An injection of immigrant capital
“Even in times of recession the political debate around migration should be more positive”, so said Helen Clark in a recent article. She is the head of the UN Development Programme and former Prime Minister of New Zealand. We know that, whether it was a sense of adventure or desperation which caused them to uproot themselves, migrants often have a desire to better themselves. Often coming...
Read MoreAn evening of Persian poetry or a case of colonialism lives on!
Venue: Barber Institute, on the campus of Birmingham University. A room full of people; about 50 in all. Out for an unusal cultural experience. It’s nice to be surrounded by such adventurists. Two poets, both female. The third poet, male, could not get a visa. First poet on stage, with the translator, from the organisation that arranged the event; the Poetry Translation Centre. The...
Read MoreSafeguarding, Muslims and bilingual communication
It was a privilege to be able to use my mother tongue- Pahari- , Urdu as well as English to facilitate a group of Muslim leaders in Dudley. I used to wonder what the point of me improving my non-English languages was. Now I understand. It was for times such as these that I have been reading my weekly Urdu paper and other material. Surely, there must be more groups from within communities such...
Read MoreImproving from Within- A Positive Approach to School Improvement
What can we learn from the emerging science of Positive Psychology, of how human beings thrive and how should this understanding of human well being influence our schools? We are experiencing seismic changes in the educational landscape but how many educationalists are asking the question about what education is really for in a global, technological and competitive world? In this world, what...
Read More30 years since those deaths which could have been avoided
As a society and culture we are big on anniversaries. In case you didn’t realise, next month is the 30th anniversary of the Falkland’s war. I was about to call it conflict but I think ‘war’ sums it better. After all, there was killing and dying. Sadly, some of it could have been avoided. Even during the war, more could have been done to reduce the numbers who died. I was told over the...
Read MoreDear old Grapes of Wrath
At last, I was able to share with my students my all time favourite book. I was convinced then that Steinbeck was not about the displaced of Oklahoma but of Mirpur. They had recently (I first read the book in 1973) been forced out of their family homes where they had lived for many generations. Now they would have to resettle in other parts of Pakistan where, often, like the migrants in the book,...
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