WESN - BESA Women's Educational Suppliers Network

Special Interest Group

WESN – BESA Women’s Educational Suppliers Network

The Women’s Educational Suppliers Working Group is an informal advisory group whose purpose is to advise BESA on how to maximise women’s contribution in this industry sector, facilitate networking of women across the sector, help women supporting each other in business and career growth and raise the profile of influential women in this sector.

The WESWG is currently Chaired by Jane Mann, Director of Education Reform at Cambridge University Press, and meets quarterly to advise BESA on:

Gender balance opportunities and challenges within member/Launchpad companies
The barriers and challenges that prevent some from achieving their potential in this industry
Identifying solutions to help overcome such obstacles
Generating proposals for BESA and others to maximise women’s contribution in this sector
Acting as a sounding board on the impact of proposed activities relating to women in this area of business
How we can best facilitate networking of women across the sector and to enable women to support each other in business and career growth by sharing information and expertise
How we might raise the profile of influential women in this sector, and support member organisations to maximise women’s contribution

Who are the WESN WG members?

2Simple Software	ISC Research	SAM Learning
Arbor Education Partners	JEM Education Direct / Menzies Response Limited	SchoolOnline
Arc Education	Joskos Solutions	Sparx Ltd
BlueSky Education (Atkey Solutions)	KCS Education	Staff Absence Management Ltd
Brownbread Group Ltd T/A Gluu	Mangahigh.com	Texthelp Ltd
Cambridge University Press & Assessment	Maths Circle Ltd	The Gender Equality Collective
Chatty Learning	Metaverse Tech Ltd (VBuddies)	The Happy Confident Company
Classroom Secrets	Microsoft Ltd	The Literacy Company
Discovery Education	My Rockerbox Ltd (Rockerbox News)	Third Space Learning
Eximus Education	NetSupport	Titan Furniture (TC Group)
Elastik Learning	North Yorkshire County Council	TrainingToolz (Kodo Education)
Fiction Express Education Ltd	Oxford University Press (OUP)	VenturEd Solutions
Findel Education (International)	Pearson	Westchester Publishing Services UK Ltd
Get Good With	ReadSpeaker	White Rose Education Ltd
GL Education	Red Lester	YPO
HES (Havering Education Services)	Real Group Ltd
HFL Education T/A Herts for Learning	sAlnaptic
Imagine Learning

Group's Terms of Reference

1. To advise BESA on how to maximise women’s contribution in this industry sector. In particular the BESA Women’s Educational Suppliers Working Group will advise BESA by:

Identifying the barriers and challenges that prevent women from achieving their potential in this industry
Identifying means of overcoming these obstacles
Generating proposals for BESA and others to maximise women’s contribution in this sector
Acting as a sounding board on the impact of proposed activities relating to women in this area of business.

2. The Group should have two or three meetings a year, unless the Group wants more.

3. When attending a meeting, members need to be ready to contribute to all areas of meeting unless not relevant.

4. When attending a meeting, members need to be ready to interact to the polls, Q&A’s and have their camera turned on.

5. When attending a meeting, members need to ensure that they are in a suitable location without distractions.

6. To facilitate networking of women across the sector and to help women support each other in business and career growth by sharing information and expertise.

7. To raise the profile of influential women in this sector, and support member organisations to maximise women’s contribution.

8. When attending a meeting, members need to be ready to contribute to the chat, polls and have their camera turned on.

9. Member companies need to attend a minimum of two meeting per year. If the minimum requirement is not met, the company may be asked to leave the Group and will have to reapply for membership.

10. The Chairman of the Group has the responsibility of organising a guest for each meeting, this responsibility is not for members of the group.

Joining the Group

How do I join the WESWG?

Joining the WEWSG is free and open to all. The process is an email or letter from the company, stating that you want to join the group.

Meetings take place approximately three times a year and are usually held at the BESA offices.

Example application letter

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to formally apply to join the WESWG Group.

Paragraph confirming that

i)You are happy to share ideas with the rest of the WESWG Group
ii) Committed to developing and taking the Group forward
iii) Additionally you need to meet the Group’s Terms of Reference which are available on the website.

Yours sincerely

Next steps

Please email the events team expressing that you wish to join the group.