Pamela Oberhuemer
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is an independent early years consultant and freelance researcher. In 2018 she was conferred the title of Honorary Senior Research Associate at the University College London Institute of Education (IOE), Thomas Coram Research Unit. Her research interests focus on early childhood education and care policies, pedagogies and professionalisation issues in an international perspective. She is a senior research fellow at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research in Munich, currently working as an external researcher for a project on Workforce Profiles in ECEC Systems in 33 European countries (seepro3, 2021-2024), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs
Having gained a business studies diploma in Colchester/UK, Pamela worked for three years (1964-67) at the newly founded University of Essex (Language Centre). Her professional studies in teacher education with an early years specialism took place at Goldsmiths, University of London, followed by additional studies in Education (including doctoral studies) and German language, literature and culture. Teaching posts included two years at a progressive Infant School in London.
In the mid-1970s she made the transition from London to Munich and worked for over 30 years as an early years researcher at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research (IFP). Research foci included: the transition from kindergarten to primary school; children’s perspectives on family; intercultural pedagogy; management quality in early childhood services; professional learning concepts and strategies.
Since the mid-1990s her main research focus has been on cross-national studies of early childhood education and care and related professional education/training systems, particularly in the European context. She was lead researcher of the seepro study (systems of early childhood education and professionalisation), the first of three studies on the ECEC workforce in Europe commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Family and Youth Affairs and published in 2010 in English and German.
Pamela Oberhuemer co-ordinated a six-country study (published in 2012) on the continuing professional development of the early years workforce commissioned by the German Youth Institute (DJI) for WiFF, a nation-wide Early Years Professional Development Initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Social Fund (ESF). Within the same framework she conducted a seven-country study in 2014 on the mentoring role of early childhood educators within the workplace-based element of professional education and training, published online in 2014.
Having gained a business studies diploma in Colchester/UK, Pamela worked for three years (1964-67) at the newly founded University of Essex (Language Centre). Her professional studies in teacher education with an early years specialism took place at Goldsmiths, University of London, followed by additional studies in Education (including doctoral studies) and German language, literature and culture. Teaching posts included two years at a progressive Infant School in London.
In the mid-1970s she made the transition from London to Munich and worked for over 30 years as an early years researcher at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research (IFP). Research foci included: the transition from kindergarten to primary school; children’s perspectives on family; intercultural pedagogy; management quality in early childhood services; professional learning concepts and strategies.
Since the mid-1990s her main research focus has been on cross-national studies of early childhood education and care and related professional education/training systems, particularly in the European context. She was lead researcher of the seepro study (systems of early childhood education and professionalisation), the first of three studies on the ECEC workforce in Europe commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Family and Youth Affairs and published in 2010 in English and German.
Pamela Oberhuemer co-ordinated a six-country study (published in 2012) on the continuing professional development of the early years workforce commissioned by the German Youth Institute (DJI) for WiFF, a nation-wide Early Years Professional Development Initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Social Fund (ESF). Within the same framework she conducted a seven-country study in 2014 on the mentoring role of early childhood educators within the workplace-based element of professional education and training, published online in 2014.
In 2012-13 she contributed towards an eight-country study on access and quality issues relating to children from disadvantaged backgrounds conducted by The Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science and funded by the Nuffield Foundation (published in early 2014).
Pamela Oberhuemer participated in the first two Starting Strong reviews (I and II) led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and was rapporteur for the evaluation team on early childhood education and care in the USA (1999) and Ireland (2004).
In 2014 she acted as a consultant to the University of Chile, Santiago, on the new Early Childhood Teacher Education Programme.
In 2014 she acted as a consultant to the University of Chile, Santiago, on the new Early Childhood Teacher Education Programme.
Pamela Oberhuemer is an editorial board member of Early Years - An International Research Journal (Routledge/Taylor Francis) and the International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy (Springer Open). She has given invited addresses throughout Germany and Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK) and also in Australia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States.
