Jim Cogan

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Biographical Information

Jim Cogan, died in 2007 aged 70, "was deputy head of Westminster School in London, an English teacher, charity worker and social innovator... Jim attended Liverpool College, did his national service in the Royal Marines, and went up to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, as a classics scholar, though he changed to English. He taught for a year at Rugby school, then worked briefly in Jamaica for Booker McConnell. He arrived at Westminster in 1964, and became deputy head in 1971. He retired in 1999... It must have been partly to disrupt our complacency that he established, in 1985, Students' Partnership Worldwide, which sends gap-year students to work in developing countries, as well as supporting young people from India, southern Africa and Nepal to become peer educators in their own communities. I was fortunate to be part of an early trip to Zimbabwe to teach, an experience that has defined the direction of my life.

"Jim also founded and ran two remarkable charities: Alive & Kicking and the Good Earth Trust, as well as being a founder and trustee of the UK social enterprise, Changemakers."

Affiliations

• Cofounder, Changemakers UK