Nursery World - Interview - Professor Rachel Holmes

Professor Holmes was one of the contributors to the Birth To Three Matters framework and leads the Children and Childhood Research Group at Manchester Metropolitan University, which is currently investigating the impact of the framework and how it lives on in practice today.

Professor Rachel Holmes

YOU HAVE DESCRIBED THE FRAMEWORK AS ‘PIONEERING’. WHY WAS IT SO GROUND-BREAKING?

Birth to Three Matters (B-3M) was the first national framework that supported children in their earliest years.

It was commissioned by the UK Government, and developed by a research team at Manchester Metropolitan University, led by Professor Lesley Abbott. My role was researching and writing the strand called A Strong Child. It was published in 2003, and then incorporated into the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage in 2008. It offered a rounded, positive and detailed picture of very young children as active learners who develop through interaction with the world, and with adults and other children.

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