Biography
Jo’s professional experience spans teacher education, Higher Education and Educational Research.
She is the child of an early years leader, a former secondary teacher, and a former teacher-educator across primary and secondary including leading the Drama with English PGCE at Warwick and Professional Studies tutoring and mentoring with Teach First. As a regional director of the national Creative Partnerships programme (2002-11) she enabled school improvement, curricula and pedagogic developments between professional artists, businesses and teachers, through action-research interventions. Jo continues to research and support a number of cultural organisations, as trustee for Highly Sprung Performance, the UK’s leading physical theatre company for young people.
In Higher Ed
Her research is concerned with the importance of ‘art making’ practices as a context for more personally meaningful, inter- and transdisciplinary learning to stimulate pupils’ affective as well as cognitive dimensions. This includes the role of the arts in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education. Jo is a co-convenor for the new STEAM Education Research network of the British Education Research Association (BERA) and continues to work directly with schools, teachers, pupils and artists. She is a Senior Fellow of the HEA.
Brief statement of educational background, previous employment, research interests and activities, co-operation with people outside Newman, external recognition (eg prizes awarded, editorial boards membership, fellowships of professional associations, research grants, external examination, PhD/EdD supervision, professional qualifications, consultancies).
Profile
Research Interests
Current and recent research interests based on identifiable individual or collaborative research projects, including supervised doctoral research projects. Also, research grants from UK research councils, European research funds and charities may be included.
Teaching
Jo teaches a range of education modules across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including Creativity, Arts and Sociology in Education.
Administrative Responsibilities
Jo is Programme Lead for the Masters in Education (on campus pathway).
Membership of Professional Organisations
Jo is a co-convenor for the new STEAM Education Research network of the British Education Research Association (BERA), a member of the Society for Research in higher Education (SRHE), a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA). She is a Senior Fellow of the HEA (SFHEA).