Dr Julie McAdam

  • Senior Lecturer (Culture, Literacies, Inclusion & Pedagogy)

telephone: 01413306888
email: Julie.E.McAdam@glasgow.ac.uk

Room 684b, St Andrew's Building, Glasgow, G3 6NH

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5402-6711

Biography

Julie is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow in Language and Literacies. She has developed teacher education programmes in Scotland and the Middle East that emphasise inclusive and culturally relevant pedagogy to promote learning in diverse contexts. She has published on threshold concepts in becoming a teacher.  Over the past ten years, she has worked on research projects which explore the role played by children’s literature in supporting teachers working with New Arrival children across Europe. Her current work is connected to the use of directed hope and storytelling in the creation of Narratives of Change, which are used to challenge prevalent negative discourses and recount positive stories connected to identity, language, and migration.  

Imagining what it is like to be someone other than yourself is at the core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion, and it is the beginning of morality. (Ian McEwan)

Research interests

Research interests

My research interests are clustered around children’s literature and literacies and I have a particular interest in the potential of understanding children’s literature as a safe space for inviting responses that enable readers/viewers to explore the social and cultural dimensions of their communities. This includes exploring language practices, migration, identity, and intercultural understandings.

I welcome inquiries from postgraduate students who are interested in exploring these dimensions in creative ways within their own communities.

As past programme Leader for the MEd and MSc in TESOL within the School of Education, I have a particular interest in hearing from students who may have a TESOL dimension to their research.

I teach on the MEd in Children's Literature and Literacies on two research-informed courses: Reframing Literacy for the 21st century and Texts for Diversity. 

I am currently a  Co-I  on AHRC GCRF Project "Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace (CUSP) Network Plus" (AH/T007931/1, PI Prof Alison Phipps

 

Active work from past grants:

AHRC-GCRF  funded Network  titled 'Children's Literature in Critical Contexts of Displacement: Exploring how story and arts-based practices create safe spaces for displaced children and young people'. In this project I worked with academics and NGOs in Egypt to strengthen the capacity of third sector mediators to use arts-based practices when working with displaced in contexts of flux.

 

My current research interests were shaped through my involvement in the international project, Visual Journeys, funded by the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and led by Evelyn Arizpe. This project investigated immigrant children's responses to wordless picturebooks and graphic novels and the ways in which they create meaning and narrative through their own multimodal texts. The book that resulted from this project was awarded the 'Edward B. Fry' Literacy Award from the Literacy Research Association in 2015. I also worked on the follow-up project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation 'Journeys from Images to Words: Examining the efficacy of visual meaning-making strategies in the development of inclusive communities of critical readers'. The project was awarded The British Curriculum Foundation /BERA/ Routledge Prize 2013 for joint development work between schools and universities. 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006
Number of items: 42.

2025

Arizpe, E. , McAdam, J. and Hirsu, L. (2025) Creating safe spaces in contexts of “complex emergency” through mediation and picturebooks. In: Mourão, Sandie and Bennett, Karen (eds.) Multimodal Mediation Through Picturebooks and Graphic Narratives: Educational and Translational Contexts. Routledge. ISBN 9781032456669 (In Press)

McAdam, J. E. , Arizpe, E. and Abou Ghaida, S. (2025) Texts that assure: selecting picturebooks to use with displaced children. In: Adair, Gigi, Fasselt, Rebecca and McLaughlin, Carly (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Migration Literature. Routledge, pp. 520-512. ISBN 9781032191690

2023

Hirsu, L. , Nguyễn Ngọc, Á., Futro, D., Lê Anh, V., McAdam, J. , Bùi Thị, D., Arizpe, E. and Trần Mỹ, N. (2023) Arts-based Language Learning: A Resource Book for Teachers in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. Vietnam National University Press: Hanoi. ISBN 9786043968446

2022

McAdam, J. , Paschke, B., Price, K. , Sneddon, S. , Stapleton, G. and Tierney, A. (2022) Communities of practice that work! Using the Faculty Learning Community model to effect change. 15th Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference, 29 Mar 2022.

Arizpe, E. , Zárate, M., McAdam, J. and Hirsu, L. (2022) Estrategias de mediación cultural en emergencias: lectura y escritura como refugios simbólicos. Tomo 1. Centro Regional para el Fomento del Libro en América Latina y el Caribe (Cerlalc): Bogotá.

Arizpe, E. , Zárate, M., McAdam, J. and Hirsu, L. (2022) Estrategias de mediación cultural en emergencias: lectura y escritura como refugios simbólicos. Tomo 2. Centro Regional para el Fomento del Libro en América Latina y el Caribe (Cerlalc): Bogotá.

2021

Farrar, J. , Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J.E. (2021) Challenging picturebooks and literacy studies. In: Ommundsen, Åse Marie, Haaland, Gunnar and Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina (eds.) Exploring Challenging Picturebooks in Education: International Perspectives on Language and Literature Learning. Routledge: London. ISBN 9780367856250

2020

McAdam, J. , Abou Ghaida, S., Arizpe, E. , Hirsu, L. and Motawy, Y. (2020) Children’s literature in critical contexts of displacement: exploring the value of hope. Education Sciences, 10(12), 383. (doi: 10.3390/educsci10120383)

Hirsu, L. , Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2020) Cultural interventions through children’s literature and arts-based practices in times of disaster: a case study of reading mediators’ response to the Mexican earthquakes (September 2017). International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 51, 101797. (doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101797) (PMID:32834977) (PMCID:PMC7425675)

Coban, O., McAdam, J. E. and Arizpe, E. (2020) Hanging out in The Studio to challenge xenophobia: consolidating identities as community writers. Literacy, 54(3), pp. 123-131. (doi: 10.1111/lit.12220)

2019

McAdam, J. E. (2019) Narratives of change: the role of storytelling, artefacts and children’s literature in building communities of inquiry that care. Cambridge Journal of Education, 49(3), pp. 293-307. (doi: 10.1080/0305764X.2018.1524001)

2018

McAdam, J. E. , Hirsu, L. and Abou Ghaida, S. (2018) ‘Why does that lighthouse have a speaker on it?’: the potential of Arabic picture books. English 4-11, 63, pp. 9-12.

McAdam, J. and Farrar, J. (2018) Childhood and diversity. In: Carroll, Mike and McCulloch, Margaret (eds.) Understanding Teaching and Learning in Primary Education [second edition]. SAGE: London. ISBN 9781526421173

2017

Arizpe, E. , Farrar, J. and McAdam, J. (2017) Picturebooks and literacy studies. In: Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Series: Routledge literature companions. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, pp. 371-380. ISBN 9781138853188

2015

Arizpe, E. , Bagelman, C., Devlin, A.M. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J.E. (2015) Visualizing intercultural Literacy: Engaging critically with diversity and migration in the classroom through an image based approach. In: Phipps, A. and Kay, R. (eds.) Languages in Migratory Settings: Place, Politics and Aesthetics. Routledge: London. ISBN 9781138911970

McKinney, S. , McAdam, J. , Britton, A., Crichton, H. and Arizpe, E. (2015) Managing the learning of new arrival children in mainstream schooling: challenges for school management and curriculum leaders. In: Christopher, Elizabeth (ed.) International Management and Intercultural Communication: A Collection of Case Studies. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137553232

2014

McAdam, J. E. , Arizpe, E. , Devlin, A.M. , Farrell, M. and Farrar, J. (2014) Journeys from Images to Words. [Research Reports or Papers]

McAdam, J. and Arizpe, E. (2014) Childhood and diversity. In: Carroll, Mike and McCulloch, Margaret (eds.) Understanding Teaching and Learning in Primary Education. SAGE: London. ISBN 9781446254820

Arizpe, E. , Colomer, T., Martínez-Roldán, C., Bagelman, C., Belloran, B., Farrell, M. , Fittipaldi, M., Grilli, G., Manresa, A.M., McAdam, J. , Real, N. and Terrusi, M. (2014) Visual Journeys through Wordless Narratives: An international inquiry with immigrant children and 'The Arrival'. Bloomsbury Academic: London. ISBN 9781780937762 (doi: 10.5040/9781472593283)

Arizpe, E. , Bagelman, C., Devlin, A. M. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. E. (2014) Visualizing intercultural literacy: Engaging critically with diversity and migration in the classroom through an image-based approach. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14(3), pp. 304-321. (doi: 10.1080/14708477.2014.903056)

McAdam, J. E. and Farrar, J. (2014) Narratives of change: creating a community of inquiry using drama. Netla: Veftimarit um Uppeldi og Menntun,

2013

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (2013) Opening the classroom door to children’s literature: a review of research. In: Hall, K., Cremin, T., Comber, B. and Moll, L. (eds.) International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning, and Culture. John Wiley & Sons: London, UK, pp. 241-257. ISBN 9780470975978

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (Eds.) (2013) Picturebooks: Beyond the Borders of Art, Narrative and Culture. Routledge: London. ISBN 9780415814188

Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2013) Crossing visual borders and connecting cultures: children’s responses to the photographic theme in David Wiesner’s 'Flotsam'. In: Arizpe, Evelyn, Farrell, Maureen and McAdam, Julie (eds.) Picturebooks: Beyond the Borders of Art, Narrative and Culture. Routledge: London, pp. 141-157. ISBN 9780415814188

McAdam, J. , Britton, A., McKinney, S.J. , Crichton, H. and Arizpe, E. (2013) L’esperienza poi nelle scuole Scozzesi. Portfolio of Integration Report. [Research Reports or Papers] (Unpublished)

2012

Arizpe, E. , McAdam, J. , Farrell, M. and Devlin, A.M. (2012) Journeys from Images to Words: evaluating a collaborative visual approach to literacy research and pedagogy. In: 48th International Conference of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, University of Leicester, 6-8 July 2012,

Baranowska, W., Kosiorek, M., Luatti, L., Ntelli, N., McAdam, J. , McKinney, S. and Sahin, M. (2012) Portfolio of Integration Scotland: Need Analysis. [Research Reports or Papers]

Carroll, M., McAdam, J. and McCulloch, M. (2012) Teaching, learning and researching: a reflective journey into increasing the efficacy of our own mentoring practices. Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal, 4(1),

McAdam, J. and Devlin, A.M. (2012) Translating the migrant experience into words and pictures: how it can work in an inclusive classroom. In: 33rd International ‘IBBY’ Congress, Imperial College, London, UK, 23-26 Aug 2012,

McKinney, S.J. , McAdam, J. , Arizpe, E. , Crichton, H. and Britton, A. (2012) Portfolio of Integration (Scotland). [Research Reports or Papers] (Unpublished)

2011

McAdam, J. and Arizpe, E. (2011) Journeys into culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education and Teachers' Work, 2(1), pp. 18-27.

Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2011) Crossing visual borders and connecting cultures: children’s responses to the photographic theme in David Wiesner’s 'Flotsam'. New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 17(2), pp. 227-243. (doi: 10.1080/13614541.2011.624969)

Carroll, M., McAdam, J. and McCulloch, M. (2011) Enhancing the efficacy of student mentoring and assessment during school placements. In: 55th World Assembly of International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET), Glasgow, Scotland, 11-14 July 2011, (Unpublished)

2010

Farrell, M. , Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2010) Journeys across visual borders: Annotated spreads of 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan as a method of understanding pupils' creation of meaning through visual images. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(3), pp. 198-210.

MacKenzie, J. et al. (2010) From anxiety to empowerment: a learning community of university teachers. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(3), pp. 273-284. (doi: 10.1080/13562511003740825)

2009

McAdam, J. , McCulloch, M. and Dickson, B. (2009) Assessment is for learning: how mixed modes of assessment support first year student learning on the BEd (Hons) programme. In: 2nd Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Glasgow, UK, 19 Apr 2009,

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (2009) Visual connections: immigrant and non-immigrant pupils create a reading community around a wordless picturebook. In: United Kingdom Literacy Association 45th International Conference: Making Connections: Building literate communities in and beyond the classroom, London, July 2009,

McGonigal, J. and McAdam, J. (2009) Threshold concepts in the caring professions. ESRC Seminar Papers,

2008

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (2008) Journeys across visual borders with The Arrival by Shaun Tan. In: SERA International Conference, Perth, (Unpublished)

Cove, M., McAdam, J. and McGonigal, J. (2008) Mentoring, teaching and professional transformation. In: Land, R., Meyer, J. and Smith, J. (eds.) Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines. Series: Educational futures (16). Sense Publishing: Rotterdam, Netherlands. ISBN 9789087902674

McAdam, J. and Johnston, D. (2008) Threshold concepts: liminality and beginning teachers' troublesome understanding of literacy concepts. In: Conference of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, 3-6 Sept 2008,

2006

Bell, S. et al. (2006) The scholarship of teaching and learning: a university teacher learning community’s work in progress. Practice and Evidence of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 1(1), pp. 3-12.

This list was generated on Fri Apr 18 14:37:52 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books | Research Reports or Papers | Conference or Workshop Item | Conference Proceedings
Number of items: 42.

Articles

McAdam, J. , Abou Ghaida, S., Arizpe, E. , Hirsu, L. and Motawy, Y. (2020) Children’s literature in critical contexts of displacement: exploring the value of hope. Education Sciences, 10(12), 383. (doi: 10.3390/educsci10120383)

Hirsu, L. , Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2020) Cultural interventions through children’s literature and arts-based practices in times of disaster: a case study of reading mediators’ response to the Mexican earthquakes (September 2017). International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 51, 101797. (doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101797) (PMID:32834977) (PMCID:PMC7425675)

Coban, O., McAdam, J. E. and Arizpe, E. (2020) Hanging out in The Studio to challenge xenophobia: consolidating identities as community writers. Literacy, 54(3), pp. 123-131. (doi: 10.1111/lit.12220)

McAdam, J. E. (2019) Narratives of change: the role of storytelling, artefacts and children’s literature in building communities of inquiry that care. Cambridge Journal of Education, 49(3), pp. 293-307. (doi: 10.1080/0305764X.2018.1524001)

McAdam, J. E. , Hirsu, L. and Abou Ghaida, S. (2018) ‘Why does that lighthouse have a speaker on it?’: the potential of Arabic picture books. English 4-11, 63, pp. 9-12.

Arizpe, E. , Bagelman, C., Devlin, A. M. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. E. (2014) Visualizing intercultural literacy: Engaging critically with diversity and migration in the classroom through an image-based approach. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14(3), pp. 304-321. (doi: 10.1080/14708477.2014.903056)

McAdam, J. E. and Farrar, J. (2014) Narratives of change: creating a community of inquiry using drama. Netla: Veftimarit um Uppeldi og Menntun,

Carroll, M., McAdam, J. and McCulloch, M. (2012) Teaching, learning and researching: a reflective journey into increasing the efficacy of our own mentoring practices. Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal, 4(1),

McAdam, J. and Arizpe, E. (2011) Journeys into culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education and Teachers' Work, 2(1), pp. 18-27.

Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2011) Crossing visual borders and connecting cultures: children’s responses to the photographic theme in David Wiesner’s 'Flotsam'. New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 17(2), pp. 227-243. (doi: 10.1080/13614541.2011.624969)

Farrell, M. , Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2010) Journeys across visual borders: Annotated spreads of 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan as a method of understanding pupils' creation of meaning through visual images. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(3), pp. 198-210.

MacKenzie, J. et al. (2010) From anxiety to empowerment: a learning community of university teachers. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(3), pp. 273-284. (doi: 10.1080/13562511003740825)

McGonigal, J. and McAdam, J. (2009) Threshold concepts in the caring professions. ESRC Seminar Papers,

Bell, S. et al. (2006) The scholarship of teaching and learning: a university teacher learning community’s work in progress. Practice and Evidence of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 1(1), pp. 3-12.

Books

Hirsu, L. , Nguyễn Ngọc, Á., Futro, D., Lê Anh, V., McAdam, J. , Bùi Thị, D., Arizpe, E. and Trần Mỹ, N. (2023) Arts-based Language Learning: A Resource Book for Teachers in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. Vietnam National University Press: Hanoi. ISBN 9786043968446

Arizpe, E. , Zárate, M., McAdam, J. and Hirsu, L. (2022) Estrategias de mediación cultural en emergencias: lectura y escritura como refugios simbólicos. Tomo 1. Centro Regional para el Fomento del Libro en América Latina y el Caribe (Cerlalc): Bogotá.

Arizpe, E. , Zárate, M., McAdam, J. and Hirsu, L. (2022) Estrategias de mediación cultural en emergencias: lectura y escritura como refugios simbólicos. Tomo 2. Centro Regional para el Fomento del Libro en América Latina y el Caribe (Cerlalc): Bogotá.

Arizpe, E. , Colomer, T., Martínez-Roldán, C., Bagelman, C., Belloran, B., Farrell, M. , Fittipaldi, M., Grilli, G., Manresa, A.M., McAdam, J. , Real, N. and Terrusi, M. (2014) Visual Journeys through Wordless Narratives: An international inquiry with immigrant children and 'The Arrival'. Bloomsbury Academic: London. ISBN 9781780937762 (doi: 10.5040/9781472593283)

Book Sections

Arizpe, E. , McAdam, J. and Hirsu, L. (2025) Creating safe spaces in contexts of “complex emergency” through mediation and picturebooks. In: Mourão, Sandie and Bennett, Karen (eds.) Multimodal Mediation Through Picturebooks and Graphic Narratives: Educational and Translational Contexts. Routledge. ISBN 9781032456669 (In Press)

McAdam, J. E. , Arizpe, E. and Abou Ghaida, S. (2025) Texts that assure: selecting picturebooks to use with displaced children. In: Adair, Gigi, Fasselt, Rebecca and McLaughlin, Carly (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Migration Literature. Routledge, pp. 520-512. ISBN 9781032191690

Farrar, J. , Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J.E. (2021) Challenging picturebooks and literacy studies. In: Ommundsen, Åse Marie, Haaland, Gunnar and Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina (eds.) Exploring Challenging Picturebooks in Education: International Perspectives on Language and Literature Learning. Routledge: London. ISBN 9780367856250

McAdam, J. and Farrar, J. (2018) Childhood and diversity. In: Carroll, Mike and McCulloch, Margaret (eds.) Understanding Teaching and Learning in Primary Education [second edition]. SAGE: London. ISBN 9781526421173

Arizpe, E. , Farrar, J. and McAdam, J. (2017) Picturebooks and literacy studies. In: Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Series: Routledge literature companions. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, pp. 371-380. ISBN 9781138853188

Arizpe, E. , Bagelman, C., Devlin, A.M. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J.E. (2015) Visualizing intercultural Literacy: Engaging critically with diversity and migration in the classroom through an image based approach. In: Phipps, A. and Kay, R. (eds.) Languages in Migratory Settings: Place, Politics and Aesthetics. Routledge: London. ISBN 9781138911970

McKinney, S. , McAdam, J. , Britton, A., Crichton, H. and Arizpe, E. (2015) Managing the learning of new arrival children in mainstream schooling: challenges for school management and curriculum leaders. In: Christopher, Elizabeth (ed.) International Management and Intercultural Communication: A Collection of Case Studies. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137553232

McAdam, J. and Arizpe, E. (2014) Childhood and diversity. In: Carroll, Mike and McCulloch, Margaret (eds.) Understanding Teaching and Learning in Primary Education. SAGE: London. ISBN 9781446254820

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (2013) Opening the classroom door to children’s literature: a review of research. In: Hall, K., Cremin, T., Comber, B. and Moll, L. (eds.) International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning, and Culture. John Wiley & Sons: London, UK, pp. 241-257. ISBN 9780470975978

Arizpe, E. and McAdam, J. (2013) Crossing visual borders and connecting cultures: children’s responses to the photographic theme in David Wiesner’s 'Flotsam'. In: Arizpe, Evelyn, Farrell, Maureen and McAdam, Julie (eds.) Picturebooks: Beyond the Borders of Art, Narrative and Culture. Routledge: London, pp. 141-157. ISBN 9780415814188

Cove, M., McAdam, J. and McGonigal, J. (2008) Mentoring, teaching and professional transformation. In: Land, R., Meyer, J. and Smith, J. (eds.) Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines. Series: Educational futures (16). Sense Publishing: Rotterdam, Netherlands. ISBN 9789087902674

Edited Books

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (Eds.) (2013) Picturebooks: Beyond the Borders of Art, Narrative and Culture. Routledge: London. ISBN 9780415814188

Research Reports or Papers

McAdam, J. E. , Arizpe, E. , Devlin, A.M. , Farrell, M. and Farrar, J. (2014) Journeys from Images to Words. [Research Reports or Papers]

McAdam, J. , Britton, A., McKinney, S.J. , Crichton, H. and Arizpe, E. (2013) L’esperienza poi nelle scuole Scozzesi. Portfolio of Integration Report. [Research Reports or Papers] (Unpublished)

Baranowska, W., Kosiorek, M., Luatti, L., Ntelli, N., McAdam, J. , McKinney, S. and Sahin, M. (2012) Portfolio of Integration Scotland: Need Analysis. [Research Reports or Papers]

McKinney, S.J. , McAdam, J. , Arizpe, E. , Crichton, H. and Britton, A. (2012) Portfolio of Integration (Scotland). [Research Reports or Papers] (Unpublished)

Conference or Workshop Item

McAdam, J. , Paschke, B., Price, K. , Sneddon, S. , Stapleton, G. and Tierney, A. (2022) Communities of practice that work! Using the Faculty Learning Community model to effect change. 15th Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference, 29 Mar 2022.

Conference Proceedings

Arizpe, E. , McAdam, J. , Farrell, M. and Devlin, A.M. (2012) Journeys from Images to Words: evaluating a collaborative visual approach to literacy research and pedagogy. In: 48th International Conference of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, University of Leicester, 6-8 July 2012,

McAdam, J. and Devlin, A.M. (2012) Translating the migrant experience into words and pictures: how it can work in an inclusive classroom. In: 33rd International ‘IBBY’ Congress, Imperial College, London, UK, 23-26 Aug 2012,

Carroll, M., McAdam, J. and McCulloch, M. (2011) Enhancing the efficacy of student mentoring and assessment during school placements. In: 55th World Assembly of International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET), Glasgow, Scotland, 11-14 July 2011, (Unpublished)

McAdam, J. , McCulloch, M. and Dickson, B. (2009) Assessment is for learning: how mixed modes of assessment support first year student learning on the BEd (Hons) programme. In: 2nd Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Glasgow, UK, 19 Apr 2009,

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (2009) Visual connections: immigrant and non-immigrant pupils create a reading community around a wordless picturebook. In: United Kingdom Literacy Association 45th International Conference: Making Connections: Building literate communities in and beyond the classroom, London, July 2009,

Arizpe, E. , Farrell, M. and McAdam, J. (2008) Journeys across visual borders with The Arrival by Shaun Tan. In: SERA International Conference, Perth, (Unpublished)

McAdam, J. and Johnston, D. (2008) Threshold concepts: liminality and beginning teachers' troublesome understanding of literacy concepts. In: Conference of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, 3-6 Sept 2008,

This list was generated on Fri Apr 18 14:37:52 2025 BST.

Grants

2018 PI on a Scottish Funding Council project to look at ‘Children’s Literature and International Safe Spaces: Toolkit development for third sector partners working with displaced children’. This project strengthened the capacity of third sector organisations to use and select literature that can be used as a mirror, reflecting the migration experiences of children and families; as a window on the world; and as a door to new ways of thinking and acting.

2017 PI on a University of Glasgow Funded project on ‘The Multimodal, Multilingual and Multicultural Potential of Picturebooks’  which examined children’s responses to Arabic picturebooks.

2014 PI on University of Glasgow Sustainable Development project ‘Narratives of Social Change: Supporting Sustainable Action through Creative Multiliteracies’. A two year project that supported teachers to use children’s literature to bring about social change within their communities.

 

Co-I

2018 European Social Innovation Fund ‘Challenging Discourses of Xenophobia through Arts and Story with Young People in Glasgow'. Working with an artist/illustrator to challenge and disrupt negative discourses surrounding difference.

2017 AHRC-GCRF Network Grant for ‘Children's Literature in Critical Contexts of Displacement: Exploring how story and arts-based practices create safe spaces for displaced children and young people'.

2016 GU Knowledge Exchange Grant for the scoping project 'Literacy Practices Past and Present' in the East End of Glasgow

2016 TEMPUS funded project ‘Foreign Languages for Professional Practices’. Developing language courses to accompany professional degrees in universities in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Kyrgygistan.

2010: Esmée Fairbairn Foundation ‘New Approaches to Learning’ small grant for the project Journeys from Images to Words: Examining the efficacy of visual meaning-making strategies in the development of inclusive communities of critical readers’. 

2009: UK Literacy Association small grant for main phase of the research project ‘Visual Journeys: Understanding immigrant children's response to visual images in picturebooks’. 

Supervision

Supervision Areas include : Children's literacy development, Multicultural and International Children's Literature, the potential of children's literature to evoke human flourishing. 

Current Research Students

Qian Yang: The relationship between Scotland’s Chinese young students’ cultural acculturation experience and their practice on bilingual learning. The voice from young Chinese bilingual learners

Madeleine Strobel: Reading Circles in ESL Classrooms

Alaa Al Nijim: Creative Teaching and the Promotion of Reading for Pleasure in Saudia Arabia

Rowena Seabrook: How can a literature based human rights education programme motivate and empower young people to be agents of change?

Nurfadzilah Binti Nek Kamal: The quality of dialogic teacher-student talk in Malaysian ESL classroom using picture books

Rabaha Arshad: Children’s Literature for Children’s Rights: Establishing literary ‘safe spaces’ for children affected by Violence, Neglect and Abuse in Pakistan

Zainab AlGharibi: The Needs of Omani children during their transition from nursery to 1st grade

  • Arshad, Rabaha
    Children's Literature for Children's Rights
  • Cruz Velasquez, Diana
    Co-constructing strategies for enhancing democratic reading spaces in early childhood through image reading and dialogic exchanges: A case study in Yauyos, Peru
  • Nek Kamal, Nurfadzilah Binti
    The quality of dialogic teacher-student talk in Malaysian ESL classroom using picturebooks
  • Seabrook, Rowena
    Towards transformative action: using literature in human rights education with young people
  • Yang, Guiping
    A Study on the Mismatch of Public English Education...

Completed 

Emma McGilp: A Dialogic Journey into Exploring Multiliteracies in Translation for Children and a Researcher in International Picturebooks

Jennifer Farrar: "I didn't know they did books like this!" An inquiry into the literacy practices of young children and their parents using metafictive picturebooks

Ken Shirley - Teacher Knowledge and the Role of Theory in Practice in TESOL

Soumi Dey: Emerging bilingual children and language acquisition: a cognitive approach to children making meaning from metafictional texts

Ahmed Abdullah: Investigating Iraqi Secondary School English Language Teachers' Pedagogical Practices

Susanne Abou Ghaida: Life’s Longing for Itself: Growing Up in the Arabic Young Adult Novel

Teaching

College Teaching Excellence Award (Team Award) 2020-2021 Children's Literature Team

University Teaching Excellence Award (Team Award) 2019-2020 TESOL Team

I teach on the MEd in Children’s Literature and Literacies, I convene two courses Reframing Literacy for the 21st Century and Texts for Diversity. In both courses, assessment is linked to future employability. In Reframing, students set and answer their own questions related to practice. On Texts for Diversity, they curate texts that are shared via a public seminar (Glasgow Life, Scottish Book Trust, Amnesty attend) and public forums (published websites, Refugee Week and blogs).  Students have responded positively to these innovative assessments with many using their ideas to enact change in the workplace/community or to continue into PhDs.

I also teach an online course called: Children’s Literature for a Diverse World to students on the second year of their Erasmus Mundus Children’s Literature, Media and Culture programme.  I developed an online approach and was able to blend synchronous and asynchronous sessions to deliver the course to students from over 30 nationalities. I have decolonised the curriculum through student choice, inviting groups to select themes that they wish to explore and curate. The course offers conceptual frameworks for critical analysis, empowering students to justify their curations. Examples of curations include: Mental Health Awareness, LGBQT+, indigenous communities, sight-impaired texts). The course is assessed via a reflective analysis or a draft proposal on why and how the curation can be used. 

Professional activities & recognition

Editorial boards

  • 2016: Children's Literature in English Language Education Journal

Professional & learned societies

  • 2017: Treasurer, Scottish Educational Research Association

Additional information

Invited Talks at national and international events: 

Scottish Association for Teachers of English as an Additional Language (keynote, 2016, invited workshop, 2018),

QAA Enhancement Conference on Community and Belonging, Department of Learning and Teaching at Edinburgh Napier (keynote, 2019),

Peruvian Ministry of Culture, National Library of Peru and Casa de la Literatura (invited talk, 2020).

Awards: Literacy Research Association (LRA) Edward B. Fry Book Award for Arizpe, E., Colomer, T., Martínez-Roldán, C., Bagelman, C., Belloran, B., Farrell, M., Fittipaldi, M., Grilli, G., Manresa, A.M., McAdam, J., Real, N. and Terrusi, M. (2014) Visual Journeys through Wordless Narratives: An international inquiry with immigrant children and 'The Arrival'. Bloomsbury Academic: London.

Committee Membership:

Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Executive Member and Trustee (2015-now), SERA Treasurer (2016-2021)

SERA Conference Organising Committee (2018)

European Conference for Educational Research (ECER) Conference Organising Committee for 2020 (cancelled due to covid, will be held in 2023).

Honorary Treasurer for Glasgow UCU Branch (2018-2021).

 

Reviewing and Editorial Boards: Invited reviewer for 5 journals: Scottish Educational Review, Children’s Literature in English Language Education Journal (on Editorial Board since 2016), Literacy Journal Cambridge Journal of Education, Education Science. Reviewed book proposals (Blackwell Handbook) and manuscripts (Multilingual Matters).

Examining:  I have externally examined UG Language and TESOL programmes at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Gloucestershire (current). I have also examined the following PhDs:

Internal

Elizabeth Nelson (2021) Understanding Childhood and Play in the Post-Digital Age. University of Glasgow.

Sarah Cox (2021) An exploration of an ecological, multilingual approach to language learning with New Scots. University of Glasgow.

Amal Al-Qarshoubi (2020) Academic Staff Retention in Higher Education Institutions in the Sultanate of Oman: The Impact of Incentives. University of Glasgow.                     

Tarig Abdulatif Saleh Omar (2019) From Curriculum Reform to Classroom Practice: Intentions, Perceptions, and Actual Implementation in English Secondary Schools in Libya. University of Glasgow.

Muhammad Ashraf (2014) The Virtual Jirga: the 2009 Education Policy and the Medium of Instruction Debate in Pakistan. Who is Participating and What are the Implications for Baluchistan? University of Glasgow.

External

Muhammad Mansoor Anwar (2019) Re(construction of EFL teachers’ professional identify in curriculum implementation: A narrative inquiry. University of Exeter.


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