Meet your hosts
Dr Lewis Fogarty
Director of Always Growing and Lecturer at Brunel Univeristy
Lewis is a director of a small group of nurseries called Always Growing, and director of Teaching and Learning for the Department of Education at Brunel University. He is also a trustee of TACTYC and the co-convenor of the BERA special interest group for ECEC.
How can you help your Early Years educators be more confident at work?
Working in Early Years settings from childminders to pre-schools, from nurseries to children's centres and reception classes, you'll find Early Years professionals lacking professional confidence. Supporting children from birth to five in their care and education is one of the most important roles you can hold. So why is work with children so undervalued?
So what's the answer? Push everyone to achieve qualified teacher status or Early Years Teacher status (EYTS)? Better pay? Shorter hours?
Lewis explains...
How does professional confidence lead to sector-wide change?
Lewis describes confidence as a combination of awareness, shared understanding, and active correction. This confidence is not a passive feeling but a deliberate, skill-based choice that underpins meaningful change. If we want to tackle the undervaluation of Early Years practitioners, we must address the lack of confidence.
Lewis explains that the way educators feel about their own worth comes from society's dismissal of Early Years work. He recommends reframing that mindset from focusing on what you lack to recognising what you have.
Communication, relationships, and psychological safety
Lewis believes that effective communication and strong relationships enable confidence, both within teams and with external stakeholders. Leaders who can be vulnerable, build reassuring relationships, and create psychological safety. This, in turn, empowers staff to challenge authority and advocate for themselves.
Try to use the four Cs of communication when working with your colleagues:
- Concise
- Confident
- Compelling
- Caring
Lewis encourages educators to set and maintain clear boundaries to protect their professional identity and well-being. Early Years staff can allow an erosion of their standards and self-worth over time. Owning your choices, including where and how you work, is an act of professional confidence.
Recognition, praise, and staff-centred leadership
Meaningful personal recognition is a key tool for building team confidence. Lewis explains that blanket or routine praise loses its impact over time, so leaders should adopt a staff-centred approach. This looks like:
- Meeting individuals where they are
- Tailoring support
- Relevant incentives
- Praise that is personal to the individual team member
When we support children learn, we're specific in our scaffolding and feedback - it should be the same for your team. Meaningful, specific praise is ideally delivered privately and tied to explaining what went well and why.
Collective action and advocacy for the Early Years sector
The broader challenge is sector-wide undervaluation by government, local authorities, and wider society. This is a shared problem requiring thoughtful, skilful, and collective advocacy. Educators first need to master explaining the value of their work to those closest to them, so they can eventually influence those in positions of power.
