We are delighted to share that after a wide and open recruitment process, Cat Davison has been appointed as EduSpots’ first formal Chief Executive Officer.
Speaking about the appointment, Chair of Trustees, Professor Gloria Agyemang commented: “We are really excited to have Cat as our first CEO. Cat brings to the role a passion for community- led education which is inspirational. We are confident that under her leadership EduSpots will move from strength to strength.”
Alongside teaching full-time for 8 years, Cat has worked voluntarily with a team of committed EduSpots volunteers, trustees, Directors, and staff to develop the ‘Dream Spot Model’, a concept which is put into practice today by a network of 300 local Catalysts. Since Cat initiated the organisation in 2015, they have together created 50 community-owned education spaces, catalysing the educational engagement and outcomes of over 10,000 learners of all ages annually. The Spots house a diverse range of locally-led clubs, resourced with devices, resource kits, and books, including EduSpots’ own story books and app.
Bringing strong understanding of teacher experience, programme design and educational innovation, Cat holds skills in community collaboration, partnerships development and strategic thinking; areas that are at the heart of EduSpots’ unique model. She leads with an infectious passion for community-driven change and educational equity, with participatory decision-making and shared ownership at the heart of EduSpots’ unique organizational strategy.
Cat studied Philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, later studying a Part II in Management Studies at Cambridge’s Judge Business School, followed by a PGCE with QTS at Buckingham University. Alongside developing EduSpots and teaching, she studied a part-time MA in Education and International Development at University College London’s Institute of Education, with a dissertation exploring the potentially divisive properties of literacy programmes, gaining a sponsored sabbatical year to live in Spot communities exploring literacy understood as a social practice with local parents.
Cat realised early on that critical reflection on social justice in the classroom was not enough in itself to enable learners to create the futures they wanted to see. Alongside creating tools to enable her students to understand and address inequalities they cared about, she saw the potential to address educational inequity on a wider scale through bringing together teaching colleagues and learners she met in Abofour, Ghana, with those in Brighton, UK, together, working alongside a Ghanaian driver, Francis Yeboah, to build a model drawing on high levels of local community aspiration and ownership. A ‘Spot’ is a play on the Ghanaian concept of a ‘drinking Spot’, with the charity from its beginning aiming to bring a level of ‘edutainment’ and community collaboration as a solution to local challenges.
Abofour Spot captured in the day and night (powered by solar), created by the Addae family (right) in December 2015 – open for free to the entire community, led by a local team of Catalysts, the Spot concept was born!
Whilst developing EduSpots, Cat gained further experience through taking a role as the first Director of the Institute of Service and Partnerships at Sevenoaks School where she worked with staff, students and over 100 schools, charities and social enterprises to drive social impact and understanding in local, national and international contexts. She developed the nationwide Schools Community Action Network, sharing models of critically informed citizenship education through leading a number of national conferences and developing four online courses accessed by thousands of learners.
In 2021, Cat was recognised for her national and international impact in education as 1 of 2 UK teachers selected as global finalists for the 2021 $1 million Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize. Alongside gaining recognition for EduSpots, she was selected for the Ashoka Changemakers Academy and shortlisted for the 2018 Unilever Young Social Entrepreneurs Award, the Pearson Education Lockdown Hero and Learner Support Award, Cambridge Social Ventures Incubator, and Big Change’s ‘Big Education Challenge’.
Cat Davison commented: “Being a part of the EduSpots network across the last decade has changed my life. I am excited to move into this formal leadership position and continue to work with Catalysts, staff, trustees, learners and wider supporters to strengthen our core Spot model, and together move our organisation into the next phase of our development whilst maintaining true to our grassroots values and ethos.”
Below, Cat captured with staff in 2022 and 2023; in 2024, the team has now grown to 28 staff, peer mentors and interns who work with over 300 local Catalysts to engage over 10,000 learners annually.
