معرفی
Dr. Nicola Smith serves as Senior Lecturer in Primary/Early Years Education and Head of the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Birmingham's School of Education. With extensive prior experience in Worcestershire and Birmingham primary schools, she transitioned through adult education tutoring to higher education, where she now delivers childhood studies and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes.
Her academic credentials include a PhD from the University of Wolverhampton (2011) titled "Practitioners and parents; living in a ‘third space’? A study of perceptions of ‘British Asian’ parental involvement in their children’s Nursery education" and a PGDip in Early Childhood from Canterbury Christ Church College.
Smith's research centers on children and families with English as an Additional Language (EAL), children as researchers, and parental involvement in early years education. Her scholarship employs qualitative methodologies to examine multicultural dynamics in nursery settings, particularly focusing on British Asian parental perspectives and the application of Bhabha's third space theory to practitioner-parent relationships. Current projects include the Young Researchers initiative investigating child-led inquiry methods.
Publications from 2010-2017 demonstrate consistent thematic focus on early childhood educational practices, with recurring analysis of home-school partnerships, cultural diversity in nursery education, and innovative teacher training approaches. Her work frequently bridges theoretical frameworks with practitioner research in multicultural contexts.
Dr. Smith supervises MA Teaching Studies students and collaborates with mentors in partnership schools. She currently leads the Young Researchers Project through a tripartite collaboration involving the Colmore Partnership Teaching Schools Alliance and University College Birmingham, developing frameworks for child-centered research methodologies in early education.
This initiative operates within the School of Education's Department of Teacher Education, fostering school-university partnerships to advance evidence-based practices in primary and early years pedagogy through participatory research models.
