Encouraging Physical Development Through Movement-Play

Carol Archer has taught in early childhood education and primary schools for over two decades and is currently an advisory teacher for the Integrated Early Years Service in the London Borough of Camden. She also works as a movement-play practitioner/consultant in other education authorities. She finished her Masters Degree at the Institute of Education, University of London on Early Years Education in 2011; and recently published a paper with Iram Siraj on ‘Measuring the quality of movement-play in Early Childhood Education settings’ in the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal.  She is passionate about promoting physical development through movement-play for all young children from birth to 6 years of age in this under researched, under theorised & under practiced area of learning.Iram Siraj is Professor of Child Development & Education at the University of Oxford. She is Adjunct Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and Visiting Professor at University College London and the University of Wollongong, Australia. Iram’s research projects have included leading on the Evaluation of the Foundation Phase across Wales and she is  a principal investigator of the major DfE 17 -year study on Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16, 1997-2014) and of the influential Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years project (REPEY). She has led on longitudinal studies/RCTs as a principal investigator in a number of countries including the UK, Australia and Ireland. She is specialist adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on early education and has undertaken reviews of the Foundation Phase for the Welsh Govt. and of the workforce for the Scottish Govt. She has published widely.

If you are interested in how to create more enriching, playful, movement experiences with young children, this book will show you how! The book is a must for all those interested in promoting physical development in the early years, it is practical but underpinned by helpful theory including the links between physicality and later academic success. The authors are able to draw on their vast collective experiences and provide an evidence-based resource that I would highly recommend to all early childhood educators; including those in early primary schools.

• Movement-play and its influence on young children′s developmentMaking the case for physical activityImplementing a movement-play-based curriculum for children from birth to six years of ageImproving the quality of movement-play: a small-scale studyWorking with families to promote movement-playLeading and managing the implementation of movement-play from practice to policy: a whole setting approach