Professor Cathy Burnett BA, PGCE, MEd, EdD
Professor of Literacy and Education
Summary
Cathy Burnett is Professor of Literacy and Education at Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. Her most research focuses on the relationship between new technologies and literacies within and beyond educational contexts. Cathy is President Elect and joint Research Convener for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and also co-convenes the UKLA Digital Literacies special interest group. She was previously an editor of the journal Literacy and has led and contributed to a series of research and evaluation projects funded by organisations such as Booktrust, UKLA, JISC and The Education Endowment Fund. Her books include New Literacies around the Globe (published by Routledge and co-edited with Julia Davies, Guy Merchant and Jennifer Rowsell), The Case of the iPad: Mobile Literacies in Education (with Guy Merchant, Alyson Simpson and Maureen Walsh for Springer) and Literacy, Media, Technology: past, present and future (with Becky Parry and Guy Merchant for Bloomsbury).
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About
Cathy Burnett is Professor of Literacy and Education at Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. Her most research focuses on the relationship between new technologies and literacies within and beyond educational contexts. She was previously an editor of the journal Literacy and has led and contributed to a series of research and evaluation projects funded by organisations such as Booktrust, UKLA, JISC and The Education Endowment Fund. Cathy is Vice President and joint Research Convener for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and also co-convenes the UKLA Digital Literacies special interest group. Her books include New Literacies around the Globe (published by Routledge and co-edited with Julia Davies, Guy Merchant and Jennifer Rowsell), The Case of the iPad: Mobile Literacies in Education (with Guy Merchant, Alyson Simpson and Maureen Walsh for Springer) and Literacy, Media, Technology: past, present and future (with Becky Parry and Guy Merchant for Bloomsbury).
Prior to arriving at Sheffield Hallam University, she worked as a primary teacher, for various theatre-in-education companies and for Derby City Education Service. She has published widely for professional and academic audiences, including several books and many journal articles and book chapters focused on literacy education, enquiry and professional education and the connections between literacy and technology. Her research review The digital age and its implications for learning and teaching in the primary school was commissioned by the Cambridge Primary Review Trust. Cathy has a longstanding commitment to creative approaches to literacy education and to using enquiry as a mode of professional development.
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Teaching
I currently teach on the Educational Doctorate and supervise a range of postgraduate students. I am interested in the relationship between enquiry and professional education and have led a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate modules designed to explore this relationship and work with teachers using enquiry in their professional practice.
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Research
Virtually Drama. Sheffield Hallam University, University of Nottingham & Chol Theatre.
Making 21st Century Maker Circles. Sheffield Hallam University.
Reimagining literacy education: Being literate in the twenty-first century (SSHRC). University of Alberta. -
Publications
BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy, PARRY, Becky and STOREY, Vicky (2018). Conceptualising digital technology integration in participatory theatre from a sociomaterialist perspective: ways forward for research. Research Papers in Education.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2018). Affective encounters: enchantment and the possibility of reading for pleasure. Literacy, 52 (2), 62-69.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2018). Literacy-as-event: accounting for relationality in literacy research. Discourse, 1-12.
BURNETT, Cathy (2017). Acknowledging and interrogating multiplicities: towards a generous approach in evaluations of early literacy innovation and intervention. Journal of early childhood literacy, 17 (4), 522-550.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2017). Using stacking stories to investigate children’s virtual world play in a primary classroom. Other. Sage.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2017). Opening the case of the IPad : what matters and where next? The Reading Teacher, 71 (2), 239-242.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2017). The case of the iPad. In: BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy, SIMPSON, Alyson and WALSH, Maureen, (eds.) The case of the iPad: Mobile literacies in education. Singapore, Springer, 1-14.
BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy, SIMPSON, Alyson and WALSH, Maureen, eds. (2017). The case of the iPad: Mobile literacies in education. Singapore, Springer.
BURNETT, Cathy (2017). The fluid materiality of tablets: examining ‘the iPad multiple’ in a primary classroom. In: BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy, SIMPSON, Alyson and WALSH, Maureen, (eds.) The case of the iPad: Mobile literacies in education. Singapore, Springer, 15-30.
CAINE, Jamie, DAVIES, Julia and WILLIAMS, Bronwyn T. (2017). Game 2 Engage: Using iPads to Mediate and Develop Social Relationships in College Learning. In: BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy, SIMPSON, Alyson and WALSH, Maureen, (eds.) The Case of the iPad : Mobile Literacies in Education. Springer, 143-158.
JAY, Tim, WILLIS, Benjamin, THOMAS, Peter, TAYLOR, Roberta, MOORE, Nicolas, BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy and STEVENS, Anna (2017). Dialogic Teaching : Evaluation Report and Executive Summary. Project Report. London, UK, Education Endowment Foundation.
BURNETT, Cathy (2017). Reading the future: the contribution of literacy studies to debates on reading and reading engagement for primary-aged children. In: NG, Clarence and BARTLETT, Brendan, (eds.) Improving reading in the 21st century: International research and innovations. Singapore, Springer, 119-140.
BURNETT, Cathy (2017). Reading the future: The contribution of literacy studies to debates on reading and reading engagement for primary-aged children. In: NG, Clarence and BARTLETT, Brendan, (eds.) Improving reading and reading engagement in the 21st century. Singapore, Springer, 119-140.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2016). Assembling virtual play in the classroom. In: Literacy, media, technology: past, present and future. Bloomsbury Academic.
PARRY, Becky, BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy, eds. (2016). Literacy, media, technology: past, present and future. London, Bloomsbury Academic.
BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy and PARRY, Becky (2016). Past, present, future. In: Literacy, media, technology: past, present and future. Bloomsbury Academic.
BAILEY, Chris J, BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2016). Assembling literacies in virtual play. In: MILLS, Kathy, STORNAIUOLIO, Amy, SMITH, Anna and ZACHER PANDYA, Jessica, (eds.) Handbook of Writing, Literacies and Education in Digital Cultures. London, Routledge. (In Press)
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2016). Boxes of poison: baroque technique as antidote to simple views of literacy. Journal of Literacy Research, 48 (3), 258-279.
BURNETT, Cathy (2016). The digital age and its implications for learning and teaching in the primary school. Discussion Paper. York, Cambridge Primary Review Trust.
BURNETT, Cathy, DANIELS, Karen and SAWKA, Vicky (2016). Teaching Strategies. In: WYSE, Dominic and ROGERS, Sue, (eds.) A Guide to Early Years and Primary Teaching. Sage, 125-144.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2015). The challenge of 21st Century literacies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 59 (3), 271-274.
BURNETT, Cathy and DANIELS, Karen (2015). Technology and literacy in the early years : framing young children’s meaning-making with new technologies. In: GARVIS, Susanne and LEMMON, Narelle, (eds.) Understanding Digital Technologies and Young Children : an international perspective. Routledge, 18-27.
MAXWELL, Bronwen, BURNETT, Cathy, REIDY, John, WILLIS, Benjamin and DEMACK, Sean (2015). Oracy curriculum, culture and assessment toolkit. Project Report. London, Education Endowment Foundation.
BURNETT, Cathy (2015). (Im)materialising Literacies. In: ROWSELL, Jennifer and PAHL, Kate, (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Literacy Studies. Routledge handbooks in applied linguistics . Abingdon, Routledge, 520-531.
BURNETT, Cathy, DANIELS, Karen, GRAY, Lyndsay, MYERS, Julia and SHARPE, Sheila (2015). Investigating student teachers’ presentations of literacy and literacy pedagogy in a complex context. Teacher Development, 19 (3), 275-293.
BURNETT, Cathy (2015). Being together in classrooms at the interface of the physical and virtual: implications for collaboration in on/off-screen sites. Learning, Media and Technology, 1-24.
OWEN, David (2014). Learning to be a teacher. In: OWEN, David and BURNETT, Cathy, (eds.) Getting into Primary Teaching. Critical Learning . Northwich, Critical Publishing, 43-63.
OWEN, David (2014). Preparing to apply for a teacher preparation programme. In: OWEN, David and BURNETT, Cathy, (eds.) Getting into Primary Teaching. Critical Learning . Northwich, Critical Publishing, 24-42.
BURNETT, Cathy (2014). Investigating pupils’ interactions around digital texts: a spatial perspective on the ‘classroom-ness’ of digital literacy practices in schools. Educational Review, 66 (2), 192-209.
BURNETT, Cathy, DAVIES, Julia, MERCHANT, Guy and ROWSELL, Jennifer (2014). Changing contexts for the 21st century literacies. In: BURNETT, Cathy, DAVIES, Julia, MERCHANT, Guy and ROWSELL, Jennifer, (eds.) New literacies around the Globe : policy and pedagogy. Routledge Research in Literacy, 5 . New York, Routledge, 1-13.
BURNETT, Cathy and BAILEY, Christopher (2014). Conceptualizing collaborations in hybrid sites : playing Minecraft together and apart in a primary classroom. In: BURNETT, Cathy, DAVIES, Julia, MERCHANT, Guy and ROWSELL, Jennifer, (eds.) New literacies around the Globe : policy and pedagogy. Routledge Research in Literacy, 5 . New York, Routledge, 50-71.
OWEN, David and BURNETT, Cathy, eds. (2014). Getting into primary teaching. Critical Learning . Northwich, Critical Publishing.
BURNETT, Cathy, DAVIES, Julia, MERCHANT, Guy and ROWSELL, Jennifer, eds. (2014). New literacies around the Globe : policy and pedagogy. Routledge Research in Literacy, 5 . New York, Routledge.
BURNETT, Cathy, DAVIES, Julia, MERCHANT, Guy and ROWSELL, Jennifer (2014). New meaning-making practices : a charter for literacy education. In: BURNETT, Cathy, DAVIES, Julia, MERCHANT, Guy and ROWSELL, Jennifer, (eds.) New literacies around the Globe : policy and pedagogy. Routledge Research in Literacy, 5 . New York, Routledge, 154-166.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2014). Points of view : reconceptualising literacies through an exploration of adult and child interactions in a virtual world. Journal Of Research In Reading, 37 (1), 36-50.
BURNETT, Cathy (2014). Teaching, research and further qualifications. In: CREMIN, Teresa and ARTHUR, James, (eds.) Learning to teach in the primary school. Learning to teach in the primary school series . Abingdon, Routledge, 632-642.
BURNETT, Cathy (2014). Why teach. In: OWEN, David and BURNETT, Cathy, (eds.) Getting into primary teaching. Critical Learning . Northwich, Critical Publishing, 5-23.
BURNETT, Cathy, MERCHANT, Guy, PAHL, Kate and ROWSELL, Jennifer (2014). The (im)materiality of literacy : the significance of subjectivity to new literacies research. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 35 (1), 90-103.
BURNETT, Cathy (2013). Investigating children’s interactions around digital texts in classrooms : how are these framed and what counts? Education 3-13, 43 (2), 197-208.
BURNETT, Cathy (2013). Investigating pupils’ interactions around digital texts: a spatial perspective on the ‘classroom-ness’ of digital literacy practices in schools. Educational Review, 66 (2), 192-209.
BURNETT, Cathy and MERCHANT, Guy (2013). Learning, literacies and new technologies : the current context and future possibilities. In: LARSON, Joanne and MARSH, Jackie, (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy. 2nd ed. Sage handbooks . London, SAGE, 575-587.
PAHL, Kate and BURNETT, Cathy (2013). Literacies in homes and communities. In: HALL, Kathy, CREMIN, Teresa, COMBER, Barbara and MOLL, Luis C., (eds.) International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture. Chichester, Wiley Blackwell, 3-14.
BURNETT, Catherine and MERCHANT, Guy (2011). Is there a space for critical literacy in the context of social media? English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 10 (1), 41-57.
BURNETT, C. (2011). Medium for empowerment or a 'centre for everything': students’ experience of control in digital environments within a university context. Education and information technologies, 16 (3), 245-258.
BURNETT, Catherine (2011). Pre-service teachers’ digital literacy practices : exploring contingency in identity and digital literacy in and out of educational contexts. Language and Education, 25 (5), 433-449.
BURNETT, Catherine (2011). Shifting and multiple spaces in classrooms : an argument for investigating learners’ boundary-making around digital networked texts. Journal of Literacy and Technology, 12 (3), 2-23.
BURNETT, Catherine (2011). Technology and literacy in early childhood educational settings : a review of research. In: PAHL, Kate and ROWSELL, Jennifer, (eds.) Early childhood literacy. Sage library of educational thought and practice, 4 . Sage.
BURNETT, Catherine (2011). The (im)materiality of educational space: interactions between material, connected and textual dimensions of networked technology use in schools. E-Learning and digital media, 8 (3), 214-227.
BURNETT, C. (2010). Technology and literacy in early childhood educational settings: a review of research. Journal of early childhood literacy, 10 (3), 247-270.
BURNETT, Catherine (2009). Personal digital literacies versus classroom literacies: investigating pre-service teachers' digital lives in and beyond the classroom. In: CARRINGTON, Victoria and ROBINSON, Muriel, (eds.) Digital literacies : social learning and classroom practices. Sage.
BURNETT, C. (2009). Research into literacy and technology in primary classrooms: an exploration of understandings generated by recent studies. Journal of research in reading (special issue: New developments in literacy and technology), 32 (1), 22-37.
BURNETT, C. (2009). That’s more like they know me as a person": one primary pre-service teacher’s stories of her personal and ‘professional’ digital practices. Literacy (special edition: Literacy and identity), 43 (2), 65-74.
BURNETT, Cathy (2008). Primary student-teachers' perceptions of the role of digital literacy in their lives. Doctoral, Sheffield Hallam University.
BURNETT, Catherine, MERCHANT, Guy and MYERS, Julia (2007). English and ICT. In: CREMIN, T. and DOMBEY, H., (eds.) The handbook of primary English initial teacher education. Leicester/Sheffield, United Kingdom Literacy Association/National Association for the Teaching of English, 81-101.
BURNETT, C. (2006). Constructions of professional knowledge among student and practising primary teachers: paradigmatic and narrative. Research papers in education, 21 (3), 315-333.
BURNETT, C., DICKINSON, P., MYERS, J. and MERCHANT, G. H. (2006). Digital connections transforming literacy in the primary school. Cambridge journal of education, 36 (1), 11-29.
MERCHANT, Guy, DICKINSON, Paul, BURNETT, Catherine and MYERS, Julia (2006). Do you like dogs or writing? Identity performance in childen's digital message exchange. English in Education, 40 (3), 21-38.
BURNETT, Catherine and MYERS, Julia (2006). Observing children writing on screen : exploring the process of multi-modal composition. Language and literacy, 8 (2).
BURNETT, Catherine, MYERS, Julia and MERCHANT, Guy (2005). English and ICT. National Association for the Teaching of English.
BURNETT, Catherine and WILKINSON, Jeff (2005). Holy lemons : learning from children's uses of the Internet in out-of-school contexts. Literacy (formerly Reading), 39 (3), 158-165.
BURNETT, Catherine, DICKINSON, Paul, MERCHANT, Guy and MYERS, Julia (2004). Digikids. Primary English Magazine, 9 (4), 16-20.
MERCHANT, Guy, BURNETT, Catherine and KEATING, C (2004). Shooting the story. Primary English, 9 (5), 20-24.
BURNETT, Catherine and MYERS, Julia (2004). Teaching English 3-11 : the essential guide. Reaching the standard . Continuum.
BURNETT, C. (2003). Learning to chat: tutor participation in synchronous online chat. Teaching in higher education, 8 (2), 247-261.
BURNETT, Catherine, DICKINSON, Paul, MCDONAGH, Jim, MERCHANT, Guy, MYERS, Julia and WILKINSON, Jeff (2003). From Recreation to Reflection: Digital conversations in Educational Contexts. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 3 (1/2), 149-167.
BURNETT, Catherine and MERCHANT, Guy (2003). Y6 pupils have a weird experience. Primary English Magazine, 8 (4), 29-32.
BURNETT, C. and MYERS, J. (2002). "Beyond the frame": exploring children's literacy practices. Literacy, 36 (2), 56-62.
Other activities
I am Vice President and joint Research Convener for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA). I also co-convene the UKLA Digital Literacies special interest group
Post graduate supervision
I am currently supervising a range of PhD and EdD students including
Karen Daniels. Movement, meaning and affect: The stuff childhood literacies are made of.
Lauran Doak. Communication and agency in the autism classroom.
Pat Moore. Biology Autobiographies: personal subject experiences and biology teachers' pedagogical thinking.
Giovanna Battiston. The work-place literacies of a marketing department.
Christine Hibbert. Registered nurses’ perceptions of reflection as a process for exploring new knowledge.Completed Doctoral Researchers
Alison Tyldesley. Sheffield Hallam University. A sociocultural approach to Higher Education students' experiences with academic literacies.
Richard Pountney. Sheffield Hallam University. Making the Curriculum: a case study of course planning in higher education.
Sam McMahon. Sheffield Hallam University. Becoming a professional in early childhood education and care.
Helen Childerhouse. Sheffield Hallam University. Teaching children with ‘SEBD’: teachers’ perceptions.
Chris Bailey. Sheffield Hallam University. Investigating the lived experience of children engaged in collaborative virtual world play.
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