Contemporary Childhood

Sean MacBlain PhD is a distinguished author and academic whose publications include: MacBlain (Sage, 2021) Children’s Learning in Early Childhood; MacBlain (Sage, 2020) Child Development for Teachers; MacBlain, Dunn and Luke (Sage, 2017) Contemporary Childhood; Gray and MacBlain (Sage, 2015) Learning Theories in Childhood; MacBlain, Long and Dunn, (Sage, 2015) Dyslexia, Literacy and Inclusion: Child-centred Perspectives; MacBlain (Sage, 2014) How Children Learn. Sean’s publications are used by students, practitioners and academics throughout the world and have been widely translated including into Chinese and Vietnamese. Sean was previously a senior academic at the University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth, England where he held the positions of Research lead for the Centre for Education and Applied Research, Research Lead for the Centre for Professional and Educational Research, Research Coordinator for the School of Education and Deputy Chair of the Ethics Committee. Sean has also worked as a Senior Lecturer in Education and Developmental Psychology at Stranmillis University College, Queen’s University Belfast. In addition to this, Sean has worked for over twenty years as an educational psychologist and continues in this field as an independent practitioner.

Jill Dunn is a senior lecturer in Stranmillis University College, Belfast. She was a primary school teacher working in Foundation Stage and Key Stage One classrooms before moving into teacher education. Jill teaches widely across the BEd and PGCE Early Years programmes. However, her main interests lie in the teaching of literacy in the early years. Jill has just completed her EdD in 2013 and her dissertation focused on children’s views on using popular culture to teach writing. She has been involved in a number of funded research projects on literacy and is currently involved in an evaluation of iPads in the Early Years. Jill lives in Lisburn, Northern Ireland with her husband Ian and two daughters Holly and Katy.