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Centre of Excellence for Childhood, Inclusion and Society (CECIS)

Centre of Excellence for Childhood, Society and Inclusion
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Centre of Excellence for Childhood, Inclusion and Society (CECIS) Logo

Working towards a more inclusive society through creative co-productive approaches

In collaboration with:

  • University of Oxford Early Years Research Network
  • West Sussex Maintained Nursery Schools
  • National Activity Providers Association (NAPA)

The Centre of Excellence in Childhood, Inclusion and Society [CECIS] welcomes students, academics, external partners, and partner settings from a range of different disciplines. Co-production is at the heart of everything we do and hope to achieve.

Our activities and research are highly regarded, both nationally and internationally, across social work, social care, childhood, education, and innovative qualitative methodologies.

We are an enthusiastic and experienced interdisciplinary team committed to fostering a nurturing environment for collaborative research that make a positive difference to people’s lives and contributes towards the creation of a more inclusive society.

The Special Education interest group, affiliated with the Centre, has a particular focus on working with children with special educational needs and disability using co-productive approaches.

Contact us

If you are interested in working with the Centre of Excellence in Childhood, Inclusion and Society, or are interested in postgraduate study with us, please contact Dr Sandra Lyndon (s.lyndon@chi.ac.uk).

Dr Sandra Lyndon

Reader in Childhood and Social Policy

Becky Edwards

Senior Lecturer

Dr Carol Lloyd

Senior Lecturer in Humanistic Counselling

Heather Green

Senior Lecturer in Special Education

Dr Sam McNally

Senior Lecturer in Childhood

Chris Smethurst

Co-Director – Institute of Education and Social Sciences

Dr Suzanna McGregor

Senior Lecturer and Liaison Tutor

Helen Moss

Senior Lecturer

Dr Steven Donbavand

Programme Coordinator for BA Sociology and BA Sociology with Criminology

Working to improve outcomes for all

The ‘From Adversity to University’ project was developed by the University of Chichester and is the first of its type in the UK.

The aim of the project is to provide non-traditional access to Higher Education for students who have had to overcome adversity in its various forms.

The project started in 2018, in collaboration with a homelessness charity, working with a small group of individuals who had been affected by homelessness and were recovering from addiction.

Over the last five years the project has expanded to support a diverse range of individuals, including refugees, asylum seekers, former prisoners, care experienced young people, carers, people who are unemployed, and mature students wishing to retrain.

Learn more about the ‘From Adversity to University’ project.

This project, delivered in partnership with West Sussex County Council, has received significant national recognition, including an exhibition of canvases derived from the project at the Joint Social Work Education Conference (2023). An article on the project is currently under review with the British Journal of Social Work.

This was a national project funded by Health Education England and delivered by the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the British Association of Social Work. It resulted in a national framework and a set of resources for social workers to access.

This project received funding from the University of Chichester’s Research and Innovation Fund in April 2023.

It promises to explore teachers and children’s experiences in South Korea. Having received ethical approval, the project is now in its data collection phase.

This project is co-produced between the University of Childhood and the Maintained Nursery Schools in West Sussex. It explores how a mindfulness approach can support young children to develop self-regulation skills.

This project, delivered jointly with the National Care Forum and the National Activity Providers Association, worked with Care homes across the UK to create ‘Moment in Time’ boxes as time capsules to commemorate memories of the pandemic.

See for more details on this project on the National Activity Providers Association website.

This project explores the role of the ‘Health and Well-Being Lead’ in supporting children and families within schools.

The project is jointly led by the University of Chichester, University of Worcester, and University of Sussex. Participants included children, parents, and staff.

This was the first national project to remember the bereavements and losses experienced during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Delivered in partnership with the National Activity Providers Association and the National Care Forum, the project formed the inspiration for the Marie Curie National Day of Remembrance.

You can see more about this project in the Huffington Post article.

This project was initially funded by the University of Chichester Research Innovation Fund and delivered in partnership with West Sussex County Council.

The Wobble Space project has received significant national recognition, including forming part of a Keynote speech to Social Work England during Social Work Week, 2022, an article in Professional Social Work magazine and an article in the British Journal of Social Work.

An NIHR grant bid is now in development to extend the project.

Our members publish regularly with leading journals and publishers. See below a select list of recent outputs.

  • Edwards, B. and Lyndon, S. (2021) From adversity to university – the transformational power of a bespoke bridging module to support those affected by homelessness into higher education. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning Journal. 23(1):102-122
  • Lyndon, S. (2023) ‘Supporting those in poverty’ in Webb, R. and Solvason, C. (eds) Exploring and celebrating the Early Childhood Practitioner: An interrogation of pedagogy, professionalism and practice. Abingdon: Routledge
  • Lyndon, S. and Moss, H. (2022) Creating meaningful interactions for young children, older friends and nursery school practitioners within an intergenerational project. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-022-01330-5
  • Mikuska, E., Raffai, J. and Vukov Raffai, E. (2023) Thinking through the lens of dialogical self, I positions and intersectionality for exploring how Hungarian kindergarten pedagogues experienced the new Curriculum Framework. Global Studies of Childhood. 14 (2) https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106231181133
  • Mikuska, E., Fairchild, N., Sabine, A. and Barton, S. (2023) Quality Early Childhood Education and Care practices: Importance of skills, knowledge, and the graduate practitioner competencies. International Journal of Early Years Education. 31 (3)
  • Mikuska, E., Raffai, J. and Vukov Raffai, E. (2022) Secondary analysis of qualitative data: Hungarian minority kindergarten pedagogues’ perspectives of the new Curriculum Framework in Serbia. Journal of Early Childhood and Society. 3 (3), 259-269. https://doi.org/10.37291/2717638X.202233181
  • Simpson, D., Mazzocco, P.,  Loughran, S.,  Lumsden, E.,  Lyndon, S. and Winterbottom, C. (2023) New Normal’ or continued ‘Social Distancing’? Preschool practitioners’ responses to poverty across post-lockdown England and the USA. Journal of Early Childhood Research. DOI: 10.1177/1476718X231175459/ ID: JECR-22-0094.R1
  • Turner, D and Linton, A; Virtual wobble spaces: A pilot study of the outcomes of online therapeutic spaces on practitioner well-being and social work practice, The British Journal of Social Work, 2022;, bcac226, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac226
  • Turner, D (2022) ‘You Took me Back to the sea:’ Using Narrative to Explore and Inform the Practice of Social Work with Dying People’ Illness, Crisis and Loss, Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/10541373221105806
  • Turner, D. (Ed) (2021) Social Work and Covid 19: Lessons for Education and Practice, Critical Publishing, Foreword by Dr Ruth Allen
  • Critical Publishing | Social Work and Covid-19 – Lessons for Education and Practice, Edited by Denise Turner
  • Turner, D; Price, M (2020) ‘Resilient when it comes to death’: Exploring the significance of bereavement for the well-being of social work students, Qualitative Social Work,
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1473325020967737

 
A full list of publications can be found on our ChiPrints page.

How we’re helping create change

So far, a total of more than 149 students have taken part in our From Adversity to University project – 33 of whom have been affected by homelessness, and many of whom are recovering from addiction.

Nine of these have progressed to study at degree level, one has completed a degree in Fine Art (and is currently studying a law conversion course at Masters level), and one has completed a PGCE and is now employed as a teacher in a school.

For those who have experienced homelessness, the module is run in collaboration with local charities and many of the students live in hostels or ‘move on’ houses.

Read The Times article published about the project

Monthly Research Cafés in Childhood and Social Policy

The research café is a friendly and supportive space to share research, regardless of whether you are at the beginning of your research journey or a seasoned traveller.

The café is open once a month (Monday from 4pm to 5pm) and is accessible both face-to-face on the University’s Bishop Otter Campus and online.

If you would like more information about the research cafes please contact Sandra Lyndon (s.lyndon@chi.ac.uk).

Dr Sandra Lyndon

Reader in Childhood and Social Policy