Jo Fletcher (academic)

Jo Fletcher
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Canterbury
Thesis	The wider systemic conditions that support reading for 11 to 13 year-old students (2011)
Doctoral advisor	Janinka Greenwood
Academic work
Institutions	University of Canterbury

Josephine Florence Fletcher is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury, specialising in literacy and learning environments.

Academic career

Fletcher completed a PhD titled The wider systemic conditions that support reading for 11 to 13 year-old students at the University of Canterbury. Fletcher then joined the faculty of the University of Canterbury, rising to full professor in 2024. Fletcher supervised Canterbury's first Doctor of Education thesis.

Fletcher's research covers aspects of teaching and learning including literacy in Pasifika students, adult literacy, learning environments and distance learning, and the effects of the Christchurch earthquakes on learning. She has collaborated with Professor John Everatt on investigating innovative learning environments and Covid-19. Fletcher is a research advisor for the Better Start Literacy Approach research project at Canterbury, which is an evidence-based structured literacy approach developed for a New Zealand context, for Years 0 to 4. She is also part of a Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga-funded project with Angus MacFarlane, looking at 'practices of sustenance' for Māori learners. With Niki Davis, she led a Ministry of Education project on e-learning for adult literacy and numeracy, which led to further work on how e-learning could support English literacy for people learning it as a second language.

Fletcher is a member of the advisory board of the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative, which is a government fund established in 2003 to fund research on teaching learning from primary through to tertiary and build research capacity and capability.

Selected works

• Jo Fletcher; Faye Parkhill; Amosa Fa'afoi; Leali'ie'e Tufulasi Taleni; Bridget O'Regan (January 2009). "Pasifika students: teachers and parents voice their perceptions of what provides supports and barriers to Pasifika students' achievement in literacy and learning". Teaching and Teacher Education. 25 (1): 24–33. doi:10.1016/J.TATE.2008.06.002. ISSN 0742-051X. Wikidata Q126950165.
• Jo Fletcher; Karen Nicholas (20 November 2015). "What can school principals do to support students and their learning during and after natural disasters?". Educational Review. 68 (3): 358–374. doi:10.1080/00131911.2015.1114467. ISSN 0013-1911. Wikidata Q125024580.
• Jo Fletcher; Michael Grimley; Janinka Greenwood; Faye Parkhill (April 2012). "Motivating and improving attitudes to reading in the final years of primary schooling in five New Zealand schools". Literacy. 46 (1): 3–16. doi:10.1111/J.1741-4369.2011.00589.X. ISSN 1741-4350. Wikidata Q58204935.
• Jo Fletcher; Janinka Greenwood; Faye Parkhill (April 2010). "Are schools meeting their clients' expectations? Parents voice their perceptions about children learning to read in schools today". Teaching and Teacher Education. 26 (3): 438–446. doi:10.1016/J.TATE.2009.05.011. ISSN 0742-051X. Wikidata Q124175778.
• J. Mackey; N. O’Reilly; C. Jansen; J. Fletcher (18 July 2017). "Leading change to co-teaching in primary schools: a "Down Under" experience". Educational Review. 70 (4): 465–485. doi:10.1080/00131911.2017.1345859. ISSN 0013-1911. Wikidata Q126950173.
• Jo Fletcher; John Everatt (16 March 2021). "Innovative learning environments in New Zealand: Student teachers' perceptions". New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies. 56 (S1): 81–101. doi:10.1007/S40841-021-00195-3. ISSN 0028-8276. PMC 7962423. Wikidata Q126950161.
• Jo Fletcher; Faye Parkhill; Amosa Fa’afoi; Missy Morton (6 April 2006). "Poto He Anga: Collaboration and Consultation in Pasifika Research". Qualitative Research Journal. 6 (1): 36–50. doi:10.1108/14439883200600003. ISSN 1448-0980. Wikidata Q125142342.