Elizabeth CoatesElizabeth Coates is an associate fellow of the Centre for Education Studies at the University of Warwick. Prior to her retirement in 2013, she was an associate professor and director of the Early Childhood Studies undergraduate program at the niversity of Warwick. Since that time, she has worked on a part-time basis within the Centre teaching child development, education, and early years' policy and practice. During her time at Warwick, she organized and directed five triennial international early years conferences and was founding editor of the International Journal of Early Years Education. Her background as an early years teacher has been a strong influence and, with Andrew Coates, she is involved in a longitudinal action research project focusing on young children (3-7 years) talking and drawing together. This has resulted in a number of conference papers and publications which include, among others, a chapter on "The subjects and meanings of young children's drawings" in Exploring Children's Creative Narratives.