UKLA National Conference 2026
About
Theme: Literacy & PlayJoin us at our 2026 Online UKLA National Conference for an inspiring exploration of the dynamic relationship between literacy and play.
This conference brings together educators, researchers, and practitioners to examine how playful approaches can transform literacy learning across early years, primary, and beyond.
Through interactive sessions and keynote presentations, we’ll explore the power of play to foster creativity, critical thinking, and language development.
Whether you’re passionate about storytelling, digital literacies, or playful pedagogies, this event offers fresh insights and practical strategies to enrich your teaching and research.
Keynote 1: Steve Antony
Steve Antony is an award winning author and illustrator of 30 children’s books, including the much loved Mr Panda and Queen’s Hat series and Rainbowsaurus which was named Picture Book of the Year 2024 by the School Reading List. A Patron of the School Library Association, he has toured schools and libraries across the UK and internationally for over a decade. His books have sold more than one million copies and been translated into 24 languages.
Keynote
Steve explores play as the spark that draws children into reading, sharing insights from 11 years of working with teachers, librarians and young readers. Through humour, rhythm, visual storytelling and memorable characters, from a sleepy cat to a very particular panda, he shows how playful stories create space for shared reading long before children see themselves as readers.
The session includes a look at how one of his books became a sing along favourite in classrooms, with the audience invited to learn how to “sing a story” too. It’s a celebration of reading as joyful, inclusive and shared and of the vital role adults play in creating those moments of connection through books.
Keynote 2: Amber Ogunsanya-William
Amber is an Inclusive Playworker, Consultant and NSPCC Champion of Childhood, known for her joyful advocacy for children’s right to play. Rooted in adventure playgrounds, she champions play as a driver of equity, belonging and transformation.
Working across community, education, cultural and brand sectors, Amber helps organisations embed inclusive, child led, rights based practice that amplifies every child’s voice. Her work spans grassroots projects to global campaigns, always centred on creativity, participation and the power of play to reshape environments.
She has supported the launch of the National Play Strategy in Parliament and opened the British Library’s Story Explorers exhibition, celebrating children’s imagination and lived experience. Her mission is simple: a world where every child feels seen, heard, included and free to play.
Instagram: @Playworkeramber
Keynote
A high energy celebration of play and its extraordinary impact on children’s lives. Amber invites delegates to rediscover play as the spark behind language, imagination and connection, especially resonant in the National Year of Reading.
Drawing on her adventure playground roots and work across education and community settings, she explores play as a child’s first storytelling space: a place to test ideas, build confidence, communicate and express themselves. Through vivid examples and real world practice, she shows how play transforms environments, relationships and children’s sense of self.
This uplifting session is filled with movement, imagination and possibility. A reminder that when children play, they don’t just learn… they shine.
Delegates will leave with:
• Fresh insight into play as a literacy and oracy superpower
• Creative, child led strategies for reading rich spaces
• Practical tools for inclusive, rights based play environments
• Approaches that build confidence, communication and narrative skills
• Renewed energy to champion play in every setting
Workshops:
1. Samantha Hulston & Lucy Rodriguez-Leon (The Open University)
Young children’s narrative play: exploring characters, actions and social dynamics
A research-informed session sharing vignettes of children’s narrative play and exploring how responses to stories emerge.
Aimed at: University-based attendees
Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-jayne-hulston-1090111b9/
2. Angela Colvert (University of Sheffield)
JOIN THE DOTS: Playful ‘Transmedia Storying’ in School
An interactive session based on the D.O.T.S. Alternate Reality Game, exploring digital literacy and STEAM learning.
Aimed at: Primary attendees
Profile: www.argle.net/about
3. Sara Stanley (Author & Early Years Consultant)
Using picture books for philosophical play and story making
A practical workshop offering approaches and tools for supporting children’s imaginative thinking and shared story-making.
Aimed at: Primary attendees
Contact: saraloisstanley@yahoo.co.uk
4. Hywel Roberts – Botheredness – Story, Stance & Pedagogy
In this workshop, Hywel will share his classroom strategies that encourage children and young people to run to the writing, explore the world, engage in solutions, and apply their knowledge. There will be Drama!
Aimed at: all attendees.
Contact: www.botheredness.co.uk AND www.linkedin.com/in/hywel-roberts-botherednesshq
5. Fey Cole – South West College, Northern Ireland
Story-Based Play as a Pedagogical Approach in Adolescence
As young people move into adolescence, play is often reduced in favour of more formal, outcome-driven approaches to literacy and learning.
Drawing on research from Fey’s book ‘Play and Adolescence: Developing a Playful Pedagogical Approach
for Teenagers' Holistic Learning, Growth, and Wellbeing’, this workshop explores how story-based play can be used as a practical teaching approach to support engagement, literacy development and a strong sense of belonging among teenagers.
The session focuses on narrative practices such as collective storytelling, role-play, world-building and informal text-making, considering how these can create secure and inclusive learning spaces in which adolescents feel confident to participate and take risks with language and meaning. Rather than locating story-based play within a single subject area, the workshop examines how narrative approaches can operate across disciplines, supporting learning, identity development and community-building.
During the workshop you are invited to rethink how playful storytelling can sit at the heart of learning for teenagers and make a positive impact on their holistic growth and wellbeing.
Aimed at: all attendees
Contact: https://linktr.ee/Fey_Cole
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fey-cole-0191032a
https://www.instagram.com/fey_cole_eyc/
https://www.facebook.com/FeyColeEarlyYearsEducation/
Programme
09:30 - 09:45 Welcome and Introductions
09:45 - 10:45 Keynote 1
10:45 - 11:45 Workshops
11:45 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:00 Keynote 2
13:00 – 13:10 Closing remarks and end of conference
Location
Online event access details will be provided by the event organiser
Contact Form
UKLA National Conference 2026
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