14 February 2025
Louise Hannan (University Centre Somerset, Bridgwater & Taunton College)
Early Childhood Education and Care settings have seen in recent times, unprecedented changes to policy, funding and requirements. Furthermore, post Covid-19, there has been a growing concern from setting about emotional, social and physical well-being of children. This project an exploration into the emotional environment of Early Childhood Education and Care settings, examines the ecology of these complex interactions. Deploying a mix of phenomenology and praxeological methodologies, it considers the emotional ecology a unique phenomenon and aims to inform practice through direct observations in settings. It concludes by presenting a new way of considering the emotional ecology of settings by providing reflexive materials that settings can use to develop their thinking and practices.
Louise Hannan has been a Early Years Practitioner, Team Leader and Manager, in and around the Bristol area. She is now a lecturer at University Centre Somerset and this project was part of her on-going PhD with the Centre for Research and Early Childhood.