Professor Jackie Marsh
BA (Hons), PGCE, MEd, PhD, FAcSS, FRSA
School of Education
Professor of Education

+44 114 222 8166
Full contact details
School of Education
Edgar Allen House
241 Glossop Rd
Sheffield
S10 2GW
- Profile
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Jackie is interested in young children’s digital literacy practices in homes, communities and early years settings. She has conducted research projects that have explored children's access to new technologies and their emergent digital literacy skills, knowledge and understanding. She has examined the way in which parents/carers and other family members support this engagement.
Jackie also has conducted a number of research projects that have explored how creative and innovative teachers have responded to the challenges of the new media age. She has evaluated a number of national projects that have aimed to develop teachers' expertise in the teaching and learning of digital and media literacy. In her more recent research, Jackie has explored changes in children’s play due to developments in media, technology and commercial cultures.
- Research interests
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Jackie has undertaken research on children’s digital literacy learning in homes, nurseries, schools and informal learning settings. She has also undertaken studies that have examined parents’ and families’ engagement in their children’s digital literacy development.
Her work draws on theoretical frameworks located in sociology and communications, media and cultural studies. Jackie has employed a range of methodologies in her research, including large-scale, national surveys, in addition to ethnographic case studies which have included visual methods. She has expertise in participatory research with children and teachers, and in co-produced research with teachers and the children’s media industry.
Recent funded projects
- Makerspaces in Early Childhood: Enhancing Play and Creativity (MakEY) 2015 – 2019, Funded by the EU Commission, Horizon 2020 (PI Marsh)
- COST Action IS1410, ‘The Digital Literacy and Multimodal Practices of Young Children’ (DigiLitEY), 2015 – 2019, funded by the EU Commission (Chair/Grant Holder Marsh).
- Childhoods and Play. Funded by the British Academy, 2012-2021 (PI Marsh, Co-Is Bishop and Burn)
- Playing the Archive: Cultural Memory and Virtual and Physical Play, 2017-19, Funded by the EPSRC (PI Burn, Co-Is Marsh, Bishop, Potter, Woolley).
- Exploring Play and Creativity in Young Children’s use of Apps, Funded by the ESRC, 2015 (PI Marsh, Co-Is Plowman, Yamada-Rice).
- Digital Futures in Teacher Education, Funded by JISC, 2012, (PI Pountney, Co-Is Marsh, Merchant).
- Children's playground games and songs in a new media age, 2009-11, funded by AHRC (PI Burn, Co-Is Marsh, Mitchell and Willett).
- Publications
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Books
- Children, media and playground cultures: Ethnographic studies of school playtimes. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
- Children's Virtual Play Worlds: Culture, Learning and Participation. Oxford: Peter Lang.
- Desirable literacies: Approaches to language and literacy in the early years, second edition.
- Making Literacy Real: Theories and Practices for Learning and Teaching. SAGE Publications Ltd.
- Introduction: Children of the digital age.
- Afterword.
- Preface.
- Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood. Routledge.
Edited books
- The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy. SAGE Publications Ltd.
- Popular Literacies, Childhood and Schooling. Taylor & Francis.
Journal articles
- All about…: makerspaces. Nursery World, 2019(22), 23-27.
- Makerspaces in early childhood education : principles of pedagogy and practice. Mind, Culture, and Activity. View this article in WRRO
- Play and creativity in young children's use of apps. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(5), 870-882. View this article in WRRO
- Maker Literacies and Maker Citizenship in the MakEY (Makerspaces in the Early Years) Project. Multimodal Technologies Interact, 3. View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- Young children’s initiation into family literacy practices in the digital age. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 15(1), 47-60. View this article in WRRO
- The digital literacy skills and competences of children of pre-school age.. Media Education - Studi, ricerche, buone pratiche, 7(2), 178-195. View this article in WRRO
- Digital play: a new classification. Early Years, 36(3), 242-253. View this article in WRRO
- ‘Unboxing’ videos: co-construction of the child as cyberflâneur. Discourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37(3), 369-380. View this article in WRRO
- From the wild frontier of Davy Crockett to the wintery fiords of Frozen: changes in media consumption, play and literacy from the 1950s to the 2010s. International Journal of Play, 3(3: Lifework and Legacy: Reviewing Iona and Peter Opie's Contribution to the Study of Play), 267-279. View this article in WRRO
- Challenges in the use of social networking sites to trace potential research participants. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 37(2), 113-124.
- We're playing Jeremy Kyle'! Television talk shows in the playground. Discourse, 35(1), 16-30.
- Purposes for literacy in children's use of the online virtual world Club Penguin. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, 37(2), 179-195.
- Rewind and replay? Television and play in the 1950s/1960s and 2010s. International Journal of Play, 1(3), 279-291.
- Children as knowledge brokers of playground games and rhymes in the new media age. Childhood, 19(4), 508-522.
- Young children's literacy practices in a virtual world: Establishing an online interaction order. Reading Research Quarterly, 46(2), 101-118.
- Young children's play in online virtual worlds. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 8(1), 23-39.
- Gender and curriculum, 277-282.
- Editorial: Literacy and technology: questions of relationship. J RES READ, 32(1), 1-5.
- New literacies and old pedagogies: Recontextualizing rules and practices. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 11(3), 267-281.
- Tapping into popular culture. Practical Pre-School, 2006(64), 1-2.
- Popular culture in the literacy curriculum: A Bourdieuan analysis. READ RES QUART, 41(2), 160-174.
- What is research? Methodological practices and new approaches. BRIT EDUC RES J, 32(2), 340-341.
- Emergent media literacy: Digital animation in early childhood. Language and Education, 20(6), 493-506.
- Digital childhood and youth: New texts, new literacies. Discourse, 26(3), 279-285.
- Book Review: We Don’t Play with Guns here: War, Weapon and Superhero Play in the Early Years. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 2(3), 319-322.
- The Techno-Literacy Practices of Young Children. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 2(1), 51-66.
- Call for Papers for a Special Edition ofDiscourse—Digital Childhood and Youth: New texts, new literacies. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 25(3), 307-308.
- One-way traffic? Connections between literacy practices at home and in the nursery. BRIT EDUC RES J, 29(3), 369-382.
- Contemporary Models of Communicative Practice: Shaky Foundations in the Foundation Stage?. English in Education, 37(1), 38-46.
- How video viewing can help develop language skills. Early Years Educator, 3(12), ii-viii.
- Electronic Toys: Why Should We Be Concerned? A Response to Levin & Rosenquest (2001). Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3(1), 132-138.
- Words with Pictures: The Role of Visual Literacy in Writing and its Implication for Schooling. Reading, 35(2), 54-61.
- Sending Minnie the Minx Home: Comics and reading choices. Cambridge Journal of Education, 31(1), 25-38.
- Parental involvement in literacy development: using media texts. Journal of Research in Reading, 24(3), 266-278.
- Teletubby Tales: Popular Culture in the Early Years Language and Literacy Curriculum. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 1(2), 119-133.
- Batman and Batwoman go to School: popular culture in the literacy curriculum. International Journal of Early Years Education, 7(2), 117-131.
- Gender and Writing in the Infant School: Writing for a Gender-specific Audience. English in Education, 32(1), 10-18.
Chapters
- The Uncanny Valley Revisited: Play with the Internet of Toys, The Internet of Toys (pp. 47-65). Springer International Publishing
- Making the Moomins, Multiliteracies and Early Years Innovation (pp. 131-147). Routledge
- Makerspaces in the Early Years, Exploring Key Issues in Early Childhood and Technology (pp. 79-84). Routledge
- Rules of Engagement: Family Rules on Young Children’s Access to and Use of Technologies, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development (pp. 131-145). Springer Singapore
- Russian Dolls and Three Forms of Capital: Ecological and Sociological Perspectives on Parents’ Engagement with Young Children’s Tablet Use, The Case of the iPad (pp. 31-47). Springer Singapore
- View this article in WRRO
- Digital beginnings: Young children's use of popular culture, media and new technologies in homes and early years settings, Multimedia and Literacy Development: Improving Achievement for Young Learners (pp. 28-43).
- Preface In Larson J & Marsh J (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (pp. xxix-xxxii).
- Researching young children's literacy practices in online virtual worlds: Cyber-ethnography and multi-method approaches, New Methods of Literacy Research (pp. 195-209).
- Digital Literacies in the Primary Classroom, International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning, and Culture (pp. 333-343).
- Introduction In Merchant G, Gillen J, Marsh J & Davies J (Ed.), Virtual Literacies: Interactive Spaces for Children and Young People (pp. 1-6). Taylor & Francis
- Moving stories: Digital editing in the nursery, Literacy Moves On: Using Popular Culture, New Technologies and Critical Literacy in the Primary Classroom (pp. 31-47).
- Virtual literacies and beyond: Some concluding comments, Virtual Literacies: Interactive Spaces for Children and Young People (pp. 244-256).
- Countering chaos in club penguin: Young children’s literacy practices in a virtual world, Virtual Literacies: Interactive Spaces for Children and Young People (pp. 75-88).
- Desirable Literacies: Approaches to Language and Literacy in the Early Years SAGE Publications Ltd
- Tightropes, tactics and taboos: Pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices in relation to popular culture and literacy In Marsh J & Millard E (Ed.), Popular Literacies, Childhood and Schooling (pp. 179-199). Taylor & Francis
- Introduction In Marsh J & Millard E (Ed.), Popular Literacies, Childhood and Schooling (pp. 1-8). Taylor & Francis
- Ritual, performance and identity construction: Young children's engagement with popular cultural and media texts, Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood (pp. 21-38).
- Digital Literacies in Early Childhood Oxford University Press
- Child Cultures, Schooling, and Literacy Routledge
- 30 Playfulness and the Co-construction of Identity in the First Years, The SAGE Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood (pp. 366-377). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Early Childhood Literacy and Popular Culture, The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (pp. 207-222). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Play, Creativity and Digital Cultures Routledge
- Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Learning to Read Routledge
- Social Networking Practices in Homes and Schools, Teaching Media in Primary Schools (pp. 26-34). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Writing and Popular Culture, The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development (pp. 313-324). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Media Literacy in the Early Years, Desirable Literacies: Approaches to Language and Literacy in the Early Years (pp. 205-222). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Inside the Classroom: Three Approaches to Phonics Teaching, Phonics: Practice, Research and Policy (pp. 45-59). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Early Childhood Literacy and Popular Culture, Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (pp. 112-125). SAGE Publications Ltd
Datasets
- Teaching activities
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Jackie supervises EdD and PhD students in the fields of early childhood education and new literacies. She contributes to various programmes in the School of Education. Jackie is the Faculty of Social Sciences Director of Learning and Teaching (2013-).
- Professional activities
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- Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, 2017-present.
- Co-editor, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy
- Editorial board member of Australian Journal of Literacy and Language; Child Language Teaching and Therapy; Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood; Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education; Educational Studies; E-learning and Digital Media; Media Education Research Journal.
- Chair, UKLA/Wiley Blackwell Research in Literacy Education Award Committee 2011-2017
- Past President of United Kingdom Literacy Association
- Member of ESRC Peer Review College, 2009-present.