Doreen Challen is a lecturer on the Primary PGCE and MA (Ed) programmes. Although her main expertise is in primary school language and literacy, she is also intersted in teacher development. Her current research interest is in the pedagogical interactions which occur during small-group literacy teaching and learning, and the implications of teachers' pedagogical understandings for inclusive education.

After taking an MA at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a PGCE in Bangor, Wales, Doreen taught across the primary age range in schools in Scotland and England. She held various curriculum and management roles before settling to focus on English, influenced by hew own longstanding passion for language and languages. Undoubtedly assisted by recent Open University studies in the English curriculum and school management, she was appointed in 1996 as one of the first 28 literacy consultants for the National Literacy Project, later Strategy. In this capacity, she was involved in training teachers, supporting school managers and establishing and managing the regional National Literacy Centre for Hampshire LEA. Doreen joined the School of Education in January 2000.