Personal statement

Katie will be working as part of the Early Childhood team on a variety of modules across our UK and international Early Childhood Studies programmes.

Her hope is to support students to build their pedagogical philosophy and understanding of our children’s earliest years. This will be with a particular focus upon supporting and advocating for the child and supported through her own experiences of supporting children and families in early years settings, medical settings, schools, consultancy and nannying.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD in progress,University of the West of England
  • MA Education (Early Years), University of the West of England
  • National Award for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinators (NASENDCo)
  • PGCE, University of the West of England
  • BA (Hons) Joint honours: Early Childhood Studies and Linguistics, University of the West of England

Professional memberships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Other external roles

  • External Examiner for ECS International ECS Programme University of South Wales
  • External Examiner for Supporting Teaching and Learning Open University, Leeds City College and Keighley College
  • External Examiner for Health Play Specialism FdA at Leeds City College

Areas of expertise

  • Promoting equality, equity and inclusion
  • Language, literacy and phonics
  • Cross-culture learning and pedagogical practises

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Creating a resource that captures the social histories and lived experiences of the PMLD community: which stories should be collected and shared, and how?
article

Simmons, B, Churchill, B and Crouch, K (2024) 'Creating a resource that captures the social histories and lived experiences of the PMLD community: which stories should be collected and shared, and how?' PMLD Link, 36 (3). p. 42. ISSN 2042-5619

“There are no wrong answers.” Empowering children to be diverse thinkers, explorers, and experts of their own worlds
conference_item

Crouch, K (2024) “There are no wrong answers.” Empowering children to be diverse thinkers, explorers, and experts of their own worlds. In: EECERA Annual Conference, 3 - 6 September 2024, Brighton, UK.

“… [k] looks like a robot.” How can adults sustain children’s diverse approaches to cognitive processing when encountering new linguistic experiences?
conference_item

Crouch, K, Piasecki, A and Kirjavanien, M (2024) “… [k] looks like a robot.” How can adults sustain children’s diverse approaches to cognitive processing when encountering new linguistic experiences? In: EECERA Annual Conference, 3 - 6 September 2024, Brighton, UK.

Children’s awareness of sound-symbolism and the inclusivity of current phonics teaching within English schools
conference_item

Crouch, K (2024) Children’s awareness of sound-symbolism and the inclusivity of current phonics teaching within English schools. In: iMean7: Language and Inclusion, 19 - 21 June 2024, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

Phonemes and phonics: an exploration with young children about their thought processes and meta-language when encountering new sound-symbolic experiences
conference_item

Crouch, K, Piasecki, A and Kirjavanien, M (2023) Phonemes and phonics: an exploration with young children about their thought processes and meta-language when encountering new sound-symbolic experiences. In: EECERA Annual Conference, 30 August - 2 September 2023, Lisbon, Portugal.

‘How do you know that?’ The impact of adult-child interactions when investigating children’s thought processes
conference_item

Crouch, K (2023) ‘How do you know that?’ The impact of adult-child interactions when investigating children’s thought processes. In: EECERA Annual Conference, 30 August - 2 September 2023, Lisbon, Portugal.

Are certain noun labelling preferences in early childhood innate, or is it influenced by environmental factors? An exploration into the visual-auditory and psychological processes of object naming in child language and literacy development
thesis

Crouch, K (2025) Are certain noun labelling preferences in early childhood innate, or is it influenced by environmental factors? An exploration into the visual-auditory and psychological processes of object naming in child language and literacy development. PhD thesis, University of the West of England.

We are everywhere
commissioned_report

Howard, A, Crouch, K and Read, S (2024) We are everywhere. Bath Spa University, Bath.

Activism and protest research report
commissioned_report

Crouch, K, Howard, A and Read, S (2024) Activism and protest research report. We Are The People and Wellcome Trust, Bath.