Stephanie Douglas

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT STEPHANIE DOUGLAS

Currently, working as a Senior Expert Adviser with Coram Hempsall’s and managing a team of early years and childcare advisers who support and advise local authorities through Childcare Works.For over 40 years, Stephanie has worked in education and childcare across all elements of the sector. She has a wide experience in a variety of positions in education and childcare, within the field of early years education, childcare sufficiency, and inclusion. Roles include Local Authority Heads of Service in a large rural county and in a city, freelance educational consultant working with nursery schools, Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers, schools, early years providers and Family Hubs, an associate university lecturer, Ofsted Inspector for schools and also Ofsted Inspector for early years and Children’s Centres.Experiences include contributions to research projects, HMI studies on financial management, lecturing for educational bodies and chairing regional educational groups. Stephanie has addressed regional and national conferences on a range of educational issues with a particular focus on early years and inclusion, including Early Help. At a national level, she was involved in DfE led pilots for the revised EYFS Profile and on the development of the Family Hub model and sat on several national and regional groups, including the award winning South Yorkshire Futures initiative. In 2019, Stephanie became Head of Intervention and Prevention for a local authority, extending her existing role to include all early years services, SEND 0-5, childcare sufficiency, Families Information Service, SENDIAS, Early Help and Family Hubs.Stephanie is also vice-chair of the Board of Trustees for the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY). She was awarded the MBE in 2021 for services to Education and Early Years. Underpinning all of Stephanie’s ongoing work is a continuing passion, energy, and desire to make a practical and meaningful contribution to the early years sector, its development and, above all, improvements in outcomes and life chances for young children and their families.Stephanie is also an independent educational consultant working in schools, early years provision and Children’s Centres, with a specialism in early years.She passionately believes that high quality experiences in early years education should be the expectation for every child and that they identify and treasure individuality, potential and imagination through a rich learning experience based on exploration and play.