Sobia Malik
Qualifications
- BA English – Hons (University College London)
- PGCE English – Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Manchester University)
- NPQH – National Professional Qualification for Headship (NCSL)
- Counselling Diploma – Group Dynamics & Therapeutic Counselling
- NLP Master Practitioner – Neurolinguistic Programming
- Parenting Programme Instructor Certificate – Race Equality Foundation
- Section 5 New Inspector Training – CfBT Education Trust
- PQSI – Professional Qualification in School Inspection
- Additional Inspector – Ofsted
Work so far…
Prior to my role as an independent education consultant, I worked as a senior teacher in a challenging secondary comprehensive in the north west. I have been a leading practitioner in tackling educational underachievement in schools across the UK for over a decade.
Recently, I designed and co-ordinated a community cohesion project in Burnley, Lancashire and compiled the first book to record the history of migrant contributions to the town, ‘Our Work, Our Lives, Our Town.’ I produced a documentary film and exhibition to promote this legacy of pioneers who came in the 1960s and their successful impact in a range of professions up to the present day. The range of consultancy work includes; Additional Inspector for Ofsted, visiting lecturer in education at university level, mentoring graduate trainee teachers to success, English department training to utilise intervention programmes focusing on improving standards in Literacy/KS4 English and specialist educational achievement consultant to combat alienation amongst young Muslim males in the north west of England.
My expertise has been cemented by a solid foundation in my field with a series of mainstream secondary school level posts in inner London and the north. These roles have included; English/Literacy consultant for the largest local authority in the north west, senior teacher and Head of English. As a senior teacher, impact of my work was exemplified by playing a leading role in the school achieving outstanding progress and being ranked by the DfE in the top 1% of schools in the country for improvement. I have presented on a national and regional level on Government strategies for improving English/literacy across the curriculum in mainstream schools, on ‘Closing the Gap’ of ethnic minority achievement as a model of good practice and on Creativity in English. This includes presenting at DfE NS (National Strategies), NAAE (National Association of Advisers in English), as well as NATE (National Association of Teachers in English).
Whilst the bulk of my work is in mainstream education, I have also developed an expertise as a specialist consultant utilising my first-hand experience and understanding of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. This work has been mainly built but not exclusively focused in the following areas: the growing concerns for disaffected young ethnic minority males who are consistently underachieving in schools; delivering projects for young ethnic minority females to explore role models including, for example, the world of politics and their potential role within it. In addition, I’ve worked on ensuring older ethnic minority women and new arrivals, for whom English is an additional language, feel engaged and positive members within their new community.
My work includes innovative strategies to tackle Islamophobia and engender community cohesion by enlisting the support of politicians, wider community organisations, service providers, Imams and young Muslim professionals to strengthen links between parents, mosques, schools and the community.
Sobia Malik 