Skip to content
Show Menu

Common elements approaches to support early childhood development

This is a recording from the PEDAL Conference 2024 which took place on 11 September 2024. This year's theme was "Innovative ways to bridge the gap between evidence and action for babies and children".

PEDAL’s Prof Sara Baker, CEI’s Dr Stephanie Smith and Emma Cook from Department of Health and Social Care present: Common elements approaches to support early childhood development. In this workshop we hear about two projects using a common elements approach: the Department of Health and Social Care’s “Workforce Pilots”, and PEDAL’s Early Years Library for early education settings.

Sara Baker is a Professor of Developmental Psychology and Education. Her research aims to improve children’s lives by identifying factors at home and at school that can support their agency over their own learning. This includes studying the interaction between developing executive functions and the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge, like early science learning.

Dr Stephanie Smith is a senior research specialist with a varied 15-year career spanning academic, voluntary sector, and frontline healthcare roles.

Emma Cook is Senior Clinical Lead for the 0-19 Clinical Programmes Unit of the Chief Public Health Nurse Directorate at the Department of Health and Social Care.