
Prof Teresa Cremin
Professor (Literacy)
School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport
Biography
Professional biography
Professor Teresa Cremin is a Professor of Education (Literacy) and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies. https://wels.open.ac.uk/research/lsj
Professor Cremin is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS), the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) and the English Association (EA). Additionally, she is a Trustee of the UK Literacy Association (UKLA), a Board member of the Reading Agency, a DfE expert on reading for pleasure, a member of the ESRC Peer Review College, and chair of the Advisory Group for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Teacher Development Fund for the Arts. Previously she has served as President of the UK Reading Association and the UKLA, as a Director of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT) and a Trustee of the Poetry Archive and SES. She has also served as a visiting Professor at Edge Hill University, a Board Member of BookTrust and as editor of the Journal Literacy and co-editor of the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity.
Teresa has been a practising primary teacher, a staff development co-ordinator in a local authority, and has worked extensively in Higher Education both with initial teacher education students and with practising professionals. Currently her work mainly focuses on research, consultancy and knowledge exchange, although she is also involved in teaching, leadership and management.
Teresa gained a Psychology degree at Bristol University, a PGCE at Homerton College, Cambridge, a Masters Degree at the Institute of Education, London and her PhD through the University of Kent at Canterbury.
Research interests
Professor Cremin’s socio-cultural research focuses on teachers' literate identities and practices, the pedagogies associated with children's volitional reading and writing (within and beyond the classroom), and creative teaching and learning from the early years through to Higher Education.
Teresa is interested in the aesthetic and artistic nature of language and literacy learning and the role and use of creativity in and through language. She has explored children’s imaginative development and the characteristics of ‘possibility thinking’ manifest in the learning engagement of children and the pedagogical strategies of their teachers. She has also researched the relationship between drama and other forms of oral engagement, and children’s voice in writing.
In particular she has documented primary teachers’ knowledge and use of children’s literature and the concept of Reading Teachers - teachers who read and readers who teach (Commeyras et al., 2004), as well as teachers' identities as writers. Teresa is interested in the consequences of teachers' literate identity positioning on their pedagogic practices and the identity positions made available to younger readers and writers in the classroom, and ways to motivate volitional reading and writing.
Teresa often works with teachers as co-participant researchers, supporting them to engage with an ethnographic eye and research children's literacy lives and practices within and beyond school, as well as document their own identity enactments as literacy educators and creative professionals.
Current and recent externally funded research projects with colleagues from the OU and other universities include:
The Role of Talk in Reading and Writing for Pleasure (2024-2028)
Digital Reading Communities (2024-2027)
Magazines as Reading Motivators (2023-2026)
CODE: KS3 Readers (2024-2025)
Reading Volunteers (2024-2025)
The Social Motivation to Read (2024-2026)
Reading for Pleasure and Children's Wellbeing (2022-2025)
Informal Book Talk in the Early Years (2022-2024)
Book Clubs in Schools (2022-2025)
Reading and Writing for Pleasure (2020-2023)
Seeing Beneath the Surface: The Picture Fiction Framework (2020-2023)
Student Teachers as Readers (2019-2025)
Representing Children’s Rights from Discussion through to Illustration and Interpretation (2018-2019)
Daily Supported Reading and Destination Reader Programmes (2017-2020)
Developing the Craft of Writing (2017-2019)
Reading Road Map (2018-2019)
International Cross-cultural Play and Learning Study: Children's and Adults' Perceptions (2016-2019)
Teachers as Writers (2015-2017)
Disadvantaged 'Struggling' Boy Readers' (dis)engagement with Reading (2015-2016)
Creative Early Years Scientists (CEYS) EU Erasmus Plus (2014-2017)
Create to Learn (C2Learn) EU (2013-2015)
Immersive Theatre and Literacy Learning (2014-2015)
Knowledge Transfer Partnership with BookTrust on Digital Texts (2014)
Professional Writers' Identities and Composing Practices (2014-2015)
Creative Little Scientists (CLS) FP7 EU (2011-2014)
Storytelling and Story-acting in the Early Years (2012-2013)
Creative Primary Schools and their Pedagogic Practice (2011-12)
Teachers as Readers: Building Communities of Engaged Readers (2009-11)
Extracurricular Literary Reading in the CKG Shadowing Scheme (2011)
Building Communities: Researching Literacy Lives (2009-2010).
Teachers’ Identities as Writers (2009-2011)
Possibility Thinking in Primary Practice (2009-2014)
Conceptions of Independence in Writing (2009-2010)
Teaching interests
Professor Cremin is interested in creative teaching and learning in literacy and other domains. In 2022, she was involved in developing an internationally available OU reading for pleasure badged online course with colleagues.
She has taught extensively on Masters courses, both at Canterbury Christchurch University and the OU, related to research methods, literacy, literature and creativity. She has been an External Examiner at Masters level at the Universities of Cambridge, Glasgow, and the University of Western England and for undergraduate courses at the University of Cambridge and Nottingham Trent University. Teresa undertakes considerable PhD supervision and extensive PhD examining in the UK and internationally.
Teresa is also engaged in teaching through work with Federations, MATs, the DfE English Hubs, and organisations such as the NUT, NLT, NAAE, NATE, NAPE,The Princes Foundation, The Cheltenham Literature Festival, Empathy Lab and UKLA. In this work she leads bespoke continuing professional development for teachers, headteachers, subject specialists and others. Additionally, she is involved in teaching in other contexts such as on graduate and undergraduate programmes in the OU and other universities.
Impact and engagement
Professor Cremin is extensively involved in developing the reach and significance of her research. She advises the DfE on reading for pleasure and leads an OU reading for pleasure researcch and practice coalition to share the findings from her ongoing research in this area.
The accompanying website has over 850 examples of teachers' research informed practice, and diverse resources to enable educators to widen their knowledge and practice, and make more of an impact upon the potentially life-changing habit of reading in childhood and beyond. The monthly RfP newsletter has over 45,000 subscribers. Reading For Pleasure - Reading for Pleasure (ourfp.org)
In addition, the OU RfP team that Teresa leads, supports over 100 OU/ UKLA Teachers Reading Groups annually (CPD for RfP, led by trained volunteers nationally) and 42 Higher Education Partners who are supported to work with student teachers to develop their knowledge and skill in nurturing children's recreational reading. The OU Reading Schools Programme: Building a Culture of Reading is also evidence informed and has enabled over 400 schools to transform their reading cultures and impact on both the skill and the will to read. Her wider work includes for example, the annual RfP Awards (in partnership with Harper Collins and UKLA), the annual Teachers' Reading Challenge (in partnership with The Reading Agency) and the RfP Quality Mark for primary and secondary schools (in partnership with UKLA).
This body of work has, since its inception, made an impact on policy and practice and on the lives of thousands of children. Reading for pleasure is recognised as a tool for social justice and is associated with significant cognitive, social and emotional benefits.
External collaborations
Professor Cremin is involved in a number of external organisations in diverse roles.
She is a Trustee of the UK Literacy Association; a Board member of the Reading Agency, Patron of the National Associaton of Primary Education, and Chair of the Advisory Group of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Teacher Development Fund. In addition, she is currently a Member of the ESRC Peer Review College and reviews bids for this and other funding organisations, nationally and internationally.
Professor Cremin has been President of the UK Reading Association and the UK Literacy Association. She was also previously a Director of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust, and a Board member of the Poetry Archive, of BookTrust and a Trustee of the Society for Education Studies.
Professor Cremin is on the Board of 8 academic journals, was co-editor of the Elseveir journal Thinking Skiills and Creativity and the Editor of the Wiley Blackwell journal Literacy. She has chaired the International Reading Association’s Dissertation Award committee and is currently a member of the UKLA Conference committee, in which capacity she organises reading research symposia and practitioner conferences.
In addition she works with other organisations in various roles, including for example: the National Literacy Trust (NLT); the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA); The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE); the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF); Empathy Lab; the Princes Foundation; the Centre for Librarians and Information Professionals, (CILIP); Cheltenham Literature Festival , the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, (CLPE), Book Clubs in Schools (BCSIS), the School Library Association (SLA), Coram Beanstalk and MakeBelieve Arts (MBA).
International links
Professor Cremin has strong international links with colleagues likewise interested in the language arts, literature and creativity. In 2024, she undertook a Research Fellowship at the University of South Australia in Adelaide and has a current Australian Research Council Grant with colleagues at the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. She has /is working with policy makers, university researchers and practitioners in a number of different countries, including Finland, Australia, USA, Portugal, Italy, New Zealand, Dubai, Singapore, Canada, Jersey, Taiwan, the Czech Republic and Norway.
Projects
Creative Little Scientists: Enabling Creativity through Science and Mathematics in Preschool and First Years of Primary Education (E-11-002-AC)
This eight-country study encompasses partners in Greece (lead), UK, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Romania, France. It begins with the assumption that development of creativity across the curriculum is vital to all learning and that the role of science in society is growing, demanding scientifically literate, confident, imaginative young people, starting young. The study therefore focuses on how creativity is developed in science and mathematics education in preschool and early years of primary school. The project will begin by developing a literature review exploring definitions of creativity in educational, links between pedagogical approaches and creativity, between science-related curiosity and inquiry, and creativity, between creativity in the educational context, children’s basic skills and adults entrepreneurial skills and ability to innovate, and existing educational policies in early years education, including science and creativity together with any relevant material from international assessments. From this will be developed the project’s conceptual framework. The team will then develop key foci in each of the eight countries’ fieldwork sites (5-10 in each country participating) to undertake first a survey and then in-depth fieldwork to map and make a comparative assessment of existing practices in engaging children in experiences related to maths and science. Methodology used for this part of the study will be qualitative and will result in a comparative mapping of practices identifying in-common and differences in characteristics in curriculum, pedagogy and learning. Analysis will lead to recommendations for teacher education and proposition of prototypical guidelines and curricula/pedagogy approaches to be disseminated both nationally and internationally.
Cross-cultural Study of Children’s Conceptions of Play and Learning (PILOT)
While play is advocated as a universally applicable pedagogy for children’s learning, the quality of its implementation in ECE is now a matter of international concern (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2004) especially when it is enacted in the classroom learning context. Though some researchers have extensively investigated how learners, parents and teachers across Western countries and educational levels perceive learning (Pramling, 1996; Pozo et al., 2006; Strauss & Shilony, 1994; Strauss, Ziv, & Stein, 2002); other argue that play is actually a cultural phenomenon that can be conceptualized in many different ways (see for example Vygotsky, 1978; Lillemyr, 2009). Moreover, much less research has been conducted on perceptions of play and playful learning, especially from the child’s viewpoint (Kirk, 2007; Stamatoglou, 2004) and within a cultural context (Wong, Wang & Cheng, 2011). Looking at the tensions of connecting play and learning, Howard, Jenvery, and Hill (2006) conclude that it is only possible to address this controversial issue if children’s specific perceptions are considered. This project aims to achieve a deeper and more refined understanding of the ways in which young children and parents in different countries perceive play and its relationship with learning.
Reading Teachers: Reading Pupils
This project, in the light of the decline in reading for pleasure among primary aged children, builds directly upon the work of Cremin about the identity and practice of teachers of reading. In order to widen teacher knowledge and identities as readers, the project, led by the education officer of the Cheltenham Literature festival, seeks to construct teachers’ reading groups in the Cheltenham/Stroud/Gloucester area in order to support teachers in developing their enthusiasm for and knowledge of high quality children’s literature, their use of novels and other literature to provide an enriched curriculum (a rich context for learning) for their pupils and to build and resource a local network of Teachers’ Reading Groups. Cheltenham Festivals’ Reading Teachers Reading Pupils project sought out Prof Teresa Cremin to evaluate this project and Prof Gemma Moss ( Bristol) has joined her. Another consultant Deborah Thacker who lives in the area will be involved to ease data collection.
Prospero's Island: an evaluation of a theatre in education initiative
Prospero’s Island is a theatre in education initiative that aims to have a positive impact on literacy at Key Stage 3. The initiative has been designed by Punchdrunk Enrichment, a company that brings ‘immersive’ theatre to young people in schools. Prospero’s Island is a joint venture between Punchdrunk Enrichment, Hackney Learning Trust and Petchey Academy. Teresa Cremin responded to an invitation to tender for an evaluation of the initiative. A document setting out a plan for the evaluation has been positively received and this is now being developed further with full costings.
Creativity in the Early Years Science
The project, working with four European partners (co-ordinator based in Greece, and partners in England, Belgium and Romania) who were all involved in the FP7 Creative Little Scientists project (grant number 289081) which completed end March 2014 and which researched creativity in early science and mathematics among 3-8 year olds in 9 partner countries. OU was a partner in this also with Professor Craft as PI and Professor Cremin as CoI. CEYS, the new proposed project, working to address the priorities of the Erasmus+ framework, will produce continuing professional development training resources and curriculum (accompanied by validated training materials) for teachers, to foster creativity in early years science education. To achieve this the project will build upon the Curriculum Design Principles, Teacher Outcomes and fieldwork methodology generated by Creative Little Scientists to: a) validate the suggested uses of Creative Little Scientists exemplary materials for training (up to the age of 8); b) have developed, by primary teachers themselves (acting as researchers in their own schools, which will be our associated partners), equivalent exemplary materials of good practice of science education for children of 3-8 years old; c) develop and validate the use of these new materials for training. The validated materials along with the abovementioned CLS outputs (refined for the purposes of CrePSE) will be formulated into range of resources for Continuing Professional Development, to foster creativity in early years science education.
Publications
Book
Reading for Pleasure: International Perspectives (2025)
Reading Teachers: Nurturing Reading for Pleasure (2023)
Children Reading for Pleasure in the Digital Age: Mapping Reader Engagement (2020)
Storytelling in Early Childhood: Enriching language, literacy, and classroom culture (2016)
Teaching Writing Effectively: Reviewing Practice (2nd edition) (2016)
Writer Identity and the Teaching and Learning of Writing (2016)
Creativity and Creative Pedagogies in the Early and Primary Years (2016)
Creativity, Education and Society: Writings of Anna Craft (2015)
Teaching English Creatively (2nd edition) (2015)
Researching Literacy Lives: Building Communities between Home and School (2014)
Learning to Teach in the Primary School (3rd edition) (2014)
Building Communities of Engaged Readers: Reading for pleasure (2014)
International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture (2013)
Writing Voices: Creating Communities of Writers (2011)
Teaching Writing Effectively: Reviewing Practice (2011)
Learning to Teach in the Primary School (2nd edition) (2010)
Teaching English Creatively (2009)
Creative Teaching for Tomorrow: Fostering a Creative State of Mind Deal (2009)
Building Communities of Readers (2008)
Creative learning 3-11: and how we document it (2007)
Handbook of Primary English in Initial Teacher Education (2007)
Learning to Teach in the Primary School (2006)
Creativity and writing: developing voice and verve in the classroom (2005)
Creative Activities for Plot, Character and Setting, 5-7 (2004)
Drama, Reading and Writing and talking our way forwards (2004)
Book Chapter
Informal Book Talk: how casual conversations support enjoyment of reading (2025)
Creative Pedagogies in school (2025)
Reading for pleasure: Exploring the Concept, the causes and consequences (2025)
Conclusion and Reflections for Research, Practice and Policy (2025)
Reading Teachers and reading aloud (2023)
Exploring gender and reading for pleasure (2023)
Reading Librarians and school libraries (2023)
Conclusion : Reading Teachers of tomorrow (2023)
Reflections on the rights of the reader (2023)
Digital books enriching children's literacy lives (2023)
Reflecting on my reader identity (2023)
Informal book talk and reader recommendations (2023)
Teachers as Readers and Writers (2021)
Reading for Pleasure: challenges and opportunities (2020)
The Personal in the Professional (2019)
Creative writers as arts educators (2019)
Creativity and Creative teaching and Learning (2018)
Motivating children to write with purpose and passion (2017)
School Librarians as Leaders of Extracurricular Reading Groups (2017)
Paley’s approach to storytelling and story acting: Research and practice (2016)
Laying the foundations: Narrative and early learning (2016)
Conceptualising writing and identity (2016)
Afterword to "Writer Identity and the Teaching and Learning of Writing" (2016)
Introduction to "Writer Identity and the Teaching and Learning of Writing" (2016)
Teaching creatively and teaching for creativity (2016)
Literature in Common: Reading for Pleasure in School Reading Groups (2016)
Creative teaching and creative teachers (2015)
A reading for pleasure pedagogy (2014)
Teachers researching literacy lives (2013)
Teacher research on literacy: turning around to students and technology (2013)
Children and teachers' creativity in and through language (2013)
Developing creativity through drama (2013)
Exploring Teachers’ Positions and Practices (2013)
Assessment and Learning: Summative Approaches (2010)
Motivating children to write with purpose and passion (2010)
Creativity in the curriculum (2010)
Reconceptualising reading in the 21st Century (2010)
Poetry teachers: teachers who read and readers who teach poetry (2010)
Motivating children to read through literature (2010)
Creative teachers and creative teaching (2009)
Teachers as readers in the 21st Century (2009)
Possibility thinking with children in England aged 3-7 (2008)
Creative learning: an emergent concept (2008)
Creative learning in Europe: making use of global discourses (2007)
Developing creative learning through possibility thinking with children aged 3-7 (2007)
Revisiting reading for pleasure: Delight, desire and diversity (2007)
Planning with short stories (2006)
Creativity in the Curriculum (2006)
Creativity in the primary curriculum (2006)
Motivating young writers to write with purpose and pleasure (2005)
Drama and writing: enlivening their prose (2004)
Drama and spiritual development (2004)
Exploring the Unknown: drama, ambiguity and meaning making (2003)
Digital Artefact
Less is More – focusing on feedback (2019)
Helping teachers develop their knowledge of children’s literature and other texts (2019)
Journal Article
Children’s and mothers’ understanding of play and learning: Repertoires across five cultures (2024)
Developing readers who choose to read (2024)
Funds of courage: advancing social justice in children’s reading for pleasure (2024)
Reading for Pleasure: A catalyst for connection (2024)
Widening Teachers' Reading Repertoires: Moving beyond a Popular Childhood Canon (2024)
Reading for pleasure: scrutinising the evidence base – benefits, tensions and recommendations (2024)
Informal book talk: digging beneath the surface (2024)
Reading for pleasure: Recent research insights (2023)
The impact of a changed writing environment on students' motivation to write (2023)
The impact of a changed writing environment on students' motivation to write (2023)
Writing as a craft: Re-considering teacher subject content knowledge for teaching writing (2023)
Motivation and reading: Focusing on disengaged readers (2023)
Responsible Reading: Children’s Literature and Social Justice (2022)
Different fiction genres take children’s memories to different places (2022)
Creative pedagogies: a systematic review (2021)
Teachers as writers: Learning together with others (2020)
Creative collaboration: teachers and writers working together (2019)
Our foot's in the door: Editorial to Special Issue on Creativity, Arts and Cultural Education (2019)
[Editorial] Reading for pleasure: supporting reader engagement (2018)
Storytelling and story-acting: co-construction in action (2018)
Teachers as writers: a systematic review (2017)
Young children’s reading for pleasure with digital books: six key facets of engagement (2017)
Open Dialogue peer review: A response to Claxton and Lucas (2016)
Exploring the discursively constructed identities of a teacher-writer teaching writing (2014)
Spot the Dog; with iPads: spot the difference! (2014)
Creative primary schools: developing and maintaining pedagogy for creativity (2014)
Language learning at Key Stage 2: findings from a longitudinal study (2012)
Building communities: teachers researching literacy lives (2012)
The nature of creativity: cognitive and confluence perspectives (2012)
Possibility thinking: culminative studies of an evidence-based concept driving creativity? (2012)
Exploring teacher-writer identities in the classroom: Conceptualising the struggle (2010)
Teachers as readers: building communities of readers (2009)
Exploring teachers' knowledge of children's literature (2008)
Primary teachers as readers (2008)
Teacher stance in creative learning: A study of progression (2007)
Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years (2006)
Documenting ‘possibility thinking': a journey of collaborative enquiry (2006)
Creativity, uncertainty and discomfort: teachers as writers (2006)
Connecting drama and writing: seizing the moment to write (2006)
Short, sweet and potent: Short stories in literacy learning (2005)
Teachers as writers: learning together (2005)
A creative cocktail: creative teaching in initial teacher education (2004)
Creative teachers and the language arts: Possibilities and potential (2003)
Bridging between drama and non-fiction writing (2003)
Let drama build bridges between the subjects (2003)
Editorial: a retrospective (2003)
'Playing the game called writing': children's views and voices (2003)
Other
Reading attitudes matter: Do you know what your students think? (2024)
Let’s talk about it: Reading for Pleasure and book talk (2024)
Writing poetry for pleasure (2024)
The Open University literacy research (2024)
Reading for pleasure and its impact on student outcomes (2023)
Poetry, Pleasure and Play (2019)
Reading communities: why, what and how? (2019)
Reading communities: why, what and how? (2019)
Teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature: the cornerstone of reading for pleasure (2019)
Living the Craft of Writing (2018)
Do children have agency as authors? (2018)
Top Tips for reading aloud (2018)
Do children have agency as authors? (2018)
How to become a reading role model (2018)
Building reading communities and ‘books in common’ (2018)
Reading communities and books in common (2018)
How can digital library systems help teachers support-children's reading for pleasure (2017)
What do you know about your writers? (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Reciprocal reading for pleasure in online and offline reading communities (2021)
Examining possibility thinking in action in early years settings (2007)
Report
Reading and Writing for Pleasure: A Framework for Practice (2023)
Approaches to Reading and Writing for Pleasure: An Executive Summary of the Research (2023)
Teachers as Writers research report (2018)
Languages and Learning at Key Stage 2: A Longitudinal Study Final Report (2010)