Dr Tanya Richardson

I am an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood at the University of Northampton.  I am the Deputy Head of the School of Education and Society and am Course Leader for the Early Childhood Studies programmes.   I have previously managed and led my own “outstanding” day nursery and out of school club.  The nursery setting was fortunate enough to have a forest school as part of its ethos and I became very interested in the impact that this environment had on children’s speech and language development.    I am therefore lucky enough to have the practice wisdom that I am able to apply to the academic studies and my PhD researched the impact that different learning and play environments have on young children’s speech and language development.  I am also particularly interested in the student experience for those studying Early Childhood Studies and research aspects with the aim to enhance this experience and produce professionals who will be excellent advocates for children and their families.

My research interests lie within the field of Early Childhood.  I am particularly interested in how young children's speech and langauge develops, and the influence of the environment on that area of development.  My PhD study focused on whether the quality of the play/learning environment has an impact on the quality of a child's speech and language.  This involved troubling the concept of quality.  The research has led me to develop a Trasnferable Quality Assessment Framework (TQAF), which is a research tool to assess the quality of environments and is transferable between indoor clasrooms, outdoor classrooms and natural environments (such as forest schools).  As my research progresses I hope to test this TQAF and research this further, with the aim of it becoming an assessment aid for use within Early Years settings loking to enhance childrens' speech and language.

Due to the nature of my work I am also interested in ethical approaches when researching with young children.

My work as a senior lecturer in Early Childhood Studies provides an interest in researching student's aspirations, transitions and employability and this forms part of my daily work within this area.