Staff Profiles

Research interests

Research interests include children’s thinking; early childhood literacy including the use of ICT in early years classrooms in relation to literacy, parenting and the professional development of practitioners in Early Years.

Research and consultancy projects

• Wild, M. (2013) Beanstalk:  Evaluation of Children’s Attitudinal Outcomes
• Rayner, S., Arthur, L.  & Wild, M.  (2012) Oxford City: Leadership for Learning. (2012) Joint successful bid with O.U.D. E.
• Wild, M. and Glenny, G. (2011) Evaluation of the Ten to Two project in Oxfordshire.   Project sponsored by Oxfordshire County Council to evaluate the provision  of ten hours of free childcare/ education to disadvantaged two-year olds within the county.
• Evangelou, M., Sylva, K., Wild, M., Glenny, G. and Kyriacou, M.  (2009) Early Years Learning and Development Literature Review. DCSF RR 176.
• Wild, M (2008) Research in Support of Phonics. Oxfordshire LA/British Association Early Childhood Education.
• Mitchell, H, & Wild, M . (2008) Design & Evaluation of Midline Survey on Parenting Skills for UNICEF – Turkey in association with The Centre for Learning Behaviour, Reading.
• Aug 2007 Evaluation of the National Bookstart Programme for Booktrust.

Books

• Brown C, Wild M, Ed., Ethical Dilemmas in Educational Research, McGraw Hill/Open University Press (2022)
  ISBN: 9780335251322
  Abstract

  Ethical dilemmas in educational research often pose interesting and challenging questions for researchers. A careful balance must be struck between the needs of participants, increasing regulatory guidelines and the academic freedom of the educational researcher. Forwarded by Professor Ian Menter this text addresses a unique gap by going beyond the guidelines and focusing on the specific dilemmas that the educational researcher faces; illustrated with real-life examples. 

  The guidelines and roles of committees will be highlighted with an emphasis on misunderstandings and common purposes. Specific issues arising in the field will also be discussed. These include; ethical issues when using data; researching self; ethical implications for the researcher with lived experience; ethical dilemmas in action, involving issues of active participation and ongoing assent, issues of agency and privacy and researching for human rights and social justice.

  This is drawn together by reflecting on suggestions of ways forward to ensure that the differing tensions can be resolved to ensure best practice and a continually evolving field of educational research.

  Website 

Journal articles

• Burbank B, McGregor D, Wild M, '"My special, my special thing, and my camera!" Using GoPro™ as a complementary research tool to investigate young children’s museum experiences.'
  Museum and Society 16 (3) (2018) pp.311-333
  ISSN: 1479-8360
  Abstract This paper discusses insights derived from a small-scale ethnographic study designed to explore young children’s (aged three to six) everyday, lived experiences within a participatory family museum in southern England.  Inspired by the child-centred work of Kirk (2014) this paper begins by examining the effectiveness of photo-elicitation interviews in accessing ‘snap-shots’ of children’s perspectives of their museum visits. In the current study this method is complemented by the use of chest-mounted GoPro cameras to provide a first person and more holistic perspective of children’s museum visits. 12 children’s visits were filmed in total. During three of these, children were also carrying child-friendly digital cameras. As this was part of a larger study the data collection was designed to compare the utility of GoPro technology being used in tandem with both photo and drawing-elicitation. In response to these initial findings a photo-map of the museum was created to prompt discussion with the final six participants. Recruitment was purposive and there was no contact with the participants prior to them arriving at the museum. The video captured by the chest-mounted Go-Pro cameras is particularly illuminating when analysed in the context of the post-visit interview data. Although the photo-elicitation and drawing-elicitation interviews do reveal some important details about the children’s experiences and perspectives, the video footage highlights the difficulties with relying on these methods in an everyday museum setting. For example parental involvement in the children’s photography is far more pervasive than might be expected, and the degree to which the camera affects the nature of the children’s visits is notable. The video also reveals how easy it is to misinterpret children when relying solely on their recollections in an interview situation.  This paper finishes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of using Go-Pro technology as a complementary tool in the exploration of young children’s museum experiences.Website 
• Sakr M, Connelly V, Wild M, 'Imitative or Iconoclastic? How young children use ready-made images in digital art'
  International Journal of Art and Design Education 37 (1) (2018) pp.41-52
  ISSN: 1476-8062 eISSN: 1476-8070
  Abstract Digital art-making tends to foreground the inclusion of ready-made images in children's art. While some lament children's use of such images, suggesting that they constrain creativity and expression, others have argued that ready-made digital materials offer children the opportunity to create innovative and potentially iconoclastic artefacts through processes of ‘remix’ and ‘mash-up’. In order to further this debate, observations are needed to explore the different ways that children use ready-made images in their digital art and the various purposes that these images can serve. Adopting a social semiotic perspective, this article offers an in-depth examination of five episodes of 4–5 year-olds’ digital art-making that collectively demonstrate the diversity of approaches that young children take towards the inclusion of ready-made images in their digital art-making. The article discusses these findings in relation to suggestions for what adults can do to support children to adopt a playful and critically aware approach to the use of ready-made images in digital art-making.Website 
• Sakr M, Connelly V, Wild M, '"Evil cats" and "jelly floods": young children’s collective constructions of digital art-making in the early years classroom'
  Journal of Research in Childhood Education 30 (1) (2016) pp.128-141
  ISSN: 0256-8543 eISSN: 2150-2641
  Abstract

  Digital technologies have the potential to offer new opportunities for children’s expressive arts practices. While adult expectations surround and shape children’s visual art-making on paper in the early years classroom, such expectations are not so established in relation to digital art-making. So how do children make sense of digital art-making when it is newly introduced into the classroom and adult input is minimal? Drawing on a social semiotic ethnographic perspective, this paper explores this question by examining instances of 4-5 year olds’ spoken dialogue around the computer during a week in which digital art-making was first introduced into the classroom. Analysis focused on interactions where children proposed, reinforced or challenged conceptions of digital art-making. These interactions demonstrated that children’s digital art-making was negotiated and constructed through particular processes. Three such processes are presented here: the use of collective motifs and metaphors; attributing ‘expert’ status; and polarizing conflicts. Understanding these processes offers a starting point for thinking about how a new activity like digital art-making can be integrated into the early years classroom and supported by practitioners. 

  Website 
• Wild M, Silberfeld C, Nightingale B, 'More? Great? Childcare? A discourse analysis of two recent social policy documents relating to the care and education of young children in England'
  International Journal of Early Years Education 23 (3) (2015) pp.230-244
  ISSN: 0966-9760 eISSN: 1469-8463
  Abstract

  This paper considers the overt and covert discourses in two contemporary policy documents in England and Wales, The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality ([DfE] Department for Education Department for Education. 2012. ‘The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality: The Independent Review of Early Education and Childcare Qualifications.' DFE-00068 2012. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175463/Nutbrown-Review.pdf.) and More Great Childcare (MGC) ([DfE] Department for Education. 2013. ‘More Great Childcare: Raising Quality and Giving Parents More Choice.' DFE-00002-2013. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219660/More_20Great_20Childcare_20v2.pdf.), which advocated a number of significant changes to Early Years provision. It employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to ask questions about relationships between language and society, specifically how these are managed in policy documents. Drawing on Foucauldian analysis on the power behind the words and utilising [Fairclough, N. 2010. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.] CDA, indications of underlying values and assumptions, overt and covert agendas were explored. Findings suggest a significant shift in concepts of quality, professionalism and childcare that positions the child as an investment in the future as a strong feature of the discourse within MGC as well as an increase in top-down frameworks. Both documents assert that quality and professionalism will only occur with top-down regulation and inspection. They propose a consumer market based model of practice that has implications for professionalism of the workforce and quality of children's experiences.

  Website 
• Sakr M, Connelly V, Wild M, 'Narrative in young children’s digital art-making'
  Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 16 (3) (2015) pp.289-310
  ISSN: 1468-7984 eISSN: 1741-2919
  Abstract

  Digital technologies have material and social properties that have the potential to create new opportunities for children’s expressive arts practices. The presence and development of oral narratives in young children’s visual art-making on paper has been noted in previous research, but little is known about the narratives children create when they engage in digital art-making. How do young children construct narratives during digital art-making? How do the features of these narratives relate to the social and material properties of the digital resources they are using? How can looking at these narratives inform and enrich our understanding of children’s art-making in general? Drawing on a social semiotic perspective, these questions are explored through an in-depth analysis of narrative in three examples of 4-5 year olds’ digital art-making. On the basis of the analysis, features of oral narrative in young children’s digital art-making are suggested and these are linked to potentially influential properties of the digital resources. Being aware of these features and properties offers a starting point for thinking about what digital resources can offer in the context of young children’s art-making. The findings also prompt us to be aware of the diverse potentials that exist in children’s art-making practices regardless of the resources being used.

  Website 
• Wild M, 'Thinking together: exploring aspects of shared thinking between young children during a computer-based literacy task'
  International Journal of Early Years Education 19 (3-4) (2011) pp.219-231
  ISSN: 0966-9760 eISSN: 1469-8463
  Website 
• Wild M, 'Using Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) to support the systematic practice of phonological skills in beginning readers'
  Journal of Research in Reading 32 (4) (2009) pp.413-432
  ISSN: 0141-0423
  Website 

Book chapters

• Sakr M, Connelly V, Wild M, 'Teachers’ use of writing in displays of young children’s artwork' in Archer A, Breur E (ed.), Multimodality in Writing: The state of the art in theory, methodology and pedagogy, Brill (2015)
  ISBN: 9789004296572 eISBN: 9789004297197
  Abstract Chapter 12Website 
• Evangelou M, Wild M, 'Connecting Home and Educational Play: Interventions That Support Children's Learning' in Brooker L, Blaise M, Edwards S (ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood, Sage (2014)
  ISBN: 9781446252451
  Website 

Reviews

• Wild M, review of Early Years Play and Learning: Developing Social Skills and Cooperation, in British Educational Research Journal 31 (2005) pp.281-283ISSN: 0141-1926 eISSN: 1469-3518
  
• Wild M, review of Understanding Early Childhood: Issues and Controversies, in British Educational Research Journal 31 (2005) pp.544-546ISSN: 0141-1926 eISSN: 1469-3518
  
• Mitchell H, Wild M, review of Placing the Child in Childhood, in British Educational Research Journal 30 (2004) pp.731-739ISSN: 0141-1926 eISSN: 1469-3518
  Website 

Conferences

 

Recent conference papers

Calder, P. Leeson, C. Nightingale, B., Silberfeld C. &  Wild, M. , (Aug 2013) More? Great? Childcare?: A discourse analysis of recent social policy documents relating to the care of young children in Englandand Wales. Symposium at EECERA Annual Conference: Values, Culture and Contexts Tallinn University (Tallinn, Estonia) August 28 to 31, 2013.

Wild, M. (2013) Plenary Speaker : Picturing Change Conference Oxford Brookes University (27/04/13) 

Wild, M. (2012) Expert Panel member : The Changing Face of Early Childhood Policy and Practice in England over the Past Twenty Years: an expert seminar Warwick Institute of Education/The Open University(23/11/12)

Wild, M. and Evangelou. M. (2012) Getting the balance right: the role of the adult in supporting children’s early learning. European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Annual Conference. Porto. Portugal

 Wild, M. and Mitchell, H. (2010) Listening to and Learning From the Voices of Practitioners and Professionals in the Early Years European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Annual ConferenceBirmingham, UK

 Evangelou, M. and Wild, M. (2010) Quality Of Early Childhood Settings: Giving Parents A Voice.. European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Annual ConferenceBirmingham, UK

Mitchell, H. and Wild, M. (2009) Supporting Parents in Supporting Children’s Literacy: Practitioner Perspectives on Implementing a Parenting Programme in a New Societal Context. European Early Childhood Educational Research Association, Annual Conference, Strasbourg, France.

Barron, I, Calder, P. Hughes, A., Majoribanks, B., McMillan, D., Nurse, A Selleck, D. Silberfeld, C. & Wild, M. (2009) Reconciling Diverse Agendas in Early Childhood Policy, Systems and Practice in the UK. Strasbourg, France. European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Annual Conference 2009

Mary was Head of the School of Education having previously been Principal Lecturer (Student Experience), Senior Lecturer in Child Development and Education, and Subject Coordinator for Early Childhood Studies. Prior to joining Oxford Brookes University she completed her DPhil at Oxford University, researching the impact of ICT on children's early literacy.  She has taught across a range of courses for practitioners and professionals in early years, including the BA Hons degree in Early Childhood Studies, the PGCE , the Advanced Early Years Specialism, MA Childhood Studies and  doctoral level supervision. Mary is a qualified teacher with experience in both the primary and early years sectors and a member of the British Psychological Society,  the British Educational Research Association and UCET. She is a member of the National Strategy group for the Early Childhood Studies Degree Network and a patron of the Reading Quest Charity.

Consultancy includes a review of children's attitudes to reading for the Beanstalk reading charity (2013),  a review of developmental literature (ages 0-5) for the DCSF (Evangelou et al, 2009), researching the establishment of a new PEEP initiative in the Republic of Ireland, (Wild & Mitchell, 2009),the design & evaluation of a Survey on Parenting Skills for UNICEF Turkey (2008) in association with The Centre for Learning Behaviour, and an Evaluation of the National Bookstart Programme (2007).