Memories of Marie GWP

From the age of 25, when she first travelled beyond New Zealand on a Fulbright Scholarship to the United States, Marie Clay worked to establish international connections, while keeping her base in her homeland.

Marie Clay joined the Education Department of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1960, and there helped to create the new Diploma of Educational Psychology. In 1968, the year after she was awarded a doctorate for her thesis Emergent Reading Behaviour, she was an invited speaker in Copenhagen at the 2nd World Congress in Reading. Seven years later she became the first woman professor at the University of Auckland, and was appointed Head of the Education Department.

In 1994 Marie Clay was named New Zealander of the Year, and in 1999 in a survey of the National Reading Conference of America, she was voted the most influential person in the field of literacy over the previous three decades. Marie made a difference to millions of children learning to read and write. She was a teacher, researcher, writer, theorist and practitioner; and also a person who enjoyed music, theatre, opera, craftwork, and good design. At her death in early 2007 there was an international response to the loss.

In this book, people write about their interactions with Marie Clay, their shared experiences and history, and the influence of her work on them. Her early life, before she became well-known, is also described, with some contributions from her friends. The stories span the globe from New Zealand to Australia, Bermuda, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Asia, Denmark and Greece, crossing over boundaries of nations and language within the field of literacy.

Ages: 5-12 years

About the Author

Picture of Marie Clay

Marie Clay

For three decades Marie Clay has been acknowledged as a world leader in research on literacy learning, child development and the prevention of learning disorders.

Her early academic work as a child psychologist involved the observation and study of children as they acquire literacy. An outcome of this research was the development of reliable tools for assessing progress with literacy learning and these instruments have been published and are widely used around the world today.

Marie's decision to focus on struggling learners and the resulting development of the Reading Recovery early intervention changed how the education community worldwide viewed these children's chances of becoming literate.

There are many other publications by Marie Clay in the areas of writing, oral language and classroom learning.