Output details

The Role of the Adult in Early Years Settings

This textbook, of which Rose is the principal author, is informed by an original theoretical framework - the ‘plural practitioner’ - which emerged from her empirical study of 100 student practitioners on a sector-endorsed ‘Top Up’ BA degree in Early Childhood Studies, together with a systematic review of the literature. She used focus group discussions explored the student practitioners’ insights into their role in providing quality practice. The methodology was interpretive, with both deductive and inductive approaches employed to analyse the qualitative, narrative data sets, which were correlated to the literature. Although data analysis was shared by the authors, the bulk of work was undertaken by Rose and she created the concept of ‘the plural practitioner’. Once the framework had been compiled, a ‘member check’ was conducted via a questionnaire (analysed using descriptive statistics) which was utilised to validate the framework. This final analysis was undertaken by Rose. The book also drew on a second piece of research, developed by Rose, which underpinned a key theme explored throughout the book in relation to adult roles, namely ‘child and adult initiated activities’. A different purposive sample was used of 100 experienced early years practitioners who were undertaking the Early Years Practitioner Status (EYPS) qualification. The research design and methodology mirrored the first project and the analytical process followed the same route (recorded focus group discussions to generate reflective discourse and the use of grounded theory, narrative and content analysis to interrogate the data). A review of the findings from this second study is outlined in the book.