363: Global Equality Collective with Nic Ponsford

After working in education for over 20 years as a teacher, school leader, trainer, and coach, Nic wanted to find an accessible means to make ordinary classrooms extraordinarily inclusive. Nic is passionate about creating a level playing field for everyone in education, but especially those from underserved groups. In 2017, Nic set up the Global Equality Collective (GEC) to address 'one of the biggest issues in education' - diversity and inclusion.  The Global Equality Collective (GEC) – a global multi-award-winning grassroots movement of over 13,000 changemakers and a collective of 300-plus DEI subject matter experts. The GEC also created the world’s first D&I platform for schools and educational organisations, which is a knowledge-based, benchmarking tool to audit and improve D&I progress. Following a leadership-led Self-Assessment process, ‘GEC Platform’ members then access 360, academically tested surveys for both Staff and Students, capturing their unique perspectives and needs like never before. Analytical results are provided alongside QAed recommendations, for every question and statement, together with an action plan to drive improvement for their very own DE&I ecosystem. All data quality is assured by the Global Equality Collective. The GEC Platform recently won the 'DEI Platform of the Year’ - Women in IT (UK) - where the judges were blown away by the simplicity and success of the DEI technology. The GEC Platform was also runner-up in the Global Edtech Startup Awards 2023.Nic is dedicated to transforming the lives of underrepresented young people and ‘usualising’ difference. She is an experienced interviewee and speaker, a Doctorate Researcher #CEMPDOC, a Fellow of both the RSA and IESE for work in education and inclusion, Award-winning ed-tech leader with a demonstrated history both in the classroom and in the e-learning industry.Nic is also a Harvard-published author and a Director of EdtechUK as well as a Judge for UK EdTech50. Nic was headhunted to work on the DfE Edtech Demonstrator Programme onboarding 11k schools to get online during the pandemic lockdown. Nic has since been headhunted to lead on further Dfe projects based on edtech and inclusion, such as the Assistive Technology (AT) Pilot and Programme with nasen and Microlink. Nic is also Co-Deputy Head of Education, where she is leading the change in advancing AT training and professional development, as part of the transformative ‘Be ThAT Teacher’ initiative). Back in 2005, Nic won a Pearson Teaching Award for ‘Outstanding New Teacher’ Since this, Nic most recently has been recognised as one of Europe's top 50 women in tech through the #InspiringFiftyEurope2022 award, gained a Rising Star Award (Education and Academia) and was a finalist for BETT 2023 ‘Innovator of the Year’.Websitewww.thegec.educationSocial Media Information@GECCollect - Twitter | Instagram | FacebookLinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/company/gec-educationResources MentionedDame Stephanie Shirley CHwww.steveshirley.com/books/Show Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media