About the research centre

The research centre's key purpose is to promote leadership, equity, achievement and diversity in early years literacy.

child-silhouette
Many things we need can wait; the child cannot. Now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood being made, his mind being developed. To him, we cannot say, tomorrow. His name is today. - Gabriella Mistral, Chilean poet

The four main objectives of the Marie Clay Research Centre are to promote research and study or practice with young children in the following areas:

  • Early language/s and literacy learning
  • Learning equity through valuing culturally and linguistically diverse whānau/families
  • Teaching innovation
  • Teacher leadership in literacy

The centre is involved in developing projects that are aligned with those four main objectives. Projects can originate from any source - an individual idea, a call for proposals, a school or a community of schools.

The Marie Clay Research Centre will engage in broad partnerships with whānau/fono/families, iwi/community leaders, educators and researchers to create unprecedented opportunities for children’s oral language/s and literacy learning to ensure that learning-teaching interactions promote the success of all learners, with priority for Māori and Pacific children.

Get in touch with us to discuss the work of the Marie Clay Research Centre and how you could collaborate with us.

Contact us

Professor Janet Gaffney
Director
Email: janet.gaffney@auckland.ac.nz
Phone: +64 (0) 9 373 7599 ext 48323

Miss Sandi Tsai
Research Assistant
Email: s.tsai@auckland.ac.nz
Phone: +64 (0) 9 373 7599