@WomenEdNI creating resilient, empowered, authentic leaders

The biannual @WomenEdNI Unconference took place in the award-winning, St. Mary’s College, Derry on Saturday morning and hosted over 100 delegates from all areas of education.

The college’s Vice Principals, Katherine Kealey and Roisin Rice not only played host to the event but facilitated one of the workshops on ‘Promoting Your School in the Local and Wider Community.’

An Unconference is an informal conference, where delegates can contribute to the sessions, as well as attend. The organisers and contributors were all volunteers at the weekend event.

This event was organised by @WomenEdNI which is the local branch of #WomenEd, a global grassroots movement of women who work in education. Its aim is to connect existing and aspiring women leaders in education and to empower all women, whatever their role, to have the choice to progress on their leadership journey.

The organisation empowers women to support each other, to network and provide career progression.

It also addresses issues like the gender pay gap and ensures that more women are at decision-making tables for change.

Keynote speaker at Saturday’s event, Hannah Wilson, said she was honoured to be asked to address the delegates at St. Mary’s College in Derry. Ms. Wilson is a Leadership and Development Consultant, Coach and trainer and one of the co-founders of the very first #Womened groups in the UK. Her authentic and thought-provoking keynote speech resonated with many educators at Saturday’s event.

Best-selling editor of ‘What They Didn’t Teach Me On My PGCE’ Sarah Mullin pictured with some of the delegates at Satuday’s Unconference in St. Mary’s College, Derry.

She addressed the delegates with confidence, connection and clarity, which are some of the core values of the global #Womened movement.

Speaking after the event, Hannah said: "I was delighted to be invited here to keynote @WomenedNI 3rd Unconference in the city.

"I opened the event by asking all the delegates to think about the legacy that they want to create individually and collectively as resilient, empowered, authentic leaders. I challenged everyone to consider who they are as well as what they do. As a values-led grassroots gender equality network of educators, my address was a call to action for them to make 10% braver pledges and to step out of their comfort zones.

"I also encouraged them to get excited about the wins, big and small and to celebrate by lifting each other up and allowing everyone to shine.’

Commenting on the successful event, Mary Lowery, co-founder of @WomenEdNI explained: "The sessions and workshops at St. Mary’s focused on areas including - equity in education; success at interview level, coaching and mentoring and aspects of identity, such as neurodiversity and sexual orientation.

"Organisers hope the Unconferences will span across 11 election council areas of Northern Ireland in the near future."

She also thanked St Mary’s College, Derry, and in particular, vice principals Roisin Rice and Katrina Kealey, for hosting the event.

Nicole O’Connor (centre) with two of the delegates pictured before her workshop on ‘Learning Me - Insights from an EdTech Trainer’, during Saturday’s event.

Endorsing the success of Saturday’s event, Roisin Rice of St. Mary’s added: "The empowering ethos of the #womened movement aligns with the aspirational and supportive culture of St. Mary’s where we encourage our students to be #tenpercentbraver and to challenge themselves in learning and in life."

To attend future events and find out more about @WomenEdNI follow on twitter and register for the next Unconference in February on Eventbrite.