Chester-le-Street nursery's work highlighted in international study

Durham County Council’s Selby Cottage Childcare Centre, in Chester-le-Street, will feature in Pedagogies of Care in Four Countries which will examine the care and education for infants and toddlers across the world.

County Durham was chosen to take part as on offshoot of the Durham Pedagogies of Care’s Baby Project which is in its second year.

Universities in the UK, America, New Zealand and Hong Kong are all taking part. Researchers will study 15 minute documentaries about the average day in participating nurseries to see what can be learned from a cross-cultural comparison.

Professor Sacha Powell, of Canterbury Christ Church University, is the researcher for England. She said: “It has been an absolute delight for me to spend time with the staff at Selby Cottage. From a research perspective the screenings were a great success and from a personal perspective it was very enjoyable and instructive for me.“I never cease to learn from you all and our international project is replete with rich data that will allow us to create a multi-layered representation of pedagogies of care for one-year-olds. I look forward to continuing the work with the staff and creating the international connections between each nursery.”

Cllr Olwyn Gunn, cabinet member for children and young people’s service, said it was great the work of Selby Cottage's dedicated staff being highlighted internationally.