Classic

The Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality Centre aims to challenge everyday racism and structural race inequalities in education through research, evidence-based practice and the professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers nationally and internationally.

Disability impacts 1 in 5 people globally. Disability is a complex, deep, and broad lived experience that is often misunderstood and under-represented. Elizabeth Wright knows this because of her own lived experience with limb difference. An activist, speaker and consultant, Elizabeth believes that education is the key to creating a more inclusive, accessible and welcoming world for all disabled people.

Through the use of story in her writing, workshops, resources and speaking, Elizabeth takes her audience on challenging and insightful journeys. Through consultation Elizabeth supports schools/businesses/organisations to address their structures and cultures to make sure that they understand what inclusion looks like for disabled people that they may engage with every single day, i.e., employees, clients, customers, and students. Elizabeth believes it is possible to make every space and organisation disability friendly, and she wants to help you achieve this.

How can you work with Elizabeth to make a positive impact on disability at your organisation? Book her to speak at your next event. Book her to deliver her series of “What is Disability?” “Issues Disabled People Face” and “Be a Better Disability Ally” workshops. Book an initial consultation call to discuss what needs you have and to discover how she can make your organisation a place and space that all disabled people would want to be a part of.

Elizabeth is also editor of Conscious Being publication on Medium. It is a publication that promotes disabled women’s voices and pays disabled women writers to contribute. You can support Conscious Being paying their writers through Patreon. Elizabeth is also editor of Disability Review Magazine.

Elizabeth is a Paralympic medalist. In more recent years she has become a global inspirational speaker on disability, character, and resilience, culminating in her TEDx talk – Emily SENDs Her Love.

Founded in April 2020 by two passionate male primary teachers, Matt Withers and Mike Keys, Men Teach Primary is on a mission to ensure that one day every child has the opportunity to be taught by a male primary school teacher.

Their purpose is to create a global support network for men to share and celebrate their passion for primary teaching. They have three core values: to celebrate men who teach primary, to empower men to challenge damaging stereotypes and ultimately inspire the next generation of male primary teachers.

We are a network of LGBT+ teachers and leaders, empowering us to be authentic in schools, colleges and universities, to support students and to be an advocate for increasing LGBT+ visibility in our education system. Launched in 2018, we have already seen a range of successes including national recognition from the DfE, investment from a large publisher and four successful leadership programmes where 75% of participants have achieved promotions in their schools.

We are affecting real change for teachers and leaders in order to make schools more inclusive. We use our links with universities to share research into being ‘out’ at work in schools and colleges. Our Proud Leadership and LGBTed Leadership programmes support LGBT+ teachers who need our guidance – including coaching and mentoring – with the aim to be the ‘go to’ provider of leadership development for LGBT+ educators.

The first LGBTed book, ‘Big Gay Adventures In Education’ – edited by co-founder and director Daniel Tomlinson-Gray – was released in early 2021. It contains 24 unique and empowering accounts by ‘out’ teachers and students of ‘out’ teachers, showing the importance of visible and authentic LGBT+ role models in schools. With contributions by Andrew Moffatt MBE, Sue Sanders, David Lowbridge-Ellis MBE, Adele Bates and Hadley Stewart, it is unique and unmissable.

Let’s be the role models we needed at school.

Gendered Intelligence (GI) is a trans-led charity working across the UK.

Our mission is to increase understandings of gender diversity.

Our vision is of a world where people are no longer constrained by narrow perceptions and expectations of gender, and where diverse gender expressions are visible and valued.

We work with the trans community and those who impact on trans lives; we particularly specialise in supporting young trans people aged 8-25.

Institute for Educational & Social Equity is a specialist Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Institute. We are the only independent Tertiary level institution of its kind in the UK.

We are a Google for Education institution, and a member of the UK Register of Learning Providers – Registration number: 10092202

Our services are available to any organisation or institution interested in developing and/or implementing research-led or research-informed interventions, which is our USP.

We offer a range of services, built on three pillars: research, capacity development and institutional support.

We work with clients on single or intersectional concerns, to strengthen individual and organisational understandings, and to secure improvements to practice and outcomes.

We believe every young person should grow up feeling confident about their looks. That’s why we’ve developed Confident Me, a set of evidence-based resources for teachers and schools aimed at 11-14 year olds.

Aligned to promote adolescent body confidence, the free downloadable tools are designed to allow teachers and schools to run body-confidence workshops. The workshops allow teachers and pupils to explore the impact that image ideals portrayed through the media have on young people’s self-esteem.

Low body confidence and self-esteem affect young people’s learning. Anxiety about appearance has been linked to poorer concentration and less engagement in class, resulting in worse academic performance. Globally, 8 out of 10 girls admit to opting out of important everyday activities, such as engaging with friends or loved ones, because of concern about their looks.

There are single and five-session tools designed to adapt to your time frame. Both tools have been proven to make a positive impact on improving body confidence. The workshops explore how society, professional and social media promote an unrealistic ‘ideal’ body, and learn strategies to protect and build self-confidence in themselves and others.

Who we are:

Diversity Role Models is a dynamic charity whose vision is a world where everyone embraces diversity and can thrive. Our mission is to end bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools and promote understanding and acceptance of broader individual differences.

Collaboratively, we’re determined to create inclusive learning environments where young people know they are valued and supported, regardless of their differences.

What we do:

Our experienced team of educators and inspiring volunteer role models deliver in-person and online workshops for students in schools and colleges. Using pioneering educational content underpinned by the power of storytelling, we speak openly about lived experiences of difference and bullying. Our volunteer role models are at the heart of our delivery. They share their journeys towards living happy and fulfilling lives to inspire others.

Since our formation in 2011, we have worked directly with 1,000+ schools in the UK. We have delivered workshops to 200,000+ young people and trained 24,000+ school staff members.

Our outcomes and impact:

Our workshops have a positive impact on young people. Following our sessions, 96% of primary pupils said they would have greater respect for people who are different from them; and 83% of primary pupils and 52% of secondary students said they would feel more confident being upstanders to bullying or people using inappropriate language.

Rainbow Honours, Charity of the Year 2024

NCVO, Embracing Difference, Ending Bullying Research & Impact Report, 2024.

Diverse Educators, A Manifesto, Chapter Contributors, 2022

Department for Education, Antibullying grant holder 2021-24

National Association of Head Teachers, Charity Partner 2020-21

Gay Times Honour for Education, 2018

European Diversity Awards, Charity of the Year, 2018

Black Teachers Connect was established in 2018 as a result of Rhia’s experience when applying to train to teach. When she was writing her application for her PGCE, she wanted to seek advice from other Black educators on their experiences in the classroom and of working in the education system. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find a network directly for this.

Rhia created Black Teachers Connect so nobody else would have the same experience as her. The aim of Black Teachers Connect is to bring together Black Teachers in the UK and Worldwide by providing them with network opportunities, advice, and support. It is widely known that some Black educators have experienced racism and discrimination at work with 53% of BME educators not seeing themselves in the profession in the next five years.

Our aim is to have a support system in place to not only help the recruitment of teachers but also the retention. We have connected with over 1,500 individuals via both Twitter and Instagram and we have recently launched a Facebook page to make it even easier for educators to connect and to create a further safe space for individuals.

We have helped to support aspiring teachers and training teachers as they begin their journey into teaching. We are providing virtual CPD sessions. We are also supporting all educators on how to tackle issues of race and diversity in the classroom, from having uncomfortable conversations to creating inclusive resources.

The Big Think is a learning programme that empowers children to create meaningful relationships with themselves, others and the world around them. The world is in desperate need of a learning revolution. Too many schools are stuck in a standardised routine and struggle to create the conditions in which children’s natural abilities and creativity can flourish. We create opportunities for children to develop this agency, in order to better navigate and impact the world around them. With us, schools can begin to lay the foundations of learning for life, not just academia. We take teachers and the wider school community through a collaborative and experiential training in order to facilitate the effective delivery of the TBT programme.

It takes a village to raise a child.

We view education as a system of closely connected parts that need to constantly interact together. To this end, we embrace all staff, children, parents and the wider community into our programmes.

Just like life, learning is not linear. We equip schools with the tools to support children aged 5 to 11, with their personal growth and sense of self, organically. We do this using a values-based programme that promotes the expansion of social and emotional development, which in turn enhances cognitive growth and mental processing. With TBT, children learn to validate and reflect on their emotions and social interactions within a global context. From using critical integrity to spot fake news to spreading kindness during the coronavirus global pandemic, The Big Think develops 21st century skills for life.