Dr Alison Taysum

Dr Alison Taysum

School of Education
Senior Lecturer

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 41 58288
Email
a.taysum@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@AlisonTaysum
View my research portal
Address
School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Alison Taysum is Programme Leader for the Masters-Level Degrees Diploma Apprenticeship (DA) and non-DA, working with outstanding colleagues in Educational Leadership Academy (ELA): Dr Karl Kitching (Research Director), Dr Meng Tian (Senior Lecturer Educational Leadership), and Dr Dawn English (Dubai Campus) led by Professor Colin Diamond CBE, also in The Department of Education (under the lead of Head of Department Professor Donna Dawkins) which is located in The School of Education (with Head of School Professor, Deborah Youdell).

ELA courses are located within a fully integrated suite of programmes from Initial Teacher Training to accredited and non-accredited CPD at Postgraduate level and doctoral studies.

ELA courses empower educational leaders with chances to gain knowledge, skills and behaviours to i) propel school improvement to optimise students’ learning for health, economic and social wellbeing and ii) build capacity for school improvement strategies by mainstreaming them using evidence to inform policy to narrow achievement and poverty gaps. Gaps based on intersections of discrimination including class, race, gender, special educational needs and disability, and all protected characteristics of the UK Equality Act (2010) require education for democracy to amplify social mobility and redress systemic injustice.

Alison's research and Consultancy work include working with the European Commission, Japanese Ministry of Education, and the Empowering Young Societal Innovators for Equity and Renewal International Consortium, which focuses on i) providing citizens with thinking tools to make good decisions as self-determining citizens, who ii) know how to participate with grass-roots up Science-with-and-for-Society policy-making, and hold governments to account for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (UNICEF, 2016).

Qualifications

EdD University of Birmingham, 2006

Biography

Dr Alison Taysum’s professional work including cutting edge research, and leading learning and teaching from K-12 to Higher Education, focuses on how compulsory education and lifelong learning governance, policies and leadership are a road map for: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the focus of Taysum, A. (2019) Education Policy as a Road Map to Achieving The Sustainable Development Goals. Scarborough: Emerald. Policies have the potential to optimise: national economic strategies; industrial and small and medium-sized businesses strategies; propel entrepreneurial economies and education for democracy with critical thinking skills and ICT skills for the digitised era;  optimising social mobility for health, economic and social wellbeing for all in strategies to eradicate poverty gaps to redress systemic social injustices; cultivate the co-existence of diverse communities who know how to navigate irreconcilable differences to achieve respectful interconnectedness with deep understandings of their rights and duties scripted in nation states’ laws/constitutions;  move from dishonour to honour of cultural heritages and promote the social and spiritual wealth of citizens.

Civic society must mobilise education and training to move from Covid 19 disruption to recovery to meet the goals established by the President of the European Commission "A Union that strives for more", and promoted through the European Education Area.

Dr Taysum has convened an International Consortium focusing on implementing A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE). Using Five stages of ‘A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution’ (ABCDE), the Consortium identifies how citizens can map their journey to making good decisions in a new social contract to amplify recovery. A is European Qualifications Framework (EQF) Level 1 how to ask good questions to solve problems; What is social distancing? How can I optimise success in virtual-classrooms? How can I safely create a new job for myself? B is EQF Competence Level 2 and focusses onexploring the best that has been thought and said from explicit scientific/social knowledge and synthesising it with implicit personal knowledge/beliefs to gain shared understandings of definitions of terms. C is EQF Competence Level 3 to develop robust methods for data-collection/handling to find solutions to personal and social, cultural, health, economic and political problems. D is EQF Competence Level 4 to develop theories of change from data as solutions to social and personal problems for recovery. E is EQF Competence Level 5 to develop moral and ethical principles in a new social contract.

ABCDE is implemented with ‘Assessment for Personal and Social Learning’ and access to participatory Science-with-and-For-Society (SwafS) databases. These have Key Performance Indicators and cross-border benchmarking of governments’ progress in delivering national and International strategic plans through district education, social policy, funding, schools, families and communities for sustainable social and economic wellbeing and equity (See https://journals.euser.org/index.php/ejed/article/view/4704 ). 

The Consortium seeks funding from Horizon Europe to test these rigorous, scientific knowledge to action strategies for proof of concept and to optimise reach and impact by mainstreaming them through policy to cultivate equitable education systems. Beneficiaries include Europe, the Balkans and MENA regions, The African Union, Russia, US, Canada, and Asia.

Teaching

  • Senior Fellow HEA, Fellow Chartered College of Teaching

Current Teaching

  • Programme Leader MA Educational Leadership DA
  • Programme Leader MA Educational Leadership Non-DA and Pathways
  • Modules
    • Education Policy and Improving Schools
    • Leadership Enquiry
    • Understanding School Improvement
    • Leadership for School Improvement
    • Dissertation

Previous Teaching

  • Postgraduate Research teaching and supervision Highlights of teaching career spanning 28 years.
  • Alison has led and managed Masters programmes in education leadership and management and for the MBA in leadership and Management, with progression of over 1500 students and supervised more than 100 Masters students to completion.
  • Doctoral Studies Course Director (150 doctoral students) September 2009 – 2012 (Manager of all doctoral supervisors and their cases for progression, examination and to Senate for ratification).
  • Alison wrote and provided a 40 hour face to face doctoral philosophy of education research programme to postgraduate students in Al Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan.
  • She has examined more than 40 Doctoral Theses including EdDs and PhDs in the UK, Europe and Overseas and Chaired three Vivas.

Previous roles:

  • Professional International Educational Consultant intervention and classroom teacher from Nursery through to Year 6 in schools for Aspire working across five local authorities;
  • PhD External Examiner for University of West Indies PhD, Hazara University & Mansehra Pakistan, North West University, South Africa and Anglia Ruskin University.

University Roles

  • Ulster University, N. Ireland External Examiner Masters in Educational Leadership 2016- 2020.
  • University of Leicester Lecturer in Leadership and Management 2005 – 2019
  • Doctoral Supervisor - successfully supervised 12 international doctoral students from China, Ghana, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UK, Egypt, Nigeria and Pakistan to completion.
  • MSc Educational Leadership Programme Leader and Module Leader of all modules except one - appointed June 1st 2014 – December 20th 2019 (100% progression rate skewed towards distinctions and merits), Duties included  Line Manager of performance of Tutor Team of 11 Professors and Doctors. See endorsements here
  • Department Equality Officer including learning and teaching 2014 – 2018.
  • Doctoral Studies Course Director (150 doctoral students) September 2009 – 2012 (Manager of all doctoral supervisors and their cases for progression, examination and to Senate for ratification).
  • PGCE Primary Visiting Tutor and Personal Tutor including preparing ‘Masters level’ pathway 2005 – 2012.
  • Course Leader MBA in Education Management, MA in Learning and Teaching and MSc Educational Leadership (School Business Management) January 10th 2005- 2012.
  • Teaching Master Classes at Herzen State Pedagogical University, Russia.
  • Commissioned Lecture with translator to Japanese Ministry of Education.
  • Teaching on Unconditional Positive Regard and Inclusion at London Embassy of Indonesia.
  • University of Wolverhampton 2001-2005: Senior Lecturer Special Needs and Inclusion Studies,  Education Studies, Child Development and Early Years, Education Psychology.

External Examination Appointments

  • External examiner for the University of Gloucestershire MEd 2009 – 2013
  • External Examiner for Kings College London EdD 2010 – 2014
  • External Examiner Lincoln University EdD 2012 - 2016
  • External Examiner for Masters for Educational Leadership, the Masters for Education, and the Postgraduate Diploma for Maynooth University, Republic of Ireland 2015- 2018
  • External Examiner for Masters in Education with Specialisms, PGDH, PGCML, PDGIS Short Course, Collaborative Learning Online for Shared Education and Reconciliation, Middle Leadership in a Shared Education Context, Ulster University, Belfast 2016-2019
  • External Examiner for the Open University Masters in Education Leadership 2016 - 2019
  • Validation Panel Member for The University of West Scotland MEd.
  • Validation Panel Member for The University of Ulster, Subject unit of Professional Development and sub-unit of Post Graduate Diploma and MEd.

Other activities

Factors of Esteem

  • Editor-in-Chief Journal of Groundwork Cases and Faculty of Judgement
  • BELMAS Doctoral Thesis Award Panel Member 2011-2020
  • Deputy Editor for Management in Education, an international peer reviewed journal currently  published by SAGE on behalf of BELMAS 2004-2008.
  • Editorial Board Member for Management in Education, an international peer reviewed journal currently published by SAGE on behalf of BELMAS 2004-2020..
  • Editorial Board Member of new International Peer Reviewed Journal Research and Reflections in Education Lahore: University of Lahore.
  • Editorial Board Member of Italian Journal of Sociology of Education.
  • Reviewer for the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
  • Reviewer for Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences
  • Reviewer for Qatar National Research Fund.
  • Reviewer for American Educational Research Association Annual Conferences
  • Reviewer for World Educational Research Association Annual Conferences
  • Reviewer for British Educational Research Association Annual Conferences
  • Reviewer for British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society annual Conferences
  • Editorial Board Member of Journal of Research in International Education (2009 –2012).
  • Member of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers International Committee (2009-2012).
  • Past Chair for the School of Education Special Interest Group Educational Leadership, Learning and Change and served on the School of Education Learning and Teaching Committee and the School of Education Research Committee (2009- 2012).
  • Chair of the School of Education Research Ethics Committee serving on College and University Ethics Committees (2007-2010).
  • BELMAS representative on Reference Group for the BERA/RSA enquiry on research and teacher education.
  • I have mentored a visiting fellow Dr Muhammad Iqbal from Pakistan, Dr Elena Tropinova from Russia and Dr Daniela Canfarotta, Italy.

Reviewer for International Peer Reviewed Journals:

  • Educational Management Administration and Leadership.
  • European Educational Research Association.
  • Journal of Educational Policy.
  • American Educational Research Journal Teaching Learning and Human Development
  • Oxford Review of Education
  • International Journal of Leadership in Education
  • Management in Education
  • School Effectiveness and School Improvement
  • Equity and Excellence in Education.
  • New Horizons in Education.
  • New Zealand Journal of Educational Leadership

Reviewer for book publishers

  • Bloomsbury
  • Routledge

Languages and other information

English, French, Learning Russian, Welsh to Level 1, some German

Media experience

Empowering Young Societal Innovators for Equity and Renewal (EYSIER) Special Interest Group (SIG) published recordings of international conferences and workshops

Empowering Young Societal Innovators for Equity and Renewal (Facebook)

Alison Taysum Youtube Channel

Audio and video

Dr Alison Taysum talking about the EYSIER Charter Mark Award and ABCDE

Alternative contact number available for this expert: contact the press office

Policy experience

Principal Investigator for five international peer reviewed special edition journals, with critical socio-historiographical policy analysis of 24 nation states groundwork cases with additional comparative international analyses:
  • China, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, India, Iraq, Israel (Arab perspective), Israel (Jewish perspective), Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Lebanon, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Republic of Ireland, Russia, United States:  
    • http://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/issue/4/1;
    • http://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/issue/6/2;
    • http://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/issue/9/2;
    • http://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/issue/12/1;
    • https://www.alisontaysum.com/blank-page;

Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology International leading expert commissioned to research and give lecture on: School leadership and management policy and the training of the school leader in English reforms through the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) with translator. Lecture translated into Japanese and published in National Educational Research Policy Institute Publication 

Taysum, A. (2014) ‘School leadership and management policy and the training of the school leader in English reforms through the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL)’. Published in National Institution for Education Policy Research (in Japanese), available at: https://www.nier.go.jp/05_kenkyu_seika/pdf_seika/h26/3-3_all.pdf pp. 128-144. Corpus ID: 156238972

Japanese Educational Administration Society and Korean Educational Administration Society, Japan. Historiography of English Education Policy. Commissioned research and travel to Japan and hotel expenses on: Rethinking the Global Trends of Education Governance Reforms: Experiences over the Past Few Decades in England. 300,000 Japanese Yen October 2013.

Taysum, A. (2013) Rethinking the Global Trends of Education Governance Reforms: Experiences over the Past Few Decades in England Presented to Japan Educational Administration Society, and International Relation Committee of the Society in Half-day International Symposium Rethinking the Global Trends of Education Governance Reforms: Experiences over the Past Few Decades in England, The U.S., South Korea, and Japan. Kyoto. 

Japan-UK Education Forum in Kyoto, Japan. Commissioned research into early years policy in England. 50,000 Japanese Yen October 2013 output: Taysum, A. (2014) ‘English Policies for Early Years Children and their implications for primary education provision and economic returns on investment’ in Japan-UK Education Forum (18).

Principal Investigator British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) Doctoral Research Interest Group Seminar Series funded by BELMAS £10,000. Funding as Convener with £2000 per annum to 2020 to deliver 3 international seminars per year. continue seminars. Forthcoming events include Dr Rosangela Malachias talking about African Brazilian Epistemology for Training Principals and Teachers from Public Schools in São Paulo’ at the University of Leicester, 5th July 2019. 

Convener of British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) Student Research Network £2000.00 per annum to deliver three international seminars per year 2016-2020. Recent events include Policy and the Future of Publicly Funded Faith Schools with Prof Richard Pring, Prof Gerald Grace, Dr David Aldridge and Dr Alison Taysum, 2019.

Research Meeting at Marlborough House, Invited by the Commonwealth Secretariat, May, 2019.

Research Meeting with Antoine Rappel EU Liaison Officer, Washington and Sebastien Vandehouk EU Officer, Washington, DC. 2016.

Research Meeting with Attorney General Office lawyers at Attorney General Office in Washington to discuss engagement with local communities and legal bodies to co-create vibrant societies for community cohesion, and economic growth, 2016.

Invited to Research Meeting European Parliament Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) Brussels, 2016.

British Educational Leadership, Management, Administration and Leadership Doctoral Research Interest Group on 11th April 2018 in Chicago with Senior Chicago Public School leaders to get feedback on Impact Strategy to emerge from research project and book to underpin submission of next bid. Global Kitchens, Southside Chicago, April, 2018.

Consultancy; Commissioned to write and deliver a forty hour module in Research Methods Training for doctoral students at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. October – November 2015.

Strategies That Facilitate Multidisciplinary Teams Empower Teacher Leadership of Education Health Care Plans (EHCPs) Alison Taysum Chair, Micho Moyo: Team Manager for Safeguarding & Social Care Lead for EHCPs, Birmingham Children Trust. Dr Helen Goodyear, Consultant Pediatrician at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, and an Associate Postgraduate Dean for Health Education England working across the West Midlands. MAT Executive Headteacher Ms Rubina Darr, Social Services Lead Ms Silvia Thompson, EHCP Reviewer Teacher Leaders Mrs Elizabeth Bradley-Adams & Mrs Pod Serge, Preparing for Adulthood Team 26th April public event to be re-arranged due to COVID 19 lock down, 2019. 

Invited Taysum, A. (2017) Developing Shared World Views of all Faiths and None; seeking an overarching ethical framework. Indonesian Embassy, London, September.

Fawsett, T. (Chair and Speaker), Popat, S. (co-ordinator and speaker), Collins Ayanlaja, C. (Speaker)., Lane, R. (Sergeant and Dedicated Neighbourhood Team Belgrave and Rushey Mead Beats and Speaker, Taysum, A. (Convener and Speaker) (2016) ‘Empowering Trust and Community Cohesion’, Leicester: Brahma Kumaris Harmony House. 

Taysum, A., Collins-Ayanlaja, C., & Popat, S. (2016). Symposium on Community Cohesion and Love. Leicester: Brahma Kumaris Harmony House 

Baroness Varma, S., Blackham, P., Taysum, A. Pezzano-Griffiths, M., and Goodman, M. (2019) International Women’s Day Panel Balance 4 Better. Leicester: Brahma Kumaris Harmony House.

Invited to Symposium on Sustainable Schools (SOSS) Seminar on Jim Callaghan’s 1976 Ruskin College Speech held at the House of Lords on 17th November 2016, delegate. 

Alternative contact number available for this expert: contact the press office