Awards 16 Individuals
Lifetime Achievement
Janet Moyles, professor emeritus,
Anglia Ruskin University, and play
and early years consultant
By professor of education (early years) at The Open
University, Jane Payler
J
anet Moyles’ contribution to the international early years sector, spanning
42 years, is most closely associated
with two things: play and professional
development. With more than 75 publications
to her name, perhaps the most iconic of all is
her book Just Playing? The role and status of
play in early childhood education. Published in
1989, this pivotal book was one of the first of
its era to fully examine the central role of play
in young children’s learning and development
and has been translated into several languages, including Chinese and Hebrew.
With the current formalised pressures on
young children’s time, the book continues to
be as important today as it was when it was
first published. Janet started the research for
it while she was still a head teacher. In fact,
she had really started her research based
on observations of her own children several years earlier. The research set Janet on a
mission to ensure that play was valued. The
follow-up book, The Excellence of Play, is now
in its fourth edition and has been translated
Biography
Janet Moyles is professor emeritus at
Anglia Ruskin University and is a play and
early years consultant.
Janet first became involved in early
years as a playgroup leader and parent
helper. Her fascination in children’s
play and its impact on learning and
development originated from observing
her own children. She subsequently
trained to be a teacher and taught in both
nurseries and primary schools.
After progressing to deputy head
teacher, she was seconded by her
26 NURSERY WORLD AWARDS
around the world. Janet has given countless
keynote presentations on play internationally.
Janet’s agenda for many years has been
to ensure that early years professionals and
teachers see learning and development from
the child’s point of view. As a head teacher,
she was concerned that staff seemed to focus
more on delivering a curriculum than on supporting young children’s learning. Her invaluable contribution to early years pedagogy
since has included numerous nationally funded research projects, such as SPEEL: Study of
Pedagogical Effectiveness in Early Learning,
and many more publications including one
of the first Primary Education self-evaluation
guides for teachers in 1988. Based on her
work, Janet was invited to a fellowship in
Australia, during which she trained staff in
playful and child-initiated pedagogies.
Other people’s professional development
is Janet’s other enduring concern. She has
been both a director of research (staff ) and
a director of a very large Doctorate in Education Programme at the University of Leicester,
local authority to work on an early
years research project with Cambridge
University Institute of Education.
In 1995, she joined Leicester University
as a lecturer, progressing to senior lecturer
and then director of research in 1998,
when she completed her PhD in children’s
play and practitioners’ roles.
Janet has participated in working parties
and has given keynote presentations
on play in countries including Taiwan,
Sweden, Norway and Australia. From 1996
to 2003 she was chair of TACTYC and is
currently its website editor.
helping others to achieve. She has also generously given her time and expertise voluntarily over many years and continues to do so.
From being chair of TACTYC (Association for
Professional Development in Early Years) for
seven years from 1996 to 2003, to still running
its website and co-leading its new book series
with me, to spotting and fostering potential in
new colleagues, Janet does it all with warmth,
wisdom and humour.
I feel very honoured to have Janet as a
friend, mentor and colleague.
A few things you may not know about Janet:
she sings in a community choir; she is a governor of her local primary school; she grows all
of her own vegetables; and she is known in her
family as Peter Pan because she never seems to
age. Janet tells me she wishes she had started
in academia earlier so she could have made
more of a difference. But the amount Janet still
achieves leaves most of us breathless. It is my
very great pleasure to see professor emeritus
Janet Moyles chosen for this year’s Nursery
World Lifetime Achievement award.
Recent books
Effective Leadership and Management
in the Early Years, Open University
Press/McGraw Hill (2006)
Thinking About Play: Developing a
Reflective Approach, Open University
Press (2010)
The A to Z of Play in Early Childhood
Education, Open University Press/
McGraw Hill (2012)
Early Years Foundations: Critical Issues
(with J Georgeson), Open University
Press/McGraw Hill (2014)
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