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Katharine Birbalsingh

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Katharine Birbalsingh
Born
New Zealand
Occupation(s)Writer, teacher

Katharine Birbalsingh is the headteacher of Michaela Community School, a free school in the London Borough of Brent. She is also a blogger and writer who writes about the British education system.[1] She was born in New Zealand to West Indian parents and grew up in Toronto, before moving to Britain at the age of 15. She studied at New College, Oxford, where she read French and Philosophy.[2] After graduating she settled permanently in the UK.

Birbalsingh originally gained attention as the anonymous blogger To Miss With Love, in which she wrote about her experiences teaching at an inner-city secondary school.[3] She then came to national prominence after she spoke at the 2010 Conservative Party conference in support of the party's education policies and criticised the state of the British education system.[4] Due to the fact that she illustrated her speech with pictures of pupils without their consent she was asked not to attend her school "for the rest of the week while senior teachers and governors discuss her position".[5][6] Birbalsingh subsequently resigned after being "asked to comply with conditions that she did not feel able to comply with", according to a report by David Barrett of The Sunday Telegraph.[7][8] A campaign on Facebook was created to have her reinstated.[9] In September 2014, she said that "it was a great tragedy that Michael Gove had been removed as education secretary before his work was done. It will not be done now."[10]

In July 2016 there was controversy about Michaela school holding pupils in "lunch isolation" if their parents did not pay their meal fees.[11] Miss Birbalsingh later stated "It’s white, middle-class liberal guilt. They are not actually interested in educating these children" in criticism of those who raised concerns.[12]

Birbalsingh's novel To Miss with Love, based on her blog, was published in March 2011. It was chosen as Book of the Week and serialised on BBC Radio 4.[13] She is also the author of the chick-lit novel Singleholic, published in 2009 under the pseudonym "Katherine Bing",[14] and edited the book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers,[15], which was published in November 2016.[16]

References

  1. ^ Birbalsingh, Katharine (July 2015). "An Open Letter To Nicky Morgan". Standpoint. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  2. ^ Griffiths, Sian (13 November 2016). "Is this the strictest teacher in Britain?". The Sunday Times Magazine. pp. 14–21. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  3. ^ Archbishop Cranmer (6 October 2010). "To Miss With Love – who is she?". Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  4. ^ Cristina Odone (31 January 2011). "Katharine Birbalsingh: The Fearless Woman Who Told the Truth About Teaching". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  5. ^ Archbishop Cranmer (11 October 2010). "The Political Persecution of Katharine Birbalsingh". Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  6. ^ Graeme Paton (7 October 2010). "Tory Teacher 'Sent Home From School'". Daily Telegraph. London.
  7. ^ David Barrett (16 October 2010). "Teacher loses job after exposing failures in our schools". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  8. ^ Daniel Boffy (17 October 2010). "Katharine Birbalsingh, teacher who attacked school chaos in Tory party conference speech is forced out". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  9. ^ Archbishop Cranmer (8 October 2010). "Save Katharine Birbalsingh – the Facebook campaign is launched". Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  10. ^ Weale, Sally (5 September 2014). "Katharine Birbalsingh: I regret telling Tories education system was broken". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  11. ^ Wallwork, Ellen (29 July 2016). "Michaela Secondary School Punishes Pupils With 'Lunch Isolation' If Parents Pay Meal Fees Late". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  12. ^ Adams, Richard (29 July 2016). "Headteacher defends policy of putting pupils in 'lunch isolation'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  13. ^ BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week; To Miss With Love
  14. ^ aladin (5 March 2011). "The confusing world of Katharine Birbalsingh". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  15. ^ Birbalsingh, Katharine, ed. (26 November 2016). Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela Way. John Catt Educational. ISBN 978-1909717961. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  16. ^ Ashford, Katie (26 November 2016). "Teaching is workload-addicted. Teachers seem to believe hard work equates to love for one's pupils". TES. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
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