Dr Alex Morgan,
The Centre for Child Research, Swansea University

Placement would include: attendance at a course on research strategies appropriate for use with young children. Course Title: ‘The Mosaic Approach: undertaking research with children’ – will include undertaking a small scale study within the research team. Placement would also allow the applicant to work for a least one day with a researcher at Swansea who is currently undertaking work with practitioners using ECERS-R and ECERS-E rating scales.

Professor Carol McGuinness, School of Psychology, Queen’s University, Northern Ireland

The fellowship would offer the opportunity to observe the introduction of an infusion based approach to the curriculum in 5 primary schools, and to evaluate this approach to teaching thinking skills in primary schools. Involvement in this project would allow also first hand experience within the classroom, observing and analysing both practitioner and pupils, and investigating how infusion based pedagogy may influence thinking and learning.

Prof. Sally Power
LINK-Wales: The Learning in Wales Network
Cardiff University

Through the fellowship the application would become part of the LINK-Wales: The Learning in Wales Project.

Hopes to learn how a large, inter-institutional research project is conducted from inception to delivery. Intends to become involved in all five phases of the research. Intends to work on one day in each phase: January 2009; April 2009; May 2009; June 2009.

John Siraj-Blatchford,
Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, University of London

The fellowship would allow me to… conduct a re-analysis of previous research undertaken, and an analysis of the extant literature related to the development of ‘sustained shared thinking’ in pre-school pedagogy and also in the home learning environment. It is envisaged that a joint paper produced should provide the basis for a joint ESRC proposal for external research funding in 2009.