Zoë Welsh, board member, TORORO Youth Initiative for professional Development is an experienced educator currently undertaking doctoral research at the University of the West of England. She combines this with her teaching role at Willow Park Primary School in Bristol, UK where she has a class of newly arrived Afghan pupils aged between 7 and 11 as well as providing support and training for other teachers in the school. She is using
her EAL (English as an Additional Language) teaching expertise and
leadership experience to develop a curriculum and pedagogy for newly
arrived EAL learners. Passionate about the development of pupils’ home
languages, her recent MA Ed dissertation research project, How do pupils with EAL feel about using their home languages in school? highlighted the
impact of their neglect on children’s self-esteem and learning potential. As a
researcher she is inspired to call attention to the policy silence in England, regarding the education of our bilingual and multilingual pupils, and to consider how we can best meet their needs learning from researchers across
the world. Zoë qualified as a teacher in 1989 with a B’Ed from Roehampton Institute of
Higher Education,London,UK. Her Masters degree in Education (inclusive
practice) is from the Open University. She has the National Professional
Qualification for Headteachers. Zoë took part in teacher collaboration project with teachers from Kinyara Sugar Works Primary School in Masindi, Uganda and visited Uganda in 2011
and 2012