Dr Hadiza Kere Abdulrahman

My name is Dr. Hadiza Kere Abdulrahman. My doctoral thesis focused on an alternative system of education in Northern Nigeria that sees young boys sent off to study the Qur’an and live with a teacher. The education system is subject to various (Mis)representations, highly politicised and much maligned, because it often comes with many social problems – many of the boys are sometimes at the mercy of the streets. I try to understand the practice from the perspectives of those involved. I am also interested in the ways that colonial(ism/ity) has had an effect on shaping the narratives that describe the system and education in general, as well as the hidden curriculum that exists in this form of education and socialisation. Also, how does ‘coloniality of knowledge, power and being’ shape who we are as people, and especially how do we come to know the things we know? Some of the questions I seek answers for include: “what is ‘valued’ knowledge?” as well as, “who says what ‘valued’ knowledge is and should be?”. How is ‘knowledge’ in itself constructed and created? It is this knowledge framing that I bring to my new role in Inclusive Education, seeking to make a case for inclusivity in the widest sense of the term and in a way that acknowledges its contextual variations. Inclusive education commences with the recognition of unequal social relations that produce exclusion (Slee, 2011) and must therefore be framed in a way that recognises structural disadvantage and injustice (ibid). My goal is to extend the understanding of educational marginalisation to include children and young people with other identity markers (Walton, 2018) and disprivileged in various contexts. I have been a supply teacher in many rural Lincolnshire schools and I have also worked as a personal tutor, learning mentor and cover supervisor at various times. In addition to my PhD, I have postgraduate certificates in ‘Child and Adolescent Counselling’ and also in ‘Childhood and Youth Practice’. I am a passionate educational practitioner and a diligent student of life. My eyes are always open to new ways of teaching and learning and how they can best be adapted across cultures and contexts.

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