Show Notes

In this final episode of Series 2, we were privileged to speak to the inspirational Vivienne Porritt (@ViviennePorritt). Vivienne is a former headteacher and the national leader of WomenEd (@WomenEd) which campaigns for equitable balance in terms of gender and ethnicity at leadership level in education.

We certainly learnt a lot from Vivienne who spoke to us at length about the purpose of WomenEd and its global impact. Her drive and passion for fairness shone throughout the interview – by making women ‘believe’, we really feel that the WomenEd movement is empowering women and making a difference to society’s views on educational leadership. We found Vivienne a very humble, wise and passionate professional who cares deeply about making a difference.

Here’s a break-down of our conversation with Vivienne complete with time-stamps:

• How does Vivienne explain views on creating a world where ‘normal doesn’t exist’? (4:18)
• What does Vivienne think about the impact of labelling of individuals/students as ‘normal’ in schools? (7:16)
• What does Vivienne believe is the best way to go about changing peoples’ mind-set when it comes to seeing people as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’? (8:35)
• How does Vivienne explain the movement WomenEd and what does she say that it sets out to do? (10:22)
• What does Vivienne say about the challenges that faced the WomenEd movement on Twitter? (12:15)
• What evidence does Vivienne have to suggest there is an imbalance in leadership roles for women in education? (15:31)
• What does Vivienne say about the international interest in the WomenEd movement and which countries are already involved? (21:57)
• What success stories does Vivienne give to show the power of the WomenEd movement?  (23:51)
• How does Vivienne explain the role of the national leaders of the WomenEd team? (26:18)
• What advice would Vivienne give to young female teachers who aspire to lead in education in the future? (28:13)
• How does Vivienne say listeners can get involved in the WomenEd movement? (32:23)

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Staffroom and find Vivienne’s educational ideas as inspirational as we did. Please connect with Vivienne and the WomenEd movement on Twitter and have a look at their website, www.womened.org – let’s get involved and remove those labels! After all, there’s no such thing as normal!

We wish Vivienne all the best for 2019 and the growing success of the WomenEd movement.

This is the final episode of Series 2 – see you again in the new year for more of The Staffroom!

Jamie, Michael and Tessa

Twitter:

@XpatEducator

@Michael_Royall

@tessa_johnson2