Staff Profile

Jane worked as a teacher of Religious Education in secondary schools before completing a PhD in Education in 2010. Her research interests include the relationship between democracy and education, the role of the arts in young people's political formation and policies relating to the teaching of values in schools - particularly as these intersect with questions of religion and faith. Jane has taught on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Education and currently teaches on the BA Hons Education at Newcastle University.

Jane's research interests include the relationship between democracy and education, the role of the arts in democratic education, and questions of faith, religion and value in schools.

Theoretically, her work has contributed to re-thinking the role of art in the relationship between democracy and education, drawing on the work of Jacques Rancière. Jane has published several papers on this and related themes, as well as a book introducing Rancière's writing to educational researchers. The (im)possibility of democratic education is a key question addressed in her work.

Empirically, her work has explored the influence of arts participation (in non-formal settings including gallery education) on young people's political formation. She has also carried out research with secondary school teachers of Religious Education (RE), Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) on the enactment of a new wave of values education policy in schools.

Methodologically, her work has experimented with arts-based research methods - using young people's art work as a form of image-based elicitation in focus groups and collaborating with a freelance creative writer to support teachers' articulations of their 'imagined futures' as values educators.

Jane has taught across a range of degree programmes in Education at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has developed content for several Education Studies programmes, including modules that explore the relationship between religion and education in contemporary societies, and has contributed to programmes leading to qualified teacher status (QTS). Jane currently teaches on the BA Hons Education at Newcastle, where she contributes to both the dissertation and modules on the philosophy of education, the politics of education and the relationship between religion and education in complex societies.

• Articles

  • McDonnell J. Revisiting Rancière’s 'radical democracy' for contemporary education policy analysis. Educational Philosophy and Theory 2025, 57(6), 575-585.
  • McDonnell J. RE teachers and the shifting landscape of values education in England. British Journal of Religious Education 2023, 45(3), 228-239.
  • McDonnell J. Theoretical approaches to the study of fundamental British values (FBV). PRISM: Casting New Light on Theory and Practice 2021, 3(2), 84-90.
  • Sant E, McDonnell J, Pashby K, Menendez Alvarez-Hevia D. Pedagogies of agonistic democracy and citizenship education. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 2021, 16(7), 227-244.
  • McDonnell J. How do you promote 'British Values' when values education is your profession? Policy enactment of FBV amongst teachers of Religious Education, Citizenship Education and Personal, Social and Health Education in England. Cambridge Journal of Education 2021, 51(3), 377-394.
  • McDonnell, J. is is all about 'having an opinion'? challenging the dominance of rationality and cognition in democratic education via research in a gallery setting. International Journal of Art and Design Education 2018, 37(2), 233-243.
  • McDonnell, J. Political and Aesthetic Equality in the Work of Jacques Rancière: Applying his Writing to Debates in Education and the Arts. Journal of Philosophy of Education 2017, 51(2), 387-400.
  • McDonnell, J. Reimagining the Role of Art in the Relationship between Democracy and Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory 2014, 46(1), 46-58.
  • McDonnell, J. PFI and the Performative Politics of Dissent: Lessons for Democratic Education. Power and Education 2014, 6(3), 307-317.
  • McDonnell, J, Curtis, W. Making space for democracy through assessment and feedback in higher education: thoughts from an action research project in education studies. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 2014, 39(8), 932-948.
  • McDonnell, J. Finding a Place in the Discourse: Film, Literature and the Process of Becoming Politically Subject. Journal of Social Science Education 2014, 13(4), 78-86.
  • Curtis, W, Goodson, A, McDonnell, J, Shields, S, Wyness, R. Learning together and expanding horizons: reflections on a student—lecturer collaborative enquiry. Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences 2012, 4(3), 1-11.
  • Lawy, R, Biesta, G, McDonnell, J, Lawy, H, Reeves, H. ‘The art of democracy’: young people’s democratic learning in gallery contexts. British Educational Research Journal 2010, 36(3), 351-365.

• Authored Book

  • McDonnell J. Reading Rancière for Education: An Introduction. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.

• Book Chapters

  • McDonnell, J. What future for young people's artistic activism?. In: Grasso, M; Bessant, J, ed. Governing Youth Politics in an Age of Surveillance. London: Routledge, 2018.
  • Sant, E, Pais, A, McDonnell, J, Menendez Alvarez-Hevia, D. Social Fantasy vs. Radical Democracy: two competing views of populism and how they challenge education. In: Akbaba, Y; Jeffrey, B, ed. The Implications of ‘New Populism’ For Education. Essex: E&E Publishing, 2017, pp.41-52.