Vol 13 Issue 2
FOCUS ON: Investing in Babies
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Literacy Volunteers
- Learning begins in relationships
- Education for sustainability in early years settings
- High quality provision in the baby room
- Board books for babies
- A conversation with Professor Nurper Ülküer
Author: Elaine Reese
Author title: Department of Psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand
Description: Elaine Reese of the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand explains how interactive book-reading benefits toddlers’ language and socioemotional development.
Author: Nicole Artico, CEO, Bengianni Halil-Pizzirani, Sophie Stephenson,
Author title:
Nicole Artico, CEO, Kids First Australia
Bengianni Halil-Pizzirani, Director of Research and Evaluation, Impact Initiative, Kids First Australia
Sophie Stephenson, Research Associate, Impact Initiative, Kids First Australia
Description: The first 1001 days of a child’s life establish the emotional and neural foundations for curiosity, attention, and self-regulation. This article describes how Kids First Australia has translated attachment science into a national early-learning and family-support framework. Building on the evidence from the Early Years Education Program (EYEP) randomised controlled trial, Kids First Australia developed the Early Help model, integrating trauma-informed pedagogy with structured support for families. Evaluation across early years hubs shows increased parental confidence, educator wellbeing, and child engagement. The discussion highlights how relational pedagogy functions as both educational method and prevention strategy, demonstrating that the quality of emotional environments determines the quality of learning. Practical lessons are offered for educators, policymakers, and community leaders seeking to embed attachment-based, evidence-informed approaches within universal early education systems.
Author: Kayla Halls, Sara Bonetti, Mona Sakr
Author title:
Kayla Halls, Research Fellow, Middlesex University, UK
Sara Bonetti, Independent Researcher
Mona Sakr, Associate Professor in Education Studies/Early Childhood Studies, Middlesex University, London
Description: Based on the findings of the Nuffield Foundation funded research, ‘Achieving High-Quality Provision in the Baby Room of English Nurseries’, this article describes how baby room educators can offer quality care to babies. Using evidence from a global evidence review, and surveys and focus groups with baby room educators and nursery managers, the article describes the importance of setting up the right environments, having consistent and attuned educator-child relationships, nurturing relationships with families, and developing a wider baby room community. The article then lays out the conditions needed to deliver quality, including small group sizes, strong teams, and baby-specific professional learning. It concludes by offering ideas for how this can influence practice for educators, baby rooms, and nurseries moving forward.
Author: June O’Sullivan
Author title: CEO London Early Years Foundation; Campaigner and Advocate for Early Years Education and Care
Description: Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings offer the foundation for lifelong sustainable attitudes. Sustainability in its deepest sense is about fairness, dignity and justice across generations (Broadfoot & Pascal, 2021). It asks us to consider whether our choices today limit the rights and opportunities of children tomorrow. Social justice is at the heart of this. Creating a fair and inclusive society where everyone has access to resources, opportunities and respect is not something that begins at school; it begins in infancy through relationships, routines and responsive care.
Author: Karen Sands-O’Connor
Author title: School of Education, University of Sheffield, UK
Description: The number of board books published in the UK has increased since the 1980s exponentially, in part due to the success of book programmes for babies such as Booktrust’s Bookstart programme. But often the books given out in these programmes do not feature human (let alone racially minoritised human) representation (Chetty & Sands-O’Connor, 2025), and this can mean that the only books in a given household do not provide children with an opportunity to see themselves in the book world. Hughes- Hassell and Cox (2010:211) argue that, ‘Exposure to books and other resources about people who look like them, that reflect their world, may contribute to an infant and toddler of color’s developing appreciation of self’. Every age of child needs stories about people that look like them and the people in the world around them, to support their understanding of the world and of the world of books and reading. Stories and poetry suitable for a toddler can support their intellectual development, and books with broad representation open up their world culturally and emotionally.
Author: Lorna Jaggard
Author title: Early Years and Projects Lead at Literacy Volunteers, Nottinghamshire, UK
Description: The first 1001 days, from conception to a child’s second birthday, are a critical period in which early interaction, bonding, and communication profoundly shape later outcomes. Literacy Volunteers, a long- standing Nottingham-based charity in the East Midlands of the UK, delivers Learning to Love Books, an evidence-informed early years programme that supports babies and families living in disadvantaged communities. This article outlines the origins of the charity, the aims underpinning its work, the structure and impact of its early years provision, and its commitment to improving the Home Learning Environment (HLE) through shared reading, play and parent/infant interaction. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, case study material, and national evidence on early development, this article highlights how this programme contributes to school readiness, parental confidence and community resilience.
Author: Lisa J. Schlueter
Author title: Division of Community and Family Support, Department of Early Childhood, Denver, Colorado, USA
Description: Extant literature supports the importance of early experiences for young children. In the U.S., children are increasingly being cared for in non-parental care arrangements. In 2019, 42-55% of children under the age of two were cared for at least once a week outside the home (Cui & Natzke, 2021). Some children spend up to 35 hours or more in child care arrangements each week (Capizzano et al., 2000). Therefore, effective investment in babies necessitates an investment in early care and learning settings.
Author: Emeritus Professor Eunice Lumsden and Professor Nurper Ülküer, a global expert in early childhood development.
Author title:
Emeritus Professor Eunice Lumsden IJBPE, Incoming Editor, UK
Professor Nurper Ülküer, a global expert in early childhood development.
Description: This article presents a conversation between Emeritus Professor Eunice Lumsden and Professor Nurper Ülküer, a global expert in early childhood development. Through personal reflections and professional experiences, Professor Ülküer shares her journey, the evolution of early childhood policies, and the importance of the first 1001 days in shaping lifelong outcomes. The discussion highlights the need for holistic, culturally responsive, and empowering approaches to early childhood development.
Author: Mary Nolan,
Author title: Founding Editor IJBPE; Emerita Professor of Perinatal Education, University of Worcester, UK
Description: Emerita Professor Mary Nolan emphasises that investing in babies hinges on the mental wellbeing of their primary carer with a focus on maternal mental health.
