Conclusion

In this book, we deliberately employed the Quality Use of Research Evidence (QURE) Framework as a stimulus to provoke reflection on the use of evidence in early years education. Contributors were invited to interpret the QURE Framework and critically examine its potential applications in early years teaching contexts. For some contributions, the framework worked as a framing tool to think about evidence use in the early years. Others used it to illustrate notable aspects of their research and practice, locating these within wider teaching and learning contexts. From this, a number of interesting themes emerged in relation to what constitutes evidence, the degree of thoughtfulness required for its use (and, therefore time, expertise and resources), the importance of relationships and the organisational and systems support required to support evidence use in early years settings. In the following section, we explore key themes emerging from the chapters and propose some potentially constructive and fruitful directions forward for researchers and practitioners.