Joanna Dennis

Dr Joanna Dennis

Senior Lecturer - School of Education

My profile

Interests and expertise

Joanna is an experienced educator with a varied career across secondary, tertiary and higher education, teacher development and education research. Her teaching and research is motivated by issues of social justice, inclusion, democracy and participation.

Joanna’s research  and teaching centres on the politics of education, education policy and the philosophy of education. Her applied interests include the privatisation and marketisation of state education and the emerging role of business and philanthropy, including the potential for forms of community engagement and co-operative pedagogy. Joanna is particularly interested in how political theory relates to contemporary debates in culture, politics and education, specifically in relation to co-operation, competition, individualism and collectivity.

Get in touch

0161 247 1995
Brooks Building

Projects

Joanna has a strong repertoire of research skills developed on a number of projects, including those funded by the Australian Research Council, ESRC, Education Endowment Foundation, Horizon 2020 and HEFCE. These varied opportunities have provided important exposure to a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods, including participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, surveys and arts-based methods.

Interfaith Childhoods: Arts Practice as Method. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australian Research Council. PI: Professor Anna Hickey-Moody. Research Associate, 2018.

Realistic Maths Education. Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Hallam University, Education Endowment Foundation. PI: Professor Yvette Solomon. Research Assistant, 2018

Imagine: connecting communities through research. University of Sheffield, University of Brighton, Durham University, University of Huddersfield, and Economic and Social Reserach Council. PI: Professor Kate Pahl. Research Assistant, 2018.

ITOSIS: Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequality in Society. University of Oxford, European Commission Horizon 2020. PI: Professor Edward Melhuish. Research Assistant, 2017-18.

Stockport Family Model: an evaluation of integrated services. Manchester Metropolitan University, TNS BRMB, Stockport Council, Department for Education. Co-PIs: Dr Harriet Rowley, Dr James Duggan. Research Assistant, 2016-17.

Postgraduate Experience Project: investigating STEM study. Manchester Metropolitan University, Kingston University, Higher Education Funding Council for England. Co-PIs: Dr David Lambrick, Prof Yvette Solomon, Prof Harry Torrance. Research Assistant, 2015.

Teaching

Joanna regularly teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the School of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is an Academic Tutor, Unit Lead and Supervisor on the postgraduate taught programmes, and is specifically involved with MA Education and MA Social Research. 

Supervision

Joanna supervises PhD and EdD research projects in the areas of politics of education, education policy and the philosophy of education.

Joanna would welcome contact from prospective doctoral students who have an interest in the following areas: 

  • Academies and Academisation
  • Privatization/Marketisation of Education
  • Co-operation, collectivity, fellowship
  • Culture, Politics, and Education
  • Innovative qualitative methods/theoretical approaches

Research outputs