Kathy Goouch is Professor of Early Education in the Research Centre for Children, Families and Communities at Canterbury Christ Church University. Kathy's career in education began in the 1970s as a teacher in London schools, later focusing on teaching very young children in school and kindergarten. She now enjoys teaching, researching and writing about babies and young children, their literacy and learning and the people who care for them and help them to learn. She has contributed to conferences across the world and is developing research collaborations to contribute to understandings of international discourses of care. Kathy's research and publications are particularly focused on very early communication and interactions between adults and infants and her current research projects are attempting to understand the nature of relationships in baby rooms in nurseries.

Andrew Lambirth is Professor of Education in The Faculty of Education and Health at The University of Greenwich. Before joining Higher Education, he was a Primary School teacher in Peckham and Bermondsey in South East London. Andrew has published widely in the field of the teaching of Literacy and English including: Primary English (2005, Learning Matters), Creativity and Writing: Developing Voice and Verve in the Classroom (2005, Routledge) with Grainger and Goouch. Understanding Reading and the Teaching of Phonics: Critical Perspectives (2007, Open University) Literacy on the Left: Reform and Revolution (2007 Bloomsbury); Making Poetry Matter (2013 Bloomsbury) with Dymoke and Wilson. Andrew is currently President of the United Kingdom Literacy Association