Welcome!

This site is devoted two related types of educational writing.

The first are my written academic papers in Living Theory. 'Living Theory is a vehicle through which individuals can live out their values more fully in their practice in order to improve it for the benefit of themselves, others and the social formation in which that practice takes place. Each living-theory is unique, as it will contain insights chosen by the living-theorist into the improvement through practice of issues including some of the values of fairness, justice, equality, compassion, love, hope, tolerance' (drawn from a Glossary at a Living Theory Wiki page (https://ejolts-wiki.mattrink.co.uk/index.php/Main_Page).

In my educational research I am particularly interested in improving the quality of learning and of being in processes that facilitate empowerment with myself and others.

The second are my educational stories (see LH side for details), that I have written with notes taken at the time, about being a classroom teacher.

Background: I was born in 1955 to a middle-class family in which education was considered the number one priority! I have an older sister (who used to teach children with learning difficulties) and a younger brother who works in a food processing plant nearby.

Teaching: I have been a teacher since 1978, teaching English, German, Music, Religious Education, Psychology in secondary schools and facilitating Teaching Methodologies with Action Research in Bath University (UK) and Ningxia Teachers University in Guyuan in China. I now teach part time and online at the Open University on M.Sc. modules in Development Management. I also supervise a Ph.D. student who is creating her own living-theory at Cumbria University.

Purposes: I see education as the facilitation of processes which enable individuals to reach their potential, as well as helping to create a just and fairer world. I believe the way to this better world needs to embrace the values of justice, fairness, respect, equality, love, compassion, hope and tolerance. Some of my favourite times are when I influence and witness a person's growth and their delight in that growth, and when I detect it happening within myself. To me that's the magic of being an educator and living-theorist.