This series of public lectures forms one strand of the Joyce Morris Early Years Literacies Forum (JMEYLF). This is a forum aiming to provide spaces to promote early years research, engaging and collaborating with a range of stakeholders in early years literacies.   

The audience for this series of lectures is invited from the full breadth of the EYFS community; practitioners, researchers, academics, local authority and trust advisors, subject matter experts, school/setting leadership and anyone connected or interested in this work.  

We are coordinating speakers who can share both a strong understanding of the research in their chosen area of early years literacies, but also the practical implications of this for the different roles our audience members hold. 

As part of our effort to connect people from within the early years and other related communities, we are also engaging partners to help secure strong speakers and to promote these events more widely. 

Each lecture will be hosted at UEA but also live streamed and recorded so that it can be accessed more widely both on the night and at later stages. 

The lectures are planned in collaboration with the Joyce Morris Early Years Literacies Research Project Teams, who will also host the question and answer section of the evening. 

 

The first lecture we held in February was led by the Little Minds research project team and in partnership with CREC Centre for Research in Early Childhood. 

We had the pleasure of welcoming Helen Moylett, independent early years consultant to talk about 'Playful Partnerships for Language and Literacy'.

It was an evening of insight for anyone interested in child development, speech and language,  effective teaching and learning, literacy.

Access the online Padlet with links to the lecture pack, research, documents and resources discussed in the lecture.

Slides from the lecture. 

For those unable to attend here is a video of the event -



Helen delivered an engaging lecture drawing on a range of research and sharing a number of reports that document and highlight the developmental, financial and societal importance of authentic and appropriate teaching and learning of children in the early years. The lecture was followed by a conversation between Helen and Little Minds Principal Investigator Kate Russell, incorporating audience questions and comments. 



Comments and feedback from attendees included; 

“What a fabulous public lecture and hosted in such an inclusive way (especially enabling participation from afar)” 

“…..a nice blending of theory, practical hints, play and human touch” 

“Thank you for making this so accessible, I have enjoyed this immensely.” 

 

Our second public lecture is planned for Wednesday 13th November and will be a hybrid event held at UEA and livestreamed.

We are delighted to be welcoming Sonia Livingstone to explore the question

Can young children benefit from using digital technology or is it time for a ban?

Sonia Livingstone's lecture information

Book your free place online

https://bit.ly/SLLecture

The third lecture is being planned with the ROMLIT research project team to be held in April 2025