Dr Navan Govender (he/they) (SFHEA) is a scholar-activist whose interdisciplinary research and teaching explores the relationship between multimodal meaning-making, power, identity, and ideology in English language and literacy (teacher) education. Through critical, queer, and decolonial paradigms, Navan’s work seeks to bridge theory, research, and practice in contextually-relevant ways that contribute toward social justice, equity, and inclusion. Navan is currently lecturer in applied language and literacy studies at the Strathclyde Institute of Education (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow), the UK Literacy Association’s (UKLA) vice-president elect, and a co-editor of the International Literacy Association’s Wiley journal, The Reading Teacher.

Rebecca Simpson-Hargreaves is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Manchester, where they lead across multiple courses in the field of Early Years and Primary Education. Her field of research is centred children’s literature, in particular for exploring child voice, human rights and the use of poetry for social justice. Constantly striving to ensure high quality literacy education, she engages with policy makers and is always keen to develop researcher and practitioner partnerships. As well as being the Convenor for the UKLA Conference Committee, Rebecca is a member of the UKLA Awards Committee and Book Awards Panel, the UKLA Academic Book Awards Panel and the Publicity and Communications Committee.

Hannah is a Primary Literacy Consultant at Literacy Tree and is based in West Yorkshire. She is hugely passionate about text-based approaches to teaching all aspects of the literacy curriculum, loves children’s literature (and what it can teach us all about life) and is interested in the large impact creativity and the arts can have within literacy teaching too.  

Hannah leads the Regional Reps team and hugely enjoys learning from such an inspirational group of educators. If you would like to find out more about the Regional Rep role, get in touch on BlueSky (and X) at @MrsBaker6 or email hannahbakerconsultancy@outlook.com.

Dr Lucy Rodriguez Leon is a Senior Lecturer in Education (Early Childhood) at the Open University. Her research focuses on early childhood literacies; her work contributes to knowledge of how babies and young children engage with and experience literacies in their play and everyday lives. In addition to her academic publications, Lucy has contributed to multiple open access resources promoting broad, balanced, and equitable approaches to early literacy education.

Jo Tregenza, President of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teacher, SFHEA (Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy). Formerly the Director of Initial Teacher Training after 6 years which saw the course gain the outstanding OFSTEd judgement and the top HEI provider for teacher training in the good teacher guide. She is a Reader in Primary Education and has received several teaching awards, including 2018 Innovative Teaching Award for the whole ITE team, in 2015: USSU Teaching Award 2016 and Outstanding and Innovative Postgraduate teaching award. Jo is a trustee of the United Kingdom Literacy Association and a member of their Executive Committee.

She has been an English consultant for 20 years, presenting at regional and international conferences. Previously she worked as a Primary teacher for 10 years in Brighton and Hove, West Sussex and Oxfordshire. She has organised and led learning networks and has a strong track record for building links with communities and schools. In 2013 Jo co-wrote the highly regarded report on JPD with Professor Judy Sebba that was published by the National College : https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335729/jpd-what-does-the-evidence-suggest-are-effective-approaches-long.pdf.

Jo wrote the teaching guidance materials for OUP’s reading scheme Project X. She has produced many materials for schools including the West Sussex Sequence for Writing, KS2 Creative Cross-Curricular model, a tool for auditing and developing talk and materials to develop visual literacy and multi-modal learning. She also set up Virtual Learning Environments for advisory teams, schools and networks. More recently she has presented at the UKLA conference with teachers from Cliffdale Primary and Mary Rose Special school about an innovative approach to teaching children to read. Jo published a research project on reading comprehension with Dr. Maureen Lewis called Beyond Comprehension.

Jo is currently studying for her PHD focusing on what the evidence demonstrates are the most effective approaches to teaching reading.

Debra Myhill is Professor Emerita of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Exeter, UK, and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her research has focused particularly on the inter-relationship between metalinguistic understanding and writing; and writing pedagogy.   Underpinning this research is the principle that literacy, especially writing, is a pathway to empowerment.

Joy Court is co – founder of All Around Reading, having previously managed the Schools Library Service in Coventry, where she established the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards and the Literally Coventry Book Festival, as well as being the Reviews Editor of The School Librarian and for ten years was Chair of the CILIP organising committee for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. She now just concentrates on books and libraries as a freelance consultant while continuing to be an activist with the Youth Libraries Group and sits on the National Executive of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. She is an Editorial Expert for LoveReading4 Kids and regularly reviews for Books for Keeps. She has chaired and spoken on panels at festivals and conferences around the UK as well as delivering keynotes and workshops.

She is a Trustee and library representative member of the National Council of UKLA, where she sits on the selection panel for the UKLA Book Awards and supports their administration as co-convenor of the Awards Committee. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of The English Association and an Honorary Fellow of CILIP. Author of Read to Succeed: strategies to engage children and young people in reading for pleasure ( FACET 2011)  and Reading by Right: successful strategies to ensure every child can read to succeed ( FACET 2017) .

‘David Reedy is a past President and former Hon. Secretary of the U.K. Literacy Association (UKLA). Currently he is a trustee and EC member of the Association.  Until 2014 he was Principal Adviser for primary schools in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham as well as Co-Director of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT). In 2019 David was elected a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. David has worked at all levels in education, from Primary School class teacher to carrying out The Independent Review of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments at Primary 1 for the Scottish Government in 2019. His most recent publications are Teaching Primary English: Subject Knowledge and Classroom Practice (2^nd ed. Routledge 2024), Talk for Teaching and Learning: The Dialogic Classroom ( UKLA 2021), Teaching Grammar Effectively in Primary Schools (UKLA 2019), all co-written with Eve Bearne.’

Teresa Cremin is Professor of Education (Literacy) at The Open University, UK, and co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre. On UKLA EC, she represents both reading for pleasure and the HEI sector, she has been President of the Association and of its previous incarnation as UKRA. 

Teresa’s research focuses on volitional reading and writing, teachers’ and children’s literate identities and creative pedagogies. An ex-teacher and teacher trainer, Teresa is a Fellow of the English Association, the Academy of Social Sciences, and the Royal Society of the Arts,  on the Board at The Reading Agency, and works with the DfE on reading for pleasure. She has published over 30 books, including Reading for Pleasure: International Perspectives with S. McGeown (2025). Teresa is passionate about social justice and leads a research and practice coalition from the OU to support the development of children’s reading for pleasure which seeks to challenge educational inequities https://ourfp.org/

Janet Douglas Gardner is an Associate Professor and Senior Fellow in The Higher Education Academy at London Metropolitan University. 

As a teacher educator Janet has led several undergraduate and post graduate teacher education programmes at her institution. Literacy is her area of expertise. She uses her knowledge and experience of literacy learning and teaching to inspire and engage aspirant teachers in all aspects of spoken word including performance poetry and storytelling. Janet is involved in the essential work of Equity and Inclusion and is a member of her institution’s Global Diversity Staff Network (GDSN). 

Janet is a member of the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) where she is a Trustee and Panel Chair for the association’s prestigious Diversity and Inclusion: the Brenda Eastwood Award. Janet is a member of the Conference Subcommittee and has served as Convenor and Co-Convenor of Conferences. Janet is a member of the UKLA’s Executive Committee.

Lynda Graham is a retired Croydon primary teacher and advisory teacher for English.  She was a founder member of the UKLA Book Awards team in 2007 and continues to be an active member of the team. She is an Honorary Life Member of UKLA, and currently Convener of the Publicity and Communications committee. 

Chris has worked in leadership roles in education for over three decades. She has been a headteacher of two large primary schools in inner city Coventry. Between the two substantive headships she worked for Warwickshire County Council as an inspector, supporting primary, secondary and special schools as their school improvement officer and in a specialist role, driving forward improvement across the county in primary schools’ infrastructure for ICT and the use of computing across the curriculum, leading a team of advisory teachers. 

During her last headship, her school became one of the first hundred Teaching Schools. This involved building a network of local schools into a Teaching School Alliance, providing in-service training locally, both for specific curriculum areas, but also providing training for supporting and improving the quality of teaching, the induction of early career teachers and different strands of the NPQ programme in collaboration with the National College. 

Since retirement, as a UKLA Trustee, she has been part of the Book Awards team and co-convenes the Awards committee with Joy Court.

Su Li CHONG is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Management and Humanities, Institute of Self Sustainable Building, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Malaysia. She is also Head of UTP’s University Social Responsibility (Education Pillar) where she oversees UTP’s educational and outreach initiatives, bridging critical spaces in the university, schools and society. She obtained an MPhil and a PhD in Education from University of Cambridge, UK where she was the recipient of Cambridge’s St. Edmund’s College Dean’s Award (2014). Her research interests are in literacy and language education, particularly in the intersections of multilingualism, multimodality and meaning-making. In 2021, Su Li was awarded United Kingdom Literacy Association’s (UKLA) Brenda Eastwood Award for Inclusion and Diversity in recognition of her work in multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural communities. In 2022, her edited book Charting an Asian Trajectory for Literacy Education: Connecting Past, Present and Future Literacies (2021), published by Routledge, was awarded UKLA’s Academic Book Award 2022 (Highly Commended). Su Li is also the current President of Qualitative Research Association of Malaysia (QRAM)

Alyson Simpson is a Professor in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. Starting with a background as a teacher librarian she is a passionate children’s literature specialist working with pre-service teachers in Undergraduate and Graduate-entry programs in English and Literacy Education. As a volunteer, she has actively supported the work of the Kids Own Australian Literature Awards [KOALA], the Children’s Book Council of Australia and IBBY for over 20 years.  

Her research projects focus on the role of children’s literature in education, the power of dialogic learning and the impact of digital technology on reading practices and pedagogy. She combines her expertise in the study of language, literature and literacy with enquiry methods examining dialogic classroom interaction, teacher and learner agency and future focussed pedagogy working with primary school students, pre-service teachers, teachers and teacher educators.  

She was awarded an Office of Learning & Teaching Citation (2015) “passionate commitment to dialogic pedagogy that inspires students as literacy educators learning to teach critically and creatively with children’s literature” and the Maurice Saxby Award for service to children’s and/or young adult literature from the School Library Association of New South Wales (2020).

Jungyoung Park is an Assistant Professor at the Korea Institute of Energy Technology (KENTECH). KENTECH takes an educational approach to inquiry-based learning in order to cultivate the creation of integrated efforts for future energy inventions and innovations. As the director of the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) program at KETNCH, she has been working on how to help students from diverse backgrounds build their linguistic repertoires for effectively communicating in genre-specific, discipline- legitimate, and context-sensitive ways.

Before joining KENTECH, she taught reading and assessment courses offered by the Unified Elementary ProTeach program at the University of Florida, where she conducted her dissertation research on preservice teachers’ metalinguistic knowledge for teaching reading, research that was supported by the Irving and Rose Fien Reading Fellowship. Her expertise includes language and literacy education, English curriculum development and assessment, and disciplinary reading and writing. Her primary interest is in linguistically informed, responsive, and embedded pedagogies for language and literacy education within a Systemic Functional Linguistics framework, focusing on scientific literacy as the ability to engage in social, semiotic, and cognitive practices.

Since receiving the 2022 UKLA Wiley Research Literacy Education Award for her research in informational writing, Jungyoung has become an active member of the UKLA community. Her recent work focuses on developing and assessing students’ metalinguistic understanding of writing within the context of science and engineering education.

Elsa Cromarty Hosein is the UKLA International Ambassador for Guyana and the Caribbean. She has been an educator for more than 30 years, and has taught from the elementary to the tertiary level. Her initial field of study was English and English language teaching. However, over the last seven years, she has developed a passion for literacy when through realising how much teacher-centered approaches to instruction excluded many learners, moreso, how high incidence disorders affect learning. This recognition inspired her to pursue a professional doctorate in Reading and Literacy. She currently works at the University of Guyana where she served as Head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction from 2016 to 2019. Her research interests are in the literacy practices of in-service teachers, improving the quality of teacher education in literacy, and understanding the challenges of high incidence learning needs. She became a member of UKLA in February, 2023 simply to be among people who share a passion for literacy and are committed to make a difference through engagement and research.

Diane R Collier is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Brock University. She conducts research in the areas of digital, visual and arts-informed literacies. Using qualitative and post-qualitative methodologies, she considers how collaboration is enacted in and out of classrooms as children inquire and engage in literacies related to their everyday lives.  Diane was co-editor of UKLA’s journal, Literacy, for four years from 2018-2022, with Natalia Kucirkova. She appreciates the excellent scholarship and comradery that UKLA and its members have provided.

I am Slovenian. I teach at the University of Ljubljana, and am particularly interested in (inter)cultural studies, and children’s literature. I bring picture books to university lecture rooms, trying to encourage my students to develop a broad knowledge of children’s literature and a reading for pleasure culture. I am a member of the Slovenian Reading Badge Society and a past secretary of FELA.

Paul Gardner is a Senior Lecturer teaching and researching literacy education at Curtin University, Perth Australia and had previously worked at De Montfort University, University of Northampton and the University of Bedfordshire in the UK. Before moving into the university sector he was a drama teacher in primary and secondary/high schools and worked as a coordinator for the multicultural education service serving over 70 schools in the city of Milton Keynes, UK. His scholarly and research work focuses on literacy and identity with a particular focus on writer identity and compositional processes as well as process drama, children’s literature and multicultural education. His PhD was on writer identity and the compositional process at the University of Bedfordshire, under the supervision of Professor Janice Wearmouth and was examined by Professor Teresa Cremin (OU) and Dr. Eve Bearne (Camb). He is a member of the Western Australian Council of the Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) and on the Executive Committee of the Western Australian Institute of Educational Research. He was appointed a UKLA International Ambassador to Australia in 2016 and also serves as a founding member of the UKLA Critical Literacy Special Interest Group.

Dr Malai Zeiti Sheikh Abdul Hamid is Assistant Professor with the Centre for Communication, Teaching and Learning as well as Head of the Wellness Research Thrust at the University of Technology Brunei. She graduated with a PhD in English Language and Literacy Education (Bath), a Master’s of Education in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (Leicester) and a Bachelors in Education in TESL (UBD).

Dr Zeiti also graduated with a Teaching Certificate in Higher Education (Harvard) and the Women’s Leadership Development Programme (Oxford). Dr Zeiti was awarded the Royal Charter Qualification of Chartered Teacher of English by the UK English Association and is also a Chartered Linguist of Education from the UK Chartered Institute of Linguists. Additionally, she is also a Fellow member of the UK Chartered College of Teaching as and also a Fellow member of the UK Society of Education and Training. She was an award recipient of the US-ASEAN Fulbright Scholarship and also received the UTB Teaching Excellence Award Special Mention. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is also currently purusing her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Education at Harvard University.

Dr Zeiti is also President of the Brunei Reading and Literacy Association and Country Ambassador to the UK Literacy Association. She is also the Founder and Curator of TEDxBandarSeriBegawan. Her current research interests are Cultural Literacy and Digital Literacy. Her recent publications in 2021 included a chapter on ‘A Case Study of language use and literacy practices of Brunei students: New perspectives on cultural literacy’ in Charting an Asian Trajectory for Literacy Education: Charting Past, Present and Future Literacies, published by Routledge. Her second book chapter is `Overview of Preventive Measures and Good Governance Policies to Mitigate the COVID-19 Outbreak Curve in Brunei’ in COVID-19: Systematic Risk and Resilience, published by Springer Nature.

Jan Lacina is a UKLA International Ambassador for the United States. She has worked in a range of settings including as a 2nd grade public school teacher in Texas, a 1st-6th grade pull-out ESL teacher in Texas, and as an ESL teacher in an intensive English program for college students in Kansas. For the past twenty years, she has served as a teacher educator in both public and private universities. Currently, Jan is Professor and Interim Dean in the College of Education at Texas Christian University (TCU). Jan contributes regularly to the UKLA Conference, and she serves on the Editorial Board for the UKLA’s journal, Literacy. Her teaching and research experiences are in the areas of literacy instruction for English language learners and in writing instruction. Jan has authored more than 100 publications, including four books. Routledge (2020) published her most recent edited book, Preparing Globally Minded Literacy Teachers: Knowledge, Practices, and Case Studies. She served as Associate Editor and then Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Research in Childhood Education (JRCE). She now serves as Co-Editor of the International Literacy Association’s journal The Reading Teacher from June 2015-2021.

Digital Communications

Polly Atkinson is founder of Children Reading for Life which she established to work with parents, grandparents and carers in order to support them with their children’s reading at home. Polly’s MA in Education focused on children’s reading interests and how this affects their choice of reading matter.

Having taught across all year groups in primary schools for nearly 30 years (Lead English Teacher), Polly wants to use her knowledge and experience to help families develop a reading for pleasure ‘culture’ at home. 

Polly has been a member of the UKLA for over two decades and has recently been involved in the Book Awards, leading a group in 2023/4. She has been co-leader of the UKLA/OU Worthing Teachers Reading Group in West Sussex and is hugely appreciative of the wealth of knowledge she has gained from attending UKLA conferences and meetings as well as from collaborating with other like-minded UKLA members.

Always happy to discuss all things literary, you can contact Polly any time by emailing: childrenreadingforlife@yahoo.com

Janette has worked in education for over forty years. She was a leading teacher of Literacy ,worked for her Local Education Authority as a Literacy Consultant and led literacy in many schools. She was a Senior Assistant Headteacher and LSE in one of the first hundred Teaching Schools providing in-service training locally, both for specific curriculum areas such as Literacy and Science, but also providing training for supporting and improving the quality of teaching for NQTs and for teachers moving into management roles .

She led her school to achieving the first UKLA Literacy School of the Year Award in 2007. Janette moved into initial teacher training, developing trainees to achieve QTS and supporting them in their ECT years. Since retirement , Janette has supported the UKLA Book Awards as a group leader and as a reginal Representative for the West Midlands

I am a Secondary English teacher and KS5 Curriculum Leader currently working in Dudley. I am the co-lead of the Sandwell and Dudley TRG and I have worked as a long lister and shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards over several years. I have a keen interest in promoting reading for pleasure with older readers and using picture books to enhance the curriculum at KS3 and encourage affective engagement with texts. As a Chartered Teacher, I have developed research into the impact of reading for pleasure pedagogy on boys and how we can challenge the ‘reluctant reader’ label in our classrooms. 

I am Head of Primary Programmes and Principal Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education at Liverpool John Moores University. Prior to this, I have worked in higher education and primary schools in Liverpool and Manchester for nearly 20 years. My main research interests include school-community relations, Primary English teaching and professional intellectual leadership. I am currently working on the ‘Writing Over Time’ research project in collaboration with The University of Liverpool. This research is about writing, children and Liverpool.

It explores whether (and how) writing produced by children may have changed across time (before and after the implementation of the National Curriculum). Our interest is both linguistic and educational: we are not only passionate about language (and language change) but also about translating research into tangible outcomes for the benefit of the wider educational community. The research takes a comparative, corpus-based approach using the APU archive, the largest historical archive of children’s reading, speech and writing. The APU Corpus 1979–1988 is a diachronic corpus of children’s data at from Years 6 and 9. The materials are based on a sample of the Language Performance Surveys carried out from 1979 to 1988 by the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU), UK National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

Daisy Whitehead is a Year 1 teacher and co-English Lead at Lydgate Infant School in Sheffield. She is a UKLA regional rep for Yorkshire. Additionally, she runs an OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading Group with Vikki Varley. Daisy has a passion for picture books and is part of the SPARK book award panel. 

Chris splits his time between two schools: he is a Year 1 teacher at St Swithun’s CE Primary School in Oxford, and is a Library Assistant at the Swan School. He is a UKLA regional rep for Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. He has run an OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading Group for the past five years. He’s also an advocate for human rights in schools, and volunteers with Amnesty International. He shares reviews of books from around the world on Instagram: @broadeningthebookshelf

Imogen Maund is a Year 6 teacher and English Lead at Caldecott Primary School in Abingdon. She is a UKLA regional rep for Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Additionally, she runs an OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading Group through which she enjoys meeting local people who are also passionate about developing reading for pleasure in schools. Imogen has been on the longlisting panel for the UKLA Book Awards for three years and was also on the judging panel for CLPE’s CLiPPA award for 2024. Imogen can often be found with a coffee, cake and a book! 

I am a Senior Lecturer in primary English at St Mary’s University in Twickenham. Prior to this, I taught in primary schools across Surrey, Kingston and Merton for twenty years. I have wide-ranging leadership experience and led English across the primary age range. I am currently a doctoral student at St Mary’s and my research focuses on identity and representation in children’s literature. 

I am passionate about teaching English, particularly how English can support children with the explorations of their identity and can empower them to tackle issues of social justice. I love being part of the UKLA community; the sharing of ideas along with the supportive, friendly nature of both the conferences and SIGs help to encourage and develop the teaching of English in innovative ways. I co-run an Open University/United Kingdom Literacy Association Teachers Reading Group where I am lucky enough to pursue my reading for pleasure passion and share my love of books.

I am a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Edge Hill University where I teach English across our undergraduate and postgraduate ITE and OfS programmes.  Before this I was a primary school teacher for 16 years.  I am interested in all aspects of literacy but as an avid reader I am particularly passionate about engaging children and young people in reading for pleasure and exploring texts of all kinds.

I am currently completing my EdD with a focus on exploring student teachers’ identities as readers and Reading Teachers.  I lead an OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading Group with our student teachers and have thoroughly enjoyed creating a community of reading enthusiasts.  My involvement in the UKLA Book Awards this year has given me a fantastic opportunity to not only indulge my own love of children’s literature but also to engage in rich, thought-provoking conversations with teacher colleagues.

Feel free to contact me on BlueSky at @theliteratedragon.bsky.social

I am Reading Lead at St Michael’s Primary School in Ashford, Middlesex. I have been teaching for over 20 years and am currently working to develop Reading and Writing For Pleasure within my school and Academy Trust. 

I love children’s books and the potential they have to change lives. I am passionate about sharing books with staff and children so, with my English Team, I set up a staff book club to enable us to grow in our knowledge of children’s literature and what we can share with the children we teach.

I have been a member of the South West London TRG and also took part in a research project with fellow members, based on Writer Identity. Research is always at the heart of everything I do and so being a part of the UKLA enables me to access the latest research, training opportunities and a network of inspirational and like-minded people.  

I am on Twitter as @hmorgan09 so please get in touch if you would like to know more about the UKLA. 

I am pleased to be a regional rep for the UKLA in the South west alongside Simon Pollard.

I have the pleasure in working in many schools in the region since 2010 when I moved to the south west after teaching in Somerset for a few years.  I am currently the Hub Lead for Ilsham National English Hub and I work on the Education and School improvement team for Learning Academies Partnership South West.  I am an Early Years SLE from the first round of designated SLEs in 2011.  I lead an OU/UKLA Teacher’s Reading Group which I have done since 2020.  I am also involved in being a teacher judge for the UKLA book awards.  

Helping children to become a reader, love reading and become volitional readers is my absolute passion.  My mission is to help colleagues to develop their communities of readers to ensure that a love of reading is prioritised and carefully planned to be the heart of every school.  I love children’s literature, there is nothing better than the joy of sharing a book with someone and helping them grow in their reading for pleasure journey.

Being a member of the UKLA enables me to stay up to date with current literacy research and it supports me in my role supporting schools. 

Please get in touch if you want to find out more

Twitter handle: @DcookeDanni 

Email: dcooke@lapsw.org

Hello, I am Director of Primary ITE at University of Birmingham and teach on the Primary English course. I was a primary/early years school teacher for 10 years and have also worked in further and higher education on primary, early years and childhood studies courses. One of the best parts of all of these roles has been the opportunity to share and talk about rich texts with children and adults. Joining UKLA has opened up lots of opportunities for me to meet with reading and writing enthusiasts across the West Midlands and beyond. I am a leader of an OU/UKLA Teachers Reading Group and tweet as @NicolaSm70. Please do contact me to talk about anything to do with literacy in early years and primary.

I am an Executive Head Teacher at Cornwall Education Learning Trust. In my spare time I am director of St Austell Festival of Children’s Literature.

Reading and writing play an essential role in social mobility and being a member of the UIKLA helps keep me up to date on the latest research. It also helps to connect me with like mnded people so we can work together to share knowledge and understanding.

The conferences are great for this but there is also a great online community. Being from the far South West can make you feel isolated so it would be great to get some events happening here.

Hannah is a Primary Literacy Consultant at Literacy Tree and is based in West Yorkshire. She is hugely passionate about text-based approaches to teaching all aspects of the literacy curriculum, loves children’s literature (and what it can teach us all about life) and is interested in the large impact creativity and the arts can have within literacy teaching too.  

Hannah leads the Regional Reps team and hugely enjoys learning from such an inspirational group of educators. If you would like to find out more about the Regional Rep role, get in touch on BlueSky (and X) at @MrsBaker6 or email hannahbakerconsultancy@outlook.com.

I am a Key Stage Two Teacher, ITT & ECT Mentor at Beech Grove Primary School in Middlesbrough. I am passionate about children’s literature and using high-quality texts in the classroom. In our school, reading is at the heart of everything we do, and this motivates me to provide the best experiences and models for children.  

I have worked in schools and in Local Authorities, working on both school and curriculum development. Although my background is in Science and Computing, literacy has been a priority throughout my career, ensuring that pupils expand their understanding – and their imaginations! I am completely ‘bookish’ and love a good discussion about books and the opportunities that they present. I’m never far from a good book or my Kindle!  

It is such a joy to be able to join such a wonderful team of Regional Representatives for the UKLA, and I’m looking forward to broadening my knowledge of children’s literature and the ways in which we can support children’s literacy learning. 

If you would like to know more about the UKLA, and what we do, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Twitter: @gluestickgal  

Dr Navan Govender (he/they) (SFHEA) is a scholar-activist whose interdisciplinary research and teaching explores the relationship between multimodal meaning-making, power, identity, and ideology in English language and literacy (teacher) education. Through critical, queer, and decolonial paradigms, Navan’s work seeks to bridge theory, research, and practice in contextually-relevant ways that contribute toward social justice, equity, and inclusion. Navan is currently lecturer in applied language and literacy studies at the Strathclyde Institute of Education (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow), the UK Literacy Association’s (UKLA) vice-president elect, and a co-editor of the International Literacy Association’s Wiley journal, The Reading Teacher.

I joined Bishop Grosseteste University as a senior lecturer and English team leader in August 2017 after 6 years as a self-employed school advisor providing in-class coaching and training to local authorities and schools. I worked for several years for the Primary National Strategies leading the Every Child a Writer programme and have worked with international organisations to develop languages curricula and assessment guidance in over 150 countries.I am interested in children’s literature and reading for pleasure and lead an OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading group in Lincolnshire to develop Reading for Pleasure Pedagogies with teachers and students. I am currently co-researcher on the ‘Developing 21^st Century Maker Circles’ project exploring digital literacies with researchers at Sheffield Hallam University and have just begun a PhD to explore student teachers’ reading identities.

I have been a member of UKLA for over 20 years and have benefitted greatly from the expertise and experience of UKLA colleagues and friends and I’m looking forward to working with members in the region. I tweet as @ecawemma. Feel free to contact me to discuss children’s books, writing and all things literacy! 

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I am the Year 5 class teacher and Reading Lead at St. Andrew’s C of E Primary School in Halstead, Essex. Nurturing a genuine love of reading and children’s growth as lifelong readers is at the heart of everything I do and the experiences I’ve had as part of the Teacher Advisory Group for the Open University Teachers as Readers development work have been amongst the most influential of my career. I have recently completed an MEd in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge, which explored the potential of metafictive picturebooks to support children’s growth as writers, and working with Early Career Teachers to develop their literacy practice is another real passion.

Deciding to become a member of UKLA will always be one of the most life-changing, life-enriching decisions I have made as a teacher and my first six years of teaching simply wouldn’t have been the same without the myriad of opportunities that UKLA has brought. It is a real privilege to be a Regional Representative for the Eastern Region and work collaboratively to share and develop exciting literacy practice in our region.

Hi! My name is Richard Charlesworth and I am an assistant headteacher at Avonmore Primary School, based in Hammersmith and Fulham. In 2018, I graduated with a Masters degree in Children’s Literature, working alongside Michael Rosen and the team at Goldsmiths.

I am passionate about the development of a more creative and effective English curriculum, one which reflects on theory and research in the field.

One of my current interests is developing children’s empathy through a range of texts – having studied the affect that graphic novels may have on their readers in my own research.

Since joining the UKLA in March 2018, I have already seen the benefits of being part of such a supportive and nurturing community of like minded literature enthusiasts. I know the UKLA will continue to inspire me for many years to come and hope to spread the wonderful work that is going on across the region.

Any questions? Do get in touch. I tweet @rcharlesworth

I am a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at UWE Bristol and I currently lead English across our undergraduate and postgraduate ITE programmes.

I am also currently completing an ESRC-funded PhD in Education at the University of Exeter. My research focuses on children’s writing, specifically exploring how metacognition and metalinguistic awareness develop in relation to writing across the primary years.

It is a real privilege to work with UKLA members from such diverse areas and I very much hope that our region will be able to work together and learn from each other about best practice in Literacy. I work as Deputy Course Manager of the Primary PGCE at The University of Cambridge and I am passionate about all things surrounding Primary Literacy. I have a particular interest in children’s writing. I joined UKLA because I believe in its ethos. I feel proud to be able to contribute to a supportive community which places children’s learning at its heart and recognises the value of evidence-informed practice. I would love to hear from UKLA members in the region who would like to become more involved in our work – please feel free to get in touch!

Formerly a primary school teacher and now a teacher educator specialising in literacy, Petula has worked in education for over 20 years. Her passion is engaging children in rich digital and paper texts to develop literacy activities in and beyond the classroom. She has developed this interest from an extensive range of teaching experience in close partnership with universities, local authorities, senior leaders and teachers. Her roles across the Midlands have included literacy coordinator, consultant and Regional Advisor for the Primary National Strategies.

Moving into higher education, she was Senior Lecturer in Primary English at Birmingham City University and taught post graduate students at the University of Nottingham where she also completed her MA in Children’s Literature and PhD in multimodal literacy. Petula specialises in developing approaches to engage children and raise boys’ attainment, and has published school-based research, teaching materials and resources on multimodality. She is sub-editor for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) newsletter and a regional representative.

Petula continues to support primary and secondary schools as an independent literacy consultant. She is based in Nottinghamshire where she also works as an Associate Advisor for the Local Authority.