Sheila writes: In 2013, I wrote about “the disadvantages of perceived mainstream ‘masculine’ systems which may be constrained, reductionist, training rather than educative, and designed to follow a culture of performativity which can work against women’s interests and needs … If one suggests that mothers’ needs can be better served outside of the mainstream into a range of community provision, then further serious dilemmas are raised such as vulnerability of funding streams; less well-trained tutors; inaccessibility of progression routes and qualifications; lack of national standards; and gendered practices of some parenting and early years services. Women-only spaces can be affirming and allow opportunities to share personal stories, fears and challenges and develop strategies, and Auerbach (1997) reminds us of the benefits of working in homogenous groups. This thesis shows that women at different life stages, with particular priorities, concerns or constraints around learning English at that time, need supportive programmes which attend to these issues. A feature of such participatory classes is their aim to empower learners to set their own agendas, name and find solutions to current real-life problems. This links, through practice, the academic argument to political action, a connection which lies at the centre of feminist research” (Macdonald, 2013, Christopher Brumfit Award, p.14).

The proposal implicit in my research findings was to discover, by setting up such a women-only service, whether we could overcome practical obstacles sufficiently to offer an empowering, personal space for learning and community connection. It was this vision which engaged our earliest funders. Remaining consistent to our earliest principles (see Section 1), whilst continuing to question and explore the practice, convinced funders to sustain us with their long-term support. We contributed to significant policy and government debate, including ‘Towards an ESOL Strategy for England’ (Houses of Parliament 2017); as a member of the South East Strategic Partnership for Migration; ‘Modern Slavery: Past, Present, Future’ (Parliamentary Event 2019).

The second major strand of our research enquiries focussed on the entirely unexplored field of an inter-disciplinary partnership between an ESOL tutor and a voice practitioner (who was also a highly-experienced community artist). It all started with voices – those unheard, misheard or misunderstood – and our joint passion for empowering others to find joy and confidence in their own sound.

In the adult education setting, Jodi and I built skills in action research methods (Macdonald & Watson 2014 EmCett), laying down valuable habits of video recording sessions, monitoring and evaluating.  We looked to the relatively limited studies available on the links between music and language learning, and found that singing and rhythm-based activities could lead to positive outcomes (ibid). However, there was no-one else developing a long-term collaboration which foregrounded the knowledge and skills of a natural voice practitioner in adult language learning. In our later reflection we noted that evaluating this process “has been a puzzle and a challenge from the outset. We hardly knew how to articulate the practice ourselves and struggled to present a clear research question which lent itself to examining its effectiveness … We became confident of overall outcomes, but not in explaining how we achieve them” (Macdonald & Watson 2022: 11).

As our practice at United Mothers developed, we found that it was unique on several fronts and that there was not an obvious ‘research home’ which recognised both professional contributions. The ‘Hub for Education and Language Diversity’ (HELD), co-ordinated by Dr Melanie Cooke at King’s College London, was an important network and location within which to develop our thinking and publications (Macdonald, 2019). We later benefitted from the connection and guidance afforded by Dr Lou Harvey, University of Leeds and joint co-ordinator of Language at the Intersection of Language and the Arts (LILA); this led to the publication of our final article (Macdonald & Watson 2022). We concluded:

“What can we share with other practitioners and programme providers? We are in a context of widespread distrust and hostility towards those arriving at the UK borders, in which formal ESOL provision is seriously constrained and tightly bound to a national security agenda. In this community partnership, Jodi and I have discovered, along with the BTP team, volunteers and United Mothers, that there is joy and laughter in our co-learning and creation, weaving relationships and our community. It’s a place where we all thrive. Although this particular collaboration is unique due to our skills and experience, we hope that it offers ideas and constructive reflections to offer the wider fields of language teaching, creative arts and social integration” (Macdonald & Watson, 2022: 11).

In 2023, Jodi and Sheila presented their final conference contribution in Glasgow.

It all started with the voices: voices coming together and voices unheard, so we’d like to finish with some of those voices now activated, the UM members: