Kathy Sylva

Kathy Sylva FAcSS FBA OBE is an educational psychologist. She is Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology at the University of Oxford.^[1]

Biography

Sylva has a BA in Psychology and Social relations, and a master's degree and PHD in Developmental Psychology, all from Harvard University.^[2]

In 2002 Sylva was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University.^[3] She also received an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2005.^[4] She was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to children and families.^[1] In 2014 she was awarded the inaugural John Nisbet Fellowship from the British Education Research Association.^[5]

Sylva is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.^[1] She was elected as Fellow of the British Academy in 2020.^[6]

Select publications

• Sylva, K., Sammons, P., Melhuish, E. et al. 2020. "Developing 21st century skills in early childhood: the contribution of process quality to self-regulation and pro-social behaviour", Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 23, 465–484. doi:10.1007/s11618-020-00945-x.
• Hall, J., Sammons, P., Smees, R., Sylva, K., Evangelous, M., Goff, J., Smith, T., and Smith, G. 2019. "Relationships between families’ use of Sure Start Children's Centres, changes in home learning environments, and preschool behavioural disorders", Oxford Review of Education 45(3), 367–389.
• Sylva, K. 2014. "The role of families and pre-school in educational disadvantage", Oxford Review of Education 40(6), 680–695. doi:10.1080/03054985.2014.979581.