2015: Paula Kelly

The recipient of the 2015 Barrett Reid Scholarship was Paula Kelly, Manager, Learning Communities, Hobsons Bay.

Paula's scholarship is titled 'An evidence-based model for training librarians to support parents of very young children, as their child’s first teacher, in shared book reading for best early literacy outcomes'. The scholarship will allow Paula to develop and test a model for training librarians to support parents in achieving the best possible literacy outcomes for their children during their earliest and most critical years of learning – from nought to three years. It will help parents to position their children for success when they start school and throughout life.

The training model will be developed in the Hobsons Bay area, and then shared widely. This project has the potential to contribute significantly to the ways in which public libraries everywhere, and particularly in disadvantaged areas, support positive early literacy outcomes. An original research initiative, the project forms part of Paula’s PhD study.