Dr Sara Clayson

My research and scholarship interests focus broadly on narrative and identity across the disciplines of Childhood Studies, English Literature, and Education. Previously based in Arts and Humanities, I have researched evolutionary narratives and gender identity in nineteeth-century popular fiction. I am currently working on a project on Fanfiction, wellbeing and young people's identity with the Open University Centre for Children and Young People's Wellbeing  I have recently published on narrative scholarship, which reflects on teacher identity and nostalgia in Voices of Practice: Narrative Scholarship From the Margins 

My teaching career started in the Primary School classroom before moving into Adult Education and Further Education. Since 2002, I have taught as an Associate Lecturer for the Open University, teaching modules in the Arts and Humanities, Children's Literature, Applied Linguistics and Childhood Studies. In 2015 I joined the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies as a Staff Tutor, and since then have primarily worked on the level 3, undergraduate module EK313 Issues in Research with Children and Young People. I continue to teach with the Open University as an Associate Lecturer on E102 Introduction to Childhood Studies and Child Psychology.

Recent Publications

Clayson, S. (2021) 'Nostalgia and Identity', in Voices of Practice: Narrative Scholarship From the Margins ed. by Sean Michael Morris, Lucy Rai and Karen Littleton, Washington: Hybrid Pedagogy Inc.