Dr Alastair K. Daniel
Alastair K. Daniel is an artist educator, performance storyteller and independent scholar working in the UK and abroad. He gives storytelling performances for adults and children, teaches storytelling and its application in educational contexts and advises organisations on the strategic use of storytelling and narrative communication.
Alongside his work as a storyteller, Alastair has many years of experience working in educational settings as a class teacher, consultant and university academic - finishing his term as the Principal Lecturer in Early Years and Primary Education at the University of Roehampton (London) in 2022. As a storyteller, Alastair’s performances are characterised by an interactive and conversational style through which a continuing back-and-forth with his audience breaks down expectations around the roles of teller and listener.
Alastair co-convenes both the Storytellers in Schools Forum and the UK Literacy Association’s Storytelling Special Interest Group, and is the education lead on the board of the Society for Storytelling. He is an Honorary Senior Fellow of the University of Roehampton and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Publications:
The What, Who, Where, How and Why of Classroom Storytelling and The Pied Piper: Storytelling and Place - An Activity for Key Stage 2 in the National Storytelling Week Resource Pack, Society for Storytelling, 2023
Weaving critical hope: story making with artists and children through troubled times by Lisa Stephenson, Alastair K Daniel and Vicky Storey, (2022) . Literacy, 56: 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12272.
Storytelling: the Social Art of Language in 'Teaching the Arts in the Primary Curriculum' edited by Susan Ogier and Suzy Tutchell (Sage, 2021), pp57-66
Classroom Drama: learning through 'as if' behaviour in 'Teaching the Arts in the Primary Curriculum' edited by Susan Ogier and Suzy Tutchell (Sage, 2021), pp157-166
Storytelling the past: the role of story and storytelling in primary history. In Primary History, Issue 86, Autumn 2020
'Expert Voices - storytelling' (an interview) In Gamble, N. Exploring Children’s Literature (4th edn.) (Sage, 2019)
“The Social Art of Language”: A Semiotic Response to Engagement Strategies in Performance Storytelling, in Storytelling, Self, Society, Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall 2018.
Teachers and children: a classroom community of storytellers, in 'Unlocking Speaking and Listening' (3rd edition) edited by Pam Hodson and Deborah Jones (Routledge, 2017)
Storytelling and Narrative Art, in Facts and Fiction magazine Issue 103, November 2017
'A Creature of the time'? Bringing Shakespeare into the 21st Century Classroom, Erziehung & Unterricht. 3-4, 2015. 165. 272-280.(2015)
Story, Dialogue and Meaning, in Internationalization in Teacher Education Vol. 4: Communication. (2014). In Rabensteiner, P. and Rabensteiner, G. (eds) I Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, 156-169
Storytelling across the primary curriculum (Routledge, 2011)
Storytelling across the primary curriculum (UKLA Proceedings of International Conference (15-17 July 2011) pages 91-95 of 264 [online])
From folktales to algorithms: developing the teacher’s role as principal storyteller in the classroom In ‘Early Child Development and Care’, Vol. 177 Numbers 6 & 7 August 2007 London: Routledge
The Teacher as Storyteller, EBS (English Speaking Board) Magazine (Summer 2006)
Leaving Home, (with Diane Craven) in ‘About to Receive’ edited by Diane Craven and Mark Stafford (Diocese of Southwark 2005)
Let them eat cake… or grapes… or jelly babies… but what about the bread of life? in ‘About to Receive’ edited by Diane Craven and Mark Stafford (Diocese of Southwark 2005)
Child Soldiers - I Object Production of assembly materials and PSHE lessons for KS3 and KS4 (co-authored with Diane Craven) Save the Children Fund 1999
Conference Papers and Lectures:
Storytlling as The Social Art of Language, at the 2nd Storytelling in Education Global Online Conference, 5 September 2024
Storying Ourselves, Storying the World: Grace in Being and Becoming, Methodist Summer Fellowship, Hayes Conference Centre, 6 August 2024
Mightier than the Sword: building cutural capital through oral storytelling, at the UKLA International Conference, University of Sussex, 28 June 2024
Storytelling as Embodied Oracy, at the UKLA International Conference, Online, 2 July, 2021
Let me play the lion too: facilitating playful immersion in Shakespeare's texts, with Kerenza Ghosh and Steph Laird, at UKLA International Conference, Sheffield, 6 July 2019
Meaning making and meaning shaping: the contribution of oral storytelling to literacy learning, at The UKLA International Conference, Sheffield, 7 July 2019
Meaning making and meaning shaping: the contribution of oral storytelling to literacy learning, at BALID seminar (UCL Institute of Education, London
11 December 2018)
Realising dreamscapes: exploring the artistry of teaching through an interdisciplinary approach to picturebooks, at The UKLA International Conference (Cardiff, 7 July 2018)
Voices from the woods: storytelling and the phenomenal child Part 2 - Exploring macro and micro worlds through storytelling, at the UKLA International Conference (University of Strathclyde, July 2017)
Story in the classroom: the coin and currency of culture. Lecture at the Robert Musil Literature Museum, Klagenfurt (10 October 2016)
Voices from the woods: storytelling and the phenomenal child Part 1 - Exploring place through narrative: Storytelling in woodlands, at the UKLA International Conference (Bristol, July 2016)
Peeling the SPAG Onion (with J. Borgeaud, D. Falconer, and S. Rees) at the UKLA International Conference (Bristol, July 2016)
Getting to grips with Grammar (Part 2), at the UKLA International Conference (University of Nottingham, July 2015)
Storytelling - the social art of language, at the UKLA International Conference (University of Brighton, July 2014)
Exploring teachers' subject knowledge for teaching English. Symposium with Naomi Flynn and Liz Chamberlain presented at the UKLA International Conference (University of Brighton, July 2014)
It ain't what you say...' - a semiotic examination of the non-verbal components of storytelling. at the Story of Memory Conference, University of Roehampton. (2014).
Telling tall tales in a low land: storytelling Grimms and the teaching of EFL at After Grimms Conference (University of Kingston 6-8 September 2012)
Reading Journals and Reading Journeys - an exploration of being and doing in Initial Teacher Education at Learning and Teaching Conference (London Metropolitan University 10 July 2012)
Reading Journals and Reading Journeys, with Alayne Öztürk and Louise Dryden at UKLA International Conference (University of Leicester 6-8 July 2012)
Total language – developing speaking and listening in the primary classroom at UKLA International Conference (University of Winchester 6-8 July 2012)
The teacher as principal storyteller in a classroom community of storytellers at UKLA International Conference (University of Greenwich 8-11th July 2010)
“Teaching as storytelling: modelling speaking and listening in the classroom” in Unlocking speaking and listening: creating a culture for talk in the primary classroom. at the Spoken Word Conference , Rose Theatre and Kingston University September 2009
Creative Approaches to Storytelling at the Comenius Association Conference, University of Kingston, 2005
A Phenomenological Approach to the Liturgy of the Church of England - some implications for mission at the 20th Congress of Societas Liturgica, Dresden, 2005
Towards A Phenomenological Approach to the Liturgy of the Church of England at the Society for Liturgical Studies, Mirfield College, 2004
Performance Theory and the Signification of Liturgical Objects at the 19th Congress of Societas Liturgica, Eindhoven, 2003
An introduction to the comparative semiotics of the use of space in ritual and theatre in the Department of Theology, St Mary’s University College, Surrey, 2002