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Dr Nathan Archer

Director of the International Montessori Institute

Nathan Archer is Director of the International Montessori Institute in the Carnegie School of Education. Prior to joining Leeds Beckett University in March 2022, he worked as a research fellow for University of Leeds and Nuffield Foundation.

Nathan has worked as a tutor and supervisor on the MA in Education and MA in Early Childhood at the School of Education of the University of Sheffield, where he also completed his PhD in November 2020. In addition to his teaching experience in Higher Education, he is also a Qualified Montessori Teacher and worked for seven years in a Montessori nursery and Primary school for children from birth to twelve.

Nathan has worked for a number of national early years charities and undertaken research on early childhood policy for several third sector organisations. He is the author of peer-reviewed research papers, invited book chapters and reports on early childhood education.

Research Interests

Nathan’s research interests include Early Childhood Workforce Policy, Professional Identities, Social Justice in Early Childhood Education, Advocacy and Activism in Early Childhood Education. He is currently undertaking research for the Institute exploring the experiences of Montessori educators and parents choosing Montessori education for their children in disadvantaged areas of England.

Carnegie School of Education

Ask Me About

Children
Early years
Education

Selected Outputs

Archer N (2024) From micro resistances to collaborative action – the shape of agency and activism in contemporary early childhood education. In: British Early Childhood Research Association Conference, 13 February 2024 - 13 March 2024, Birmingham.

https://www.crec.co.uk/becera-2024-programme
Archer N (2023) Discerning Critical Hope and Social Justice: The work of Montessorians in underserved areas of England. In: Montessori Europe Congress 2023, 29 September 2023 - 1 October 2023, Gdansk, Poland.
Archer N (2023) ‘Paths made by walking: the resistance work of early educators’. In: Reconceptulaising Early Childhood Education Conference 2023, 7 September 2023 - 10 September 2023, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
Archer N; Ovington J (2023) Challenging the politics of early childhood education: Critical ethnographies from the Reception Year in England. In: European Early Childhood Education Research Association, 30 August 2023 - 3 September 2023, Lisbon, Portugal.
Archer N; Albin-Clark J; Morris L; Ovington J (2022) Time for Advocacy and Activist-Scholarship Movements in Early Childhood Education and Care; why it matters now. In: British Educational Research Association, 5 September 2022 - 8 September 2022, University of Liverpool.
Archer N (2021) A landscape ‘in-between’: Navigating the borderlands of professional identities in Early Childhood Education. In: British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, 13 September 2021 - 16 September 2021, Online.
Archer N (2021) Many unheard voices? A critical narrative analysis of educators speaking up and speaking out. In: European Early Childhood Education Research Conference, 1 September 2021 - 17 September 2021, University of Zagreb.
Archer N (2019) “Government think I should be qualified just enough to comply with the EYFS but not question it”: competing constructs of early educators’ professional identities. In: British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, 10 September 2019 - 12 September 2019, University of Manchester.
Archer N (2019) Borderland Narratives: Agency and Activism in Early Childhood Education. In: European Early Childhood Education Research Association Conference, 21 August 2019 - 23 August 2019, University of Thessaloniki.
Archer N (2017) Being Care-full: Relational pedagogy in testing times. In: European Early Childhood Education Research Conference, 29 August 2017 - 1 September 2017, University of Bologna.

https://www.eecera.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/bologna-2017.pdf

Archer N (2019) Borderland Narratives: Agency and Activism in Early Childhood Education.

Archer N; Albin-Clark J (2024) Telling hopeful stories of advocacy, agency and rights in ECEC.

Archer N; Albin-Clark J (2023) Resisting intensified accountability: is now the time for inspection reform? [Online]

Available from: https://early-education.org.uk/resisting-intensified-accountability/
Archer N (2023) Spring budget 2023: free early years places extended – but needs of children and staff must not be forgotten [Online] The Conversation.

Available from: https://theconversation.com/spring-budget-2023-free-early-years-places-extended-but-needs-of-children-and-staff-must-not-be-forgotten-201309
Archer N (2022) England’s early years educators are underpaid and undervalued – only government investment can improve this [Online] The Conversation.

Available from: https://theconversation.com/englands-early-years-educators-are-underpaid-and-undervalued-only-government-investment-can-improve-this-194308

Archer N; Albin-Clark J (In press) Telling stories that need telling A dialogue on resistance in Early Childhood Education. Forum for Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education, 64 (2), pp. 21-29.

https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2022.64.2.02
Archer N (In press) Walking a desire track: Montessori pedagogy as resistance to normative pathways. Pedagogy Culture and Society
Archer N (In press) Uncovering the discursive ‘borders’ of professional identities in English early childhood workforce reform policy. Policy Futures in Education

https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103221138013
Davies C; Kong S; Hendry A; Archer N; McGillion M; Gonzalez-Gomez N (2023) Sustained benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for young children’s development during COVID-19. Journal of Early Childhood Research, pp. 1-20.
Archer N; Albin-Clark J (2023) Playing social justice: How do early childhood teachers enact the right to play through resistance and subversion?. Prism, pp. 1-22.

https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.article714
Archer N (2022) Uncovering the discursive ‘borders’ of professional identities in English early childhood workforce reform policy. Policy Futures in Education

https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103221138013
Archer N (2021) ‘I have this subversive curriculum underneath’: Narratives of micro resistance in early childhood education. Journal of Early Childhood Research, pp. 431-445.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718x211059907
Archer N (2019) Challenging the politics of early intervention: Who’s ‘saving’ children and why. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20 (2), pp. 215-217.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949118764032
Archer N (2017) Where is the ethic of care in early childhood summative assessment?. Global Studies of Childhood, 7 (4), pp. 357-368.

https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610617747983

Archer N; Mevawalla Z (2022) Advocacy and activism in early childhood.

Georgeson J; Campbell-Barr V; Roberts-Holmes G; Archer N; Lee SF; Gulliver K; Street M; Walsh G; Waters-Davies J (2022) Competing discourses in early childhood education and care: Tensions, impacts and democratic alternatives across the UK’s four nations [Online]. London:

Available from: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/competing-discourses-in-early-childhood-education-and-care
Hardy K; Tomlinson J; Whittaker X; Norman H; Cruz K; Archer N (2022) Essential but undervalued: early years care & education during COVID-19

Available from: https://childcare-during-covid.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CDC-19-Final-report.pdf
Archer N; Oppenheim C (2021) The role of early childhood education and care in shaping life chances [Online]. London: Nuffield Foundation.

Available from: https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/publications/early-childhood-education-care-shaping-life-chances
Archer N; Merrick B (2020) Getting the Balance Right: Quality and quantity in early education and childcare [Online]. Sutton Trust.

Available from: https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Getting-the-Balance-Right.pdf

(2020) Borderland Narratives: Agency and Activism of Early Childhood Educators.

Archer N (2024) Discerning Critical Hope in the work of Montessorians in underserved areas of England.

Archer N; Yates D (2023) The Early Years workforce: roles, qualifications, and experiences. In: Nutbrown C ed. Early Education Futures. London: Sage,