About
Biography
I am an educator, learning and development professional, and postgraduate researcher based in Fife, Scotland. My work brings together nearly three decades of experience across early childhood education, family support, international education, community practice, and workforce development.
I currently work as a Training Officer within Fife Council’s Professional Learning Team, where I support workforce development through professional learning, vocational qualifications, Foundation Apprenticeships, coaching, mentoring, and the development of blended learning resources. My role also involves partnership working, quality improvement, and creating learning opportunities that are responsive to both organisational priorities and the needs of practitioners and communities.
Alongside my professional role, I am completing an MSc in Education on the Froebelian Pathway at the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education, building on my BA in Childhood Practice from the same institution. My research and writing focus on inclusion, play, relational pedagogy, practitioner identity, educational inequality, and the ways Froebelian principles can inform contemporary practice.
A central strand of my work is advocating for the professional voice and status of the early years workforce. Early childhood professionals hold complex knowledge about children’s development, relationships, play, families, learning, and communities, yet this expertise is not always recognised in proportion to the responsibility they carry. I am particularly interested in creating stronger connections between practitioner knowledge, research, professional learning, and educational debate.
Before joining Fife Council, I spent eight years as a Family Resource Worker in Aberdeen, supporting children and families experiencing complex challenges through strengths-based, relationship-centred practice. I have also worked across early childhood settings and international education. These experiences have shaped my understanding of education as deeply relational and have reinforced my commitment to inclusion, belonging, dignity, and social justice.
Across my work, I am particularly interested in what happens when research and practice are brought into meaningful conversation. I believe practitioners should not simply be recipients of policy, research, or professional learning. They should be recognised as knowledgeable professionals whose experience, judgement, and insight can contribute to shaping them.
nurture.house brings these strands together. It is a space for research, writing, professional reflection, and dialogue around early childhood education, Froebelian philosophy, inclusion, play, professional learning, and social justice. It is also part of a wider commitment to strengthening the visibility, credibility, and professional voice of the early years sector.
Through nurture.house, I welcome opportunities to contribute to speaking, professional learning, consultancy, research, writing, and collaborative projects with educators, universities, local authorities, professional organisations, and others committed to thoughtful and inclusive educational practice.
My Ethos
As Paulo Freire reminds us, education is never neutral. Every decision about what is valued, what is measured, whose knowledge is recognised, and whose participation is made possible reflects particular beliefs about children, learning, and society.
For me, education is fundamentally relational, ethical, and social. It should create conditions in which children and adults experience dignity, belonging, participation, and the opportunity to flourish.
My thinking is deeply informed by Froebelian philosophy. Friedrich Froebel recognised children as capable, creative, and connected human beings whose learning develops through relationships, play, exploration, self-activity, and engagement with the world around them. What continues to resonate with me is not simply a particular method of teaching, but a way of understanding education that values the whole person and recognises learning as something deeply connected to relationships and human experience.
This also shapes how I understand inclusion. Inclusion should not be reduced to placement, access, or compliance with policy. It requires us to ask whose voices are heard, whose experiences are recognised, and who is able to participate meaningfully. For me, inclusion is therefore inseparable from social justice.
The same principles apply to educators. Practitioners need more than training or instructions about what to implement. They need opportunities to develop knowledge, exercise professional judgement, engage critically with research, and contribute to the conversations that shape their profession.
I believe professional learning is most powerful when it creates space for curiosity, dialogue, reflection, and challenge. It should strengthen practitioners' confidence in their own professional knowledge while also encouraging them to question assumptions, engage with evidence, and consider how practice can continue to evolve.
This is particularly important within early childhood education. Practitioners hold sophisticated knowledge about children, families, relationships, development, play, and learning, yet their expertise is not always given the recognition or professional status it deserves. Part of my work is therefore concerned with making that knowledge more visible and supporting stronger practitioner voice within research, policy, and educational debate.
nurture.house is where these ideas come together. It is a space for research, writing, reflection, and professional dialogue, but also for asking bigger questions about what education might become when relationships are taken seriously, practitioner knowledge is valued, and inclusion is understood as a commitment to the dignity and participation of every learner.
Froebelian Philosophy
Why I Am a Froebelian
People sometimes ask why I describe myself as a Froebelian.
It is not because I believe Friedrich Froebel had all the answers, or because I see his work as a set of methods that should simply be reproduced in contemporary education. I am a Froebelian because his philosophy offers a way of understanding children, learning and relationships that resonates deeply with both my professional experience and my values.
Long before I encountered Froebel’s writing, I had begun to question what education was for. Through my work in early childhood education, international schools, family support and workforce development, I have seen what can happen when children are trusted, listened to and given meaningful opportunities to participate. I have also seen the tensions that emerge when educational systems become more concerned with measurement, compliance and predetermined outcomes than with the lived experience of the learner.
When I began studying Froebelian philosophy, I realised I had found a language for ideas that had already been shaping my practice for many years.
Froebel understood children as active, capable and connected human beings. His emphasis on relationships, play, self-activity, exploration and engagement with the natural world offers a very different starting point from approaches that define children primarily through what they cannot yet do or what adults expect them to become.
What draws me most strongly to Froebel is not simply his advocacy of play. It is the wider philosophy beneath it: respect for the child, the importance of relationships, the interconnectedness of learning and life, and the belief that education should support human flourishing rather than simply produce measurable outcomes.
These ideas connect closely with my own commitment to inclusion and social justice. I believe children should not only have access to education, but should experience genuine belonging and meaningful participation within it. Their ideas should matter. Their differences should not automatically be understood as deficits, and their opportunities should not depend entirely on how easily they fit existing systems.
I believe the same respect should extend to educators. Practitioners are not simply implementers of policy or programmes. They hold valuable professional knowledge developed through study, experience, reflection and their relationships with children and families. One of the reasons Froebelian thinking continues to matter to me is that it encourages us to take both children and educators seriously as active participants in education.
Being a Froebelian also means being critical.
I do not believe nineteenth-century educational philosophy should be accepted without question. Froebel’s ideas need to be examined, challenged and interpreted in relation to contemporary research, changing societies and the diverse realities of children’s lives.
For me, Froebel remains relevant not because everything he wrote is timeless, but because his philosophy continues to provoke important questions.
What do we believe childhood is for?
What kinds of relationships enable children to flourish?
Whose knowledge do we value?
How much agency are children genuinely allowed within education?
And what happens when systems become more concerned with what can be measured than with what matters?
These are questions that continue to shape my research, writing and professional practice.
I am a Froebelian because I believe education should be grounded in relationships, curiosity, respect and meaningful participation. Froebel does not provide a blueprint for achieving this, but his philosophy offers a lens through which I continue to question practice, challenge assumptions and think more deeply about what education might become.
That spirit of enquiry also sits at the heart of nurture.house: a space for connecting research and practice, strengthening professional voice, and continuing the conversation about how education can better recognise the dignity, capability and potential of every learner.
What I do
Consultancy
Supporting local authorities and private childcare providers to embed Froebelian principles.
Speaking
Keynote talks on inclusion, play pedagogy, and social justice in early childhood.
Writing
Academic and practitioner-facing writing on Froebelian practice, ASN, and transitions.
Training
Workforce development for early years teams: play, wellbeing, mindfulness, and inclusion.
Speaking & Consultancy
Speaking, Professional Learning, Advocacy and Consultancy
I work with educational settings, local authorities, universities, professional organisations and networks that are seeking thoughtful, research-informed approaches to early childhood education, inclusion, professional learning and workforce development.
My work brings together nearly three decades of professional experience with postgraduate research and contemporary educational scholarship. I offer speaking, workshops, facilitated professional learning, consultancy and collaborative research, with a particular commitment to strengthening practitioner voice and raising the visibility and professional status of early years education.
Rather than offering generic training packages, I work with organisations to develop sessions that respond to their context, priorities and workforce.
Ways to Work With Me
Keynotes and conference speaking
I am available to contribute to conferences, seminars, webinars, professional networks and sector events. My talks bring together research, professional experience and critical reflection, with a focus on making complex educational ideas relevant and meaningful to practice.
Professional learning and workshops
I design and facilitate professional learning for early years practitioners, teachers, education teams and wider professional groups. Sessions can be delivered as individual workshops, conference sessions or as part of a longer professional learning programme.
Educational consultancy and facilitation
I work collaboratively with teams and organisations exploring inclusion, relational pedagogy, workforce development, reflective practice and professional learning. This may include facilitating professional dialogue, reviewing practice or resources, supporting programme development, or helping teams connect research and policy with everyday educational experience.
Research, writing and collaboration
I welcome opportunities to contribute to research projects, practitioner research, educational resources, commissioned writing and collaborative initiatives. I am particularly interested in work that brings research and practice into closer conversation and ensures practitioner knowledge is represented meaningfully.
Early years advocacy and professional voice
A central part of my work is advocating for greater recognition of the knowledge, skill and professional contribution of the early years workforce. I am interested in speaking, writing and collaborative projects that strengthen practitioner voice and contribute to wider conversations about workforce status, professional identity and the value of early childhood education.
Current Areas of Focus
My current areas of work include Froebelian philosophy and contemporary practice, play and relational pedagogy, inclusion and social justice, additional support needs, educational transitions, practitioner identity and professional voice, workforce development, reflective professional learning, children’s rights and participation, and the relationship between accountability, professional judgement and educational purpose.
My approach is reflective and collaborative rather than prescriptive. I am not interested in offering simple solutions to complex educational questions. Instead, I aim to create spaces where professionals can engage critically with evidence, connect research with experience and develop approaches that make sense within their own context.
I particularly welcome opportunities to work with local authorities, early years settings, schools, universities, professional associations, charities and organisations working across education, childhood and workforce development.
If you are planning a conference, professional learning programme, research project or organisational development initiative, I would be pleased to discuss how I could contribute.
For speaking, professional learning, consultancy or research enquiries, please get in touch through the Contact page.
Get in touch via the Contact page.
Get in touch