The Froebel Research Fellowship project was funded by the Froebel Trust and the former Incorporated Froebel Educational Institute from 2002 to 2015. The researchers investigated the extent to which Froebelian ideals could be met in the context of contemporary early childhood education and care.
The mixed method study included: an exploration of practitioners’ views about children’s personal, social and cognitive skills; a study of the social dimensions of children’s creative thinking; and the distinction between play and learning at home and in school; and emotional and motivational aspects of children’s well-being.
The substantial body of work has been reported in a suite of publications and presentations, including:
Robson, Sue. (2020). Developing Thinking and Understanding in Young Children (3rd edition).
Brogaard Clausen, Sigrid & Robson, Sue. (2019). Friendships for wellbeing?: parents’ and practitioners’ positioning of young children’s friendships in the evaluation of wellbeing factors. International Journal of Early Years Education. 27. 1-15. 10.1080/09669760.2019.1629881.
Robson, Sue & Brogaard Clausen, Sigrid & Hargreaves, David. (2017). Loved or listened to? Parent and practitioner perspectives on young children’s well-being. Early Child Development and Care. 189. 1-15. 10.1080/03004430.2017.1369976.
Robson, Sue. (2016). Are there differences between children’s display of self-regulation and metacognition when engaged in an activity and when later reflecting on it? The complementary roles of observation and reflective dialogue. Early Years. 36. 1-16. 10.1080/09575146.2015.1129315.
Robson, Sue. (2015). Self-regulation and metacognition in young children: Does it matter if adults are present or not?. British Educational Research Journal. 42. n/a-n/a. 10.1002/berj.3205.
Robson, Sue. (2015). Self-regulation, metacognition and child- and adult-initiated activity: Does it matter who initiates the task?. Early Child Development and Care. 186. 1-21. 10.1080/03004430.2015.1057581.
Robson, Sue. (2014). Self-regulation and early school success. British Journal of Educational Studies. 62. 478-480. 10.1080/00071005.2014.970802.
Hargreaves, David & Robson, Sue & Greenfield, Sue & Fumoto,. (2014). Ownership and autonomy in early learning: The Froebel Research Fellowship project, 2002- 2015. Journal of Early Childhood Research. Early online,. 10.1177/1476718X14536718..
Robson, Sue & Rowe, Victoria. (2012). Observing young children's creative thinking: Engagement, involvement and persistence. International Journal of Early Years Education. 20. 10.1080/09669760.2012.743098.
Robson, Sue. (2012). Developing thinking and understanding in young children: An introduction for students. Developing Thinking and Understanding in Young Children: An Introduction for Students. 1-262. 10.4324/9780203133354.
