Keith James Topping

Keith James Topping (born 1 October 1947) is a researcher in education. He designs intervention programs for teachers, parents and others to help children, then researches whether and how they work.

The public impact of his research work has been reported over the last 35 years in national and international newspapers  and on radio, television and in news media online.

He is a professor of educational and social research at the University of Dundee, and an author of 26 books and over 400 academic peer reviewed journal papers, distance learning resources and other publications.

He is also a speaker and presenter (e.g. at the University of Exeter).

His main research interests are language and literacy, peer tutoring and other forms of peer learning, parents as educators, problematic behavior and social competence, computer assisted learning and assessment, and inclusion.

Early life and background
He is married to Chen (b 1963). He has three children, all boys.

He went to the University of Sussex (social psychology BA), then to the University of Nottingham (child psychology MA), then to the University of Sheffield where he researched educational psychology (obtaining his PhD). He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Work
He has a background in social work, teaching, and educational psychology. In 1992 he established an educational psychology training course at the University of Dundee, and later became a professor there.

He developed a suite of literacy interventions: Paired Reading, Cued Spelling, and Paired Writing, which are disseminated by the English government as part of its evidence-based Wave 3 literacy intervention initiative.

He has worked as a member of the International Reading Association Task Force on the transfer into policy and practice of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

A distance learning resource on tutoring created for UNESCO has been translated into Mandarin, Spanish and Catalan and distributed to Education Ministers in 190 countries, 5,000 copies by the University of Illinois to academic staff in 17 US universities, and 10,000 by Cabrini to voluntary organizations in the Chicago area

A large scale (125 schools) randomised controlled trial has been undertaken, funded by ESRC in collaboration with Fife Council and the University of Durham

He was cited as an "outstanding researcher" by President Bill Clinton during his time in office for his input to the "America Reads" initiative, which was later replicated under his supervision in Scotland.

In 2011 he was awarded the "Outstanding Contribution to Cooperative Learning Award" by the American Educational Research Association, for significant contributions to the theory and research underlying cooperative learning.

In 2020, he was reported to be the most cited educational researcher in Scotland, the eighth most cited educational researcher in the UK, and the 85th most cited educational researcher in the world.