Katharine Birbalsingh
Katharine Birbalsingh CBE | |
---|---|
Born | Katharine Moana Birbalsingh 16 September 1973 , New Zealand |
Nationality | British |
Other names | |
Education | Victoria Park Collegiate Institute[3] |
Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA) |
Occupation | Head teacher |
Employer(s) | Michaela Community School Social Mobility Commission Dunraven School |
Awards | Contrarian Prize (2019) |
Website | www |
Katharine Moana Birbalsingh
The daughter of an Indo-Guyanese academic, Birbalsingh was born in New Zealand and raised in Canada until she was 15, when her father began lecturing at the University of Warwick. She cultivated an interest in education when reading French and philosophy at New College, Oxford and, after graduating, went into teaching at state schools in south London. She began hosting a blog, To Miss with Love, in 2007 under the moniker Miss Snuffy, and later offered her support to the education policies of the Conservative Party and the reforms made by Michael Gove during his tenure as Education Secretary.
Birbalsingh is the author of two books, Singleholic (2009) and To Miss with Love (2011), and editor of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela Way (2016) and Michaela: The Power of Culture (2020). She was appointed
Education and early life
Birbalsingh was born in 1973 in Auckland, New Zealand,[3][8][9] the elder of two daughters of Frank Birbalsingh, an academic of Indo-Guyanese origin, and his wife, Norma, a nurse from Jamaica.[10][11]
Birbalsingh grew up mostly in Toronto and was educated at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute,[3] with brief periods in Nigeria and France,[12] She graduated from the University of Oxford after reading French and philosophy at New College, Oxford.[11][13] At university she was a member of the Socialist Workers Party and read Living Marxism.[14]
Career
While at Oxford, Birbalsingh had visited inner-city schools as part of a scheme the university runs to encourage state-school pupils to apply, and after graduation she decided to teach in state schools herself.
Birbalsingh is a supporter of the traditional teaching methods described in E. D. Hirsch's The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (1999). She writes that the book "opened [her] eyes" to what was wrong in schools, and argues that education should be about teaching children knowledge, not learning skills.[20][11] Responding to the removal of Michael Gove as education secretary in 2014—Gove was also a supporter of Hirsch—she said it was a tragedy that his work would not be completed.[21][22]
Conservative Party conference
Birbalsingh came to national prominence in October 2010 after criticising the British education system at that year's Conservative Party conference, and speaking in support of the party's education policies.[15] Referring to a "culture of excuses, of low standards ... a sea of bureaucracy ... [and] the chaos of our classrooms",[21] Birbalsingh told the conference: "My experience of teaching for over a decade in five different schools has convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that the system is broken, because it keeps poor children poor."[23] Following this, she says she became the target of racist and sexist abuse on social media.[21] After the speech Birbalsingh was asked not to attend the school at which she taught while the governors "discuss[ed] her position".[24] She subsequently resigned "after being asked to comply with conditions that she did not feel able to comply with", according to The Sunday Telegraph.[18] The school, St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell, London, was closed shortly thereafter and reopened with new staff and a new name.[25]
Publications
Birbalsingh's first publication was a novel, Singleholic (2009), published under the pseudonym "Katherine Bing".[11] Her second book, To Miss with Love (2011), was based on her blog. It was chosen as Book of the Week and serialised on BBC Radio 4.[26] She is also the editor of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela Way (2016)[27] and Michaela: The Power of Culture (2020),[28] which describe the education philosophy of Michaela Community School.[29][30]
Social Mobility Commission
In October 2021 Birbalsingh was appointed Chair of the Social Mobility Commission[31] in succession to Martina Milburn. She retained her position at Michaela.[32] Liz Truss, Minister for Women and Equalities, stated that "By expecting high standards and not indulging the soft bigotry of low expectations she is producing amazing results at Michaela school and giving children the best chance in life. She will bring that same attitude to the Commission and be a loud champion of equality of opportunity."[33] Birbalsingh was criticised for comments she made in April 2022 regarding young women not pursuing physics, stating that "physics isn't something that girls tend to fancy. They don't want to do it, they don’t like it... I just think they don’t like it. There's a lot of hard maths in there that I think they would rather not do... the research generally … just says that's a natural thing,".
Political views
Birbalsingh describes her views as being
Birbalsingh maintains that children of black and ethnic minority backgrounds are not sufficiently taught about British culture or Britishness in schools which has left them feeling "culturally excluded". She argues that such cultural exclusion happens due to teachers placing more emphasis on the ethnicity of children than on promoting British national identity, stating, "Teachers would tell them all the time they weren't part of the country—they say what country are you really from? Let's do a cultural thing where we all bring in our flags. The people who are doing this think they're being nice. They think they're being respectful" but that children "didn't get taught about Shakespeare and Dickens—or that they were part of their country."[40]
Birbalsingh has argued that teenagers should be prevented from having mobile phones in school as their brains are not developed enough for them to exercise proper self-control.[41] She has likewise advocated "digital drop-off" schemes, where children and parents were encouraged to bring in electronic devices to be locked in a school safe for the holidays.[42]
Birbalsingh has said that children used the "race card" when in disputes with teachers, and warned parents to take their children's claims of "racism" with a pinch of salt when disciplined at school.[43][44] She also claimed that young black students were being held back from success in school by teachers who "are scared of being called racist" if they discipline them.[45]
Birbalsingh has advocated the singing of patriotic songs such as "
In response to the
Birbalsingh is opposed to teaching children about
Awards and honours
In 2017, Birbalsingh was included by
References
- Twitter
- ISBN 978-1906190156
- ^ doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U260197. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Interview with Katharine Birbalsingh (audio)
- ^ Interview with Katharine Birbalsingh (video) for The Rubin Report
- ^ The Julia Hartley-Brewer Show interview (video)
- ^ Katharine Moana Birbalsingh (YouTube channel)
- ^ For year of birth, Birbalsingh, Katharine (25 March 2018). "@Miss_Snuffy" Twitter.
- ^ "New Zealand-born woman dubbed 'Britain's strictest teacher' ignores IT and teaches French". New Zealand Herald. 30 May 2018.
- ^ Dindayal, Vidur (2011). "Dr. Frank Birbalsingh". Guyanese Achievers USA & Canada: A Celebration. Trafford Publishing. pp. 43–46.
- ^ a b c d e Wilby, Peter (27 February 2012). "Katharine Birbalsingh – undaunted by free school setback", The Guardian.
- ^ a b Edwardes, Charlotte (18 February 2022). "Britain's strictest teacher: what middle-class parents get wrong". The Times.
- ^ Griffiths, Sean (13 November 2016). "Is this the strictest teacher in Britain?". The Sunday Times Magazine. pp. 14–21.
- ^ a b "Katharine Birbalsingh: New social mobility chief challenges assumptions". BBC News. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ a b Odone, Cristina (31 January 2011). "Katharine Birbalsingh: The Fearless Woman Who Told the Truth About Teaching". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- ^ "Diary of a despairing teacher", The Daily Telegraph, 10 October 2010.
- ^ Dindayal 2011, p. 46.
- ^ a b Barrett, David (16 October 2010). "Teacher loses job after exposing failures in our schools". The Sunday Telegraph.
- ^ Adams, Richard (16 June 2017). "Britain's strictest school gets top marks from Ofsted". The Guardian.
- ^ Birbalsingh, Katharine (2015). "How Knowledge Leads to Self-Esteem", in Jonathan Simons and Natasha Porter. Knowledge and the Curriculum. London: Policy Exchange, pp. 36–42.
- ^ a b c Weale, Sally (5 September 2014). "Katharine Birbalsingh: I regret telling Tories education system was broken". The Guardian.
- ^ For Gove, see Abrams, Fran (25 October 2012). "Cultural literacy: Michael Gove's school of hard facts". BBC News.
- ^ Katharine Birbalsingh's speech, Conservative Party conference, October 2010, courtesy of YouTube, 00:00:34.
- ^ Paton, Graeme (7 October 2010). "Tory Teacher 'Sent Home From School'". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Vasagar, Jeevan (3 February 2011). "Out of control – the academy criticised at Conservative conference". The Guardian.
- ^ To Miss With Love, Book of the Week, BBC Radio 4.
- ISBN 978-1909717961
- ISBN 978-1912906215
- ISBN 978-1909717961.
- ^ Ashford, Katie (26 November 2016). "Teaching is workload-addicted. Teachers seem to believe hard work equates to love for one's pupils". TES.
- ^ Hennessy, Ted (10 October 2021). "Head of 'strictest school in country' made Social Mobility Commission chief". Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ Knowles, Tom (10 October 2021). "Strictest head teacher Katharine Birbalsingh gets levelling-up job". The Times. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
- ^ "Birbalsingh to be appointed as chair of Social Mobility Commission". gov.uk. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ "Katharine Birbalsingh: Girls dislike hard maths, says education adviser". BBC News. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Girls shun physics A-level as they dislike 'hard maths', says social mobility head". the Guardian. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "No, girls are not put off by 'hard maths', Katharine Birbalsingh". the Guardian. 28 April 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ Buler, Patrick (6 January 2023). "Katharine Birbalsingh quits as UK government's social mobility chair". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: How progressive ideas are holding back black and working class kids | Katharine Birbalsingh. YouTube.
- ^ a b Coughlan, Sean (9 June 2018). "Parents bottle it on phones, 'strictest' head teacher says". BBC News.
- ^ Eleanor Busby Education Correspondent (9 January 2020). "Teenagers should be banned from using mobiles in school because their brains are not mature enough, leading headteacher says". The Independent. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ Griffiths, Sian (22 December 2019). "Schools lock up pupils' phones for holidays | News". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ Turner, Camilla (11 November 2019). "Head of Britain's 'strictest school' says children are using the 'race card' when in trouble". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ Lawrence-Jones, Charlie (15 November 2019). "Wembley head teacher 'told parents to not believe pupils who accuse teachers of racism'". My London.
- ^ Gray, Jasmin. "Katharine Birbalsingh Says Teachers' Fear Of Being Called Racist Is Holding Back Black Kids". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ Hope, Christopher (8 March 2019). "Singing 'I Vow To Thee My Country' makes inner city pupils feel proud to be British, says headteacher". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "'Victimhood does not help anybody'". Spiked. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Latest U.S & World News: Trusted Source—WorldNewsEra". 23 August 2020.
- ^ "GB News: Headteacher blasts teaching white privilege 'What is the purpose of education!?' | UK | News". 17 June 2021.
- ^ "Tough-talking 'Tiger Headmistress' 'Talking about white privilege undermines black children'—newsbinding".
- ^ "Towards an Improved School System in England: Facing the Challenges of Inequality and Woke Culture".
- ^ Statesman, New (27 September 2023). "The New Statesman's right power list". New Statesman. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ "Katharine Birbalsingh". The Seldon List 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ Jenkins, Patrick (28 June 2019). "Martin Gilbert branches out". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- ^ "No. 63135". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 October 2020. p. B9.
- ^ Raffray, Nathalie (10 October 2020). "Queen's Birthday Honours: Head of Michaela Community School in Wembley made CBE". Brent and Kilburn Times. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- ^ "Order of the British Empire". The London Gazette. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.