Sharon Colilles

Personal statement

Sharon is a Reader in Inclusive early childhood education at Bath Spa University. She is currently involved in a range of research projects that seek to develop awareness and understanding about meaningful ‘inclusive’ education and practice, particularly in relation to research methodologies and early childhood education provision. 

For example, she is currently undertaking a small-scale project named Representation Matters – Principled pedagogies for supporting inclusion, that examines educator reflections of what inclusive approaches look like.

The study reflects on the learning environment, the extent of representation in resources in provision and how children’s capacities for engaging in ideas about ethnicity, identity and understanding about similarity and difference of ‘others’ are influenced. 

As a research fellow Sharon is also involved in a Wellcome Trust-funded network that explores how universities can work with local communities to co-produce change-oriented disability research. The network, We Are The People, is funded through a £1million Research Development Award and runs for five years (2021-2026). 

As well as leading on Play and Dissertation modules she is also the Co-Lead for theResearch Centre in Early Childhood (REaCH). 

Sharon is a Trustee on the Froebel Trust Council as well as a member of their Education research sub-committee and a vice-chair on the Executive of the Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network (ECSDN).

Other professional responsibilities include being an associate trainer for Early Education, a national charity supporting practitioners with training, resources and networks, and campaigning for quality education for the youngest children.

She has a diverse career background, working initially in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as a policy manager, owning a private day nursery, assessor for the award of EYPs, participating in the review of the Teacher Standards, and more recently working as project assistant for the development of Birth to Five Matters non-statutory guidance.

She also has a deep interest and engages in work that develops anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice. 

Academic qualifications

• PhD: Education (How play-based pedagogies support mixed ethnicity identity formation) Birmingham City University (2014-20)
• Masters in Early Years (Children’s Cultural Identity through Stories and Storytelling) Leeds Beckett University (2012)
• BA (Hons) Childhood Studies (Do nursery age children recognise race ethnicity and cultural difference?) Leeds Beckett University (2011)

Professional qualifications

• Senior Fellow Higher Education Authority (SFHEA) 2015
• Early Years Teacher (EYTS), Best Practice Network (2011)
• Associate Certificate in Training Practice, The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (2008-2009)

Professional memberships

• Member of European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA)
• Member of the Education and Research Committee for Froebel Trust
• Associate trainer and member of Early Education (EE)
• Vice Chair on the Executive of Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network (ECSDN)
• Member of Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA & CREC learning circle)

Areas of expertise

• Play
• Children's Voice
• Rights based participatory approaches in Play
• Ethnic Identity Formation in early childhood
• Praxeology as a method for transforming early years practice
• EYFS Policy & Curricula Approaches
• Children's ethnography
• Black female Autoethnography in research