Jo McShane FRSA

I have been a qualified Religious Studies and Humanities teacher since 1996, working in middle and senior leadership positions teaching since 2000. Much of this leadership has been within ITT settings, including Director of Secondary PGCE at Newcastle University, Assistant Principal and Founder/Director of Shotton Hall SCITT and Programme Leader for Primary PGCE at University Sunderland, which is the first post I held within the vibrant School of Education. During my first year I established a Secondary Religious Education (RE) PGCE programme which launched in September 2019. As part of a suite of Humanities programmes, the course offers the only University subject provision in the North East of England. 

Previously, I led my own global educational consultancy and became recognised for my work on the development of strategies for Twenty-First-Century Learning and the essential presence of critical thinking, self regulation and enquiry. I have written extensively, served as a magazine editor and led on national initiatives such as a strategic approaches to teacher workload and wellbeing. My current research foci are illegal school exclusion (off-rolling) in English Secondary schools, mentoring and Instructional Coaching.  I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019 and am working on my Professional Doctorate. I am also Deputy Leader for Secondary PGCE and responsible for developing strategies for mentor development and bringing expert colleagues from the wider sector into our innovative secondary training curriculum. I play a part in strategic leadership, make a contribution to the sustained culture of improvement in the School of Education and enhance this by frequently presenting at faculty research events. 

I am proud to lead the Religious Education PGCE Programme which develops subject teachers who are critically aware of the changing nature of their discipline in the current national and global contexts. The programme is underpinned by the most recent curriculum development philosophies in its development of rich, 'interdisciplinary lens' approaches to subject learning informed by Cognitive Science. 

I am committed to the development of excellent and committed teachers who can make a sustained impact on the removal of barriers to the education of children and young people. I became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2019 and a MentorED Fellow in 2020, both of which reflect my dedication to the empowering and emancipatory potential of education in civic society.