Dr Claire Barlow

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2013.

• Postgraduate Certificate in Professional and Higher Education, Staffordshire University, 2005

• PhD in Psychology, Staffordshire University, 2002, Thesis: Rigidity in children’s drawings and its relationship with representational change

• BSc (Hons) Psychology (First Class), Staffordshire University, 1999

My area of expertise is developmental psychology, specifically the understanding and use of children’s pictures.

My research has primarily focused on children’s drawings. My PhD involved testing a cognitive-developmental model through the pictorial medium, specifically rigidity in children’s drawings and its relationship with representational change. Other research projects have focused on the development of expressive drawing, and more specifically how this compares to the development of representational drawing skill, longitudinal development of expressive drawing, autistic children’s expressive drawing ability and the use of drawing as a memory aid. I am interested in research that has practical benefits for children. I am currently carrying out projects to develop a drawing technique to facilitate children’s eyewitness testimony and am also interested in the impact of birth season on children’s academic confidence.

I teach on a range of modules although my main interest is in developmental psychology. Specifically I contribute to the following modules: 'Growing and Changing' (module leader), “Foundations of Psychology”, “Perspectives in Psychology”, “Child Psychology: Theory to Practice” and “Typical and Atypical Development”. As Link Tutor on BSc (Hons) Psychology with a Foundation Year I am also involved in the quality assurance and management of the modules on this award. Furthermore I am a personal and academic guidance tutor for a group of level 4, level 5 and level 6 students as well as being a final year project supervisor on the “Psychology Project” and “Psychology Dissertation” modules.

Rose, S. & Barlow, C.M. (2023). The impact of relative age effects on psychosocial development: A systematic review. British Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12630

Rose, Dr Sarah E.; Barlow, Dr Claire; Taylor, Dr Jennifer (2022): Generating Dialogue in Assessment Feedback in HE (student coversheet). National Teaching Repository. Educational resource. https://doi.org/10.25416/NTR.21557796.v1

Rose, S. E., Jolley, R. P., Vivaldi, R. & Barlow, C. M (2022, September) Children’s drawings of their experience of the coronavirus crisis. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society (Developmental Section), Sheffield

Rose, S. E., Taylor, J. & Barlow, C. M., Bonitto, L. & Ingram, C. (2021, November). Action Research: Developing an interactive coversheet for student’s written assessments. Paper presented at HEA Feedback & Assessment Symposium.

Rose, S. E., Taylor, J. & Barlow, C. M. (2021, September). Action Research: Developing an interactive coversheet for student’s written assessments. Paper presented at Celebrating Psychology in the Midlands, Virtual conference. 

Jolley, R.P., Barlow, C.M., Rotenberg, K. J. & Cox, M.V. (2017). Linear and U-shaped trends in the development of expressive drawing. Paper presented at the meeting the British Psychological Society (Developmental Section), Stratford-upon-Avon (13-15 September, 2017).

Jolley, R.P., Barlow, C.M., Krahenbuhl, S. & Capper, J. (2016). Children’s Event Memory Recall Using Drawings Within ‘Achieving Best Evidence’ Police Interview Guidelines. Paper Presented at the BPS Developmental Section Conference, Belfast, Sept 14-17 Sept.

Jolley, R. P., Barlow, C. M., Rotenberg, K. J., & Cox, M. V. (2016). Linear and U-shape trends in the development of expressive drawing from preschoolers to normative and artistic adults. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 10, 309–324.

Jolley, R.P., O’Kelly, R., Barlow, C.M. & Jarrold, C. (2013) Expressive drawing ability in children with autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 31, 143-149.

Barlow, C. M., Jolley, R. P. & Hallam, J. L. (2011). Drawings as memory aids: Optimising the drawing method to facilitate young children’s recall. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 480-487.

Barlow, C. M., Jolley, R. P., White, D. G. & Galbraith, D. (2003). Rigidity in children’s
drawings and its relation with representational change. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 86, 124-152.