Skip to main content

WomenEd Blogs

So proud: #Highlights2021 by Vivienne Porritt

Written by Vivienne Porritt on . Posted in General Blogs.

So proud: #Highlights2021 by Vivienne Porritt

By Vivienne Porritt   @ViviennePorritt


2021 has been a roller coaster of a year. 

I felt marooned from my family who live 300 miles away, from my wonderful sisters in our Global Strategic Leaders' team, and worried for school leaders who carried a very heavy burden.

Once again, #WomenEd has been my saviour as I used the available time to do the jobs we don't usually manage to do. And so many #Highlights21 have come from this. I'm delighted with the success of the first cohort of 50+ WomenEd senior leaders who embarked on a Masters/Apprenticeship during a pandemic. I wish them success in completing dissertations and assessment and they are the epitome of the way women lift each other up. I also work with Rachel, Nell and Alison and they are wonders to behold. It's great getting to know the 2nd cohort and excited to start recruiting for another in July. Do join the programme which is increasing the representation of women leaders in education. Find out more!

I had a personal highlight in contributing to a report into the #GenderPayGap in education and schools in England. Working with NAHT, ASCL and NGA, we shared the latest data from the School Workforce Census. It's not a pretty sight. I've written and presented about this gap since #WomenEd started in 2015 and can't believe it is getting worse. Have a read yourself and let's get angry!

One positive is making headway on removing the current salary question from application forms. I'm very proud that our campaigning resulted in Teaching Vacancies and Tes Jobs, two large agencies for teaching roles, removing this iniquitous question from their forms. We have a fair wind so who else will join our roll call of honour and remove this question?

I'm also delighted we have been able to develop our website especially our campaign pages and blogs – comments are back so join in the global conversation about our shared obstacles and success. Thanks so much to Gemma O'Brien, our amazing developer and guru for change.

Talking of success, a personal highlight for me (Christalla, I said it!), is being awarded the OBE for services to education as a WomenEd Co-Founder/Global Strategic Leader and a Co-Founder for DisabilityEdUK. I am quite overwhelmed and tweeted about this to share my feelings. 

This is an award for all of us and I am bursting with pride that WomenEd is recognised in this way. We succeed together and let's celebrate that our amazing global community is making a difference and our impact is valuable and much needed. 

We are bringing about change so let's change even more in 2022.

  • Hits: 5137