by Christalla Jamil @ChristallalJ

I graduated from teaching when I was 36 years old. I have been in education for seventeen years now, nine of which have been as a headteacher. I commenced my career in teaching in a maintained primary school in Palmers Green, North London. I was a teacher with TLR2b responsibilities and Training School responsibilities. I became a Consultant Leading Teacher and an Advanced Skills Teacher whilst in my first school. I trained all NQTs in Science for the Borough of Enfield for 8 years too! This allowed me to support school improvement and develop a hunger for leadership.

by Lucy Flower @MrsLFlower

After my post on ‘Forming an Opinion’ I had some incredible responses, particularly from the #WomenEd community. Most shocking was the article I read from BYU, ‘When Women Don’t Speak’.

It transpires that simply having a seat at the table does not mean having a voice.

The study conducted by Professor Jennifer Preece, Professor Olga Stoddard and Professor Christopher Kravitz on mixed gender groups of women and men, found that when asked to make a majority decision, the perspectives of influence meant that women were routinely interrupted, had unequal talking time, and as a result were seen as less influential in shaping the direction of the decision making in the group.

By Angeline Aow @angeaow

Recent global events have ignited an international call-out for educational institutions to take action towards becoming anti-racist, to decolonise curricula, address systemic racism and do more than simply declare that they believe in diversity and inclusion.

The rise of nationalism in many parts of the world, the inequities Covid-19 has exposed and the advocacy of the #BlackLivesMatter movement following the death of George Floyd, have ignited personal and institutional learning about social justice issues across the globe. 

by Lulu Oragano @LuluOragano

Senior Leader: Welcome back, I’ve put your timetable on your desk.

Me: Oh thanks. Oh, but I’m teaching Citizenship?

Senior Leader: Yeah, you’re brilliant, you can teach anything.

Meant as compliment, very few teachers deliberately want a woman returning from having a baby to feel unwelcome, undervalued or side-lined in anyway, but it may happen without realising.

by #WomenEd Global Strategic Leaders @WomenEd

Tickets are now available for our 1st global online unconference! 4 sessions between 2nd October to 4th October mean we can cover our 4 campaigns and time zones for all of our 30 networks!  We are confirming contributors as we type and, if we couldnt fit you in, we are asking you to record a video which will be on our YouTube channel and which will be played from the dates of the unconference. we want to make this as inclusive as possible and to show the wonderful community to which we all belong. 

by Lulu Oragano  @LuluOragano

Jan: So, I was being serious when I asked- do you want to job share?

Me: Yes, I would love to.

Jan: Let’s do it.

And so we did….

I was the Head of Drama in a Secondary school in South London and Jan was the Head of Visual and Performing Arts. Having returned from her maternity leave she had requested to work part-time, wanting the benefits of keeping her senior middle leader role, whilst also spending time with her new baby.

 by Ben Hobbis @MrBHobbis

I think I’ve always been an ally. But I don’t think I realised this until this academic year. 

So, what is an ally? An ally is any person that actively promotes and aspires to advance the culture of inclusion through intentional, positive and conscious efforts that benefit people as a whole (Atcheson, 2018). It is important to remember gender equality is a matter that affects us all and reducing gender inequality is something that we all need to work on. Men can do this by being an ally.

by Charlotte Belmore @charliebelmore

The area of ‘white privilege’ is the uncomfortable elephant in the room that is not going away anytime soon. The idea of racism for many conjures up images of angry white men shouting offensive slurs with many seeing it as something visible and easy to spot. However, this is not the case as modern racism is more subtle and presents itself in ways that you might not expect.

by Cecile Halliday @SuttonPrepDH

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad came to my attention through different avenues. Firstly, tweets from @nourishedschool and @WomenEd so this prompted ordering the book. It then popped up again after some unconscious bias training from a Canadian course facilitator who directed us to the book for further work but it was presented as a workbook. Even though I had the book at home ready for my pile of holiday reading, I went and asked for the “workbook” that had been ordered as a follow up from the training. It was only when it was in my hand that I realised it was in fact the same thing… The book …. and this “workbook” that was clearly a book.

by Claire Nicholls @bristol_teacher

In the @WomenEdBookclub chat led by Angie Browne (@nourishedteacher) on Layla F. Saad’s ‘Me and White Supremacy’ workbook, we discussed key learning, silence and complicity, the discomfort of white privilege and how feminism neglects Black women and other women of colour. My reflections on this were very personal and made me realise how far I’ve come on the journey of anti-racism but crucially, how far I’ve got left to go.

by Lindsay Patience @Mumsyme

I recently replied to a question on social media from someone returning after maternity to a Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) asking if it was normal to have your TLR payment reduced if you reduced your working hours.

The query was posted in a Facebook group “MTPT Project – Connect!” which is a forum for teachers before, during or after parental leave. Of course the poster was surprised by the situation where she was still expected to complete 100% of her Teaching and Learning Responsibility but would only be paid 90% of the pay allowance.

by Raphael Moss @mrrmoss

A conversation I had with the inspirational Vivienne Porritt was the catalyst for me to seek feedback from staff who had benefited from flexible or part-time working.

Over the years, in my privileged position as Headteacher, I have consciously made the effort to try and accommodate requests for flexibility or part-time working. It’s part of the bigger picture of what it means to really support well-being; how the overarching ethos and culture of a school means far more to people’s well-being than any tokenistic add-ons such as free tea bags in the staffroom.

by Julia Knight   @KnightWilliams

In December 2019, I took a bold decision to move on from my current school. I like and follow the Twitter hashtag, 10% braver (inspiring women from @WomenEd) but for me, it was more akin to feeling and being 97% braver. So much felt at stake.

But it wasn’t the first time that I had to be brave. I stepped away from leadership in 2016 when the demands of being a mum were no longer compatible with the demands of being in Leadership. My second son’s first words were in Thai- akin to the number of hours spent away from him after a mere six weeks maternity leave.

by @BaarNomad

We spend the first part of our lives having little or no say and we accept this because we are raised to think it is the only way. But is this really true? Should being a dependent mean having no autonomy? Should being a child mean you have no choice or voice?

When I was a kid, I was that little rebel, that kid that cherished the invite to participate in the decision making. I didn’t always like being told what to do. And when I felt the rules of our house and family were restricting my independence, I would argue and fight to have my voice heard. I felt that I was far more mature than people perceived me to be. My mum would often remind me that there are other children in the household that have to follow the same rules. I would argue that I am an individual and that certain rules shouldn’t apply to me or make sense to me. Needless to say this did not go down well with my African parents.

by Annelouise Jordan @Leazy84  Based on @WomenEdBookClub discussion.

The Lost Girls, by Charlotte M. Woolley, truly redefined me as a teacher and, when I say redefined, I truly mean it.

Fact - science is sexist. Charlotte writes about the sexism found in science with reference to the ‘scientific evidence’ published in typical women’s magazines such as ‘Playboy’ with the headlines ‘Do men cheat on their women? The science says yes!’ So if science is sexist then so are we, most of us rely on science, we listen to the scientists, government advisors link closely with scientists. This therefore is extremely damaging to society and even us as educators.To know it is sexist automatically made me think to myself, am I really certain of the things I believe to be true?