Charity: Education Development Trust (UK)

Education Development Trust was set up to provide out-of-school academic support in Mathematics, Science and English for children in the State School System who were (and are) particularly disadvantaged because of the low standards of full-time education and who were not being motivated by their full-time teachers towards making the greatest use of their potential. This might be because, they were Girls, Black or other minority and were being overlooked (and in some cases ignored) in terms of expectations, performance and future potential. The expectations of teachers often play a great part in the confidence a child feels he or she has to rise to challenges and shine through to academic and professional success. We felt that many full-time teachers were already brainwashed and programmed by outdated doctrines and political philosophies even before they set foot into the classroom and had no conception of certain categories of children as surgeons, doctors, engineers, scientists, barristers and other professional occupations and simply saw categories of pupils as part of a social political servile order from which the more educated, politically involved and wealthy could always draw on for unskilled and semi-skilled labour. Our prime objective was to shatter these myths and show our pupils that this need not necessarily be the case and that they can make a difference in this society - if they work hard academically and that academic success unlocks doors they did not think possible and that they can succeed despite their environment or home circumstances if they really want to.