Rachel Heydon

Dr. Rachel Heydon, PhD

Professor - Curriculum Studies and Studies in Applied Linguistics

Dr. Rachel Heydon, PhD

Professor - Curriculum Studies and Studies in Applied Linguistics

In The News

Recent Publications

Selected Books Authored

Heydon, R. & McTavish, M. (under contract). Constructing Meanings: Teaching language arts K-8. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Heydon, R., McTavish, M., & Bainbridge, J. (2022). Constructing meanings: Literacies pedagogies K-8 (7 th ed.). Nelson.  

Heydon, R., & O’Neill, S. (2016). Why multimodal literacy matters: (Re)conceptualizing literacy and wellbeing through singing-infused multimodal, intergenerational curricula. Sense.

Heydon, R. (2013). Learning at the ends of life: Children, elders, and literacies in intergenerational curriculum. University of Toronto Press.   

Selected Books Edited

Heydon, R., Fancourt, D., & Cohen, A. J. (Eds.). (2020). Routledge companion to interdisciplinary studies in singing: Vol 3. Well-being. Routledge.  

Hamilton, M., Heydon, R., Hibbert, K., & Stooke, R. (Eds.). (2015). Negotiating spaces for literacy learning: Multimodality and governmentality. Bloomsbury.   

Selected Edited Encyclopedias

Heydon, R. (Regional Ed.), & Waniganayake, M. (Ed.-in-Chief). (2018-2020). Set:Early childhood (Volume: Canada).  Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies. London:Bloomsbury.    

Heydon, R. (Regional Ed.), Menter, I., & Tatto, M. T. (Eds.-in-Chief). (2018-2020). Set:Primary education (Volume: Canada).  Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies. London:Bloomsbury.   

Heydon, R. (Regional Ed.), Tatto, M. T., & Menter, I (Eds.-in-Chief). (2018-2020). Set:Secondary education (Volume: Canada).  Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies. London:Bloomsbury.   

Heydon, R. (Regional Ed.), & Jacob, W. J. (Ed.-in-Chief). (2018-2020). Set:Higher education (Volume: Canada). Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies. London: Bloomsbury.   

Heydon, R. (Regional Ed.), & Corsaro, W. (Ed.-in-Chief). 2018-2020). Set:Childhood (Volume: Canada). Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies. London: Bloomsbury.   

Heydon, R. (Regional Ed.), & Tilleczek, K. (Ed.-in-Chief). (2018-2020). Set:Youth (Volume: Canada). Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies. London: Bloomsbury.  

Selected Chapters in Books

Heydon, R. (2024). The sociomateriality of voice and its implications for research with children: An illustrative case study from intergenerational art programs. In M. C. Beaton & A. Burke (Eds). The voice and agency: Researching with young children. New York: Routledge.

Heydon, R. & Ruthes Coelho, C. (2023). Curriculum and identity options. In R. Tierney, F. Rizvi, K. Ercikan, & G. Smith (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (4th ed., pp. 381-391). Elsevier.

Heydon, R., McKee, L., & Stooke, R. (2022). Children, elders, and materials composing together: A qualitative study of two intergenerational art programs. In P. Crawford & M. Renck-Jalongo (Eds.), Intergenerational bonds: The contributions of older adults to young children’s lives (pp. 269–284). Dordrecht, NL: Springer Nature.

Heydon, R., McKee, L., & O’Neill, S. (2020). Connecting intergenerational voices: Curricula to foster the wellbeing of young children and elders. In R. Heydon, D. Fancourt, & A. J. Cohen (Eds.), Routledge companion to interdisciplinary studies in singing: Vol. 3. Well-being. Routledge.  

Heydon, R., & Davies, E. (2020). Experience. In J. Wearing, M. Ingersoll, C. DeLuca, B. Bolden, H. Ogden, & T. Christou (Eds.), Key concepts in curriculum studies: Perspectives on the fundamentals (pp. 90-95). Routledge.  

Khattar, R., Heydon, R., Cooper, E., & Callaghan, K. (2019). Embedding families and communities: Policy intersecting with pedagogy. In L. Gibbs & M. Gasper (Eds.), Thinking about pedagogy in early education: Policy intersecting pedagogy. Routledge.  

McKee, L., Heydon, R., & Davies, E. (2019). Making spaces in professional learning for democratic literacy education in the early years. In M. Hamilton & L. Tett (Eds.), Resisting the neo-liberal discourse in education: Local, national and transnational perspective (pp. 57-74). Policy Press.  

Heydon, R., & Davies, E. (2019). Intergenerationaling: Children, elders, and researchers making meaning. In D. Hodgins (Ed.), Feminist research for 21 st-century childhoods (pp. 63-72)Bloomsbury.   

Heydon, R., & Du, X. (2019). This is the stuff that identities are made of: Children learning with grandparents and other elders. In N. Kucirkova, J. Rowsell, & G. Falloon (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of learning with technology in early childhood (pp. 217-233). Routledge.  

Heydon, R., & Gagliardi, L.-M. (2019). Reconceptualizing early childhood art: The lessons of intergenerational art curricula and postdevelopmental theorizing. In J. Osgood & M. Sakr (Eds.), Postdevelopmental approaches to childhood art (pp. 87-110). Bloomsbury.   

Heydon, R., Zhang, Z., & Bocazar, B. (2017). Ethical curricula through responsive, multimodal literacy and pedagogy: Illustrations from a Kindergarten classroom curriculum. In C. Forlin & A. Gajewski (Eds.), International perspectives on inclusive education: Ethics, equity, and inclusive education (pp. 189-213). Emerald Publishing Limited.   

Zhang, Z., & Heydon, R. (2017). Being open to the other: K-12 teachers’ multimodal reflections on Hong Kong curricula. In S. Choo, R. Vinz, D. Sawch, & A. Villanueva (Eds.), Educating for twenty-first century global capacities: International perspectives and practices (pp. 425-445). Springer.   

Heydon, R., & O’Neill, S. (2017). Children, elders, and multimodal arts curricula: Semiotic possibilities and the imperative of relationship. In M. Narey (Ed.),  Multimodal perspectives of language, literacy, and learning in early childhood: The creative and critical “art” of making meaning (pp. 149-167). Springer.  

Du, X., Stooke, R., & Heydon, R. (2016). Ordinary objects tell extraordinary stories: Chinese children’s multimodal literacy explorations. In W. Ma & G. Li (Eds.), Beyond test scores: Understanding the hearts and minds of Chinese students in K-12 schools a global context (pp. 41-54). Routledge.   

Selected Journal Articles

Heydon, R., Akiwenzie, E., Cooper, E., Ghannoum, H., Havord-Wier, D., Johns, B., MacAlpine, KA., McKee, L., Nagle, J., Neeganagwedgin, E., Pawlick-Potts, D., Poczobut, S., Ruthes Coelho, C., Stooke, A., Tran, A., & Zhang, Z. (2023). Guidelines for virtual early childhood and family learning: An equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization-informed systematic review of the literature. Journal of Early Childhood Research

Zhang, Z., Heydon, R., Cooper, E. (2023). Household curricula during the COVID-19 pandemic: A collective biography. The Curriculum Journal, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.206

Heydon, R., & Stooke, R. (2023). The literacies-as-events in the day of a life of an octogenarian: Literacies of thriving as habits of a lifetime and (im)materially constituted. Literacy, 57(3), 275-291. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12342

Zhang, Z., Heydon, R., Chen, L., Floyd, L.A., Ghannoum, H., Ibdah, S., Massouti, A., Shen, J., & Swesi, H. (2023). Family literacies during the COVID-19 lockdowns: Semiotic assemblages and meaning making at home. Linguistics and Education, 74 1-11.

Zhang, Z., Heydon, R., Chen, L., Floyd, L.A., Ghannoum, H., Ibdah, S., Massouti, A., Shen, J., & Swesi, H. (2023). Household curricula during the COVID-19 pandemic: A collective biography. Curriculum Journal. 1-15. DOI: 10.1002/curj.206

Bruijns, B.A., Vanderloo, L.M., Johnson, A.M., Adamo, K.B., Burke, S.M., Carson, V., Heydon, R., Irwin, J.D., Naylor, P.J., Timmons, B.W., & Tucker, P. (2022). Implementation of an e-Learning course in physical activity and sedentary behaviour for pre- and in-service early childhood educators: Evaluation of the TEACH pilot study. BMC Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 8(1), 1-17.

Bruijns, B.A., Vanderloo, L.M., Johnson, A.M., Adamo, K.B., Burke, S.M., Carson, V., Heydon, R., Irwin, J.D., Naylor, P-J., Timmons, B.W., & Tucker, P. (2022). Change in pre-and in-service early childhood educators’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions following an e-learning course in physical activity and sedentary behaviour: A pilot study. BMC Public Health, 2022(244), 1-13.

Tucker, T., Bruijns, B. A., Adamo, K. B., Burke, S. M., Carson, V., Heydon, R., Irwin, J. D., Johnson, A. M., Naylor, P-J., Timmons, B. W., & Vanderloo, L. M. (2022). Training pre-service Early Childhood educators in physical activity (TEACH): Protocol for a Quasi-Experimental Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 3980.

Heydon, R., Stooke, R., Cameron, A. C., Cooper, E., & O’Neill, S. (2020). Making visible the literacy practices of elders through the  Day in the Life methodology: Considerations for literacy education across the lifespan. Literacy, 54(2), 60-68. 

McKee, L., & Heydon, R. (2020). “Enabled to play, enabled toexplore”: Children’s civic engagement, literacies, and teacher professional learning. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1769939

Heydon, R. (2019). From the guest editor: Reconceptualizing children, teaching, and learning through inter/intragenerational educational opportunities. Journal of Childhood Studies, 44(5), 66-70.  

Malins, P., Heydon, R., & Cooper, E. (3 December 2019). Gender and sexual identities in early childhood curricula: The case of Canada. British Educational Research Association (BERA) Blog. https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/gender-and-sexual-identities-in-early-childhood-curricula-the-case-ofcanada

Zhang, Z., Heydon, R., Li, W., & Malins, P. (2019). Literacies and identities in transnational education: A case study of literacy curricula in a Canadian transnational education program in China. Curriculum Journal, 31(1), 132-156.

Moffatt, L., Heydon, R., & Iannacci, L. (2019). Helping out, signing up, and sitting down: The cultural production of read alouds in three kindergarten classrooms. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 19(2), 147-174.

Heydon, R., McKee, L., & O’Neill, S. (2017/2018). Singing our song: An exploratory case study of singing as a multimodal literacy practice in an intergenerational program. Literacy 52(3), 128-136.  

Heydon, R., McKee, L., & Daly, B. (2017). iPads and paintbrushes: An exploratory case study of integrating digital media as placed resources in an intergenerational art class. Language and Education, 31(4), 351-373.  

Heydon, R., Cooper, E., & Tran, A. (2017). Literacy lessons: Core concepts from multiliteracies for language teachers in contemporary times. Contact: TESL Ontario. http://contact.teslontario.org/literacy-lessons/  

Loerts, T., & Heydon, R. (2017). Multimodal literacy learning opportunities within a grade six classroom literacy curriculum: Constraints and enablers. Education 3-13, 45(4), 490-503.  

Heydon, R., McKee, L., & Phillips, L. (2016). The affordances and constraints of visual methods in early childhood education research: Talking points from the field. Journal of Childhood Studies, 41(3)5-17.  

Zhang, Z., & Heydon, R. (2016). The changing landscape of literacy curriculum in a Sino-Canada transnational education programme: An actor-network theory informed case study. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 48(4), 547-564.