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!
