Jo Beer
Senior Lecturer in Primary Education
About
Jo is a senior lecturer in Primary Education and teaches on the Religious Education, English and Professional Studies modules on the BA PTS, PGCE and Foundation Degree programmes.
Prior to joining the University, Jo taught for nearly 20 years in mainstream primary schools. She has been in senior leadership with responsibilities for Key Stage One and Early Years Foundation Stage, as well as coordinating ICT, Science, Assessment, RE and collective worship.
Jo completed her MA (Ed) in 2012 with a focus on the perceptions of differences in EYFS provision in schools with attached nurseries and those without. Jo completed a second MA qualification on the conceptualisation of teacher presence resulting in the published chapter ‘How do primary teachers develop their professional presence?’ in the Professionalism in Primary Teaching book (Stone, 2022).
In her capacity as curriculum lead on Religious Education, Jo is a member of the West Sussex SACRE, NATRE, AREIAC and leads a local RE network hub for primary RE.
Jo’s interests are in making links between the arts and teaching and learning in primary schools. She is passionate about utilising the arts in primary education and has developed a module on visual literacy which focusses on using film and animation in primary classrooms. Jo is actively establishing connections with artistic and cultural partners and the teacher training programmes at Chichester; for example, exploring how acting training can support the development of teacher presence and how the arts connect and support Religious Education.
Other department members
Carys Wreyford
Senior Lecturer in Education, Special Needs and Disability (SEND) Studies
