Helga Stittrich-Lyons trained in Ulm and Berlin in the 1980s and in the latter helped establish and worked in a community nursery. She became a Nursery Pedagogue, Nursery Supervisor and Early Years Advisor.

In 2000 Helga started a post as Lecturer in Child and Healthcare at FE and was appointed in 2003 as a Senior Lecturer in Early Years Education at the University of Portsmouth. She is course leader for the Foundation degree in Early Years Education.

Her research and scholarship revolves around: children’s literature, ICT in Early Years, communities of pedagogic practice and their developing professionalism; learning and teaching strategies for distance and online learners and mentoring early years professionals.

She is currently undertaking a MA degree in Children’s Literature and is currently involved, together with some colleagues from the School of Education, in the writing of a book; Rethinking Social Issues in Education.

Helga has completed a collaborative action-learning project on creating creative and appropriate online resources to engage student’s participation, with colleagues in Creative Technologies. She enjoys her work, loves teaching and learns so much from the students and practitioners alike.