Child Development From Birth to 8 Years: An Interdisciplinary Approach

An understanding of Child Development is necessary for early childhood students as it underpins all early year’s practice and curricula. This book provides students with an in-depth understanding of the research, theory and current practice, supporting them through a complex area. Offering a fresh take, this book examines child development through a range of disciplines including psychology, education, sociology, anthropology and philosophy. Chapters are structured to support readers in understanding complex theory, with key features such as case studies which put theory into practice, reflective questions to encourage critical thinking, chapter summaries, further reading, and more.

Amanda Thomas is Senior Lecturer in Education at University of South Wales.

Alyson Lewis is Lecturer in Education Development at Cardiff University.

Dr. Amanda Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Early Years education at USW and teaches on the Early Years Education degree and the Working with Children and Families degree. She has taught in both Primary and Further Education before taking up her role in higher Education in 2011. Amanda currently teaches on a range of education modules including play, child development, pedagogy,  and leading and managing others. She competed her PhD in 2018 exploring children’s schemas in the Foundation Phase.  She has had books and research published on Early Years education, Schemas and Transitions within education. Amanda has just completed a suite of materials for the Welsh Government on schemas.  In her spare time, Amanda is a trustee of a charity trying to restore the former miners’ institute in her local village.

Dr Alyson Lewis has worked in a range of sectors including Early Years/Primary Education, Further and Higher Education and the Welsh Government as a social researcher. In Further Education she led two Foundation Degrees and a Top-up Degree and was award leader at Bath Spa University for the BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies and delivered modules to students in China studying the transnational education programme. She is currently lecturer in education development at Cardiff University teaching on the fellowship programme. She completed her PhD in 2017 which examined the concept and practices of well-being in the early years curriculum. She co-authored ‘An Introduction to the Foundation Phase in Wales’ with Amanda Thomas and has published papers relating to well-being and children’s rights.