Promoting Children's Learning from Birth to Five: Developing the New Early Years Professional

* What sort of literacy and numeracy curriculum experiences are best suited to the needs of very young children?
* How can early years professionals bridge the current divisions between education and care to provide an approach to young children's learning which draws on the strengths of both traditions?
* How can these professionals be supported as they develop new practices which focus on young children as learners?
* What strategies are most effective in involving parents with their children's development in literacy and mathematical thinking?

Drawing upon research carried out in a range of early years settings, Angela Anning and Anne Edwards seek to address these questions. The emphasis throughout is upon enhancing the quality of children's learning and providing support for the practitioners who work with them. The complexity of addressing the various cognitive, social, physical and emotional learning needs of young children is discussed and practical strategies to develop children's learning are explored with a particular focus on communication and mathematical thinking. Published at a time of dramatic change in pre-school provision in the UK, the book will both inform and reassure early childhood professionals. It will be important reading for managers, administrators and all professionals working in early years and family services and an accessible text for those studying for childcare and education and teaching qualifications.

Angela Anning is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Leeds. She has a background of teaching at all levels. Her specialisms are the education of young children and art and design education and her career in schools culminated in the Headship of an infant school with a large nursery unit in Salford. Her current role involves initial training of teachers, in-service and masters level teaching, supervision of research students and the development of an innovative BA (Hons) Degree in Childhood Studies. Significant publications in the field of early childhood are The First Years at School 2nd Edn (1997) and A National Curriculum for the Early Years (1995), both published by the Open University Press.

Anne Edwards is Professor of Pedagogic Practice at the University of Birmingham. For the past twenty five years she has researched in the fields of primary education, pre-school provision and professional education. Her particular interests lie in children's learning and the professional development of those adults responsible for the development of children as learners. Her current work includes consultancies associated with teaching as a research-based profession and the involvement of parents in raising children's performance in literacy and numeracy. She has written extensively on action research, teacher development and children's learning in educational settings. She is the author, with Peter Knight, of Effective Early Years Education (1994) Open University Press.