Kathryn Riley is Professor of Urban Education at the UCL, Institute of Education. She is an international scholar whose work bridges policy and practice.  Born in Manchester, Kathryn began her work in education as a volunteer teacher in Eritrea. She has taught in inner-city schools, held political office in London, as an elected member of the Inner London Education Authority (the ILEA), and been a local authority Chief Officer. She was first appointed as a Professor in 1993.

Kathryn’s international experience includes heading up the World Bank’s Effective Schools and Teachers Group and project’s with UNICEF and the OECD. Kathryn is interested in how educational change takes place and the contribution of schools, communities, staff and students to the change process. She has pioneered new approaches to research, including training young people and teachers to be researchers. Current innovative research   on place and belonging explores how to create the conditions that will enable our young people to fly.  

With DancePoet TioMolina she co-leads The Art of Possibilities whichbrings together Education with Art, to help create vibrant school communities which foster young people’s well-being, agency and sense of belonging. Belonging, Kathryn argues, is that sense of being somewhere where you can be confident you will fit in and safe in your identity. In an uncertain world of rage and ‘untruth’ and yet of boundless possibilities, young people need to feel that they belong. Kathryn and TioMolina have worked with school leaders in a number of countries, including Jamaica.

Kathryn has published widely and her books include:

• Working with Disaffected Children: Why student lose interest in school and what can be done about it (with Elle Rustique-Forrester): Paul Chapman (2002)
• Leadership of Place: Stories from schools in the US, UK and South Africa: Bloomsbury (2013).
• Re-creating Schools as Places of Belonging: The Art of Possibilities Professional Development Today (Spring 2017)
• Place, Belonging and School leadership: Researching to make the difference, Bloomsbury  (Summer 2017)

For further information see

www.theartofpossibilites.org.uk 

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/about/ioe-life/academics/kathryn-riley  

https://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com (Kathryn Riley)

Profile - DancePoet TioMolina

TioMolina is a choreographer, poet, dancer and artistic director. He trained in Cuba and worked as a dancer in Havana’s renowned Tropicana, later moving to the Conjunto Nacional de Espectaculos under the direction of Alberto Alonso. His work embraces Cuban popular dance, Contemporary, Ballet and Afro-Cuban folk dance styles. Recent videos include the Havana hit ‘Marietta’.

TioMolina has been based in London for many years and has given workshops for the Royal Opera House, Hampstead School of Performing Arts and Greenwich Dance Agency. His many collaborations include events with the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall and the Round House.

Tio performs in English and Spanish. He has a wide repertoire of poetry and is currently developing a new approach to poetry performance which fuses poetry with contemporary musical rhythms. He is also exploring the significance of Rumba as part of Cuba’s national identity.

His videos (www.theartofpossiblites.org.uk) include

• Summer Time
• Negro Fulo
• Me gusta cuando callas
• Marieta
• Guantanamera (in English)