Welcome to the Education and Community Development Programme Leaders Blog.

I set up this blog last week in response to the first of our Education and Community Development Seminars. The speaker at the first seminar was Dr Sanjay Sharma whose subject was Critical Pedagogy.

I hope the blog will open another space for critical pedagogy. In addition, like the seminar series, I hope the blog will provide programme leadership to current students and to students planning to enter this exciting field of academic study.

Hopefully I can inspire you to invest in your studies with us at UEL both for the rewards the investment will bring, and out of sheer curiosity about the subject you are studying. In particular, I hope that my blog will make you curious about how, through education we can 'develop' our communities, locally and globally.

Having opened the space last week, I think I was a bit confused about what to put in it. On reflection, I realise that I wanted to write this blog because I so rarely have any contact with many EDUCOM students (which is how we tend to refer to Education and Community Development students) through teaching. This is because I do not lead or teach on any of your core modules at present.

The modules that I lead and teach on are: ED1015 Diaspora Communities in the UK and ED1010 Children in Their Social Contexts at level one; and ED3022 Gender Security and Education for All at level three. These are all options on the programme. EDUCOM students don't have to take them but they are among the options you can select (see programme structure for more information about cores and options).

I have been leading ED1011 Children and Languages as well, but my colleague Ms Ratha Perumal will be leading that module in future. Ratha used to lead Diaspora Communities in the UK before she went on sabbatical this semester with funds she had won for her research on learner autonomy. This arrangement better reflects our different areas of knowledge, experience and interest.

I know some of you because you are taking, or have taken modules that I lead and because I may have read some of your application forms. If I have read your application forms, it is because as well as being programme leader for Education and Community Development, I am also the Admissions Tutor for the Cass School of Education undergraduate programmes. I think these two roles (Programme Leader for Education and Community Development and Undergraduate Admissions Tutor) go well together as the admissions tutor role, is a community development role that involves welcoming undergraduate students into the Cass School of Education which is a community that includes students doing postgraduate degrees in research and teacher training as well as undergraduates.

The Cass School of Education is just one of the University of East London's 10 Schools. The others are: Architecture and the Visual Arts (AVA), the Business School, the School of Combined Honours, the School of Computing, Information Technology and Engineering, the Graduate School, the School of Health and Bioscience, the School of Law, the School of Psychology, the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies. Together these schools provide students at UEL with an exciting range of subjects to explore and enjoy. They make UEL an environment that stimulates my imagination and inspires me with hope that solutions to a range of contemporary challenges can be found.

I should have met all single honours students at Induction when you started at UEL and we will meet again on that day in July when continuing single honours students come in to choose their modules for the next year. Apart from that, I have very little contact with most of you so I hope this blog provides another space for discussing the programme with you. I will try to keep you informed about forthcoming changes to the programme and suggest events to attend. I will also tell you about volunteering and research opportunities and try to inform you about all sorts of resources that you may find useful.

I hope you will also use the space provided by the blog to dialogue with me about the programme. You may also have some other good ideas about how to use this space.

In addition to the 145 students currently studying for the single honors BA Education and Community Development, there are also a lot of students combining Education and Community Development with other subjects. There is a total of 31 EDUCOM combined honours degrees!

As I said, it is because I don't actually meet with many of you studying Education and Community Development as combined honors that I want to use this blog to talk with you about the programme you are studying. I want to use the space to explain the way the programme works and answer your questions about the programme, studying for the programme and making decisions about what to do next.

I also hope that the blog will be a way of staying in touch with the wider community that starts with UEL's other Schools, where some of you are also studying, and includes the wide range of individuals and organisations who are our co-learners because they provide placement and volunteering opportunities as well as subjects for us to research.

If you have read through this posting please leave me a comment, question or suggestion. Let me know how I can support you with studying for this programme. I am looking forward to hearing from you. If you don't want to leave a comment on the blog, you can always send me an email at a.m.ogunsola@uel.ac.uk instead.

VOLUNTEER RESOURCE PERSONS NEEDED TO SUPPORT BUSINESSES IN GHANA!!

LOCATION: Ghana (various regions in Ghana)
DURATION: 14 day trips
TEAMS: Aiming to send 3 groups of 12 RPs over 3 months
TRIP DATES: May 3rd – 17th 2008; June 7th – 21st; July 12th – 26th 2009

CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF JOB:

The African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) through its SEEDA [Supporting Entrepreneurs and Enterprise Development in Africa] Programme has signed a contract for the provision of support and businesses advising services to its clients running businesses in Ghana.

SEEDA is an enterprise development programme that has been running since 2006 and has already sent over 80 volunteer Resource Persons (RP) to Ghana and Sierra Leone.

We are looking to send out 37 diaspora volunteer Resource Persons to work with entrepreneurs in Ghana by August 2009 to be sent in groups of 12 over three months.

The overall purpose of SEEDA is ‘To develop accessible, affordable and co-ordinated business development services nationwide through harnessing domestic and diaspora resources, and to contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for entrepreneurship’ by working with Africa based entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and create jobs. (http://www.afford-uk.org/).

PERSON SPECIFICATION: Volunteer Resource Person (Business Adviser)
Essential:
1. Experience of supporting people within a business mentoring, coaching or advising context.
2. Experience and understanding of cultural diversity and the ability to work with people from a range of different cultures.


KNOWLEGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Proven business advising, mentoring or coaching skills to entrepreneurs or companies
- Proven ability to deliver financial management, business planning, access to credit or business strategy training to small businesses
- Ability to design, deliver and evaluate training workshops and mentoring sessions and experience of doing so
- Ability to help business owners identify and develop their staff through training so as to gain relevant skills to sustain the growth of higher performing businesses.
- Ability to liaise with strategic partners including financial institutions, government departments, co-operative societies etc to influence their policy and practice and experience of doing so.
- Ability to lobby at a high level including with the media for the needs of the clients
- Good communication skills and ability to work collaboratively with clients and stake holders
- Willingness to be included in the Resource Pool which is aimed at continuing engagement with our Resource Persons over and above the trips to Ghana and participating in development awareness in the UK.
- Knowledge of developing a virtual mentoring programme will be highly attractive but not essential.

Pre-requisites to joining SEEDA:

1. That you will work under a signed contract with AFFORD detailing roles and responsibilities on both parties.
2. That you will pay the requisite RP fees to AFFORD as follows:
(These fees go towards providing unrestricted funds needed to develop the programme)
• £500 for new RPs never before been on a SEEDA trip
• £250 for RPs who have previously been on any SEEDA trip
• All RPs will pay an additional deposit of £50 refundable after each RP has submitted required reports and to cover any damages.
• (Each RP will receive an allowance to cover their meals and subsistence costs for 14 days. AFFORD will cover air travel and accommodation expenses in country under terms and conditions that will be explained during interviews)
3. Key Dates that shortlisted and successful applicants MUST attend:
• Half day interview & assessment date: April 4th 2009 in London (location to be confirmed)
• Pre-departure meetings: These must be attended prior to travelling abroad.
• May team: 5.30 – 8.30pm: Thursday April 16th and April 23rd 2009
• June team: 5.30 – 8.30pm: Thursday May 14th and May 21st 2009
• July team: 5.30 – 8.30pm: Thursday June 18th and June 25th 2009

APPLICATION PROCESS

1. Send an expression of interest in the form of an application letter and CV that clearly describes how you meet the person specification above.
2. Please specify clearly which month you would be available to travel.
3. Application deadline: MARCH 25TH 2009 1700H UK TIME
4. Send all applications to seeda@afford-uk.org
5. SEEDA will respond to all shortlisted applicants by MARCH 30th 2009.
6. All shortlisted applicants will be invited to a half day assessment and interview on Saturday APRIL 4TH 2009.
7. If you have not heard back from SEEDA by MARCH 30th please consider that on this occasion your application was not successful.
8. Failure to send your application to seeda@afford-uk.org may result in your application not being shortlisted.

SEEDA Programme Officer
seeda@afford-uk.org

Education and Community Development Seminars

Venue: University of East London Stratford Campus, London E15 4LZ.

Link for Directions and Maps

Please contact Abiola Ogunsola if you would like to attend: a.m.ogunsola@uel.ac.uk

PROGRAMME:

Wednesday 13 of May 2009

Maisha Solutions: independent learning and the empowerment of young people

Toyin Agbetu writer, film director, poet and the founder of Ligali, the Pan African human rights based organisation where he is head of social and education policy, will screen and discuss (a shortened version of) his latest film, Maisha Solutions in which he shares the results of his three year journey across three continents in search of solutions to the many problems African people currently face as a result of Maafa. Rejecting the classic ten point plan method, Maisha Solutions instead features contributions from various voices across the world with a strong emphasis placed upon independent learning and the empowerment of young people and women.

As this will be the final seminar in the series, and because it will include a screening, the seminar will begin at 6.30 and end at 8.30

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Wednesday 18 March 2009

'Critical Pedagogy'

Dr Sanjay Sharma from the School of Social Sciences at Brunel University discussed critical pedagogy, the politics of teaching and researching critically, with a focus on ‘race’ and multiculture.
Dr Sharma is the author of Multicultural Encounters (2006) and "Teaching Diversity: im/possible pedagogy" in Policy Futures in Education 4(2): 203-16.
He also the co-editor of the online 'race' journal darkmatter - http://www.darkmatter101.org

Wednesday 25 March 2009

'Developing Community for Education: An ELBWO Story'.

Maame Ama Gueye, Founding Member of East London Black Women’s Organisation (ELBWO) will look back to ELBWO's origins 30 years ago, and to the social conditions out of which it grew, in order to contribute to telling the story of ELBWO and to provide a context for theorising a wide range of contemporary issues to do with: African diaspora community in Britain; community action for education; African women and the women's movement.

In addition to being a founding member of ELBWO Maame Ama Gueye has also worked for the organisation and has been a long serving management committee member of ELBWO. Her presentation will take the form of a dialogue with Kenyah Nyamache MSc., UKCP (director of the Nyamache Family Consultation Centre) who will be helping the audience to explore the contemporary significance of the ELBWO story.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

'Schools as communities of learning which guarantee equality and justice for all our children'.

In this seminar, Gerry German, founding member and director of CEN (( http://www.compowernet.org/) will discuss the implications of CEN’s research into the extent and character of school exclusions for schooling in Britain.

Gerry will also ask participants in this seminar to consider making their own enquiries into exclusions and truancy data in the boroughs where they live, as well as into the extent to which their local schools reflect Britain's multi-ethnic, multicultural, multilingual and multifaith society in terms of (a) governance (b) staffing (c) enrolment (d) setting and examination entries (e) curricula and teaching resources (f) parent participation (g) student councils (h) school exclusions and (i) academic outcomes. These could be subjects for students’ independent research projects. Facts to be considered: annually there are about 9000 permanent exclusions, 50,000 fixed term exclusions and 9 million half-days lost through truancy. 90,000 pupils are absent daily.

Communities Empowerment Network (CEN) was established in 1999 to provide advice, support and representation for people experiencing problems in education and employment, especially exclusion from schools. 95% of CEN’s clients are from the black communities.

Wednesday 6 May 2009

'Ipaja Community Link and Community Development Field Trips to Nigeria'

Yomi Oloko, of Development Impact for Nigeria (a UK based Nigerian Diaspora organisation that aims to mobilise Nigerians in the Diaspora to support development in Nigeria - http://www.difn.org.uk/) will discuss making field trips to Nigeria to support DIFN's work with Ipaja Community Link in Lagos - http://ipajacommunitylink.blogspot.com/ .

Started this Blog today because it is the day after the first of the Education and Community Development Study Seminars.

Our speaker was at the seminar was Dr Sanjay Sharma who came to talk about Critical Pedagogy. Critical Pedagogy turned out to be an ideal topic with which to start the seminar series. It has certainly inspired me to get this blog started at last.

Dr Sharma is the author of Multicultural Encounters (2006) and "Teaching Diversity: im/possible pedagogy" in Policy Futures in Education 4(2): 203-16. He also the co-editor of the online 'race' journal darkmatter - http://www.darkmatter101.org

Dr Sharma's talk about critical pedagogy focused on the politics of teaching and researching critically, with a focus on ‘race’ and multiculture. His presentation was based on 6 provocations for 'Thinking about Critical Pedagogy from an Anti-racist/non-Eurocentric perspective'. In exploring these provocations, Dr Sharma has certainly helped us to open a space in which we can go on to review our programme's teaching and learning content and practice; and to examine its role in the lives of our students and the wider community as well as the theoretical and philosophical principles which inform its content and pedagogies.

The aim of this seminar series is to bring speakers with specialist knowledge to the Cass School of Education to dialogue with students and scholars across the University as well as the wider community about issues that are (or should be) of contemporary significance and concern. We are inviting speakers to share with students, scholars and the wider community the research they are doing or planning, as well as their thoughts on the research required in the area of their specialism.

Scholars will want to attend these seminars to hear about, and comment on developments in the field; to inform their own work and to make links across disciplines and the community we serve.

Students should find these seminars a stimulating point of reference and learning for their own research projects and, because speakers will be asked to comment on the implications of their work for community development we hope that these seminars will build links between scholars and students at the university and the wider community that it is our mission to serve.

The seminars are scheduled for Wednesday afternoons between 4 and 5.30 at the Stratford Campus of the University of East London.