Q&A with Professor Joseph Mintz

Professor Joseph Mintz is a Professor of Inclusive Education, and Programme Leader of the Early Years Education (Online) MA.

What is the focus of your research and what benefits do you hope your insights will bring?

My work covers a range of areas focusing on inclusion, special educational needs, teacher education for inclusion and educational technology. Lots of my projects have had an early years component – for example current work on using machine learning and autism has involved work with children in reception classes in special schools in London.

I am also involved with two projects looking at early years education in Hong Kong, one focused on early years leadership for inclusion and one on transitions for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from early years settings to primary schools.

What attracted you to take up your position at IOE?

I was interested in the breadth of teaching and research across IOE and the opportunities to learn more about innovations and new ideas in education, and to contribute to developments in the field.

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

I initiated a SEND pathway in the Primary (ages 3-11) Post Graduate Certificate in Education in 2015 which is still running. This offers students setting out on their initial teacher education programmes, who will go on to work with early years and primary age children, an opportunity to learn more about how to effectively include children with SEND in mainstream classrooms.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your students?

I think it’s the understanding about how the same piece of theory or research evidence can be applied in different ways in different contexts – different classes or groups of children or individual children. So it’s about better understanding the way in which theory relates, on the ground, to professional practice, in real life.

How do you think being in London benefits your work?

We have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with a whole range of internationally renowned experts at UCL, not just in early years education, but in curriculum, pedagogy, EdTech, and really the whole spectrum of educational enquiry.

Another thing is the international complexion here at IOE and UCL more generally. There is so much international work going on all the time, and collaborations with international partners. It is something that influences our teaching and we are increasingly aiming for more international perspectives in the curriculum we present to students, which I think can be really important both for UK and international students on our programmes.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

A key thing is the opportunity to work with students from a range of backgrounds, with a range of personal and professional experiences, and to learn with them. I think that we as academics do have something to offer students but we also learn so much from their ideas and perspectives as well.

What might it surprise people to know about you?

I spent the first ten years of my life living in Glasgow – so I had first-hand experience of the Scottish education system for early years and primary!

What other subjects outside of your area of specialism interest you?

I am developing a particular interest in educational leadership – this is one of the specialisms in the Centre for Educational Leadership, and I am learning more and more about current debates around educational leadership – for inclusion, for early years, and the international and cultural dimensions of this, which is really fascinating.

Portrait of Joe Mintz

Professor Joseph Mintz’s research profile

Courses and teaching 

Last updated on 29 November 2021.