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121 Educators providing Publishing courses in London delivered Live Online

Millie Whizz

millie whizz

London

Is it merely to pass exams so we can get to the top schools and universities? Is it to enable us to further our careers? Or is it to help us become well-rounded, independent thinking, confident individuals who are then able to take a full part in society? “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (Nelson Mandela) I don’t claim to have all the answers, but after more than twenty-one years as a teacher, in both, the maintained and the independent sector, (and eight years in the advertising and publishing industry prior to that), one thing is clear: We get one chance and one chance only at education, and teachers get one chance with us. I set up Millie-Whizz to provide an individual, holistic approach to teaching, to complement the excellent work teachers do in schools because sometimes this is not enough. It’s a numbers’ game, after all. The idea was not to provide tutorials which simply focus on doing paper after paper, question after question, in the hope that something would sink in. Millie Whizz is a tutoring service that explains the whys and hows so that pupils not only learn what method they should use to solve a particular problem, but they actually understand the reasoning and are therefore empowered to apply that knowledge. The ethos of Millie Whizz is based upon helping children and young adults to overcome difficulties in their learning so that achieve great results in their school work, their exams and in life. Sometimes it is their fear of learning; sometimes it is their lack of motivation; sometimes it is boredom and lack of inspiration. So it follows then that a person who is happy in their learning will want to learn more. This leads to success in all areas, not just in their education. Feeling successful gives us an enormous boost, which leads to increased happiness and ultimately, to freedom. So how can we apply this freedom to education? The knowledge and understanding pupils gain, empowers them to experiment with formulae and arguments so that they begin to question the “What if…?” Tutoring is not just for those who struggle, but it works equally well for those who need to be stretched in their thinking so that they reach their full potential. If you do what you’ve always done and in doing so, achieve the same level of success each time, wouldn’t you want someone to show you a more effective way of maximizing your results? With global economies opening up and highly qualified people from all over the world wanting a piece of the action, there will, undoubtedly, be more competition than ever in the jobs market in years to come.

Decolonise The Curriculum

decolonise the curriculum

London

Decolonizing the Curriculum Project (DCP) at UoK (funded by Teaching Enhancement Award and led by Dr Suhraiya Jivraj, Senior Lecturer in Law) Students are increasingly demanding a ‘liberated curriculum’ that represents their diversity as we see from #liberatemydegree, ‘Why is My Curriculum White?’ and other movements mentioned above as well as Kent Student Union campaign ‘Diversify My Curriculum’. Also at UoK law and politics students on the Race, Religion and Law module (convened by Dr Suhraiya Jivraj) have relished the opportunity both in workshops and through their assessment to explore both historical and contemporary issues that enable them to acquire ‘consciousness of their own position and struggle’ in society and education. The UoK EDI Project phase II strategy acknowledges this need in affirming that the ‘white curriculum acts as a barrier to inclusivity’ including because ‘it fails to legitimise contributions to knowledge from people of colour’. Phase II therefore seeks to ensure that ‘our curriculum reflects and addresses a range of perspectives’ and asks how this can be operationalised specifically at UoK. Modules like RRL and others in KLS are already operationalising a more inclusive curriculum requiring students to engage with key works from critical race/religion and decolonial studies which offer alternative perspectives to those heteronormative and euro-centric perspectives of white, able-bodied men dominating the western canon. This project will go one significant step further by placing students of colour as well as knowledge produced by people of colour at the centre. Being a student led project is crucial as it empowers them to become change actors and co-producers of knowledge, shaping the agenda and curriculum that seeks to include them. Moreover, it enables them to be ‘assets’ rather than see themselves represented as quantitative data in University diversity reports which does not capture the nuance and complexity of their lived realities. Empowerment for self-determination at the grassroots level is key as is apparent from student led movements that have already effected change in the curriculum. The desire for self and culturally intelligible knowledge is now well documented including in the University of Kent, Student Success (EDI) Project, Phase I:Report 2 ‘Theory and research on race and attainment in UK higher education’ by Hensby and Mitton (2017). This project seeks to operationalise this further and more broadly through the following three interlinked activities: 1) Focus groups: · Up to five stage 3 students will lead focus groups of five to ten BAME students from across the KLS UG programme. · The focus group leaders will form a research team and design the format and questions collaboratively, under the supervision of Dr Jivraj, using naturalistic methods and going through the KLS ethics approval process. 2) Publication of findings: · The data from the focus groups will be collated by the research team and will produce an accessible output such as a ‘manifesto of suggestions’ on making the curriculum more inclusive and a co-authored e-book. · The research team will also be supported in publishing findings via a blog and social media. 3) Student led conference · The workshop committee will organise a half day student led conference to discuss the findings and invite speakers from campaigns such as the NUS #liberatemydegree campaign; Why is My Curriculum White? (based at UCL); Decolonising our Minds SOAS; and the #Rhodesmustfall student movements and at least one academic speaker. Watch this space for further details.