Our early years work

Participating researchers

• Dr Lynn McNair (Co-I)

with partners from:

• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Norther Ireland

The project

The Early Years Workforce (EYW) is experiencing crisis throughout the UK. This project aims to inform EYW policy development across the UK by:

• developing an understanding of the operational success of EYW strategies in the four UK nations by: generating a UK-wide understanding of strengths and weaknesses of EYW policies
• informing policy makers about how known and entrenched EYW difficulties might be addressed with reference to identified successful approaches internationally

The project will:

• create a shared evidence-base of the four UK nations on the operational success or failure of recent EYW policy approaches in the UK, learning from countries outside the UK where appropriate
• identify policy options with a strong likelihood of operational success for short and long-term actions and policy frameworks
• engage policy makers in discussion with one another and the sector about EYW challenges and priorities

An interim report identifies many issues in common across the four nations, as well as a need to further learn from each other and adapt successful policies.

Press release: Interim report of the Early Years Workforce Study

Project start: May 2024

Researchers:

• Lynn McNair
• Jayne White
• Bridgette Redder
• Caroline Guard

This research aims to determine what happens when locally relevant pedagogies are dialogised across culturally diverse sites. We are interested in finding out about the potential for the transcultural perspectives of practitioners / teachers on pedagogies to enhance the educational experiences of 2 -5 years-old children. The information from this study will support practitioners / teachers to apply pedagogical understanding to their practice, benefitting from the insights of others through dialogue.

This three-year programme aims to strengthen and deepen child and community-centred early years practice across Scotland, based on the foundational principles of Friedrich Froebel.

Our vision is of a world where children’s integrity, interdependence and creativity are recognised and cultivated as an indispensable life force in all human societies. Specifically, we want to see children – supported by skilful childhood practitioners – widely and confidently sharing their co-created knowledge, ideas and practices – to inspire and enhance social justice, in harmony with the natural world. 

We want to spark a long-term, national learning journey – spearheaded by ELC practitioners-as-researchers and change makers – that will bring the inexhaustible value of Froebelian ideas into mainstream policy and practice for the twenty-first century. Our hope is that within five years Scotland will be recognised as a beacon of childhood practice at the heart of an international community of Froebelians.

Froebelian Futures is a partnership with Cowgate Under 5s and the University of Edinburgh.

Programme Director and Co-Director:

• Dr Lynn McNair
• Simon Bateson

Other University of Edinburgh members are:

• Luke Addison
• Catriona Gill
• Dr Kristina Konstantoni
• Dr Marlies Kustatscher
• Dr Maggie Morrison
• ProfessorJohn Ravenscroft
• Jane Whinnet

Visit the Froebelian Futures website  

A project exploring the potential of Froebelian principles in new environments, like play cafés, to provide opportunities for high-quality learning and education in informal settings.

Despite emerging research and evidence that focuses on public spaces as informal learning sites, there is still a gap in our understanding of how very young children experience public or semi-public play and social spaces like play cafés and other types of community and business family spaces. There is also an evident need to incorporate young children’s perspectives in the design of play and social spaces.

This project builds on the work of two successfully funded projects:

1. that explored young children’s everyday lives and the realisation of their rights in times of crisis in Greece
2. that explored family and staff experiences of play cafés in Scotland and Germany

This project responded to priorities identified by children (0-8) and their families linked to:

• inequalities that children faced accessing and playing in public spaces, like community and business cafes
• the lack of high-quality play spaces for children and social spaces for families in informal public learning environments

Building on the second project, which mainly focused on parent and staff perspectives, this project focuses on young children’s experiences and perspectives of play café spaces and includes a larger number of diverse families and staff.  The project also includes the perspectives of children and families that may also face barriers in accessing public play spaces. 

Participating researchers

• Professor Kay Tisdall
• Dr Kristina Konstantoni (Co-I)
• Dr Lynn McNair (Co-I)
• Professor John Ravenscroft (Co-I)
• Dr Marlies Kustatscher (Co-I)
• Dr Debi Fry (Co-I)

with partners from:

• Brazil
• Eswatini
• South Africa
• Palestine

The project

This is an international research project which aims to identify and develop safe, inclusive participative pedagogy that can be implemented in fragile contexts and is sustainable for governments, communities and families. The project is undertaken with partners in Brazil, Eswatini, Palestine, South Africa and Scotland using a mixed-method approach. This includes:

• qualitative community case studies in each country
• policy and systems analysis at country and community levels
• developing the economic case for safe inclusive pedagogy

Community engagement and participation underpin the project, where children and their families play an integral role and there is a strong focus on knowledge exchange and collaborative learning.

Al-Rozzi, M., Fry, D., Orgill, M., McMellon, C, Rizzini, I., Shabalala, F., Tamish, R., Konstantoni, K. Kustatscher, M. (forthcoming) Bringing young children into conversations about their lives, Children & Society.

Konstantoni, K., Bateson, S., Eri Tantawi, H. I., Mozaffar, R, Khalfaoui, A., and Dimoulia, A. (forthcoming) The travels of a Froebelian Mobile Play Cafe initiative: A critical analysis of applying Froebelian principles in community spaces. In McNair, L and Addison, L. (eds). The Power of Froebel in Early Childhood Education: Exploring Ideas, Practice and Impact in Scotland. Routledge.

Al-Rozzi, M., Fry, D., Orgill, M., McMellon, C, Rizzini, I., Shabalala, F., Tamish, R., Konstantoni, K. Kustatscher, M. (forthcoming) Bringing young children into conversations about their lives, Children & Society.

Konstantoni, K., Eri Tantawi, I. H, Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A. (under revisions) What are Play Cafes? Thinking through the ingredients to designing Play Cafes, Childhood.

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Eri Tantawi, I. H, and Dimoulia, A. (under revisions) Ethnographies with young children about play and public life with an impact: Being, learning, sharing, doing young children co-led research praxis, Children & Society.

Konstantoni, K., Bateson, S., Eri Tantawi, H. I., Mozaffar, R, Khalfaoui, A., and Dimoulia, A. (forthcoming) The travels of a Froebelian Mobile Play Cafe initiative: A critical analysis of applying Froebelian principles in community spaces. In McNair, L and Addison, L. (eds).The Power of Froebel in Early Childhood Education: Exploring Ideas, Practice and Impact in Scotland. Routledge.

Bizas, A., Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Eri-Tantawi, I. H., Biza, A., Zeini Aslani, R., Zeini Aslani. M., (2025) Welcome to Our Play Cafe. The University of Edinburgh and the Network for Children's Rights, Edinburgh.

A Team of Young Advisors from The Network for Children’s Rights in Greece, Dimoulia,A., Konstantoni, K., Eri-Tantawi, I. H., Beba, Konstantinos, Vasiliki (2025) ‘Welcome to Our Play Café’. The University of Edinburgh and the Network for Children's Rights,Edinburgh.

Konstantoni, K. and Mozaffar, R. Design proposal. Family space @ Moray House School of Education and Sport Old Nursery School, Holyrood Campus.

Konstantoni, K. and Panagopoulou, E. (2024) The Play Café project. Co-Curating Play Cafes in Greece. The Play Café Project website. University of Edinburgh. 

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A, Eri Tantawi, H. I. and Khalfaoui, A. (2024) The Play Café Project Briefing. University of Edinburgh.

Konstantoni, K., Panagopoulou, E, Bourdouvali, V., Dimoulia, A., Eri- Tantawi, I. H, Mozaffar, R., Stathopoulou, S. (2024) Co-curating Play Cafes in Greece. The Play Cafe Project Magazine. The Play Cafe Project. The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

Konstantoni, K. Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A and Eri-Tantawi, H. I. (2024) The Play Café Project Reflective Resource. The Play Café Project. The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

What are Play Cafes? Young children's experiences of play and public life. (The Play Cafe Project Website) 

A week in Athens with The Play Cafe Project Team (The Play Cafe Project Website) 

What are Play Cafes? Young children’s experiences of play and public life. (The Children and Young People Thematic Hub blog)

Konstantoni, K. (2026, forthcoming) Ethnography, Presentation and workshop for PGR student community in Moray House School of Education and Sport.

Eri Tantawi, H. I., Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A., (2025) Co-creating and Storybook-ing with very young children: The role of children illustrators-researchers (mobile play cafe), (upcoming) 25 August 2025, 33rd EECERA Annual Conference, Accepted.

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Eri Tantawi, H. I., Dimoulia, A. (2025, Invited) Co-creating and storybook-ing with very young children: Research, Innovation and Impact through Being, Learning, Sharing, Doing praxis. International Child and Family Conference. 17th – 19th June 2025. The University of Bristol, UK

Aviles, L., Konstantoni, K., Mason, S., Eri Tantawi, H. I., Williams, J, A.(2025) To Engage Boldly: A World Cafe on Radical Research Engagement. The Impact Festival, 2025. The University of Edinburgh.

Konstantoni, K. and Sabeti.,S. (2025, Invited) Ethnography in/and/of Education. Post- Graduate Development Session, Morray House School of Education and Sports, 13th May 2025.

Konstantoni, K. (2025, Invited) The Play Cafe Project. College of Arts and Humanities and Social Science Research Themes Showcase 2025, The University of Edinburgh, 24th April 2025

Konstantoni, K. (2024, Invited Keynote Talk) Play Cafe: Νέα κοινά γιαμικρά παιδιά και οικογένειες ( New commons for young children and families). Embodied workshop and talk for practitioners, professionals and parents/carers, ‘Free play’ The Play Cafe Project and The Network for Children’ s Rights, Greece-Athens, 19 October 2024.

Konstantoni, K. (2024, Invited Keynote Talk) ‘When intersectionality met childhood studies: Thinking back and forward’ Critical conversations. Intersectionality and Critical Childhood Studies. K Reporters International Workshop, NTNU Trondheim, Norway, 5-7 June 2024.

Konstantoni, K., and Mozaffar, R. (2024, Invited Talk) ‘Play cafes and Froebelian approaches in community and public spaces’. Froebelian Futures in conversation with series. Organised by Froebelian Futures, The Play Cafe Project, The Early Years Research, Policy and Practice Group and the Children and Young People Thematic Hub, Online Public Webinar, 15 May 2024, (135 registrations)

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Eri Tantawi, H. I. (2024) Co-creating and storybook-ing with very young children: Research, Innovation and Impact through Being, Learning, Sharing, Doing praxis. Seminar on Children's Rights Research with Young Children: the potential and challenges of participatory methods, Thursday 5th December 2024. Seminar organized by Children's Rights European Academic Network, Observatory of Children’s Human Rights Scotland and Children and Young People Thematic Hub (MHSES) University of Edinburgh.

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A and Eri Tantawi, H. I. (2024) The Play Café Project: Froebelian approaches in community and public/semi-public spaces. Presentation for the Children and Young People Hub Opening social/ research welcome event. 30 Oct 2024, Edinburgh (face to face and online)

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A., Eri Tantawi, H. I. (2024) ‘The Play Café Project: Froebelian approaches in community and public/semi-public spaces’. Froebelian Futures Conference, 25th May 2024, Edinburgh (face to face and online)

Konstantoni, K. and Panagopoulou, E. (2024) The Play Café project. Co-Curating Play Cafes in Greece. Presentation as part of an online book ‘Greek Froebelian Network: Critical Froebelian Encounters in Greece', Online book created by Vasiliki Bourdouvali. Froebelian Futures Conference, 25th May 2024, Edinburgh (face to face and online)

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A. and Eri-Tantawi, I. (2024) The Play Cafe Project: What would Froebelian Play Cafes look like? Poster presentation at UNICEF’s 1ST International Conference, Inclusive Education and Children's Rights, Technopolis, Athens, Greece, Organised by UNICEF, Ministry of Education, Religion and Sport and the Institute of Educational Policy. 11-12 April 2024.

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A., Bateson,S. and Khalfaoui, A., Eri Tantawi, H. I. (2024) Play Cafe: an important type of informal high-quality play and social provision in public life for young children, their families and their communities. Presentation to the Scottish Government, 20 February 2024, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

Konstantoni, K., Mozaffar, R., Dimoulia, A., Eri Tantawi, H. I., Khalfaoui, A., Young advisors: Alex, Roujda, Mohammad, Ariana, Konstantinos, Beba (2024) The Play Cafe project: What would Froebelian play cafes look like? 18 January 2024, Presentation to the Froebel Trust Research Committee. Online.

Konstantoni, K. (2024) The Play cafe project and Froebelian Futures (mobile play cafe), 8 November 2024, Presentation to the Froebel Trust. Online.

This project created a radical new public space which inclusively combined play, seminars, workshops and community development through a week-long pop-up play café festival. The work built on previously funded research projects linked to young children’s rights and play café spaces in Greece, Scotland and Germany, and a previous one-day pop-up play café (Fire Starter Festival). Interfacing research findings, knowledge exchange and community engagement, the project co-produced a new multimodal resource to provoke and develop new ideas and audiences, linked long-term to the establishment of a multi-partnership research-policy-practice early years centre.

This was a community engagement event which also included research to explore children and families’ experiences and perspectives about play café . A growing number of community and business play spaces seek to provide ‘child-friendly’ spaces. To what extent are these adult designed spaces relevant for young children and their families, and constitute environments that promote children’s rights and high quality education and learning?

This projects highlights an action research project that sparked transformation regarding how early years practitioners documented children’s learning.  The knowledge gained from this small action research project took place in one Scottish early years setting. The study was stimulated by the early years practitioners of the setting, who strongly opposed the ‘reductionist’ formal ‘tick-box’ assessments produced by their local authority. These types of didactic formal assessments suggest that pedagogy is underpinned by a desire to tame, predict, prepare, supervise and evaluate learning.