Credit: Drazen via Adobe Stock.

18 April 2024

By Olivia Amponsa-Gyasi and Kelly Cummins, Child Development MSc

Since our original conversation in 2022, we recognise that departments at IOE have invited non-white guest speakers to talk or promote their work and have done more to champion inclusion within the university.

It started with an assignment…

Kelly:
Being from a minority background within academic spaces is something you quickly become hyper-aware of, knowing that the way you navigate the space will be different and often more challenging. Exploring these experiences has always been something I was interested in so when I had the opportunity to choose my topic for a Master’s assignment, I knew exactly what to do.

I interviewed Olivia about her experiences as a Black Master’s student at UCL. The importance of this topic became even more apparent after researching systemic racism within higher education institutions and particularly data surrounding Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students’ progression, or lack thereof, within higher education. The statistics were both (more…)

(Image source: Paula Santos via Wikimedia Commons).

22 December 2022

By Arthur Sun, Education Studies BA

*From the 2024/2025 academic year onwards, the Education Studies BA has been renamed the Education, Society and Culture BA.

In September 2022, I took part in the first student-staff exchange between IOE and the Education Science programme at the University of Porto (UPorto) in Portugal. The visit was supported by IOE’s International Office and my department Education, Practice and Society, with the aim of fostering international relationships and piloting a possible short exchange scheme. I was extremely lucky to be selected with four other peers as student representatives from the BA Education Studies. We spent three days in Portugal that included a seminar with Porto staff, leading a day of activities with Porto students and taking a walking tour of the university’s historic campus.

We students were given the autonomy to develop a seminar to be shared with the students in Portugal on the second day of our trip.

As students, we didn’t need to teach, but wanted to share things with the Portuguese students. We knew the engagement of the students would be essential, so we created many engaging games: one guessing song titles and a truth or lie activity taking inspiration from the different colonial histories. We also shared some concrete knowledge with the students such as introducing the colonial histories of the UK and Portugal to demonstrate the different impacts of modern university education.

I personally learnt a lot and have been very inspired by this trip. The following are two key ideas that I want to share:

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(Image source: BullRun via Adobe Stock).

Do you want to research topics that you are passionate about? Do you want to be a better leader?

Perhaps the Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Scholarship is for you!

26 October 2022

By Princess Emeanuwa, Education Studies BA, Laidlaw Scholar 2022-23

*From the 2024/2025 academic year onwards, the Education Studies BA has been renamed the Education, Society and Culture BA.

It is pretty unusual to have the opportunity to work with researchers and experts in their field as a first-year undergraduate; therefore, the Laidlaw Scholarship programme is exceptional. What I have enjoyed so far is not only undertaking a research project (which I will talk about later) but also improving my leadership skills and personal development. Over the course of the scholarship, research projects are completed in the first summer over 6 weeks, and in the second, a Leadership-in-Action experience takes place in challenging environments.

Before I tell you about my experience as a first-year Laidlaw scholar, I want you to know that it’s okay if you are unsure whether you’re a fit for the programme because initially, I wasn’t even planning to apply. I only considered it because Gemma Gronland, who was my incredible tutor and Module lead for Education in an Age of Globalisation, encouraged me to check it out. I  looked at the research project titles, and when I saw the ASPIRES project and their passion for social justice, I was convinced to apply. And here is my first lesson, have an open mind. An open mind, for me, is the precursor to taking risks that could pay off in the end. After all, I had I not been open to Gemma’s suggestion; I would never have got the opportunity to work with the awesome ASPIRES team.

Now about my experience on the programme:

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