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The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

Dr Karamat Iqbal

Dr Karamat Iqbal is an education and diversity practitioner. He has worked in youth work, secondary/post-16 education and local authority school advisory work. He has a particular interest in education of disadvantaged young people.

He has written for numerous publications, including the Times Educational Supplement.

Latest blog posts

Dr Karamat Iqbal
20 October 2021

Preparing young people for a multicultural world

Where do you come from? Dr Karamat Iqbal explores what it means to live in a multicultural world and suggests resources to support teaching and further reflection. I have lived in the Midlands for 51 years, having been born in Kashmir. But I am used to being asked: ‘Where do you come from?' Visible...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
23 March 2021

How should controversial issues be handled in the classroom?

In the second of his two-part series , Karamat Iqbal looks at how to teach pupils about controversial issues and instil confidence in staff. Read part one, What is controversial in the classroom? Teaching of some curricula and the resources and methodologies used are left to the schools’ and...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
19 January 2021

What is controversial in the classroom?

What makes something controversial? In the first part of a two-part series, Karamat Iqbal explores definitions of controversy and approaches to teaching it. Whether our fellow citizens can feed themselves is often in the news these days. This maybe because of Marcus Rashford’s excellent work on...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
8 January 2020

Engaging parents in their children's education: a strengths-based approach

To be successful in building partnerships with parents and carers, schools need to rethink their approach to parental engagement. Dr Karamat Iqbal looks at how schools can build bridges with the world of parents. Partnership between parents and schools has been a part of the British education...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
22 January 2019

Whatever happened to equalities?

What have changes to government policies meant for equalities? Dr Karamat Iqbal looks at racism in schools, and the steps that need to be taken to achieve equality. In the post-war education system, there have been a variety of education policy approaches to equalities. It is an area that is...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
12 September 2018

Community in the school and school in the community

The transformative power of school-community relationships is plain to see. Karamat Iqbal explains what schools can gain from strengthening their local ties. If we look closely enough at our communities, we discover that many of them are rich in different types of capital and assets which, when...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
11 January 2018

Disadvantage: looking beyond the pupil premium

School leaders can take meaningful steps to address the prevalence of disadvantage, not just through the use of pupil premium but their core budget. Disadvantaged children have an unequal start in life. Such children have shorter learning days, can lack ‘broader knowledge’ and cultural capital, and...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
7 November 2017

Should education be secular?

Religious belief is very much alive in our schools, but many teachers are drastically unprepared to teach in the classrooms of the future. One of the most visible effects of globalisation has been the greater movement of peoples and communities. This has led to newer forms of diversity, especially...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
13 September 2017

The cost of educational underachievement

The benefits of receiving an education are matched only by the cost of not receiving one. Karamat Iqbal explains why underachievement is potentially life-changing. They say 'You don't know the value of something until it's gone', and education is no exception to this rule. It is easy to say that...
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Dr Karamat Iqbal
8 August 2017

Are extra-curricular activities important?

Out-of-hours pursuits can play a significant role in shaping a pupil's future. They deserve pride of place in a school's offer. In 2014, the then-secretary of state for education, Michael Gove gave a speech in which he pointed out that schools that excelled academically had a programme of extra-...
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