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. Louise Long is a senior lecturer in education at Saint Mary’s University College Belfast where she coordinates a number of Masters’ modules in special educational needs and pastoral issues, as well as post-graduate programmes on child development. She is engaged in supervision of M-level research dissertations. Louise is a chartered educational psychologist and has previously worked as an Education and Library Board psychologist, primary school teacher and Further Education lecturer. She has just returned from a seconded post as assistant project manager (research) on a DE-funded project, which aimed to build capacity in literacy and dyslexia in Northern Irish primary schools. Louise’s research interests are in inclusive teacher learning, dyslexia and pupil well-being. She has published extensively in national and international peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to international books on teacher education. In the last five years Louise has procured funding for a number of research projects on inclusion and dyslexia.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.
