Prf Freda Wolfenden

Professional biography

Professor Freda Wolfenden is a Professor of Education and International Development at the Open University in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies.

Freda's  professional work is concerned with enhancing the quality of  pedagogic practices and teacher development particularly in low income contexts.  She leads the conceptualisation, planning and delivery of teacher education programmes with a  focus on the use of open practices at scale in the pursuit of equality in participation in learning.

Between February 2019 and December 2020 Freda was  Education Director / Team Leader at the Girls' Education Challenge (GEC)  fund manager.  The GEC is a large FCDO funded programme supporting the learning of over 1.3M marginalised girls in 17 countries through 41 projects. 

At the Open University Freda has  held a number of leadership positions including Associate Dean (Curiculum, Qualifications and Scholarship) and directed several teacher education programmes for both UK and global cohorts including the online professional development programme for teachers, teachandlearn.net, and the Masters in Education.   

Freda's background is in secondary school science teaching in London and overseas. She has also worked as an Advisor for a local Education Authority in England, materials producer, project director and manager in a number of education organisations in the UK and in Asia. 

Research interests

The primary focus of Freda's  work is enhancing teacher learning in development contexts and the ways in which new technologies and in particular OER (Open Educational Resources) can influence pedagogy and teacher change.  Freda adopts a socially situated theoretical stance and prioritise engagement with applied research to enrich the interplay between scholarship, teaching and innovation and to maximise the impact on practice (as evidenced by external grants).   A key characteristic is leadership of collaborative activity with colleagues from different institutions, cultures and contexts

Current Research Projects: Freda is PI on three education research projects collaborating with a range of partners in low - middle income countries: 

GPE-KIX Europe - Asia - Pacific Project: Networked Improvement Communities for School Leaders towards Equity and Inclusion, in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan (through FIT-Ed). June 2021- August 2023

A pilot of the improvement science approach to strengthening school leadership in four countries (Chile, Kenya, The Philippines, Uganda). 2020 - 2022

GPE-KIX Global: Scaling the TPD@Scale approach in three GPE Countries (Honduras, Ghana and Uzbekistan). 2020 - 2022 

Previous Research and Development Activities 

Until early 2019 Freda  was Academic Director of the TESS-India programme (www.tess-india.edu.in), a large scale Open Educational Resources (OER)  teacher education initiative working across 7 Indian states to reach up to 3 million teachers and funded by DfID (£10M).

Freda initiated the Open University component of the GIrls Education Challenge (GEC) Project in Sierra Leone 'Supporting Marginalised Girls in Sierra Leone to complete Basic Education with Improved Learning Outcomes'. The OU is responsible for the Learning Assistant strand of activity, supporting young women to develop the skills - academic and professional, and confidence to enter Teacher Training.

From 2008 to 2012 Freda was  Director of the TESSA programme.  TESSA – Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (www.tessafrica.net), is a large research and development initiative exploring the use of Open Educational Resources to improve the quality of pre-and in-service teacher education at scale.  She over £2.5M to support TESSA development; TESSA OER use is now embedded in teacher education programmes across 10 countries. In 2009 the Open University was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for TESSA and in 2011 TESSA was a WISE Award winner (http://www.wise-qatar.org/awards).

Freda conceptualisd and established the Malawi Access to Teaching Saltire Scholarship programme; this enables women in rural areas to achieve qualifications and relevant school experience prior to entry to teacher training.  In 2013 this model was extended to Sierra Leone as part of a Girls' Education Challenge project. 

Teaching interests

Freda teaches on the Masters in Education  at the OU and between 2007-2010  directed this programme.   Freda initiated a course in education and development (ET821) and currently teaches on the Inclusive Practice pathway in the Masters in Education, charing EE845 'Social justice, equity and equality: inclusive practice for all'.