Alayne is the Primary Programme Director for Initial Teacher Education courses at London Metropolitan University. She is currently involved in research examining the changing nature of literacy educators’ professionalism and autonomy, and how they might reconcile the apparent conflicts and contradictions that inhabit their professional practice. She is Convenor of Publicity and Marketing sub-committee.
Teresa is Professor of Education at The Open University, where she is involved in research relating to the connections between teachers and children as writers and readers.Teresa is also currently researching the nature of possibility thinking and children's writing at home.
The question, 'How do we learn to read?' has interested Lyn throughout her working life and she has been a member of the Association since 1972. She has taught children, young people and adults to read and write in a variety of school and non school settings. Her present literacy interest is in finding ways of including university students, especially those from so called 'non standard entry' by working with them on reading and writing suitable for the academy. Lyn has felt privileged to serve as Secretary through the changes in recent years.
Lynda Graham, Convenor of Membership and Awards sub-committee, is an educational researcher currently involved in research relating to teaching and learning in classrooms of young ‘digikid’ teachers.
Henrietta Dombey is Convenor of International sub-committee. She is Professor Emeritus of Literacy in Primary Education at the University of Brighton, with particular interests in the teaching of phonics and the interaction between teachers, children and texts in Foundation and Key Stage 1 classrooms.
She is a Past President of the Association and has recently retired from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education where her interests in research and publication were mostly concerned with multimodal texts.
Guy Merchant is Convenor of the Research sub-committee. He is co-ordinator of the Language and Literacy Research Group in the Faculty of Development and Society at Sheffield Hallam University. He is widely known for his work on children and young people’s uses of digital literacy
She enjoys working with student teachers and as a consultant to local authorities and schools to help develop policies that promote effective and creative literacy teaching. She is currently involved in research on children's writing, literature circles and literacy policy.