by Tracey O'Brien @tob22 In an attempt to fill in less paperwork and do something with much more purpose, more interesting, and more insightful instead, I've thought about all the monitoring and review activities that we carry out in schools. It's all too much. Too much top-down accountability, monitoring instead of trust, review for th...
by Lisa Hannay @lhannay1 Vivienne Porritt and I collaborated on the piece below for a possible submission into a book designed to amplify tiny voices. Now, it didn't get selected but we use the #WomenEd platform to grow a network of empowered women, create impact on the status quo and carve a large dent in the patriarchy! Connect with @WomenE...
by Jess Gosling @JessGosling2 To write this blog, I scrolled through the MANY messages between myself and my #WomenEdTW team (Taiwan), which officially began on 12th August 2021. These messages brought back wonderful memories; particularly of organising events I could never have envisioned being part of. Before setting up this group, I had contacte...
by Vivienne Porritt @ViviennePorritt and Ruth Golding @LearnerLedLdrThe highlight of my decade was being honoured with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list on January 1st. Wouldn't it be great if every day feels even better than this! Most of you will know this was for the impact of #WomenEd and it was wonderful to see the community celebrate toge...
By Lisa Hannay @lhannay1 @WomenEdCanada 2021 saw the collaboration of our Canada networks. From the far West in British Columbia and Alberta to the Prairies of Manitoba, to Central Canada and our team in Quebec, women leaders in Education looked for ways to build our visibility and grow our networks.Our vast geography, expensive travel, and w...
By Vivienne Porritt @ViviennePorritt 2021 has been a roller coaster of a year. I felt marooned from my family who live 300 miles away, from my wonderful sisters in our Global Strategic Leaders' team, and worried for school leaders who carried a very heavy burden.Once again, #WomenEd has been my saviour as I used the available time ...
By Flora Burt @MrsB_FCCT Network Leader @WomenEdEastern 2021 has been a challenging year for all. However, it was also the year that I became a Network Lead for WomenEd and connected with a truly inspirational group of women in education. In recent years, I had engaged with WomenEd, howeve...
By Nancy Lhoest-Squicciarini @NancyinLux1 Although COVID-19 had a dominant presence, January 2021 started with a festive dinner with my family. Yet within weeks, I experienced the greatest loss, the death of my father. He was a man of great wisdom and strength … a no-nonsense type of man. I kept his death private because I did not have the words to...
by Jacqui Brelsford @BrcounsellorJ
On Saturday 23rd October, WomenEd Thailand hosted its first ever international career clinic! Women from around the world shared their expertise, advice, cheerleading, and general awesomeness with aspiring leaders in education. As one of the WomenEd Thailand Network Leaders, it was my responsibility to live-tweet the event and my fingers could not keep up with all the brilliant things being said. Here are my top takeaways in short bitesize tweets:
by Maria @CreativityMrs
Hay muchos obstáculos para la creatividad. Antes pensaba que no tenía tiempo, ni tenía las cosas, ni la inspiración. Busqué por internet y en las revistas y me dejo tan completamente abrumada que no sabía cómo empezar – y por eso, no empecé. Reflexioné sobre si mi falta inicial de creatividad no se basaba en los obstáculos que se me ocurrieron, y por eso no le hice. Las actividades creativas que deseaba tener, a menos que se reconocieran, parecían ser una enorme pérdida de tiempo. Pensé que a menos que estuviera creando un ejemplo para que los niños lo usaran en mi clase, era un ejercicio inútil.
by Maria @CreativityMrs
There are many obstacles to creativity. I used to say to myself that I didn't have the time, or the resources nor the inspiration. Trawling through countless websites and magazines would leave me completely overwhelmed, that I didn't even know where to start—so I didn't! I wonder if my initial lack of creativity wasn't based on the obstacles that I came up with, but with the thought of permission. The creative pursuits I wished to have, unless validated, seemed to be a huge waste of time. I thought that unless I was creating an example for the children to use in my classroom, it was a pointless exercise. And yet, I was encouraging others to be creative, but not giving myself the permission to do the same.
by Punam Mohandas @PunamMohandas
One of the most common scenarios the unexpected COVID-19 situation created globally was to propel students into cyber classrooms, as online learning became the new order of the day. Although e-learning is certainly not new, it has become a more sought-after and viable proposition in recent years as students combine higher studies with simultaneously holding down jobs. However, apart from throwing up several unpalatable prospects such as the lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers and peers and lack of student engagement and motivation, e-learning also highlights unethical student behavior like cheating, plagiarism, or taking help from parents or friends in order to complete assignments.
by Christalla Jamil @ChristallaJ
This year’s International Women's Day 2021 was marked by a campaign focused on 'challenge'. When we support each other, women accomplish amazing things. For me, once again, this was illustrated on Saturday 6th March when the three regional networks that I am honoured to work with, gave a platform to a community of new voices to share how they #ChoosetoChallenge. I would like to extend my thanks to all three #WomenEd regions: @WomenEdSE, @WomenEdEastern and @WomenEdLondon.
by Kerry Jordan-Daus @KerryJordanDaus #IWD2021
International Women’s Day 2021, a call out to challenge, there is a choice to be made. But what is IT I am choosing to challenge?
For me, this is a choice about what would make life fairer. I want to challenge the unfairness that is so deeply embedded in the everyday that IT is not noticed as unfairness. IT is normalised. IT has become learnt behaviour.
by Chris Reddy @brightleadcoach Founder of @brightleadersUK
Confession time!
When I stumbled across @WomenEd a few years back on Twitter, I did wonder what it was all about. Why do women educators need support over men? It’s worth noting, I was brought up around great women. My grandmothers headed up big, beautiful families and were outstanding role models. My mum is a wonderfully kind, caring and strong retired deputy head teacher.
