Category Archives: Digital Stories

‘They’ll Know Loads More About Me’. Facilitating Self-Expression Through Digital Storytelling to Support Educational Transitions (2025)

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Authors:Sophie Brinsmead, Carys Deeley, Jessica Millington, Laura Pardoe, Hanna Kovshoff and Henry Wood-Downie
Published: 2025
Publication: European Journal of Education

The views of children with special educational needs and disabilities are frequently left out of educational decision-making processes. In recent years, researchers have sought to employ creative methods to facilitate children’s voices in areas of importance.One such area is transitions between educational settings, a significant time that has the potential for positive outcomes. One creative method of exploring children’s views of transitions is Digital Stories, a strength-based video methodology. The aim of this research was to explore ways that Digital Stories can be used to facilitate children’s voices at a time of transition. Interviews were conducted with three children and two members of staff at a pupil inclusion centre after they had co-created Digital Stories. The research provided a new contribution to the literature on Digital Stories by exploring children’s views of the process. Codebook thematic analysis resulted in four main themes: child as expert, self-expression, positive reflections and looking forward. Overall, children and staff were positive about the process of creating Digital Stories to support transition to new educational settings. Limitations, directions for future research and implications for professionals are discussed.

Brinsmead, S., Deeley, C., Millington, J., Pardoe, L., Kovshoff, H. & Wood-Downie, H. (2025). ‘They’ll Know Loads More About Me’. Facilitating Self-Expression Through Digital Storytelling to Support Educational Transitions European Journal of Education, 60(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.70058

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“They’ll know loads more about me” – Facilitating self-expression through Digital Storytelling to support educational transitions (research poster)

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Assignment type: Small Scale Research Project poster
Authors: Sophie Brinsmead, Carys Deeley, Jess Millington, Laura Pardoe, Henry Wood-Downie and Hanna Kovshoff
Submitted: June 2024

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View a recorded webinar about this research project here.

Recorded webinar: Facilitating self-expression to support transitions through Digital Storytelling

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In an online webinar (streamed by Educational Psychology Reach-Out on 18 Apr 2024), Southampton trainee educational psychologists Sophie Brinsmead, Jess Millington, Laura Pardoe and Carys Deeley discuss their small scale research project on Digital Storytelling (supervised by Dr Henry Wood-Downie and supported by Dr Hanna Kovshoff).

Using Digital Stories for assessments and transition planning for autistic pre-school children (2021)

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Authors: Henry Wood-Downie, Verity Ward, Kathryn Ivil, Hanna Kovshoff and Sarah Parsons
Published: 2021
Publication: Educational and Child Psychology

Aims: ‘I am…’ Digital Stories are short videos designed to provide a holistic, strengths-based representation of the child through enabling them to contribute their perspectives to transition planning. Digital Stories have potential during periods in which professionals are unable to physically visit settings or spend time getting to know a child. This paper describes the use of Digital Stories in two contexts: (1) being shown at the beginning of person-centred planning meetings focusing on the transition to primary school; and (2) as a tool to support educational psychologists conducting Education, Health, and Care Needs Assessments for preschool children during Covid-19. Method: Data was collected via seven semi-structured interviews, 15 feedback forms, and videos of four meetings. Participants comprised six parents/carers, five nursery practitioners, three school staff members, and six educational psychologists. Thematic analysis resulted in five main themes: thinking differently; a wider conversation; more than words; seeing what they see; and potential barriers to making Digital Stories. Limitations: Children were not able to make their own Digital Stories, which could have influenced their representation within the videos, transition meetings and assessments. However, children’s body worn camera footage was included, enabling a perspective on their interactions and preferences that was closer to the child’s worldview than other observational methods. Conclusions: Digital Stories have a variety of benefits to practice, including being useful to educational psychologists during assessments, and have the potential to facilitate successful transitions from nursery to primary school.

Wood-Downie, H., Ward, V., Ivil, K., Kovshoff, H. & Parsons, S. (2021) Using Digital Stories for assessments and transition planning for autistic pre-school children. Educational and Child Psychology, 38(3), https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsecp.2021.38.3.62

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