Our Story

Shape Shape Shape

About Global Learning London

Our work stands on the shoulders of giants. We were incubated in the Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service (THSLS). While still in the womb, we fed on stories, books, public service, curiosity and wonder. We continue to fly the flag for THSLS and all other libraries from which we, and so many other sparks, were born.

We are part of The Global Learning Network, which brings together independent, not-for-profit organisations that support and deliver global learning in schools and communities across England.

Be Curious

Ask more questions. Challenge your own and others’ assumptions. Be critical but stay kind.

Protect the Earth

It is our only home. Reuse, Recycle, Regenerate. Reduce consumption. Then reward yourself with a forest shower (that’s a walk in the woods).

Take Action

Immerse yourself in your communities. Lend a hand to a cause. Be part of something good. Belong.

Dream Big

Be creative. No harm has ever come of imagining a better you and a better world. But stay grateful for all that you are and all that you have.

Connect

Entangle your beliefs and struggles with those of others. Build movements together. In a world where we are taught to compete, intentional collaboration is a radical act.

Share the Power

Whether we have a little or a lot of it, we can make small or big interventions to rebalance the power. Speak up. Give attention where it is lacking. Shine your light where it is needed.

We plant seeds for learner-led projects, then move out of the way and cheer them on as they grow. We seek to create environments where we are all learners – where power is truly shared.

What we do –
We work with children, young people and their wider communities, to cultivate optimism and action for a more just and sustainable world.

Why we do it –
We believe that a kinder, more equitable world is possible, one where people and planet thrive to their full potential and beyond.

How we do it –
We work together with teachers and schools to open up spaces for learning and enquiry into how to be better facilitators for our children’s growth and where global perspectives and indigenous wisdoms are central.

We create workshops, festivals and encounters to forge connections between children, young people and their local communities. We ensure families, small local businesses, and community are part of the conversation, and that children’s voices flow into them, and are amplified within them.

We plant seeds for learner-led projects, then move out of the way and cheer them on as they grow. We seek to create environments where we are all learners – where power is truly shared.

We change systems. We lobby government and local councils to reform education, from the bottom up.

We do all this with curiosity, creativity and critical thinking, and with art and culture at the heart.

We are not afraid to challenge and be challenged. Because our cause is greater than our fear.

What is Global Learning?

Global Learning, or Global Citizenship Education, aims to empower learners to engage and assume active roles locally, nationally and/or globally, to face and resolve global challenges and ultimately to become proactive contributors to a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. It builds on a diversity of world views and indigenous wisdoms to foster the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviours towards a kinder, more regenerative way of life. Global Learning is a key element of Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Education: to ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

Shape

Hello World! This is us:

Faaria Ahmad (she/her) Head of Global Learning London

Faaria is Head of GLL and has over 15 years of experience in training, programme management and strategy in the charity sector. She has developed and facilitated training and workshops with teachers, students and small charities on global learning, anti-racism, and global issues, including workers’ rights and climate change. She is a Director for CoDEC and leads on our Anti-Racist work across England.

Triny Diaz (she/her) Operations Manager

Triny is a Latinx management professional with over 20 years of global experience in the heritage sector, working with schools and managing learning programmes. At GLL, she manages projects, internal finances and the research, development and promotion of our CPDs. Triny leads on our community engagement work, finding ways to connect, listen and support the communities we work with.

Fatema Zehra (she/her) Communications and Programme Manager

Fatema has over 15 years' experience of branding, strategy and communications in the creative arts sector, as well as working with young people and artists across exhibitions, events and learning activities. In 2020, Fatema managed our rename and rebrand, and consulted on our communications strategy. She is responsible for several programmes at Global Learning London, oversees our communications, alongside generating new project ideas and opportunities, and developing our community engagement. She currently works with a host of organisations, including arts, mental health and education organisations, consulting them on their community programmes and strategies.

Our Associates

Abha Aggarwal (she/her)

Abha is an experienced secondary school teacher. She works with our team as a trainer and facilitator specialising in Racial Literacy. Her knowledge is an essential part of our Anti-Racist work in Tower Hamlets and she is currently facilitating for primary and secondary schools as part of Towards an Anti-Racist Tower Hamlets. Abha’s MA research focussed on anti-racist school practices both through the curriculum and in school settings.

Beth Allum (she/her)

Beth has been working in Global Education for over 15 years. She has written numerous teaching resources and designs and delivers training on a wide range of subjects. She also works independently as a trainer and facilitator specialising in Philosophy for Children and Critical Thinking in education, as well as in delivering Global Education through the creative arts. With Global Learning London, Beth has worked on In Focus, in partnership with Rich Mix, and Tracks Through Poplar. She currently supports evaluation on our Football Forward project.

Amelia "Ace" Armande (they/them)

Ace is a storyteller, theatrical advisor, creative facilitator and a changemaker. They create workshops for young people as well as adults, with special interest in exploring gender identity and representation within storytelling. With experience in roleplay in different settings, Ace currently facilitates workshops as part of our anti-oppression work and co-delivers anti-racist training in the creative space.

Darren Chetty (he/him)

Darren lectures on racism and antiracism at UCL where he completed his doctoral thesis examining philosophy for children, multiculturalism, and racism. He taught in inner-London schools for over twenty years and works with schools on curriculum, pedagogy, and policy. He contributed to The Good Immigrant, and has co-authored How To Disagree: Negotiate Difference in a Divided World and the children’s book What Is Masculinity? Why Does It Matter? And Other Big Questions. In 2025, Beyond the Secret Garden, his book on children's books with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, will be published by the English and Media Centre. His debut picture book, I'm Going to Make a Friend, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat, will be published in 2025 by Little Tiger. You can follow Darren on Twitter: @rapclassroom and Blueksky: DarrenChetty@bsky.social

Ruth England (she/her)

Ruth has been delivering Global Citizenship Education for over 15 years and is a committed anti-racist educator. She has experience training teachers in schools and in initial teacher education. Ruth has an arts background, and she is passionate about using creative processes for engaging children and young people in exploring complex issues. She has extensive knowledge of global citizenship resources and picture books. Her expertise is key to our anti-racist work in Tower Hamlets.

Jackie Harper-Wray (she/her)

Jackie provides us with financial management support. She has worked in charity finance for 26 years, having completed a masters’ in 1995 and qualified as an accountant in 2010. She has a lifetime of extensive working assignments in many parts of the world, including India, Pakistan and Afghanistan - as head of an aid organisation. Before joining us, Jackie worked at Think Global and Blackfriars Settlement.

Shaheen Kasmani (she/her)

Shaheen Kasmani is an artist, creative producer, curator and educator. With a MA in Visual Traditional & Islamic Arts, her interests lie in narratives around coloniality and heritage, art and architecture. Shaheen was the lead curator for the Ramadan Pavilion at the V&A Museum, and co-curated The Past is Now exhibition at Birmingham Museum. Shaheen has worked with universities, museums, schools, community groups, art collectives, CICs and independently to deliver Teacher CPD, classes, workshops, publications, courses, lectures and exhibitions, and is passionate about centering overlooked narratives and all things creative.

Memoona Khan (she/her)

Memoona has four years of anti-racism and equalities work experience, including coaching HR colleagues on delivering inclusive early talent programmes and running allyship trainings and diversity-focussed recruitment events. Memoona has a Masters in Culture, Diaspora, Ethnicity, with a focus on race, postcoloniality and culture in the UK, giving her a theoretical background of key systemic issues. She is part of the team of facilitators that deliver anti-racist and anti-oppression training in various settings.

Germma Orleans-Thompson (she/her)

Germma Orleans-Thompson is a London-based creative producer and facilitator working in the theatre, arts and heritage sectors. She has worked with world leading arts organisations including Almeida Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Institute of Contemporary Arts and Delfont Mackintosh. She is passionate about bringing joy and representation into all areas of the arts. Germma is currently funded by Arts Council England to research into the impact of colonialism on the UK’s arts and culture.

Linda Ramirez Barker (she/her)

Linda is a trained primary teacher with over a decade of classroom practice, specialising in global learning over 20 years ago. She offers expertise in training, resource writing and evaluation, having worked on a range of projects and consultancies with British Council, Local Authorities, Government Departments and Development NGOs. Linda worked on our Shared Ground CPD: Migration and Integration in the UK and currently, on our Tower Hamlets School Linking Project.

Anne Roots (she/her)

Anne has been working in School Improvement Service for over 20 years providing guidance, support and training for schools around global learning and embedding this approach within the curriculum. Anne is a British Council Schools Ambassador, a UK Global Learning Association Consultant and an assessor for a range of funded global programmes. She was also a Connecting Classrooms Through Global Learning (CCGL) Local Advisor and trainer. Anne works on our Tower Hamlets School Linking Project and is part of our team of trainers delivering Anti-Racist training for school staff.

Shea Williams (she/her)

Shea is a facilitator for our ‘Towards an Anti- Racist Curriculum’ as well as ‘Shared Ground ’ training for school staff. A member of The Pupil Power Network, she is dedicated to creating a more empowering and safer environment for young people in education. Shea is qualified in Level 1 P4C, trained in the concept of Experiential Learning and has over four years of facilitation, social media management, public speaking and campaigning experience. Shea is the lead facilitator for global learning sessions at the Tower Hamlets Holiday Childcare Scheme.

Our Management Committee

Professor Douglas Bourn (he/him)

Doug is Professor of Development Education at University College London Institute of Education and is Co-Director of the Development Education Research Centre. He has authored a number of books on the theory and practice of Development Education. He is chair of the advisory board for the Academic Network for Global Education Researchers (ANGEL) and is currently on the Advisory Committee for the UK’s main development education programme, Connecting Classrooms Through Global Learning.

Juan de Lara (he/him)

Juan is the Cultural Programme Manager at Asia House and associate consultant for Barker Langham. His past roles include Finance Manager and Head of Development at Parasol Unit, which helped to improve the educational needs of the borough of Hackney. In 2017 he developed the Pavilion of Humanity at the International Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Having worked at Ogilvy & Mather Group, Juan has a passion for education and marketing initiatives.

Annika Eadie-Catling (she/her)

Annika is Headteacher at William Davis Primary School in Tower Hamlets. Over the last thirty years, she has been a teacher and leader in Camden, Hackney and Tower Hamlets schools. Her roles have included SENCO/Inclusion lead teacher; Deputy Headteacher with responsibility for Curriculum and Assessment and Headteacher with responsibility for Standards and Safeguarding.

Alison Gawthrope (she/her)

Alison has worked in primary education in Tower Hamlets for over thirty years, as a teacher and leader in school, and then as an advisory teacher and school improvement officer in the local authority. She has a wealth of knowledge when supporting and challenging governors, leaders and teaching staff to ensure the best possible outcomes for their children. Alison leads Tower Hamlets Educational Partnership Primary Team.

Gillian Harris MBE (she/her)

Gillian is the Head of the Tower Hamlets School Library Service. She started work with Tower Hamlets in 1991 and in that time has built and developed the Schools Library Service, which provides a range of services including books, artefacts, and other educational resources to enrich teaching, consultancy and advice, and providing primary schools with the expertise of professional librarians to manage and develop their own school libraries.

Zinèbe Maach -Associate Member (she/her)

Zinèbe is a French Moroccan parent with an interest in building bridges in the community. Her engagement in issues of social, racial and gender equality led her to volunteer with social research projects tackling poverty in Tower Hamlets. She believes in the power of education, where school is a building block to help children grow into well-rounded individuals who contribute to society. After an extensive experience as a freelance translator for NGOs, Zinèbe is now a health and wellbeing practitioner, supporting migrants to overcome systemic barriers.

Dr. Helen Young (she/her)

Helen is a Senior Lecturer in Education at London South Bank University (LSBU) and teaches on the BA Education Studies and the EdD. Prior to her 2014 PhD in Sociology of Education, she worked in citizenship education and global learning, including for Think Global.

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