Dr Sarah Critten

Professional Biography

Sarah’s specialism is in Developmental and Educational Psychology. Following completion of her PhD Sarah was a Post-Doctoral researcher at Oxford Brookes University (2009-2011) on a Leverhulme Trust funded project looking at the spelling and writing abilities of children with Developmental Language Disorder. Sarah then held a lectureship at Coventry University (2011-2021) developing and leading modules in Developmental and Educational Psychology for BSc Psychology and MSc Psychology/Applied Psychology and modules in Project planning and ethics in Psychology for MSc Psychology. During her time at Coventry University, Sarah was a Course Leader, for PGCert Psychology of Reading Development and for MSc Applied Psychology.

Sarah holds a BSc Psychology (First Class) and PhD in Psychology from the University of Hertfordshire and a PGCert Academic practice in Higher Education from Coventry University. Sarah is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Open University Roles

Sarah joined the Open University in 2021 and is a Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies. She is currently co-chairing the level 2 module E225: Child development: Birth to Adolescence and was part of the production team for this module. Previously she co-chaired E219: Psychology of Childhood and Youth and E102: Introduction to Childhood Studies and Child Psychology and was part of the production team for the E102 replacement module E104.

Sarah is research lead for Childhood and Youth Studies and is responsible for enhancing the research environment providing opportunities for colleagues to share their research and gain feedback, network and develop skills in areas such as publishing and applying for funding. As a member of the ECYS Research Steering Group, Sarah advises on the allocation of Research/Development and Conference funding. Sarah is also a lead for the Research Leadership and Development Programme (RLDP) in ECYS and a research mentor in WELS.

Sarah is the lead Academic Conduct Officer for the Q23 Childhood and Youth Studies programme and represents the team at ECYS and WELS academic conduct meetings. She is responsible for supporting module teams and providing guidance for colleagues in referrals for academic misconduct, most recently guidance for tutors when they suspect misuse of Gen AI. Sarah has also developed video guidance for students on why and how to use Turnitin software reports that has been included across all Q23 modules and on the Q94 Education Studies (Primary) programme.  

Research Interests

Sarah’s research interests lie within the area of children’s language and literacy development. This originated with her PhD entitled ‘Spelling and reading representations in children’ and primarily concerns cognitive processes underlying spelling, reading and writing development. Her published work examines implicit and explicit spelling knowledge, children’s spelling and reading strategies and the relationship between oral and written language. Her work looks at both typical and atypical development, examining language and literacy abilities of children with Developmental Language Disorder and Dyslexia.

Sarah also has research interests in work that has more direct pedagogic value for educators. For example, visual tools that can be used to gain children’s voice in children with Speech, Language and Communication difficulties so children’s opinions on their educational experiences can be shared despite their communicative constraints. Also understanding teachers’ experiences of spelling pedagogy in primary schools and developing programmes to guide lesson planning when teaching morphology.

At the Open University Sarah has become a member of the Reading for Pleasure research group and the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at the Open University. She is working on projects examining the relationship between motivational components comprising the ‘will’ to read/write and the ‘skill’ of reading/writing and evaluating pedagogical strategies that will enhance children’s enjoyment of reading and encourage them to read for pleasure.  

Current externally funded projects with colleagues from the OU include:

Magazines as Reading Motivators (2023-2026) with What on Earth! Magazines Ltd.

CODE: KS3 Readers (2024-2025) with Little Wandle Trust.

Impact and engagement

Throughout her research career Sarah has worked closely with schools to share the findings of her projects and discuss recommendations for literacy instruction and assessment.

With Prof. Teresa Cremin (OU), Sarah has developed recommendations for schools for how to build a Reading for Pleasure culture in KS3 in collaboration with Little Wandle Trust.

With OU colleagues Prof. Teresa Cremin and Kelly Ashley, Sarah has evaluated the use of magazines for engaging reluctant readers and developed pedagogic strategies that teachers can use to incorporate magazines into Reading for Pleasure lessons in KS2 in collaboration with What on Earth! Magazines Ltd.

With Prof. Julie Dockrell (UCL), Prof. Vince Connelly (Oxford Brookes) and Dr Kirsty Walter (Oxford Brookes), Sarah has developed and held workshops for schools on theories of writing development and the use of objective writing assessments, funded by the ESRC. The same team also developed and validated the UK Curriculum Based Measure of Writing (UK CBM-W).

External Collaborations

Sarah was an Associate Editor for the Journal of Research in Reading and reviews for the Journal of Educational Psychology, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies in Reading, Reading and Writing, Research in Developmental Disabilities, Dyslexia and Frontiers.

Sarah also has extensive external examining experience:

2025 – present Nottingham Trent University, MSc Applied Child Psychology, External Examiner

2023-present    Dyslexia Action Training (in partnership with Middlesex University), MEd Professional Practice in Dyslexia and Literacy/ PGDip Specialist Assessment and Teaching for Literacy-Related Difficulties/PGCerts Specialist Assessment/Teaching for Literacy-Related Difficulties, External Examiner.

2022-present University of Birmingham, PGDip/PGCert Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties programmes (accredited by British Dyslexia Association), External Examiner.

2023-2024     University of Birmingham, National Standards SENCo programme, External Examiner.

2016-2021     Institute of Education: UCL, MA/PGDip/PGCert Specific Learning Difficulties: Dyslexia (accredited by British Dyslexia Association), External Examiner.

Sarah has also examined PhD and EdD students at the Institute of Education, UCL and the University of New England, Australia.