Understanding Early Years Policy

Damien Fitzgerald PhD, is Head of Area for Early Childhood and Childhood at the Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. His research interests include gender and childhood, heteronormativity in family contexts and same-sex parenting and this informs his undergraduate and post-graduate teaching. Prior to working at Sheffield Hallam, he worked as an advisory teacher in early years special needs and in other teaching roles in schools. He is also qualified as a nurse working mainly in emergency care.Janet Kay worked as a qualified social worker with children and families for some years before moving into teaching in further and then higher education. She has retired from full-time work, but still regularly lectures at Sheffield Hallam University, and is also working to promote better support for adoptive families in the UK.

Understanding Early Years Policy is a most accessible and engaging read. It takes the reader through the complex network of policy development and makes useful links to other areas of policy; as such it s a book that can be used beyond the Early Years context.The examples and suggested activities make a potentially dry subject matter come alive and will be most helpful to student engagement of the topic .

• Chapter 1: What Is Policy and Why Is It Important?Chapter 2: The Development of Early Years Policy: Up to 1997Chapter 3: The Development of Early Years Policy: New Labour and the CoalitionTimeline of Early Years PolicyChapter 4: Influences on Early Years Policy DevelopmentChapter 5: Implementing Early Years PolicyChapter 6: Early Years Policy in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: The Impact of DevolutionChapter 7: The International Dimension of Policy-makingChapter 8: The Impact of PolicyChapter 9: Analysing the Impact of PolicyChapter 10: ConclusionGlossaryReferencesUseful Websites