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Dr Jane Dorrian

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Lecturer, Early Childhood
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport
  • Education
  • jane.dorrian

Web links

Professional biography

I started my career as a primary school teacher in the south Wales valleys and worked for several years in a nursery school before taking a secondment to be the LEA advisory teacher for early years. At the end of the secondment I took up a lecturing role on the Education and Early Childhood Studies degree programmes at University of Wales, Newport and during my time there I completed my doctorate. I then moved to Cardiff Metropolitan University where I worked as the Deputy Head of Department in the School of Education and Social Policy whilst contining to teach on the Early Childhood Studies and Primary Education programmes. In 2018 I became a Staff Tutor at the Open University before joining the Early Childhood team in 2022.

Research interests

My doctoral thesis looked at the professional identities of early years practitioners and this is still an area that I am interested in. I am involved in projects that explore physical literacy in the early years and have undertaken scholarship exploring how aspects of the hidden curriculum impact on student experience.

Teaching interests

My teaching interests are young children's physical literacy, early years' practitioners professioal identities and undertsking research with young children.

Impact and engagement

PRAXIS funded Scholarship project What is a tutorial? An exploration of ‘learning event literacy’ on student experience. (open.ac.uk)

Podcast exploring the implications of the new Welsh Curriculum for teacher training https://nape.org.uk/nape-podcast  

Mini-article for OU OpenLearn https://ounews.co/education-languages-health/childhood-youth/teach-your-child-through-creative-play/  

Video and mini-article for OU OpenLearn https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/sport-fitness/how-help-your-child-become-future-olympian

External collaborations

External evaluator for the Early Years Wales 'Welsh Active Early Years' programme Welsh Active Early Years | Early Years Wales  

Publications

An exploration of factors affecting the baseline assessment scores of children attending morning or afternoon sessions in nursery settings in Wales (2021)
Dorrian, Jane
Early Years, 43(1) (pp. 91-103)

Rethinking the Design of School Readiness Assessments (2022-02)
Dorrian, Jane
In: Betts, A. L. and Thai, K-P. eds. Handbook of Research on Innovative Approaches to Early Childhood Development and School Readiness. Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education (AECKE) (pp. 96-112)
ISBN : 9781799886495 | Publisher : IGI Global | Published : Hershey, Pennsylvania

Promoting Physical Development and Activity in Early Childhood: Practical Ideas for Early Years Settings (2024)
Musgrave, Jackie; Dorrian, Jane; Josephidou, Jo; Langdown, Ben and Rodriguez Leon, Lucy eds.
Little Minds Matter
ISBN : 978-1-032-47954-5 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon

Exploring the effects of parental involvement in children’s physical activity sessions (2024)
Dorrian, Jane
In : BECERA 2024: Early Years Education as Political Activity: Access, Choice, Agency and Voice (13 Feb 2024, Birmingham, UK)

What is a tutorial? An exploration of ‘learning event literacy’ on student experience (2022-07)
Dorrian, Jane
In : Advance HE Teaching and Learning Conference 2022: Teaching in the spotlight: Where next for enhancing student success? (5-7 Jul 2022, Northumbria University, Newcastle)

Why getting children active is good for parents too (2023-11-21)
Dorrian, Jane
Centre for Research in Early Childhood [Blog post], Birmingham, UK.

Mind Your Policy Language (2023)
Glover, Alison and Dorrian, Jane
The Open University

Evaluation of the HAF/Welsh Active Early Years Programme (2022-04)
Dorrian, Jane
Early Years Wales (In Press)