One woman? That’s too difficult! I am surrounded by a wonderful group of women, in my personal life and at work, who every day inspire me and lift me up. They are wives, mothers, friends, colleagues, teachers, motivators, immovable rocks of strength and resilience. I adore them.
My Irish language in secondary school, Ms McDermott, has had the most influence on me. I was a quiet and withdrawn teenager who lacked confidence. Ms McDermott encouraged me to join our school’s Public Speaking club. She built up my confidence and self-esteem to speak in front of others. This Read more…
My mother, a highly intelligent, was denied schooling in rural Indian village due to her ‘not having a male escort’ in India in the 1950s. In the UK, she tirelessly worked as a seamstress for almost forty years. As a woman with a strong Sikh faith, she viewed work as Read more…
My mother! As an arch feminist she has always taught me to fight for my dreams and those of others, to watch out for the patriarchy and value myself and others. She has always instilled the importance of “not pulling the ladder up after me”. We still have mutual rages Read more…
Maya Angelou, her poetry and writing is where I turn when I need inspiration, support, comfort, reminding of what is important. Her values are, for me, what underpins the reason I find her influential. She was both kind and compassionate whilst also challenging and unafraid to call out oppressive and Read more…
My teacher mother, who taught me to love learning and curiosity about the world. She used to take me on walks and excursions everywhere (so it seemed to me). We would collect any and all items for her Monday Nature table at school over the weekend and I think I Read more…
Claire Breeze is a top flight executive coach and a Zen Buddhist monk. I in terviewed her as part of my PhD research. She taught me how qualities such as contemplation and spirituality can be applied in unexpected cointexts and used for the greater good. Her compassion, humility and dedication Read more…
Professor Miranda Fricker’s work on epistemic injustice has been hugely useful and influential in how I consider which voices are involved in educational discourses and the violence that is served to marginalised groups where those more powerful control the hermeneutic parameters of social understanding.
Margaret Meek has influenced my thinking in the teaching of English. Her contribution to our understanding to the teaching of Literacy, specifically reading, is significant. Margaret’s books on the teaching of reading are still considered some of the most influential in the field. She maintained that ‘children’s joy in the Read more…