The Taylor & Francis Awards are presented to the top three graduating students from the Bachelor of Science in Psychology programme. Taylor & Francis partners with world-class authors – from leading scientists and researchers, to scholars and professionals operating at the top of their fields. The organisation is one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, eBooks, textbooks and reference works.
Taking the Lead
for Diversity
and Inclusion
A conversation on making
learning possible for all
Dear Mr Clarke,
I’ve always been interested to work with children with special needs. In order to understand them better, I applied to study psychology. I’ve not looked back since!
Through my studies, I was exposed to the ideas of diversity and inclusion. For example, in the Cultural Psychology course, I learnt that collectivistic countries focus on unity and selflessness, while individualistic countries emphasise independence and identity. I have many colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds. I understand them better now and am more confident communicating with them.
We also explored different case studies from Asia. This got me interested in venturing around the region and working overseas, which will expose me to a more diverse group of children.
Today, as a special education teacher, I collaborate with allied health professionals to develop creative numeracy, literacy and life skills lessons. I also work closely with my students’ parents – each student is unique and deserves different types of interventions.
I plan to specialise in diagnosis and therapy interventions for children with special needs. In the long run, I hope to pursue a PhD and contribute to educational psychology research.
Dear Eugene,
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story. We need more young folks like you, who can take the lead in making education more inclusive for diverse learners.
I hope you never feel alone. Diverse classrooms are in fact a global mission. For example, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals promote equity, where all children should have a right to education and be able to make progress.
I haven’t taught children with special needs. As a father of two, I can only speak from my own experience: In all that I do, I hope to inspire a sense of adventure in my family, friends and community.
That’s also because it’s the journey I’ve taken as a learner myself. I came from England to Singapore and have lived in the tropics since 1991. What is incredible is that after all these years, Asia – one of the most diverse regions on Earth – continues to be my favourite teacher.
It’s endless what I can learn here – so much so that I put my children in local schools, too. For example, I’ve been able to explore many types of civilisations and encounter various community-based ways of thinking, such as Hinduism and Islam. I continue to challenge myself to blend the best of all worlds in my thinking.
Let’s keep exploring and questioning the status quo. COVID-19 has challenged everything, so it’s a good time for us to unlearn, relearn and think anew. I’m encouraged that you want to continue learning and contribute to both society and knowledge creation. I look forward to your journey ahead and hearing from you again!
How We Can Be “Good Ancestors”
Mr Clarke’s current favourite read is The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric. Here, he shares why.
MR CLARKE: “Earth has existed for billions of years. As the author Roman Krznaric writes, ‘Just as there is deep time behind us, there is deep time ahead.’ Over centuries, the human race has done untold damage to the living world. The next generation of leaders can no longer think short-term but need an urgent sense of a ‘longer now’.
In his book, Krznaric offers a toolkit for us to ‘expand our time horizons’ and practise long-term thinking in various ways. One way is for society to go beyond ‘the ego boundary of our own mortality’, think a hundred years ahead and have a ‘transcendent or sacred goal’ together.
Clearly, the most important goal now and in the far future is for our planet to be healthier. The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) list the issues that we can tackle collectively for a better planet. To get the next generation of leaders onboard this goal, Taylor & Francis worked alongside the UN to create Sustainable Development Goals Online – a digital resource for educators and researchers to teach sustainability and address these difficult problems.
To do our part as a ‘good ancestor’ is an enormous privilege – both for Taylor & Francis and for each of us involved in our own little ways. It is a purposeful mission, but more significantly, in a culture of the now, thinking long-term might just be the most radical, countercultural – and effective – way to help our planet.”
