Prof Iram Siraj
Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education
About
Prof. Iram Siraj trained as an early years and primary teacher working in schools in England. She has held positions at the Universities of Warwick, University College London, Wollongong and is currently at both the universities of Maynooth and Oxford. She has a doctorate from Warwick University (1995), a masters from Essex University (1986) and three honorary doctorates from Bishop Grossteste, Brighton and Wales universities. She has held 16 visiting professorships in Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Norway and Japan.
Iram has directed a number of longitudinal world-first influential studies, including the Effective Provision of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE, DfE, 1997-2015), the transformative Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY, DfE, 2002), and the Effective Leadership in the Early Years Sector (ELEYS) studies. She has also co-investigated Effective Early Educational Experiences in Australia (E4Kids, Australian Research Council and Victoria and Queensland Governments. 2009-2015).
Her recent studies have focussed on evidence-based professional development (PD), RCT interventions looking at the impact of PD on teacher quality and child outcomes e.g. in 90 centres in New South Wales Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL, 2018); Researching Effective Environments for Learning (REEL) in 70 centres in Victoria (REEL, 2019); and Using Research tools to Promote Language in the Early Years in 120 primary schools in England (EEF, 2020). Recent, studies include leadership in early education in LMICs (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37371 World Bank, 2022); an RCT using MOVERS (40 centres, Victorian Govt), Adult-child Interactions using IT apps (ARC); a British Academy Grant to study the development of refugee pre-schoolers in Malaysia (2019-2023) and an EEF maths intervention in 106 primary schools to improve maths for 4-6 year olds in the UK (EEF, 2020-24). She chairs the Technical Expert Group for the OECD IELS international study (2017-2026).
She has an enviable research funding record and over 300 publications with a citation h-index of 77 and an i10-index of 240. Her publications including three widely-used quality rating measures in the cognitive (ECERS-E 4th Ed. 2010; 2nd Ed ECQRS EC, 2024), social-emotional (SSTEW, 2015; 2nd Ed. 2024) and physical (MOVERS, 2017; 2nd Ed. 2024) domains, they’re currently being used in many countries to improve workforce capacity for staff.
As a leading authority of ECEC she has extensive knowledge and influence on policy, practice and research at a national and an international level. She has attracted research funds in the region of £30 million. She has won many awards for her books, articles, impact studies and is a member of editorial boards and key research and professional bodies. In Australia she has advised governments in Victoria, South Australia, NSW and Queensland, recently providing evidence for both the Gillard review of ECEC and the Productivity Commission 2024-24. She is an assessor on the Khalifa Awards which gives 4 annual awards totaling $200,000 for research and programmes which have positively impacted ECEC