BOLD: "Being a teacher was the best job I ever had"

In 2023, at 37, Jason Arday became one of the youngest people ever appointed to a Professorship at the University of Cambridge, where he teaches sociology of education. Diagnosed with autism at three, he didn’t speak until he was 11, and didn’t read or write until he was 18. He grew up in South London as one of four brothers to parents originally from Ghana. He qualified as a teacher, before moving to academia after completing a PhD in 2015. He seeks to continue trying to democratise higher education; he’s also a trustee for the UK race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust, and has worked with social enterprise the Black Curriculum. He’s also raised millions of pounds for charities.

Jason talks with Helena Pozniak about his own experience of education and changes he’d like to see.

Helena Pozniak: You didn’t read or write until 18 – what was your school experience like?

Jason Arday: It was a privilege, it was beautiful, to observe human interaction in the stillness of your own mind without words. You learn how important touch or a look can be. You learn so many things in the absence of speech that you wouldn’t have known, if words had filled the space. I had 12 years to observe human beings in a way that we don’t normally get to do. And it’s served me well as an adult in terms of being able to read and engage with people. It’s probably not a coincidence that the only thing I’m really good at is people. For that, I see myself as fortunate.

Read the interview here

https://boldscience.org/being-a-teacher-was-the-best-job-i-ever-had/