Professor Jo Harris
Having been a secondary school teacher for 12 years, Jo gained further qualifications and left teaching for higher education in 1988. She joined the teacher education team at St Paul and St Mary’s College in Cheltenham before moving to Loughborough in 1990. She obtained her PhD from the University and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1999, Reader in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy in 2015, and Professor of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy in 2020. She is now an Emeritus Professor.
Jo retired from Loughborough in 2021, having been Director of Physical Education Teacher Education from 1997-2002 and Director of Teacher Education from 2002-2021. Leading teacher education within the University, her success is unrivalled. Loughborough’s Teacher Education Programme was rated outstanding in four consecutive Ofsted inspections, and feedback cited exceptional leadership and strong collaboration.
Jo’s research centred on health-related policy and practice within the Physical Education curriculum. She has a particular interest in the expression of health in physical education, health in PE pedagogies, and PE’s role in and contribution to public health. Her research has impacted on policy relating to the role of PE in public health and PE-for-health pedagogies, informing health-related policy and practice in schools.
Jo has also made a leading contribution to educational strategy, as evidenced by her role in external examining of teacher education in major HEIs in the UK and beyond. As Chair of the PE Expert Subject Advisory Group, Jo was central in the creation of a position paper making the case for PE to be a core subject in the national curriculum.
She has served office as the UK representative on the international AIESEP committee and has been an invited consultant on National PE and School Sport programmes in Wales and in England. Outputs have influenced PETE and CPD courses in the UK, including Loughborough’s own outstanding teacher training programme.
Jo continues to work voluntarily at national and local levels to support the development of high-quality educational practice. She is currently President of the Bergman Österberg Union (BOU) and she is also a board member of the Association for Physical Education and a local school governor.