Clare Kelly BA MA PhD

Clare is Head of Programme for BA Education, Culture & Society.

For many years Clare was an early years and primary teacher in London schools. After working as an advisory teacher for language and literacy, she became assistant director at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education where she acted as a consultant to schools, education departments and local authorities, both nationally and internationally. She teaches on BA Education, Culture & Society and the PGCE, MA and PhD programmes at Goldsmiths.

Research interests

Clare’s research interests are in the area of language and literacy development with a particular focus on multilingualism and issues of equality and social justice. She is interested in the early years and young children’s diverse social and cultural experiences across generations and in the different contexts of home, school and community.

She is currently engaged in research related to the ways that remote technology, including Skype is used by families with young children to develop social relations over generational, geographical and temporal boundaries.

For over two years she has been the external evaluator for the Catching Words literacy project led by the Discover Children’s Story Centre in London. 

Clare is a member of the Centre for Language, Culture and Learning.

Selected publications

2013  Kelly, C. ‘Let’s do some jumping together.’ Intergenerational participation in the use of remote technology to co-construct social relations over distance.  Journal of Early Childhood Research, 12 (3) (forthcoming).   

2012 Kelly, C. Evaluation report of Phase 3 Catching Words:  a literacy & creativity project.  Discover Children's Story Centre, Stratford, London.

2011 Kelly, C. Evaluation report of Phase 2 of Catching Words. Discover Children’s Story Centre, Stratford, London.

2010 Kelly, C. Hidden Worlds: Young children learning literacy in multicultural contexts. Trentham. ‌

2006 Kelly, C., Gregory, E. & Williams, A. Home to school and school to home: syncretised literacies in linguistic minority communities, in Garcia, O. & Baker, C. (eds) Bilingual Education: An Introductory Reader.  Multilingual Matters.

2006 Kelly, C. Making language diversity matter: supporting students’ understanding of bilingualism and biliteracy, Cremin, T. & Dombey, H. (eds) Handbook of Primary English in Initial Teacher Education. NATE/UKLA Canterbury Christ Church University.

2004 Kelly, C. Buzz Lightyear in the nursery: intergenerational literacy learning in a multi-media age in Gregory, E. Long, S. & Volk , D. (eds) Many Pathways To Literacy. Taylor Francis.

2002 Kelly, C., Gregory, E. & Williams. A. ‘Developing literacy: towards a new understanding of family involvement’ in Fisher, R. Brooks, G & Lewis, M. (eds) Raising Standards in Literacy Routledge Falmer.