Dame Marie Clay - PhD

Dame Marie Clay is renowned as one of the most distinguished researchers in educational literacy in the world. She is credited with changing the face of primary school literacy instruction in New Zealand and overseas to the benefit of many young children around the world. This has been acknowledged by 5 overseas universities, which awarded her honorary degrees.

Marie graduated from the University with a PhD in Education in 1966 and is undoubtedly best known for the Reading Recovery early intervention she designed to help young children with early reading difficulties. The programme revolutionised remedial teaching practice, providing a powerful model of instruction and professionnal development that can be applied to many areas of education. Trialled in 1978 and adopted in New Zealand in 1983, the programme has been successfully used in Australia, Great Britain, Canada and the United States. She spends her retirement problem-solving the implementation of this intervention in widely. Her teachers' guidebook, Reading Recovery: Guidelines for Teachers in Training, has sold more than eight million copies worldwide.

Marie has received countless international awards for her outstanding contribution to educational scholarship and to the profession including, the David H. Russell Award from the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Citation of Merit from the International Reading Association and the Charles A. Dana Foundation Award for Pioneering Accomplishments in Health and Education, and a career award from the National Reading Conference researchers in USA in 2003.

Marie received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004.