Dr Mona Sakr is Senior Lecturer in Education and Early Childhood. As a researcher in Early Years (EY) provision, she has published extensively on creative, digital and playful pedagogies. Mona's current research is an exploration of pedagogical, organisational and community leadership in EY and how leadership can be more effectively developed thorugh innovative practice-based and digitally mediated professional development. Forthcoming books (with Bloomsbury) include an introduction to Social Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care, and an edited volume on international perspectives on EY pedagogical leadership. Working internationally and across the EY sector in the UK, she has developed strong relationships with researchers, providers, and membership and advocacy organisations.
Mona leads the following modules:
- Insights into Play and Pedagogy (BA Early Childhood Studies, BA Education Studies)
- Creativity and the Arts in Education (BA Early Childhood Studies, BA Education Studies)
- Dangerous Ideas: Thinking with Theory to Problematize Childhood and Education (MA Childhood and Education in Diverse Societies)
PhD Completions:
- Dr Arif Mahmud (Social-Emotional Transitions to Secondary School)
- Dr Zita Baracsi (Participatory Flow in School Arts)
Current Doctoral Students:
- Sarah Vipond (Transitions in the Nursery)
- Alan Wheeler (Understanding Learning Gain through Lego as Serious Play)
- Thi Kim Thanh Nguyen (Metacognitive Reading Strategies; Maternity Cover for Anna Charalambidou)
- Thitinart Khamyod (Students' Request-Making - A Sociolinguistic Study; Maternity Cover for Anna Charalambidou)
Sakr, M. & Bonetti, S. (in press) Continuing Professional Development for the Early Years Workforce in England since 2015: A synthesis of survey data highlighting commonalities, discrepancies and gaps. Early Years.
Sakr, M. & O’Sullivan, J. (in press) Dialogical Conceptualisations of Leadership in Social Enterprise Early Years. Early Years.
Sakr, M. & O'Sullivan, J. (in press) Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education: Conversations from Across the World. (Eds.) London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. (in press) An organisational approach to supporting pedagogical leadership: Reporting on a case study with London Early Years Foundation (LEYF). In M. Sakr & J. O'Sullivan (Eds.) Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education: Conversations from Across the World. London: Bloomsbury.
Bonetti, S. & Sakr, M. (in press) Advancing pedagogical leadership at a national level: Looking for a policy window. In M. Sakr & J. O'Sullivan (Eds.) Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education: Conversations from Across the World. London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. (2021) 'She's Nice Company and a Good Friend': Thinking with Haraway to Reconceptualise Children's Playful Interactions with Alexa in the Family Home. In J. Mikats, S. Kink-Hampersberger & L. Oates-Indruchova (Eds.) Creative Families: Gender and Technologies of Everyday Life. Palgrave Macmillan.
Sakr, M. & Oscar, A. (2020) Stretchy time or screen time: How early years practitioners conceptualise time in relation to children’s digital play. Early Years: An International Research Journal. Available online prior to print publication: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09575146.2020.1744530
Sakr, M., & Burghardt, V. (2020). Embedding student feedback in deep pedagogic reflection: the potentials of drawing and Deleuzian analysis. Teaching in Higher Education. Available online prior to print publication: https://srhe.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562517.2020.1716712#.XmI6p6j7Q2w
Sakr, M. (2019). ‘It just opened my eyes a bit more’: student engagement with Instagram to develop understanding of complex concepts. Teaching in Higher Education. Available online prior to print publication:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2019.1613356
Sakr, M., & Scollan, A. (2019). The screen and the sand-timer: The integration of the interactive whiteboard into an early years free-flow learning environment. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 17(3), 190-204.
Sakr, M. (2019) Young children drawing together on the iPad versus paper: How collaborative creativity is shaped by different semiotic resources. International Journal of Education and the Arts, 20 (20). Available online: http://www.ijea.org/v20n20/
Sakr, M. (2019) Digital Play in Early Childhood: What's the Problem? London: Sage.
Sakr, M. (2019) Children’s photography as sense-making. In M. Sakr & J. Osgood (Eds.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Art. London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. & Osgood, J. (2019, Eds.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Art. London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M., Trivedy, B., Hall, N., O’Brien, L. & Federici, R. (2018) Creativity and Making in Early Childhood: Challenging Practitioner Perspectives. London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. (2018). Multimodal participation frameworks during young children’s collaborative drawing on paper and on the iPad. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 29, 1-11.
Sakr, M., Connelly, V., & Wild, M. (2018). Imitative or Iconoclastic? How Young Children use Ready‐Made Images in Digital Art. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 37(1), 41-52.
Elwick, A., Osgood, J., Robertson, L., Sakr, M., & Wilson, D. (2018). In pursuit of quality: early childhood qualifications and training policy. Journal of Education Policy, 33(4), 510-525.
Sakr, M. (2017). ‘We’re just gonna scribble it’: The affective and social work of destruction in children’s art-making with different semiotic resources. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 18(2), 227-239.
Sakr, M. (2017) Digital Technologies in Early Childhood Art: Enabling Playful Experiences. London: Bloomsbury.
Osgood, J., Sakr, M., & De Rijke, V. (2017). Dark play in digital playscapes. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 18 (2), 109-133.
Sakr, M., Connelly, V., & Wild, M. (2016). Narrative in young children's digital art-making. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 16 (3), 289-310.
Sakr, M., Connelly, V., & Wild, M. (2016). “Evil Cats” and “Jelly Floods”: Young Children’s Collective Constructions of Digital Art Making in the Early Years Classroom. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 30(1), 128-141.
Sakr, M., Jewitt, C., & Price, S. (2016). Mobile experiences of historical place: A multimodal analysis of emotional engagement. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 25(1), 51-92.
Price, S., Sakr, M., & Jewitt, C. (2016). Exploring whole-body interaction and design for museums. Interacting with Computers, 28(5), 569-583.
Kucirkova, N., & Sakr, M. (2015). Child–father creative text-making at home with crayons, iPad collage & PC. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 17, 59-73.
Sakr, M. & Kucirkova, N. (2015) Making the 'here' and 'now': Rethinking children's digital photography with Deleuzian concepts. In A. Hackett, L. Proctor & J. Seymour (Eds.) Children's Spatialities: Embodiment, emotions and agency. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Sakr, M., Price, S. & Jewitt, C. (2014) The semiotic work of the hands in scientific inquiry. Classroom Discourse, 4 (2).
Sakr, Mona and Bonetti, Sara (2021) Continuing professional development for the early years workforce in England since 2015: a synthesis of survey data highlighting commonalities, discrepancies and gaps. Early Years: an International Research Journal . ISSN 0957-5146 (Accepted/In press)
Sakr, Mona and O'Sullivan, June (2021) Introduction to 'Pedagogical leadership in early childhood education'. In: Pedagogical leadership in early childhood education: conversations from across the world. Sakr, Mona and O'Sullivan, June , eds. Bloomsbury Publishing, London, UK. (Accepted/In press)
Bonetti, Sara and Sakr, Mona (2021) Advancing pedagogical leadership at national level: looking for a policy window. In: Pedagogical leadership in early childhood education: conversations from across the world. Sakr, Mona and O'Sullivan, June , eds. Bloomsbury Publishing, London, UK. (Accepted/In press)
Sakr, Mona (2021) An organisational approach to supporting pedagogical leadership: reporting on a case study with London Early Years Foundation (LEYF). In: Pedagogical leadership in early childhood education: conversations from across the world. Sakr, Mona and O'Sullivan, June , eds. Bloomsbury Publishing, London, UK. (Accepted/In press)
Sakr, Mona (2021) ‘She’s nice company and a good friend’: thinking with Haraway to reconceptualise children’s playful interactions with Alexa in the family home. In: Creative families: Gender and technologies of everyday life. Mikats, Jana and Kink-Hampersberger, Susanne and Oates-Indruchová, Libora , eds. Palgrave Studies in Mediating Kinship, Representation, and Difference . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 167-188. ISBN 9783030708023
September 2019 – ongoing, Team member for evaluation of a Virtual Reality intervention aimed at reducing knife crime among young people at risk, national research funded by the Metropolitan Police and Brent Council.
September 2019 – ongoing, PI for ‘Digital Critical Pedagogies for Teaching Equality Diversity and Inclusion’, national research funded by the Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement
May 2016 – December 2017, PI for partnership and symposia series ‘Dark Play in the Digital Arts’, leading to special issue published 2016 in Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood on ‘Dark Play in Digital Playscapes’
September 2015 – July 2016, PI for ‘Concepts brought to life: Using mobile digital photography to enrich students’ theoretical understanding’, national research funded by the Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement
September 2015 – December 2016: Team member for the project ‘The future for Qualifications and Training in Early Childhood Education’, national research funded by TACTYC – the Professional Association for Early Childhood Professionals
February 2013 – June 2014: Team member for the project ‘Multimodal methods for researching digital data and environments’, an ESRC-funded project at the London Knowledge Lab, UCL
Mona works with practitioners and organisations in early childhood education in order to develop pedagogical, organisational and community leadership. She is currently working with the London Early Years Foundation to produce a model of Social Leadership in early childhood education.
Mona is Staff Governor at Middlesex University. She is on the management committee of the Centre for Education Research and Sccholarship. In this capacity, she has chaired the Education Ethics Committee, and is currently head of the CERS web transformation project.
Mona is also Trustee of the Reach Foundation, with a particular focus on the work of their innovative children's hub.
