn and develop through playful learning experiences from birth. Currently, many of our Reception classrooms pay lip service to play, and then children are expected to meet milestones (Early Learning Goals) which are often out of context and have no relevance or meaning to very young children. This document will be freely available for everyone and is so important in reminding us all that play really matters.
I have previously contributed and led on aspects of Birth to Five Matters (Early Education, 2021), so it is especially rewarding to continue to support the Early Years Education sector with practical documentation. I am looking forward to sharing this with our students here at Edge Hill University. Dr. Aaron Bradbury recently came to EHU to talk to our students during Holistic Week about the importance of play and how the document came about, so they are already excited to read it.
This is one of our first publications attached to our new International Centre for Early Years Education, alongside the great news that we have just received funding from the UKLA to carry out research on outdoor nature-based learning with families.
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Play Matters is more than a guide; it’s a movement to reclaim the joy and importance of play in early years education. Available for download on March 18th at early-years-reviews.com and through many other organizations championing play, this resource aims to influence both individual practices and educational policies worldwide.
ICEYE has its home in the Faculty of Education. The faculty has been educating the teaching and education workforce for almost 140 years. The vision of ‘working creatively with others to enhance life chances’ is at the heart of its work, with a relentless focus on harnessing the power of education to transform lives.
The faculty is one of the largest Initial Teacher Education providers in the country and in March 2024, we became the first higher education institution in England to be rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in all three teacher education phases.
Read the Play Matters Report here.
