Dr Liz Hryniewicz

Liz is Faculty Director of the Centre for Career and Personal Development and Faculty Director of the Childhood and Education Sciences Scheme. She has been at CCCU since 2006 as Programme Director of the MA Early Years and previously worked in Further Education, early years settings, schools and special schools of all age ranges since qualifying as a teacher in 1974. In the late 1980s Liz was a member of a Local Authority integrated team implementing inclusion in schools. During this time she became interested in the role of Teaching Assistants (TAs) and developed some of the first national qualifications specifically for TAs. Liz has undertaken a variety of other roles at the University including Programme Director of both Early Years Professional Status (EYPS), and the National Professional Qualification for Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL). She has worked as a reviewer for QAA and is a member of the Faculty Quality Committee. She represents the University on Medway Children's Action Network. During the last year she has worked with colleagues to develop an Education Foundation Year.

Honours and Awards

In 2008 Liz received a University Teaching Excellence Award.

Teaching and subject expertise

Liz was Programme Director for the MA Early Years (now MA Early Childhood Education) from 2006 to 2015 and continues to teach and supervise on the programme. Following her experience as Programme Director for NPQICL, a multi- disciplinary transformative leadership programme for Children’s Centre managers, she retains a keen interest in the theory and practice of multi-professional working. She was also Project Director for the government funded pilot project, New Leaders in Early Years and set up the Early Years Community of Practice initiative associated with the programme http://www.newleaders.org.uk/. Her research degree is in political history and she is interested in government policy making in education.

Liz is co-coordinator of the Research Theme Group for Professional, Organisational and Leadership Development. Her research interests include professional identity in the early years workforce, multi – professional working and transformational learning and leadership. She has also published in the field of Teacher Educator research and is interested in innovative approaches to data gathering in Qualitative Research.

Funded Research

• Project Director: Research for Children’s Workforce Network (CWN) / Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) (Jan –April 2009) .Children and Young People’s Views of their Workforce
• Field Researcher: Higher Education Institutions and School Support Staff Training and Development. Research for the TDA (March 2008).

Current Funded Projects (OMEP)

2015-18 European Commission funded collaborative project with Norway, Poland, Croatia and Greece. This project, led by Norway, involves the development of responsive and effective approaches to collaboration between teachers and families from diverse cultural backgrounds in early childhood education settings.

Memberships

• Liz is a member of BERA and the American Educational Research Association(AERA)
• She is also a member of TACTYC.

Liz is the President of UK OMEP (Organisation Mondale pour L ’Education Prescolaire). http://www.omepuk.org.uk/

OMEP is the only UN and UNESCO accredited international organisation focused on Early Childhood Education. It has 5 Regional networks based in every continent and is represented in 70 countries. In 2016 the OMEP European Conference will be hosted at Canterbury Christ Church University.

• 2009-15 A variety of External Examiner and Validation assessor roles in UK and overseas.
• 2012 - 15 QAA Reviewer, Early Years Teacher Status

Conference papers

2015 ‘A phenomenological study of five Early Years Teachers in England’ World Conference, OMEP, Washington DC, July)

2012 ‘Living Graphs as a Methodological Tool: Representing Landmarks in the professional development of mid-career teacher educators’ Liz Hryniewicz, CCCU, Professor Vivienne Griffiths, CCCU , Simon Thompson, University of Sussex (Cádiz - European Conference on Educational Research, Sept)

2012 ’Landmarks in the professional and academic development of mid-career Teacher educators: using living graphs’. Vivienne Griffiths & Liz Hryniewicz, (At the Crossroads conference, CCCU , July)

2011 ‘Early Years Intervention - Exploring Learning and Development’ (Teach First Conference, Institute of Education, November)

2011 ‘Living Graphs: representing landmarks in the professional and academic development of midcareer teacher educators’ (BERA, IOE Sept)

2011 ‘Children’s Centre Leaders as transformational agents’ (World Conference, OMEP), Hong Kong, July)

2011 ‘New approaches to arly years leadership’ ( World Conference, OMEP), Hong Kong, July)

2011 ’Constructing Professional Identity: An International Perspective on the Impact of Early Years Leaders on their Communities’ (AERA, New Orleans, April)

2010 ‘Transforming professional development for an era of interagency leadership’ IPDA, Aston University, November)

2010 ‘Teacher educators: transition into higher education and developing research identities’ UCET, Leicester, November)

2010 ‘Teacher educators: transition into higher education and developing research identities’. (BERA , University of Warwick, September)

2010 ‘EYPS: Pedagogy and Professionalism.’ (Early Years Educator (EYE) Richmond, January)

Authored books and professional articles:

Hryniewicz, L., Griffiths, V., Thompson, S. (2014) Living graphs as a methodological tool: representing landmarks in the professional development of teacher educators. Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal Vol 6 (1) pages 30-40

Griffiths, V., Thompson, S., Hryniewicz, L. (2013) Landmarks in the professional and academic development of mid-career teacher educators. European Journal of Teacher Education. Volume 37, Issue 1, 2014

Hryniewicz, L. (2013) ‘Teaching Assistants – The Complete Handbook’, 3rd edn. Norwich, Adamson Publishing

Griffiths, V., Thompson, S. and Hryniewicz, Liz (2010) Developing a research profile: mentoring and support for teacher educators, Professional Development in Education, 36: 1, 245 — 262

Alfrey, C., Reardon, D., and Hryniewicz, L. Time to raise your status. Early Years Educator (EYE) Vol.10, Issue 9, January 2009, pp.55-7.

Contributor to: Blandford, S and Knowles, C (2009) Developing Professional Practice 0-7. London: Longman.

Hryniewicz, L. (2007) ‘Teaching Assistants – The Complete Handbook’, 2nd edn. Norwich, Adamson Publishing

Hryniewicz, L. (2004) ‘Teaching Assistants – The Complete Handbook’, Cambridge, Adamson Publishing