Dr Joanna Hume

Assistant Professor

School: Communities and Education

I have a first degree in Language and Linguistic Science. Following graduation I completed a PGCE and entered into the primary teaching profession. During my career in mainstream primary schools in the North-East of England I specialised in early years teaching, with a particular interest in forest school and outdoor learning. I completed a Masters in Education in 2011. I joined Northumbria University as a Senior Lecturer in 2016, I have led both the BA (Hons) Primary Education programme and PGCE Teacher Training in School (formerly School Direct). I am currently an Assistant Professor and lead the core Initial Teacher Education programmes at Northumbria. In 2024 I was awarded a PhD in the field of education, with a thesis exploring the ethos and practice of forest school from a posthuman perspective.

Campus Address

Coach Lane Campus West

Email Joanna

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My overarching research interests are forest school, outdoor education, PSHE education and child language development in the context of early years education. My doctorate researched the impact of regular outdoor sessions (specifically, forest school) upon young children.

A book based on my doctoral research entitled 'Theorising the Quiet Power of Forest School' was published by Routledge, Jan 2026.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Meeting in the Forest: Education in a Posthuman Era, Hume, J. 17 Dec 2022, In: Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry
Hearing Children’s Voices in the Forest, Hume, J. 9 Jun 2023, Establishing Child Centred Practice in a Changing World, Bingley, Emerald Publishing
Generating new meanings within a known landscape: Subjective map-making in an urban forest school, Hume, J. 1 Aug 2024
The ‘more-than-digital’ scrapmap: exploring the generative possibilities of digital data (from nature entanglement via digital abstraction to material artefact), Hume, J. 18 May 2023, 6th European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Qualitative Inquiry in the Anthropocene: Affirmative and generative possibilities for (Post)Anthropocentric futures , Portsmouth, University of Portsmouth
Theorising the Quiet Power of Forest School: A Posthuman Framing of Regular, Repeated, Unstructured Practice in Nature, Hume, J. 22 Jan 2026

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: Post Humanism in the Woods: With Dr Jo Hume 2025
Invited talk: Humanist and Post-Humanist Perspectives within Forest School Education. 2025
Invited talk: What’s so special about Forest School? Exploring practice within a new materialist/posthuman paradigm 2025
Oral presentation: The secret diary of laptops: tethers that bind us to the precariousness of academia or ubiquitous epistemic objects in a posthuman story of hope and playfulness? 2025

Qualifications