Spotlight - Nicola Yelland

One of the things that we can rely on at ULearn is that some of our firmly held beliefs about teaching and learning will be challenged, often in surprising ways. I am particularly looking forward to Nicola Yelland’s spotlight. Having come across her in the reference lists of several academic papers by other researchers, and then discovering the work she has done in the Mapping MultiLiteracies research in South Australia, I am excited at the prospect of hearing her speak. She will provide exactly the kind of challenge that I look forward to at the conference.

The framework that she has been involved in developing for mapping children’s literacies, her view of teaching and learning (which crosses both ECE and early primary sectors) and the challenges that she throws at us in terms of our role as teachers of young children give us the opportunity to look at some of our own beliefs and practices with a new lens. As a primary-trained teacher now working in the ECE sector I know that there are practices and perspectives from both sectors that would enrich the other.

I am certain that I will hear comments after her spotlight that her focus on the ‘other’ sector meant that “she isn’t relevant for the sector I work in”. My challenge to you is to suspend your attachment to your own sector, and listen carefully and critically to what she is saying about children, teaching and learning, and our roles and responsibilities as teachers.

I really look forward to some lively debate after her session.

Elaine Newton
ECE ICT PL facilitator