Elise Alexander is a senior lecturer in early childhood studies (ECS) at Oxford Brookes University and is currently subject coordinator for the ECS programme.  She is researching the experience of early years students in higher education and has an interest in the development of professional identity in ECS students and in higher education pedagogy. In her previous role as principal lecturer in early childhood studies at University of Roehampton she carried out an ESRC-funded project which investigated practitioners’ understanding of quality in their work with children.  She is a member of TACTYC and regularly attends meeting of the Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network.