Dr Rhiannon Love

Biography

Rhiannon is a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, responsible for the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Religious Education and Philosophy for Children curriculum content.

Prior to this, she gained 17 years’ school teaching experience across the Primary and Secondary age ranges in a variety of different types of schools.  Whilst working in primary education, Rhiannon led Religious Education (RE) and worked closely with the Diocese to support other RE leaders.

In addition to her work with RE, Rhiannon has been involved with Philosophy for Children (P4C) in Primary Schools over the past 16 years, gaining her Level 1, 2 & 3 SAPERE accreditation and in 2014 became an accredited Level 1 Trainer.  She has embedded P4C into the undergraduate and postgraduate Initial Teacher Education programmes at the university, enabling students to achieve their Level 1 Philosophy for Children accreditation. 

You can find Dr Rhiannon Love on LinkedIn - Click Here.

Higher Education Teaching Qualification

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)

Areas of expertise

Rhiannon's main areas of expertise are Philosophy for Children (P4C), Primary Religious Education and LGBTQ+ in Education. Rhiannon is an accredited Thoughtful (formerly known as SAPERE) trainer for P4C and runs whole school training.

Publications

Articles and chapters

• Love, R. (2026) Slowing the Pace, Deepening the Practice: Philosophy for Children as a Pedagogical Tool for Wellbeing. In: Randall, V. and Love, R. (eds.) Pedagogies of Wellbeing in the Primary School. Leeds: Emerald Publishing.
• Randall, V., Love, R. & Hannah-Russell, C. (2026) An Introduction to a Pedagogy of Wellbeing. In: Randall, V. and Love, R. (eds.) Pedagogies of Wellbeing in the Primary School. Leeds: Emerald Publishing.
• Richardson, A., Love, R. (2026) “What I feel very strongly about is the impact the seminar has had on me as a Holocaust Educator, but also the change it has made to me personally” - an evaluation of Vision Schools Scotland’s Seminar for Teachers from Scotland (Lublin, Summer 2025). Evaluation Report, University of Winchester.
• Love, R & Wharton, J. (2025) Can I be myself here? LGBTQ+ Teachers in Church of England Schools. Social Sciences. 14 (10) 590.
• Richardson, A., Love, R., Kirkland, C., McCullouch, J. (2025) “I knew this moment would stay with me for the rest of my life…” Lessons from Auschwitz (Scotland): Evaluation Report (2025). University of Winchester.
• Clarke, AJ, Goto, E. & Love, R. (2025) Philosophy for/with Children (p4wc) and primary education: through the lens of a pre-service teacher reflecting on their practice. childhood and philosophy, 21, 1 - 22.
• Wharton, J. & Love, R. (2025) Outsider positionality: Blurring the boundaries. In Brett, A. & Lee, C. (eds) The Guide to LGBTQ+ Research. Leeds: Emerald Publishing, 115-124.
• Richardson, A., Kirkland, C., Love, R., McCullouch, J. (2023) Difficult to put into words: Lessons from Auschwitz evaluation report. Evaluation Report, University of Winchester.
• Love, R. & Randall, V. (2023) Enabling Dialogic, Democratic Research: Using a Community of Philosophical Enquiry as a Qualitative Research Method. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-17.
• Love, R. (2023) Using Philosophy for/with Children in Initial Teacher Education as a pedagogical approach to challenge neoliberalism in education. In: Kizel, A. (ed.) Philosophy with Children and Teacher Education: Global Perspectives on Critical, Creative and Caring Thinking. London: Routledge.
• Love, R. & Goto, E. (2023) Embedding Philosophy for/with Children in Initial Teacher Education: A Stealth Model. In: Kizel, A. (ed.) Philosophy with Children and Teacher Education: Global Perspectives on Critical, Creative and Caring Thinking. London: Routledge.
• Love, R. (2022) Gareth B. Matthews, The Child’s Philosopher. Precollege Philosophy and Public Practice, 4, 115-119.
• Love, R. & Richardson, A. (2020) Religious Education - What is it trying to do? In: Bower, V. (ed.) Debates in Primary Education. London: Routledge, 168-187.

• Love, R. (2019). Encouraging the teacher-agent: resisting the neo-liberal culture in initial teacher education. Childhood and Philosophy, 15, 1-27.

• Love, R. (2018). Taking it slow: enhancing Wellbeing through Philosophy for Children. In Parecidos de familia. Propuestas actuales en Filosofía para Niños. Family Resemblances. Current Trends in Philosophy for Children. Madrid:Anaya.
• Love, R. (2016) The case for Philosophy for Children in the English Primary Curriculum. Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, 36(1)
• Randall, V. and Love, R. (eds.) (forthcoming) Pedagogies of Wellbeing in the Primary School. Leeds: Emerald Publishing.

Non-refereed articles

• 2015 Primary RE News 61 Thinking about RE: Using Philosophy for Children to enhance the Religious Education provision of Initial Teacher Education
• 2013 Primary RE News 58 Effective learning through linking Religious Education and literacy