More about HEC Global Learning Centre
HEC Global Learning Centre, based in London, promotes the values, aims and principles of global learning through all areas of education.
HEC is part of the national Consortium of Development Education Centres (DECs) and a partner of Local4Global, the regional group of DECs in London and the South East. HEC works closely with Think Global (formally the Development Education Association), DERC (the Development Education Research Centre based at the Institute of Education) and national sustainability and linking networks including the London Sustainable Schools Forum, SEEd (Sustainability and Environmental Education), and Global School Partnerships.
Working locally: HEC Global Learning Centre works closely with schools in Tower Hamlets through the Schools Library Service. HEC provides global learning resources including a series of leaflets, global packs and Storytents on the themes of environment, homes, journeys, play and waste in addition to the Bengal box and tent.
HEC works with pupils and young people on a range of student voice and participation projects many of which are highlighted on the East End Talking website. HEC developed the East End Talking website with children and teachers, to enable primary pupils in Tower Hamlets to create and present their work to share with other children and to learn about being active young citizens.
Working globally: HEC works across London, in partnership with schools, Local Authorities, Initial Teacher Education institutions, Development NGOs and other organisations. HEC formed the London Global Teacher Network, launched at the British Museum and is developing a model for schools called Learning in a Global Context.
To read about news at Hec Global Learning look at Global Footprints the HEC Newsletter.
Who we are
Margaret Burr
In addition to developing and running HEC Global Learning Centre for 20 years, Margaret has been involved in linking between communities in the global North and Global South for 25 years. She has developed a number of linking initiatives which have been funded by the Department for International Development and the European Union, as well as running workshops in the UK and Europe. She developed the ‘Toolkit for Linking: opportunities and challenges’ for BUILD (Building Understanding through International Links for Development) and UKOWLA (UK One World Linking Association) which was launched by Archbishop Tutu in 2007. She is a Global School Partnership trainer.
Sharifa Khanom
Sharifa was first introduced to global learning in year 8 while she was involved in the Spanish Voices project, and has been keen to continue her understanding of development education ever since. Sharifa spent the last 10 years developing skills in projects around global issues, workshop delivery and administration. She delivers stop motion animation, bag making and refugee workshops. As an experienced seamstress, she has used her skills in the Storytents project - a literacy resource for schools. Sharifa organises and manages events and training for the Centre.
Michael Newman
A secondary school science teacher for seven years in state schools and at A.S.Neill’s Summerhill. Michael has taught EFL in Italy to primary school teachers, engineers, medical researchers and secondary school children. He has been on the education committee of the Society for Storytelling, Ipswich and Norwich Co-op, and the executive committees of the British Humanist Association, Children’s Rights Alliance for England, and Conway Hall. He has organised school council conferences in London and Dover, working with local MP’s and councils. For many years Michael has been involved in citizenship education, industrial and business experiences, science and children’s rights. He has presented workshops on science and storytelling, children’s rights and decision-making, children setting-up co-ops, ICT and global citizenship including datalogging and simulations.
He has worked at HEC Global Learning Centre for some six years. His work has focused on local democracy, children’s participation and rights, sustainability, social justice, the United Nations processes for defending human rights, and citizenship and identity. He worked with Tower Hamlets City Learning Centre as a part time facilitator for ICT with a global dimension.
As well as HEC Global Learning Centre he presently works at Summerhill School, using it as an example to promote awareness of models of children’s rights to children and teachers at schools, conferences and events.
Michael O’Meara
Michael trained as a primary school teacher and has worked in Tower Hamlets schools since 1983. In the early nineties he set up a charity The edIT Exchange to bring corporate funding into the classroom to develop IT in schools, as part of this he co-founded the UK Education Forum on CompuServe. Michael specialises in digital technologies and has been an ICT consultant to HEC, Global Learning Centre, since 1996. Michael teaches young people digital video skills and webpage design to create short film clips and web pages for HEC's website East End Talking of which he has been the coordinator since it's inception. The courses he runs for teachers on Digital Video have been described as “inspirational”. Michael is a Sapere trained Philosophy for Children facilitator for practice in the classroom.
Mark Thorpe
Originally trained as a secondary teacher, Mark has been working in Development Education for the last 10 years in projects around child labour, the Millennium Development Goals, youth participation and global dimension themes such as sustainability, diversity and global citizenship. He is a practitioner in Philosophy for Children (P4C), literacy and media, theatre and storytelling, child-centred mapping and Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL). Mark has lived and worked for a number of years in Southern Africa, as a teacher trainer, HIV/AIDS Educator, and international development consultant. He has a Masters in Development and Education.
