After completing my PGCE in secondary science education at KCL. I have worked as a teacher for almost 20 years in inner-London state secondary schools and post-16 colleges. My professional journey has connected me closely to the needs of young Londoners, and to the awareness of what continues to be lacking in their educational experiences in school. I am particularly interested in the failings of education systems to address the greater socio-economic-environmental issues that impact on these young people and the ways in which schooling fails to provide them with the knowledge and skills to challenge these issues and to rise above the limits they impose. I completed an MA at the UCL Institute of Education in Education Policy and Practice, where I studied the impacts of marginalised identities - migrant, minority, refugee, transgender, queer sexuality – on educational experience. My MA thesis explored the marginalisation of young inner-city Londoners from environmental education and mainstream environmentalism, and investigated where their values lie with respect to their environment. This thesis led to the development of my PhD. I will be completing my PhD full time, while remaining as a teacher of Biology and Environmental Science on a very part time basis in a large 6th Form College in Central London.

Thesis title

Building methodologies of storying: Exploring urban diasporic youth relationships with, and behaviours towards, the environment

Principal supervisor: Melissa Glackin

Secondary supervisor: John Owens

Abstract

This project seeks to develop a methodological approach that supports the exploration of the relationship between urban young people, the urban environment and environmentalism. To meet this, the aims are: Explore the stories held within the urban landscape of London that connect young Londoners from diasporic communities to place. Investigate how urban place relationships shape politics/knowledge of environment and environmentalism in young Londoners from these communities. Use the development and sharing of stories in the co-creation of knowledge with respect to environment and environmentalism. Investigate the long-term impact and changes in environmental relationships and behaviours as a result of the coproduction and sharing of stories.