Miriam Mason, PhD (Bio)
Born in the UK, Miriam studied languages, trained as a teacher and taught there for 8 years before heading out to start EducAid’s first school in Sierra Leone. The idea was to provide free, high quality education that would enable some of the poorest in Sierra Leone to take themselves out of poverty and their communities with them.
Since 2000, she has led the organisation to establish values-led programming to achieve a bold vision of a dignified, democratic and globally engaged Sierra Leone where poverty is eradicated by educated citizens.
EducAid is now:
a network of 5 free schools run by a team of committed staff, 90% of whom are past pupils;
an outreach programme training teachers in over 100 other schools to achieve human rights aligned behaviour management, gender equal participation and achievement & excellent academics (this programme is at the heart of a government pilot to establish a strong evidence base for school improvement)
a Business Administration & Management degree course run as an extension of the University of Makeni;
CPD support to teacher training colleges and the local Ministry of Education;
etc.
Her passionate commitment to high quality, holistic education with a strong focus on gender equality has won Miriam recognition in her native United Kingdom with an award of the Member of the British Empire (MBE), in Sierra Leone with an award of the Member of the Order of Rokel (MOR) and globally when she was a Top 50 finalist for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize.
She continues to pursue all necessary tools to equip her staff team and students with the tools to achieve their vision. She is a strong believer in
lifelong learning and is currently working to adapt her recently completed PhD thesis into a book.