Cat Davison

Founder / CEO

Cat’s primary interest is in the development of educational systems, resources and curriculums that enable learners of all ages and identities to create the worlds that they want to see, with playfulness and reflection on power embedded into the processes of change.

She started her journey as a classroom teacher, teaching philosophy and coaching hockey and football for 11 years, also leading the Institute of Service and Social Entrepreneurship at Sevenoaks School from its inception. Here, she worked with her students and colleagues to develop models of critically informed active citizenship and social entrepreneurship education through innovative curriculums, project frameworks and online courses, connecting with hundreds of schools, NGOs, social enterprises and government institutions. She also developed and led the nationwide Schools Community Action Network involving over 120 schools in community action. In 2021, she was selected as a finalist for the UNESCO-backed $1 million Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

Alongside full-time teaching and completing a part-time PGCE and later MA in Education and International Development at University College London, since 2015 she has worked with over 500 local educational Catalysts across rural Ghana and Kenya to develop the EduSpots network and Spot concept from its origin through a participatory model of organisational development, before being appointed formally as EduSpots’ Chief Executive Officer in 2024 after an open recruitment process. Over 10,000 learners of all ages are involved annually in community-led, practical and play-based education through 50 community-led spaces named ‘Spots’, situated across 13 regions of Ghana and Kenya, with over £1 million raised to support this work.

EduSpots won the 2018 British Council sponsored Tes International Award, was a finalist for the 2023 Their World Education Innovation Scale-Up Awards, and was selected for the Dovetail Impact Foundation’s Accelerator Portfolio in 2024. She is a 2024 Gratitude Network fellow, completed the 2023 Ashoka Changemakers Academy, and was shortlisted for the 2018 Unilever’s Young Social Entrepreneurs’ Award, 2021 Pearson Education Covid Hero and Learner Support Award and 2023 Big Change’s Big Education Challenge.