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Dr Joanne Josephidou

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Programme Lead for Early Childhood, Senior Lecturer in
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport
  • Education
  • joanne.josephidou

Web links

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. 

                    

                       

Publications

Babies and toddlers outdoors: a narrative review of the literature on provision for under twos in ECEC settings (2023)
Kemp, Nicola and Josephidou, Jo
Early Years, 43(1)

Creating spaces called hope: the critical leadership role of owner/managers in developing outdoor pedagogies for infants and toddlers (2023)
Kemp, Nicola and Josephidou, Joanne
Early Years, 43(3) (pp. 641-655)

A life "in and with nature?" Developing nature engaging and nature enhancing pedagogies for babies and toddlers (2022-07-13)
Josephidou, Joanne and Kemp, Nicola
Global Education Review, 9(2) (pp. 5-22)

Outdoor provision for babies and toddlers: exploring the practice/policy/research nexus in English ECEC settings (2021)
Josephidou, Jo; Kemp, Nicola and Durrant, Ian
European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29(6) (pp. 925-941)

Engaging children in meaningful charity: Opening-up the spaces within which children learn to give (2020-04-03)
Body, Alison; Lau, Emily and Josephidou, Joanne
Children and Society, 34(3) (pp. 189-203)

A gendered contribution to play? Perceptions of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners in England on how their gender influences their approaches to play (2020-01-01)
Josephidou, Joanne
Early Years: An international research journal, 40(1) (pp. 95-108)

Understanding the Media in Young Children’s Lives: An Introduction to the Key Debates (2023)
Bolshaw, Polly and Josephidou, Jo
ISBN : 9780367638986 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Understanding gender and early childhood: an introduction to the key debates (2020-02-20)
Josephidou, Jo and Bolshaw, Polly
ISBN : 9780367140182 | Publisher : Routledge

Introducing research in early childhood (2018-10)
Bolshaw, Polly and Josephidou, Jo
ISBN : 9781526408280 | Publisher : SAGE

Body systems, senses and physical development (2024)
Josephidou, Joanne and Rodriguez-Leon, Lucy
In: Musgrave, Jackie; Dorrian, Jane; Josephidou, Joanne; Langdown, Ben and Rodriguez-Leon, Lucy eds. Promoting Physical Development and Activity in Early Childhood: Practical Ideas for Early Years Settings. Little Minds Matter (pp. 26-47)
ISBN : 978-1-032-47954-5 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, UK

A life ‘in and with’ nature in the period of earliest childhood (2023)
Josephidou, Jo and Kemp, Nicola
In: Bruce, Tina; Nishida, Yukiyo; Powell, Sacha; Wasmuth, Helge and Whinnett, Jane eds. The Bloomsbury Handbook to Friedrich Froebel (pp. 303-310)
ISBN : 9781350323209 | Publisher : Bloomsbury

The Early Years: Foundation Stage within the Primary School (2022)
Carroll, Tricia and Josephidou, Joanne
In: Cooper, Hilary and Elton-Chalcraft, Sally eds. Professional Studies in Primary Education (pp. 145-170)
ISBN : 9781529752212 / 9781529752229 | Publisher : SAGE Publications Ltd | Published : London, UK

The role of the teacher and other adults (2018-01)
Ashbridge, Jan and Josephidou, Jo
In: Cooper, Hilary and Elton-Chalcraft, Sally eds. Professional Studies in Primary Education
ISBN : Ashbridge | Publisher : SAGE

Classroom organisation and the learning environment (2018-01)
Ashbridge, Jan and Josephidou, Jo
In: Cooper, Hilary and Elton-Chalcraft, Sally eds. Professional Studies in Primary Education
ISBN : 9781526409683 | Publisher : SAGE

Promoting Physical Development and Activity in Early Childhood: Practical Ideas for Early Years Settings (2024)
Musgrave, Jackie; Dorrian, Jane; Josephidou, Jo; Langdown, Ben and Rodriguez Leon, Lucy eds.
Little Minds Matter
ISBN : 978-1-032-47954-5 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon

The Early Childhood Student Journey (Phase 1) (2024-10)
Josephidou, Joanne; Teszenyi, Eleonora; Buck, Julie; Dorrian, Jane; Plowright-Pepper, Linda and Rodriguez-Leon, Lucy
The Open University

From Weeds to Tiny Flowers: Rethinking the Place of the Youngest Children Outdoors (2023-10)
Kemp, Nicola; Josephidou, Joanne and Bolshaw, Polly
The Froebel Trust, London.

Developing an ECEC response to the global environmental crisis: The potential of the Froebelian-inspired ‘NENE Pedagogy' (2022-12)
Kemp, Nicola; Josephidou, Jo and Watts, Tansy
The Froebel Trust, London.

Where measurement stops: A review of systematic reviews exploring international research evidence on the impact of staff qualification levels in ECEC on the experiences of, and outcomes for, children and families. (2022-01-31)
Josephidou, Joanne; Rodriguez-Leon, Lucy; Bennett, Stephanie; Bolshaw, Polly; Musgrave, Jackie and Rix, Jonathan
TACTYC, United Kingdom.

Making connections with their world: outdoor provision for under-twos in early childhood settings in Kent (2020-04)
Kemp, Nicola; Durrant, Ian and Josephidou, Jo
Froebel Trust

Where are the babies? Engaging the under twos with the outdoors (2020-03-12)
Kemp, Nicola and Josephidou, Jo
The Froebel Trust

Our Charitable Children (2019-04)
Body, A; Lau, E and Josephidou, Joanne
University of Kent; Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.