Happy2Host Education, a UK-based professional development and creative agency, have announced they’ll be running a free mentorship program on Google’s behalf in 2022. The innovative program will be aimed at improving diversity and increasing the number of Black and educators in the Google for Education Trainer community.
The worrying lack of Black and Asian trainers in the Google community also extends to Google’s partners. Last year, Happy2Host Education became the first black-owned company in Europe to become a Google for Education partner. The agency hopes that through their involvement with the scheme and their work within the community, diversity and inclusion will improve.
The program, with cohorts starting in February and April, will focus on empowering educators from minority backgrounds to have a greater impact at their school through upskilling using Google software. The mentoring program lasts for six months where candidates will receive 20 hours of guided professional development, including 6 hours of mentoring from Google Trainers – like Happy2Host Education.
CEO of Happy2Host Education, Lawrence Tijani says, “We are incredibly proud to be running this very important project on behalf of Google UK. We are looking forward to working with incredible educators from Black and Asian communities to help them gain the Google for educator certifications.”
Happy2Host Education is an inclusive environment that provides a range of affordable creative services for educators. The black-owned company celebrates what makes people unique and utilises these differences to help education providers stand out from the crowd through digital marketing and personal development.
Completing Google certifications has been shown to improve student outcomes in the classroom, drive forward organisations’ digital culture and lead to further career progression for educators. However, many educators on previous Google-backed schemes haven’t been representative of the current diverse educational community. To improve this, the new wave of mentoring has been supported by 60 educators from marginalised communities, and Happy2Host are happy to be able to support in any way they can.
Applications for the next cohort of the Google mentoring scheme open in March 2022: https://events.withgoogle.com/diverse-edtech-educators/
To find out more about the EdTech tools, training, and strategies that Happy2Host offer, visit https://happy2host.education/
