Anita Devi
I have been self-employed as an Education Consultant since 2009. Since then I have worked with a number of clients in the public, private and volunatry sector. More recently, I was comissioned by a Pathfinder Local Authority to under take a SEN Review, define the Business Process; which would support the changes introduced by the Children & Families' Bill 2014, drive on the IT logistics to support legislative change, deliver training to all schools scross the county to enbale them to deliver on the school offer aspect of the local offer.
From 2009-2012, I also worked part-time as a Senior Lecturer at The University of Northampton on the MA course for international students covering the teaching commitments of Professor Richard Rose, Director of the Centre for Education and Research (CeSNER) in the School of Education, whilst he focused on the iRiS Project. During this time, I also contributed to the School of Education in other ways including teaching other courses, Inclusion Week, the PhD Conference and looking at policy development in the HE sector as well as research. I have a particular interest in enhancing the student experience, internationalism, widening participation and using social enterprise as a way of increasing employability. Within the HE sector, I am a visiting lecturer and external examiner for other universities and peer review papers for a number of academic journals.
One of my key strengths is policy implementation and enhancing systems of practice. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to ultilise these skills in a number of contexts and projects ranging from individual settings to governmental organisations and international NGOs. In my advisory and consultancy role, I also work with a variety of other stakeholders interested in education and supporting the needs of children and young people. One of my roles involves online tutoring for SEN Online I enjoy enabling practitioners to grow in their understanding, practice and development of SEN/Inclusion issues.
As an Education Consultant, I have specialist interest in special needs education (learning and cognition) and the use of digital technologies to enable, assist and support all aspects of learning. I train school staff and parents and work collaboratively with other organisations to promote quality first inclusive education for all children.
Parenting is something dear to my heart; as I believe "babies do not arrive with instructions...and even if they did - each one would be different". Since 1999, I have taken an active interest in learning about parenting skills and trained as a trainer. Since then I have co-facilitated workshops for parents/carers in a variety of settings.
I am a member of the advisory board for The National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen) and Epilepsy Action. For Voice, The Union I serve as an Honorary Field Officer in order to support other professionals in the field and I am a Founder member of The British Association of Assistive Technology.
Prior to working in Higher Education, I worked as a local authority SEN advisory teacher and a member of the senior leadership team & SENCo in a school. In terms of teacher credentials, in addition to qualified teacher status in England & Wales, an MA and a first degree in psychology, I have a Certificate of
Education in Citizenship (Leicester University) and I am a qualified practitioner of Montessori Education (2.5 - 6 years), Kaleidoscope Colour Therapy and the Sounds Write Phonics Programme. As a classroom teacher, I have participated in both action-based research and teachers' international professional development (TiPD) visits. For more than twenty five years, I have pursued an active interest in promoting human values education.
Before becoming full-time involved in education, I worked in the media (publishing, journalism and web-design) and ran my own PR & Marketing Consultancy working with small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) to large corporates. I was a member of the BT Business Panel and project managed a community radio application bid for two years as well as presenting on air myself from the studio or on roadshows.
