Dr Joanne Josephidou

Professional biography

Jo is Programme lead for Early Childhood. She joined the Open University in September 2019. Before this, Jo was a primary school teacher for many years before entering Higher Education in 2009 as a teacher fellow. Initially she taught on Initial Teacher Education programmes at the University of Cumbria before joining the Early Childhood Studies team at Canterbury Christ Church in September 2014.  Jo has taught on a variety of modules and has a particular interest in supporting students in developing early research skills. Her PhD focused on appropriate pedagogies with young children and how practitioner gender may impact on these.  Currently, Jo is working collaboratively on a piece of research which focuses on babies’ and toddlers’ opportunities to engage with the outdoor environment and nature funded by the Froebel Trust.

Research interests

The key strand in my work is appropriate pedagogies for the very youngest children in the education system (0-5) including issues around gender and babies' & toddlers' access to nature.

External collaborations

Co- investigator: ‘A life ‘in and with nature?’ An exploration of outdoor provision in baby rooms’. Froebel Trust Research Grant (March (2019) – March (2021).

Co- investigator: 'The potential of a Froebelian inspired pedagogy ‘in, with and for nature’ in urban babyrooms. Funder: The Froebel Trust. Mar 2023 - Feb 2025

 Jo is a member of the Early Childhood Studies Degree Network (ECSDN) and on the steering group for  their Research and Knowledge Strategy whose  aims are to build a coherent and supportive strategy for developing and sharing research amongst member institutions, seek opportunities to publicise research undertaken by member institutions, maximising its impact and raising the profile of the research and the ECSDN and to advocate for ECSDN research to inform policy and practice in the sector. She leads on the student publication initiative.