Dr Eleonora Teszenyi

Professional biography

Eleonora is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood in the School of Early Childhood, Education, Youth and Sport. Before entering Higher Education, Eleonora had worked in the early years sector for 19 years as an early years practitioner, early years teacher, Local Authority advisor and children centre teacher in one of the most disadvantaged areas. Practice still underpins her work. As an internationally oriented researcher, her research outputs extend understandings of children's rights, parent-educator partnerships and multi-age early years practice in varied geo-political contexts. Her collaborative projects reflect diverse ways of knowing, and her editorial work at the Journal of Childhood, Education & Society is informed by valuing local knowledges. 

Research interests

Eleonora's main reserach interest is focused on early childhood pedagogy, children's rights and the epistemological and methodological implications of cross-cultural, cross-language studies. For her doctoral study, she examined the characteristics of practice in multi-age environments and she offers a taxonomy of multi-age practice.

Her most recent national and international research projects include:

• practitioner and parent partnerships (in England, Kazakhstan and Hungary)
• an examination of factors that influence parents' choice of early childhood provision for their children (Hungary)
• an exploration of work-based learners' experiences on the Early Years Foundation Degree - framed within the theories of andragogy, heutagogy and the 'more knowledgeable other' 
• Children's Rights in Pedagogic Practice [CRIPP]: an exploration of how children's rights are understood in the context of their everyday lives in Hungary, Wales, England and Romania;
• research on socialist childhoods that examines childhood memories using collective biography methodology (Re-connect/Re-collect Project) 

Teaching interests

Eleonora has 18 years experience of teaching and assessment in Higher Education on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and she has a keen interest in work-based learning. When designing module materials, she draws on her prior practice experiences, her current research and theories of  early childhood pedagogies to bring learning to life for students. She is particularly interested in topics relating to:

• ​​the multimodal ways of listening to young children
• children's learning through play, 
• young children's well-being, sense of belonging and 'mattering'
• ​early childhood curriculum approaches
• ​children's voices, participation and rights

She is the chair of module E229 'Listening to Young Children's Living and learning: Critical Reflections'. 

Impact and engagement

Eleonora is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Academic Reviewer for the OU Validation Partnerships supportingthe delivery of early childhood programmes validated by the OU. She is the Early Years expert on the Board of Directors at Loughborough University advising the 'outstanding' Ofsted rated campus nursery in their provision and curriculum developments.

​

External collaborations

Eleonora is one of the PIs in a collaborative research project with Debrecen University in Hungary,  Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales and Partium University in Romania focusing on children's voices and rights. This includes working with the Arts in the creative dissemination of research findings. 

International links

Eleonora has links with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia where she studied the Reggio Emilia approach. Observations, reflections and professional dialogues with ‘pedagogistas' enabled her to develop a more in-depth understanding of a participatory, rights-based approach to listening to and engaging with young children and the affordances of a creative curriculum. These have influenced the module materials she has written.

Eleonora has close links with Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University through an academic mobility professional development programme, which provided her with a valuable insight into early childhood education in Kazakhstan. She has worked closely with fellow academics, doctoral and Master’s level students to help develop their research literacy. 

​Eleonora also engages with the School of Early Childhood at Debrecen University in Hungary through collaborative scholarly activities, research projects, which produce publications both in English and Hungarian. She is a member of the stering group of the Kindergarten Pedagogues' National Professional Network where her main focus is the interpretation and implementation of child-centred approaches to early childhood education and care.