B.Ed. (Hons); M.Ed; M.Sc (Dist.); Ph.D;  D.P.S.E. (Dance in Education) (CNAA)

Profile

Currently a member of the school’s Physical Activity and Sport Education research team, between 2003 – 2007 Tansin served as Deputy Head of the School of Education, assuming a range of responsibilities including Director of Learning and Teaching for three years. As winner of a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for 2008, she has recently spent in the Middle East developing a key research interest in the experiences of Muslim girls and women in physical activity. Trained as a teacher of Physical Education, with long-term voluntary commitment to the sport of women’s artistic gymnastics as coach and international judge, Tansin teaches across undergraduate, teacher training and postgraduate studies, with an increasing international subject interest evidenced in her recent election to the Executive Boards of both the International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women (IAPESGW) in 2005, and the International Council of Sports Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE).

Indices of esteem

• Leverhulme Research Fellowship 2008
• Elected to Executive Boards of leading international subject NGOs - ICSSPE and IAPESGW
• Representative on International Committee of  Sport Pedagogy. 2005 - 2009
• Invited speaker Sports Association for Arab Women's Conference (SAAW), Damascus, Syria. February 2007, Libya 2008
• Invited speaker ICSEMIS, China August 2008
• Honoured member, national subject association for physical education (afPE) for outstanding contribution, and currently  invited member of Research Committee
• Programme leader of unique  partnership postgraduate degree programme with Birmingham Royal Ballet since 1997
• Commissioned team leader of BASS project (Birmingham Advisory Support Services), 2007 - 2008 ‘Improving inclusion of Muslim girls in physical education’, outcome - Guidance to schools, launched November 3rd 2008

Research and Projects Interests

• Experiences of Muslim girls and women in physical education and  sport
• Cross-cultural research 
• Gender, ethnicity, religion and the body
• Research, pedagogy and practice
• Women’s history in physical education
• Dance, Arts and Artists and Education

Membership of professional bodies

• Honoured member association for Physical Education (afPE)
• Elected Executive Board member for IAPESGW (from August 2005)
• Elected Executive Board for International Council of Sports Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) (2009 onwards)
• International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women Representative on International Committee of Sport Pedagogy (2005 onwards)
• Member of the Higher Education Academy

Publications (selected)

Benn, T., & Webb, I. (2008) Rhoda Anstey, Founder / Principal of Anstey College of Physical Education, Birmingham. In Partnership project - Birmingham Archive & Heritage / University of Birmingham  – ‘Connecting Histories’ see ‘Faces and Places’ section

Benn, T., Koushkie-Jahromi, M. (2008 in Press) Improving Inclusion: International Declaration for Muslim women ‘Accept and Respect 2008’, ICSSPE Special Edition Bulletin. 

Benn, T., Benn, B., & Maude, P. (2007) A Practical Guide to the Teaching of Gymnastics, commissioned on behalf of national subject association (afPE),  Leeds, Coachwise.

Benn TC, Benn B, Doyle B. (2006) An inside story: tracking experiences, challenges and successes in a joint specialist performing arts college, Research in Dance Education, 7(1): 13-32. ISSN: 1464-7893.

Benn TC, Dagkas S. 2006. Incompatible? Compulsory mixed-sex Physical Education Initial Teacher Training (PEITT) and the inclusion of Muslim women: a case-study on seeking solutions, European Physical Education Review, 12 (2): 181-200. ISSN: 1356-336X.

Benn TC, Ahmed A. 2006. Alternative Visions: International sporting opportunities for Muslim Women and implications for British youth sport, Youth and Policy, 92, Special Edition, 119-132.

Publications 2001 - 2008 [pdf]