Charlotte Hacking - Learning and Programme Director

Charlotte is an experienced teacher and senior leader who has taught across the primary school age range. Before joining CLPE, she held several leadership posts including Assistant Headteacher, Literacy, Early Years Foundation Stage, more able pupils and KS2. She was a literacy consultant within a Local Authority, focusing on Early Years, Phonics and Primary Literacy. She has written blogs and articles for a range of publications including Teach Primary and Books for Keeps. In 2020, Charlotte joined the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy as a member of the Practitioner Advisory Board.

Charlotte's special interests lie in Early Years, early reading development, the development of writing and the use of picturebooks and poetry to raise children's engagement and attainment. She developed and leads the CLPE's ground breaking Power of Pictures research, investigating the impact visual literacy and illustration can have on children’s reading and writing. Charlotte also led and developed the CLPE's Power of Poetry research project, and is a judge for the CLPE poetry award, CLiPPA. She is currently working alongside Farrah Serroukh on the development and delivery of CLPE's Reflecting Realities in the Classroom project.

In 2022, Charlotte was awarded the Anna Craft Creativities in Education Prize by BERA.

Charlotte has co-written The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing, with Professor Dominic Wyse from UCL, due for release in June 2024. The book dismantles polarised debates about the teaching of phonics, and analyses the latest scientific evidence of what really works. It shows, in vivid detail, how phonics, reading and writing should be taught through the creativity of some of the best authors of books for children and proposes new theory and a new  model for literacy:The Double Helix of Reading and Writing.

She tweets at @charliehacking

The books that made Charlotte a reader were Rosie’s Walk and Goodnight Owl by Pat Hutchins and Gargling with Jelly by Brian Patten.

CLPE Blogs by Charlotte:

• Inspiring Illustration;
• Using Newspapers, magazines and comics in classrooms;
• The Power of Poetry to reflect, share and broaden children's realities; 
• Spotlight on: CLiPPA 2019 and the Shadowing Scheme; 
• Spotlight on: Choosing and Using Quality texts in an Early Years classroom;
• Our Commitment to NQTs;
• An Interview with CLiPPA 2019 Winner Steven Camden;
• Developing Policy with Integrity; 
• Finding a Voice through Poetry: a blog for National Poetry Day; 
• Investing in Teacher Subject Knowledge