Celebrating forty years of TACTYC

It is my great pleasure and privilege to write this introduction to commemorate and celebrate the founding of TACTYC 40 years ago. This anniversary year will be marked by a two-day conference to be held at the University of Derby on 2nd and 3rd November 2018. This venue was selected in recognition of TACTYC’s origins, in Derby in 1978, when a group of people involved in the development of postgraduate Early Years courses decided that coming together on a regular basis would help to reduce their feelings of isolation and could be supportive and developmental. Shortly afterwards, a Steering Group was established and its members – Lesley Abbott, Mary Cox, Jenefer Joseph and Betty Lowe – adopted a name for their group: Tutors of Advanced Courses for Teachers of Young Children – TACTYC. The group recognised that meeting face-to-face was not always feasible or sufficient and devised a method to exchange ideas in the interim: the TACTYC journal was born.

In it, we would try, by sharing, discussing, criticizing, reviewing, suggesting and informing on issues of concern in early childhood education, to increase the possibility of achieving one of our prime aims – that of improving the quality of our courses (Joseph 1980, 3).

This prime aim remains at the heart of TACTYC’s work to this day, as indicated by the evolved organisational title: Association for Professional Development in Early Years, which recognises the multitude and diversity – arguably the confusing array (Nutbrown 2012) – of courses that now exist under the broad banner of Early Years education and training. Nevertheless, TACTYC remains the only UK professional association concerned with Initial Teacher Training, Education and Continued Professional Development in the Early Years. The organisation acts to inform, support and advocate on behalf of everyone who works with young children by engaging in a wide range of activities of which the journal, Early Years, is one very fine example.

Jenefer Joseph recently commented that, ‘we had very humble beginnings, a certain amount of homely innovation, plus lots of blood, sweat and tears, together with lots of love and laughter, and are truly proud that the Journal has become what it is.’ (Email correspondence).

The journal has developed from a stapled booklet to a glossy, printed copy and digital version, thanks to its successive editors and an excellent partnership with Taylor and Francis; and is accessed by thousands of colleagues around the world who also contribute to making it a truly international community of perspectives about early childhood education and care. Together with the TACTYC website, Reflections articles, Occasional Papers, responses to public consultations, commissioned research reports, a book series, campaigns such as Better without Baseline, contributions to public policy debates, conferences and membership of various umbrella groups, we continue to contribute to the ‘mutual help and support of those working in the field of early childhood education, which was the reason for the creation of TACTYC’ (Cox 1982, 1). Although the membership of TACTYC is primarily UK based, members have consistently expressed their appreciation for the wider, international scope of the journal Early Years, welcoming TACTYC’s willingness to ‘Think global and act local’.

TACTYC retains a principled voice and a fidelity to its original aims and purpose. It does so with pride, rejecting the often encountered public perceptions that Early Years education is somehow less important, less valuable or less credible than other educational ‘phases’. We have travelled a long way since U.S. Professor Bettye Caldwell remarked 15 years ago that,

Professionals in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care…have…had something of a slave mentality: for so long someone else defined our goals, told us what to do and how to do it, and compensated us for our efforts by their own standards that it didn’t seem to occur to us that we were capable of doing those things for ourselves. It is not an exaggeration to describe the field as having been inhibited by an inferiority complex and to describe those of us who represented it as seeing ourselves not as we were but as a reflection of the way the general public saw us (Caldwell 2003, ix).

The field is now replete with published works; national and international membership organisations; research groups; professional guidance, standards, codes of ethics and curricula as well as richly diverse commentaries and debates about these, in which the voices of sector experts play a significant part. We are aware of our capabilities and definitely doing it for ourselves! But this is not without ‘blood, sweat and tears’ and we retain a liberal sprinkling of ‘love and laughter’ – perhaps a defining feature of TACTYC that is derived from an interest in and engagement with young children.

It seems fitting that in this anniversary year TACTYC is working to enhance its sustainability by applying to become a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO). As a CIO the organisation must demonstrate that it serves the public good. If readers take a little time to look through the website (www.tactyc.org.uk), they will find a wealth of information, advice and comment that is freely offered and reaches way beyond the organisation’s members to colleagues in all continents and countries. Similarly, the previous issue of the journal was a wonderful reflection of that extensive, international reach with articles from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Turkey and the USA. This current issue, which explores Lessons and Legacies of Early Childhood History, is a timely focus as we celebrate 40 years of TACTYC. The longer historical view, which this issue offers, also provides a wider perspective for understanding the developing focus of TACTYC’s work.

Perhaps one of the strongest messages from TACTYC’s four decades of working – as volunteers – on behalf of the Early Years field is that strength of conviction and assertiveness of voice is derived from collaboration and from passionate belief in the importance of the work. In the words of one of TACTYC’s longest serving members and a former Chair of the organisation, Professor Emerita Janet Moyles:

Passion for young children is part of the culture of practitioners. Passion must be allowed, both as a panacea for coping with challenging paradoxes and also for inspiring professionalism in those who work and play with the youngest members of our society (Moyles 2001, 93).

Forty years of TACTYC bear witness to the passion of those who have worked so tirelessly on behalf of members and the wider Early Years community and to each and every one I offer a heartfelt ‘thank you’. Here’s to the next forty years!

Sacha Powell
Chair of TACTYC (2015-2018)
[email protected]