Viv Randall, in her role as executive headteacher, was committed and dedicated to developing the capabilities and potential of young children to act as informed voices in the cycle of school improvement. Their development as young researchers proved a crucial feature in effective self-evaluation.

Debbie Reel, lecturer in childhood studies and education, has spent her 27-year career teaching both in primary and higher education. Her educational background in learning and teaching has fuelled her goal of ensuring that we all, through action research, contribute within the educational arena and that here, children's voices are both included and valued.

Nicola Smith worked in primary schools in Worcestershire and Birmingham before becoming an adult education tutor and then a lecturer in childhood studies and ITE. She has been involved in the Young Researchers Project for six years and is particularly interested in how the youngest children in school can be researchers.