Playing or learning?

Ben Kingston-Hughes is an international keynote speaker, author and multi award-winning trainer. He is also the managing director of Inspired Children and has worked with vulnerable children across the UK for over 30 years. He has appeared on television several times working on a variety of children’s projects and his distinctive blend of humour, neuroscience and real-life practical experiences have made his training invaluable for anyone working with children. His new book, A Very Unusual Journey into Play is now available.

Jan Dubiel is a nationally and internationally recognised specialist in early childhood education. He was identified recently by the Times Educational Supplement as one of the ten most influential people in British education,  

Having trained as an early years specialist, Jan worked as a nursery, reception and year 1 teacher, leading teams as an early years co-ordinator. Following roles as an early years consultant and senior adviser, he was appointed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to lead on the management of the (Early Years) Foundation Stage Profile, and had national responsibility for its implementation and moderation, developing guidance and support materials and working at a strategic level with policy makers.

He recently served on the Expert Advisory panel advising the DfE on the revision to the ELGs and EYFS Profile. Until April 2019 he was the head of national and international development at Early Excellence where he was responsible for developing EExBA, used by 12,000 schools as a Baseline Assessment, EExAT, and Birth to 7 tracking system and EExAQ, an international qualification for kindergarten teachers. From 2020 he has worked as the director for early years at AISL Harrow International Schools and Bilingual Kindergartens.

Jan has developed a national and international reputation as a conference speaker, consultant and trainer and he has written widely on different aspects of early years policy and practice, especially in terms of pedagogy, curriculum and assessment.

His first book Effective Assessment in the EYFS was published by SAGE in 2014, with a second edition published in 2016.

Sue started as a teacher, finally becoming a senior early years lead in a primary school and lead teacher for her local authority.  Moving into research Sue gained an MA then a Doctorate, both in Early Childhood Education, from Sheffield University. This led to becoming a local authority early years adviser enabling her to develop her practice working with provision across the EYFS.   As an independent consultant, author and trainer, Sue is known for her practical style of working through coaching, mentoring, modelling, training and working alongside.

Charlotte Dunster-Page is a principal clinical psychologist who is passionate about infant mental health and preventative family work. She works within the NHS, leading Bradford’s Infant Mental Health Service. She has also founded Born to Bond, a Community Interest Company, to deliver training to professionals, students and volunteers who work with families and to work directly with families. Born to Bond’s vision is that all babies receive nurturing, responsive care which supports their wellbeing and development. Evidence-based information is also published on social media as an alternative to the easily accessible parenting myths.

Sharon is senior lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Bath Spa University and an associate trainer and researcher for the Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education (CREC). She is a trustee on the Froebel Trust Council and vice-chair on the Executive of the Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network (ECSDN).

She has a diverse career background, working initially in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as a policy manager, owning a private day nursery, assessor for the award of EYPs, participating in the review of the Teacher Standards, and more recently working as project assistant for the development of Birth to Five Matters non-statutory guidance.

Sharon’s PhD research and interests are particularly concerned with play-based participatory pedagogies and its part in developing children’s mixed ethnic identity and cultural learning and development – especially learning and development informed by child-led perspectives. Sharon also has a deep interest and engages in work that develops anti-oppressive practice.

She is an active member of Early Childhood Education Research Association (ECERA), CREC learning circle, and Early Education.