Dr Nicola Smith

School of Education
Senior Lecturer in Primary/Early Years Education
Head of the Department of Teacher Education

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 4806
Email: n.smith.9@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Nicola worked in primary schools in Worcestershire and Birmingham before becoming an adult education tutor and then a Higher Education lecturer on childhood studies and ITE programmes. Her research interests include children and families with EAL, children as researchers and parental involvement in early years education.

Qualifications

PhD (University of Wolverhampton)
PGDip Early Childhood (Canterbury Christ Church College)

Teaching

Nicola's main teaching responsibilities is on the Teaching English on the General Primary and Early Years PG Dip Ed programme; where she teaches Primary and Early Years English. As well as University based training, she also works with mentors and trainees in partnership schools. She also supervises students on the MA in Teaching Studies programme.

Doctoral research

PhD title: Practitioners and parents; living in a ‘third space’? A study of perceptions of ‘British Asian’ parental involvement in their children’s Nursery education University of Wolverhampton, 2011

Research

Nicola is currently working on the Young Researchers Project, in collaboration with colleagues in the Colmore Partnership Teaching Schools Alliance and University College Birmingham

Publications

Smith, N, (2017). Group work and interviews with teachers, parents, and children: Relationships and parental involvement in nursery education. SAGE Research Methods Cases. Available at https://methods.sagepub.com/case/group-work-interviews-teachers-parents-children-relationships-involvement

Reel, D. and Smith, N. (2015) The Foundation Years: 4-5 year olds in Trodd, L. (Ed) The Early Years Practitioner’s Handbook Routledge, UK

Smith, N. (2013) Perspectives on parental involvement: a discussion of practitioner research in Clark, A., Flewitt, R., Hammersley, M., and Robb, M. (Eds.) Understanding Research with Children and Young People Sage, London

Smith, N (2012) New Developments in England European Early Childhood Education Research Journal vol 20 no 1 pp 149-154

Conference presentations

Smith, N. Who can be a researcher? Presented at European Early Childhood Education Research Association conference, Dublin, 2016.

Reel, D; Smith, N and Randall, V. The Young Researchers Project. Presented at Teacher Education Advancement Network conference, Birmingham, 2015.

Reel, D and Smith, N. Partnership in Practice: The Legacy Project and Young Researchers Project. Poster presentation at Teacher Education Advancement Network conference, Birmingham, 2015.

Smith, N; Sperrin, N and Dunne, A. Trainee Teachers as Curriculum Builders. Presented at University Council for Education of Teachers conference, Birmingham, 2014.

Smith, N. Creating a Space for Parents' Voices. Methodology in a Practitioner Research Project. Presented at British Early Childhood Education Research Association conference, Birmingham, 2012.

Smith, N. A Third Space? Examining ways in which practitioners can invest in building relationships with parents using Bhabha’s (1994) theory Presented at European Early Childhood Education Research Association conference, Geneva, 2011.

Smith, N. Listening to 'British Asian' parents. Perceptions of parental involvement in children's Nursery education. Presented at European Early Childhood Education Research Association conference, Birmingham, 2010.

View all publications in research portal