This is the first hour I’d spent with Professors Chris Pascal OBE and Dr Tony Bertram since they stopped supervising my PhD, and the conversation was every bit as energising and engaging as ever. Affectionately dubbed our “National Treasures” by the study group, Chris and Tony are as generous as they are sharp. We set out to talk about ‘quality’, but it quicky widened into pedagogy, community inequality and the digitally-saturated world children now inhabit. What emerged was a deeply hu...
Jul 27
46 min
SEND, Social Justice and the Question We Keep Avoiding Everyone is talking about SEND. Inclusion. Rising need. Pressures on schools and nurseries. But I am not convinced we all mean the same thing when we use those words. In my latest Talking Early Years podcast, I sat down with the wonderfully energetic Catherine Mole, CEO of Dingley’s Promise and one of the sector’s most passionate advocates for children with SEND, to unpack what is really going on.
Jun 8
36 min
Kindness Is the Work: A Conversation with Salas Balde for the Next Generation of Early Years Educators Every now and then, someone walks into your professional world and reminds you why you care so deeply about Early Years, community, childhood development, and humanity itself. For me, one of those people is Salas. He was last on Talking Early Years in December 2023, and even then, he was a burst of optimism and purpose. Since then, he has done so much more that I felt it was time to br...
May 8
30 min
Is giving a young child unrestricted access to digital technology like handing them a vape? In my latest podcast, I sat down with digital safety expert Katy Potts to confront what many of us are reluctant to say out loud. There is no app to replace your lap. Listen to the podcast. This matters more than we think!
Apr 10
38 min
Social justice can sound lofty. Abstract. Something discussed in policy papers or parliamentary chambers. But the truth is, the seeds of fairness, compassion, sustainability and community are planted much earlier than that. They’re sown in the nursery, long before children learn the language of politics. And if we don’t plant them early, we risk raising a generation who see inequality as inevitable rather than something they can change. That was the heart of my conversation with Susan S...
Mar 19
39 min
Learning by Living: Barbara Rogoff on Sociocultural Learning Listen now In this episode of Talking Early Years, I’m in conversation with one of the most influential thinkers in developmental psychology, Professor Barbara Rogoff, whose work on sociocultural learning in early childhood has reshaped how the world understands children and learning.
Feb 2
46 min
This week on the podcast, I’m joined by Howard Roberts, a creative strategist whose superpower is curiosity. The real kind—the kind that asks why, digs deeper, challenges the status quo, and isn’t satisfied with surface-level answers. In the Early Years, we know just how powerful curiosity is. It’s the engine of learning, the spark of joy, the heart of play. But what happens when we apply that same thinking to big public issues—like how we help people truly feel why the Early Years matt...
Jan 9
45 min
I’ve just finished recording a podcast with Professor Sam Wass, and I’m still buzzing. He is Director of the Institute for the Science of Early Years at the University of East London. You may also know him from The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds. His research is fascinating because it brings neuroscience right into the nursery, helping us understand what children’s brains are telling us about their experiences. Sam’s research brings neuroscience directly into early years settings. He uses micr...
Nov 28, 2025
39 min
Why Nursery Chefs Are Our Unsung Food Champions I recently spoke with Catherine Lippe, a registered nutritionist with more than 18 years’ experience in Early Years nutrition. She reminded me that nursery chefs are far more than cooks; they are “food champions” whose work directly supports children’s development and helps address wider issues of health inequality. With the new EYFS nutrition guidance offering clearer direction, there’s a real opportunity to place food firmly at the heart of nu...
Oct 16, 2025
41 min
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