Q+A: Mandy Edmond, VP, Head of Enterprise & Strategic Partnerships, Norland

What’s the new mark of quality when it comes to early years childcare and what key competencies distinguish exceptional early years practitioners from others? 

For Norland, everything stems from relationships. Children need to feel like they matter because mattering is not just a nice extra; it is part of the relational environment that supports healthy development.

Children need to feel that they are valued and that they have value to add. In early childhood, this begins through everyday experiences: being noticed, comforted, listened to, relied on, and welcomed as a meaningful member of a community.

When children feel they matter, it gives them emotional security, supports mental health, builds self-esteem, and gives them confidence to explore, try new things and take healthy risks. When a baby smiles, cries, points, asks a question, or seeks attention, and an adult responds warmly and consistently, the child learns: I am seen. My signals count. Someone comes back to me. This is called ‘serve and return’ and responsive, back-and-forth exchanges are important for shaping brain architecture and building the foundation for later learning, behaviour and health.

Feeling that they matter also helps children manage stress. Responsive relationships with responsive adults can buffer children against ongoing stress and support resilience. A child who feels invisible, unwanted, or unimportant may experience the world as less safe; a child who feels valued is more likely to develop trust, emotional regulation and confidence to seek help.

In practice, children feel they matter when adults do small things consistently: notice what interests them, respond to their cues, use their name warmly, repair after conflict, invite their contribution, and show that their thoughts and feelings affect what happens around them.

The Norland mark of quality in early childhood reflects all these principles. Children in Norland settings feel like they matter because it tells them, at a deep developmental level: I am safe, I am valued, I belong, and I can make a difference. That sense becomes part of the foundation for resilience, learning, relationships, and lifelong wellbeing. Staff in our new Norland ECCs, just like our highly trained Norland Nannies, will be fully trained to provide experiences and care based on this relational pedagogy.

Family life has changed profoundly post-Covid. How has the relationship between childcare providers and families changed? And how has Norland had to adapt?

Since Covid, the relationship between childcare providers and families has become much more of a partnership. Families are not just looking for childcare cover; they want someone who understands the whole household: changing work patterns, parental pressure, disrupted routines, children’s emotions, sleep, behaviour and wellbeing. Safe, stable and responsive relationships help children and families feel secure, regulate stress and thrive.

For families, Covid blurred the boundaries between home, work and childcare. Hybrid working means parents may be physically present but emotionally stretched; routines can change week to week; and children may be moving between home, nursery, school, grandparents, nannies and clubs. For childcare professionals, this means communication with parents matters more than ever. Providers need to explain what they are seeing, work with families rather than simply for them, and help create consistency between home, nursery, school and wider family life.

Today’s Norlander may be working in a home where parents are hybrid working, family structures are more varied, expectations are higher and children’s emotional wellbeing is a central concern. Norland’s training has therefore had to place even more emphasis on professional communication, safeguarding, inclusion, self-regulation, co-regulation, respectful routines and understanding the home as a complex environment, not just a workplace.

What countries does Norland currently offer early years education and family support to? And, which regions do you hope to serve soon?

Norland’s reach is already global. We currently work across China, Canada, Japan, India, Abu Dhabi and Europe, and Norland Nannies themselves work with families all over the world.

What is particularly exciting is the growing international recognition that early childhood matters. There is now a strong and growing body of evidence showing that the earliest years have a profound impact on children’s development, wellbeing and long-term outcomes. Every interaction, relationship and experience helps shape a baby’s developing brain, which means the adults around young children need to be knowledgeable, skilled, responsive and deeply attuned to their needs.

Sadly, early childhood is still not always treated as the priority it should be in every part of the world. However, in the GCC, we are seeing a very strong commitment to improving experiences for young children and families. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are showing real ambition to embrace the latest thinking in early childhood education and care, and to invest in quality, training and professional standards.

That creates a natural alignment with Norland’s mission. We see significant potential to work with partners in the GCC and beyond to support early years provision, strengthen the workforce and help create environments where young children can thrive. Our focus is not simply on exporting a model, but on working collaboratively with local partners to share expertise, build capacity and respond to the needs of children and families in each region.

In what ways does Norland offer a more personalised education? And how does it balance evidence-based approaches with the individual learning needs of children?

Norland’s programmes are always a combination of academic study and highly practical, skills-based training. Students are not just taught theory in the abstract; they apply it through placements, diploma training, reflection and a fourth year as a Newly Qualified Nanny. Our model is a blend of degree-level study, the Norland diploma and hands-on experience, with teaching methods designed to suit different learning styles and tailored student support.

That personalised approach carries through into how Norland prepares students to work with children. Rather than applying one fixed method to every child, students are taught to observe, understand context and culture, and respond to the individual child in front of them.

The balance comes from using evidence as a foundation, not a script. For example, Norland’s self-regulation teaching draws on theory, research and neuroscientific evidence, while also emphasising the adult’s role as a co-regulator within the child’s wider ecosystem. In practice, that means Norlanders are trained to use research-informed approaches, but to adapt them sensitively: to a child’s temperament, stage of development, family culture, routines, needs and lived experience. Evidence guides the work but the individual child shapes how it is applied.

Screen time, cognitive offloading and security online are all concerns in education. What’s Norland’s view on digital tools, apps and AI for early years?

Norland’s view is that digital tools, apps and AI should never replace relationships, play, movement, interactions or first-hand experience in the early years. But we also cannot pretend that children are growing up in a world without technology. Our responsibility is to help prepare children to be safe, capable and thoughtful in both the physical and online world, and to use the tools around them with care, curiosity and an understanding of their limitations.

The research is increasingly clear that the question is not simply “how much screen time?” but “what kind of use, with whom, for what purpose, and with what safeguards?” Passive, prolonged or unmediated use is very different from a short, purposeful activity supported by a skilled adult. Digital tools can support creativity, language, music, storytelling, problem-solving and inclusion, but they need to be used intentionally. In early years, the adult still matters most: noticing how a child responds, extending their thinking, helping them make sense of what they see, and making sure technology does not crowd out conversation, physical play, rest or social interaction.

AI raises similar questions. It may be useful as a professional tool for adults, for example in planning, reflection or generating ideas, but with young children we need to be very cautious. Children need to build their own executive functioning – thinking, memory, imagination and judgement; we do not want technology to do that work for them too early. Concerns around cognitive offloading are real, so the priority must be to protect children’s agency: encouraging them to wonder, test, make, draw, ask, remember, solve and create for themselves.

Safeguarding sits at the centre of this. Norland’s approach is to prepare practitioners to think professionally about online safety, privacy, images, consent, age-appropriate content, family expectations and the risks that can come with connected devices. That includes working closely with parents so there is consistency between the home and early childhood centre environment. The aim is not to make children fearful of technology, but to help them develop healthy habits: knowing when to ask an adult, understanding that not everything online is real or safe, and learning that digital tools are useful, but not neutral or limitless.

So our position is balanced: technology can have a place in early years education, but only when it is purposeful, proportionate, developmentally appropriate and carefully safeguarded. The foundations remain the same: secure relationships, play, communication, movement, creativity and real-world exploration. Digital tools should enhance those foundations, not replace them.

Tell us more about Norland’s research arm and how it is contributing to the improvement of early years education?

Norland’s Educare Research Centre has been set up to support, coordinate and promote research carried out by Norland in early childhood education, care and professional practice. It was launched in 2023 and is focused on home-based early childhood education and care, an area that has historically been under-researched compared with nursery or school-based provision.

Its aim is both practical and sector-facing: to generate credible, ethical research that improves provision for children and families, while also strengthening staff and student research expertise.

What’s next for Norland?

Norland’s core purpose will never change: we train some of the world’s very best early childhood practitioners to work with families across the globe. Our graduates are known for their professionalism, expertise and ability to provide exceptional care and education in the home.

But we also recognise that not every family can have a Norland Nanny.

If our mission is to improve the lives and outcomes of children everywhere, then we have to think carefully about how Norland’s knowledge, values and standards can reach more children, families and practitioners. That is why we are exploring new ways to extend our impact internationally.

One important part of this is the development of early childhood centres (ECC) that can offer outstanding care, education and family support, while also acting as regional centres of excellence. These centres will not only support young children directly, but also provide training, guidance and professional development for practitioners, nannies, teachers and wider early years teams.

Our ambition is to work in partnership with ministries, investors, operators and education partners who share our belief that the earliest years are foundational. By combining Norland’s heritage and expertise with local insight and partnerships, we hope to help raise standards, strengthen practice and improve outcomes for young children in different parts of the world.