Dr Angela Hodgkins
After leaving school with few qualifications, Senior Lecturer Angela Hodgkins from the Institute of Education, graduated with a PhD “Exploring early childhood practitioners’ perceptions of empathic interactions with children and families”.
Dr Hodgkins has over 20 years of experience working with children as a nursery nurse and hopes her study will raise the profile of the incredible work of early years practitioners - “The study highlighted the importance of the close, empathic relationships that practitioners build with young children, and it identified the emotional impact of the role. My recommendations include better preparation for this emotional impact in education and training and improved reflective supervision for practitioners”.
During her studies, Dr Hodgkins worked full time at the University, published two academic journal articles and presented her research at an international early-years conference in Portugal. She said “When I decided to embark on a PhD, I knew it would be at the University of Worcester. The PhD program at Worcester is well-structured and extremely supportive. I have had an amazing supervision team who have encouraged and supported me throughout the process. I have learned so much about the subjects I studied, about research, academic writing, and about myself."