Welcome

 

Hello.  My name is Dr Tanya Richardson and I am an Associate Professor in Early Childhood and a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Northampton, England.   I am also an affiliated researcher with Jonkoping University, Sweden.

 

Prior to working at the university I 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 therefore am lucky enough to have the practice wisdom that I am able to apply to my academic studies and my PhD researched the impact that different learning and play environments have on young children’s speech and language development, with a particular interest in outdoor play and forest school environments.  This is an area that I continue to research and am looking forward to sharing this with you further on this site.

I am also particularly interested in the student experience for those studying Early Childhood Studies and I research aspects with the aim to enhance this experience and produce professionals who will be excellent advocates for children and their families.

I welcome conversation about any of the areas I am involved in and if you would like to reach out then I would be pleased to hear from you.  You can reach me by emailing tanya.richardson@northampton.ac.uk