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, as well as early years education policy contexts. Mona's current research is an exploration of pedagogical, organisational and community leadership in EY and how leadership can be more effectively developed through innovative practice-based and digitally mediated professional development. Recent 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. She leads a network of UK baby room leaders, offering open access professional development through www.babyrooms-inspiringleaders.co.uk.
Mona leads the following modules:
- 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:
- Alan Wheeler (Understanding Learning Gain through Lego as Serious Play)
Rowsell, J., Sakr, M. & Sherbine, K. (forthcoming, Eds.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Pedagogical Observations in Childhood. London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. (2022) Turning towards discomfort in postdevelopmental approaches to childhood art: The potentials of multimodal mediated discourse analysis. Multimodality and Society, 2(4), 434–450.
Sakr, M., Dujczynski, M. & Pinto, C. (2022) Ethnicity and the early years workforce: A census of staff in maintained nursery schools in England. London: British Education Research Association (BERA). Ethnicity & the early years workforce: A census of staff in maintained nursery schools in England | BERA
Sakr, M. & O'Sullivan, J. (2022) Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education: Conversations from Across the World. (Eds.) London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. (2022) 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. (2022) 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. & O’Sullivan, J. (2022) Dialogical Conceptualisations of Leadership in Social Enterprise Early Years. Early Years. Published online first: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09575146.2022.2036950
O'Sullivan, J. & Sakr, M. (2022) Social Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care: An Introduction. London: Bloomsbury.
Sakr, M. & Bonetti, S. (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. Published online first: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09575146.2021.1959524
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).
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2023-2024: £24,000 (The Froebel Trust): 'Froebelian Leadership in Early Years' (PI)
2022-24: £247,501 (Nuffield Foundation and British Academy): ‘Beyond School Gates: Children’s Contribution to Community Integration’ (PI) – collaboration across six institutions
2022-23: £115,570 (Nuffield Foundation): ‘Advancing Early Years Leadership through Digitally Mediated Professional Learning’ (PI) – collaboration with Education Policy Institute
2021-22: £5K (British Education Research Association): ‘Ethnicity and the Early Years Workforce: A Census of Maintained Nursery Schools’ (PI)
2021-22: £3K (British Education Leadership Management and Administration Society): ‘Baby Rooms – Inspiring Leadership’ (PI)
2021: £6.5K (Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement, Middlesex University): ‘Digital Critical Pedagogies for Teaching Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ (PI)
2021: £10k (Metropolitan Police): ‘Evaluation of a virtual reality intervention for young people at risk of committing knife crime’ (PI of Evaluation Team)
2018: £500 (Middlesex University): ‘Experiences of Blended Learning: Assessing quantitative and qualitative measures of engagement’ (PI)
2016: £6.5K (Middlesex University): ‘Concepts brought to life: Using mobile digital photography to enrich students’ theoretical understanding’ (PI, with team of six interdisciplinary researchers)
2016: £12K (TACTYC): The future for Qualifications and Training in Early Childhood Education. (co-I)
2015: £5K Middlesex University: ‘Dark Play in Digital Playscapes: An Interdisciplinary Symposium’ (PI)
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. Until recently, she was on the management committee of the Centre for Education Research and Sccholarship. In that capacity, she has chaired the Education Ethics Committee and led on the CERS web transformation project - developing the website and social media presence for the research group.
