About Jo

Dr Jo Sell is a highly experienced Teacher, Governor and Teacher Trainer, Conference Speaker and Researcher having been specialising for over three decades in what is now called ‘relationships, sex and health education’ (RSHE).

Education & Training

Qualifications:

• Certificate in Education issued by University of London, Institute of Education, including Qualified teacher status.

• Return to teaching qualification following a parental break.

• PSHE CPD qualification.

• First Class Honours Degree in Education, University of London, Institute of Education.

• PhD, UCL Institute of Education.

Additional Training Received

• Professionals training with Newham young people’s sexual health service

• Culturally aware SRE training with Newham Asian Woman’s Project,

• Abortion training with Education for Choice,

• SRE\RSE courses with Romance Academy and Evaluate.

• Train-the-trainers courses for the FPA Speakeasy course and Delay course

Professional Experience

Teaching

Jo taught for 10 years in mainstream and SEND settings, before taking a parental break. When she returned to teaching she worked for various charities delivering RSE in mainstream and SEND secondary schools and community settings. Working with others in Newham she helped to set up the Newham Interfaith sexual Health Forum (NewISH) and the Faith Relationships and Young People (FRYP) website with a grant from the DfE. During that time she:

• Developed schemes of work, lesson plans and lesson resources for secondary schools.

• Delivered RSE lessons as part of a regularly delivered, spiral curriculum, or during individual ‘drop down’ days for mainstream schools. Supporting and advising teachers and other professionals

• Advised schools, on RSE policy and practice.

• Organised, with others, national and local conferences for those interested in RSE (including community leaders, faith leaders, teachers, politicians and young people).

• Headed up the development of a website in partnership with local sexual health providers, local education advisors, community groups and others, with a grant from the NHS.

• Involved with training carried out for health professionals and those in community settings, helping them to contextualise their practise around sexual health, in partnership with sexual health providers.

Research

Jo has spent a considerable amount of time with Student focussed research, which can be read in full at the link below

Teacher Training

Using her teaching and research experience Jo has been able to train teachers across London & the East of England

• Lecturing to UCL education degree students as part of their Citizenship stream.

• Developing research-based thinking and practise, concerning what is seen as high quality, faith-sensitive and student-sensitive RSHE. Demonstrating how it may aid schools in fulfilling the requirements for them to provide SMSC, support the Prevent Strategy and teach fundamental British values alongside other Ofsted requirements as part of CPD.

• Providing ITT, whole school, specialist and bespoke training.

As part of her role as Newham RSHE Advisor working with others in the P/RSHE Partnership (since 2019)

• Working with parents, who may be resistant to some aspects of RSE being taught.

• NQT training

• New to RSHE training for RSHE leaders

• Training teachers in London and the East of England as part of the DfE Train the Trainers RSHE training sessions to aid the implementation of the New RSHE Guidance (around 350 schools)

• Develop and carry out training for Governors, including, their responsibilities concerning RSHE under the DfE guidance for RSHE (2019), the equality act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty (DfE, 2014).

Campaigning and national consultations

• Interviewed by Sir Alasdair Macdonald for his report “Independent Review of the proposal to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education statutory” (DCSF, 2009)

• Given written evidence to the Government’s Education Committee, for their Life lessons: PSHE and SRE in schools, report.

• Taken part in the government consultation on RSHE under Ian Bauckham (2016).

• Presented to the All Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society, advocating the need for good quality RSE, outlining some of the work being carried out in this area and also given guidance to the group.

• Involved with discussions with the DfE and Ofsted, concerning RSHE generally and RSHE and SEND provision.

Conferences

Presented papers at a number of conferences including:

• The International Conference on Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC), a paper entitled, ‘RSE an Issue of Human Rights’.

• The Sex Education Forum (SEF) conference for independent schools.

• The British Educational Research Association (BERA) conference on: Statutory Relationships and Sex Education: issues of cultural and moral diversity.

• BERA conference 2021

• BERA conference 2023

The BERA conference ‘Statutory Relationships and Sex Education: issues of cultural and moral diversity (Summer, 2019)’ was in Birmingham at the height of the demonstrations against the teaching of RSHE especially around LGBTQ issues.

Extensive community consultations carried out by Jo and others as part of the Newham RSHE Partnership in 2019/2020, have further informed the evolution of the faith and student-sensitive approach to RSHE, developed as a result of her research. This approach has been adopted in Newham to help to ensure that RSHE is sensitive to the background of all students, including pupils from faith or LGBTQ backgrounds in line with Government guidance (DfE, 2019 pp 4 & 12) and has been shared with hundreds of schools in London and the East of England, as part of the DfE RSHE training for teachers.

Jo completed her PhD in 2019 with a thesis entitled ‘Faith, Relationships and Sex Education: Giving voice to young people of different faiths and none in regard to relationships and sex education’.

Using only student voices, she explored young people’s expectations for good quality RSHE. The thesis also investigated what, according to pupils, might be the characteristics of faith-sensitive RSHE and if it was an appropriate approach for the delivery of RSHE in the classroom, especially, but not exclusively, in areas of high religious observance.

In January 2021 Jo’s academic paper ‘Faith-sensitive RSE in areas of low religious observance: Really?’ was published in Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning Journal.

Extracts of the paper in Sex Education Journal can be found here