Department of Psychology
Taking on the role of Literacy Lead at The World Bank’s Policy Academy, Kathy contributed to development of CPD for policymakers and practitioners around the science of reading, supporting the development of their Architectures of Literacy series, a suite of curriculum products now being used across developing economies to support children’s reading development.
Kathy also conducted collaborative research with The World Bank investigating the reading skills of over 500,000 pupils in 48 low- and middle-income countries. This work is now driving new, evidence-led approaches to improving literacy in those settings.
Kathy worked with FFT Education to develop the 10-module “Unlocking Reading”, addressing reading needs in Secondary classrooms.
“Ending the Reading Wars” a paper written by Kathy has influenced how children are taught to read all around the world and won an ESRC ‘Celebrating Impact’ Prize for Outstanding International Impact for her work.
Speaking opportunities have included:
- Public Google series lecture “Learning to read”
- Education Podcasts: Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, The Literacy View, The Teacher Squad, Inside your Ed, Literacy Talks
- ResearchED (Oxford), Keynote “Learning to Read”
- UNESCO, Keynote “How Research in Psychology can Help us to end the ‘Reading Wars’”
