FOSTERING A HOME FOR HEARTS IN TRANSITION: AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY OF STAFF TRANSITION SUPPORT AT POWIIS
HOW CAN WE BETTER ASSESS GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP?
BELONGING AS A FUNDAMENTAL NEED: A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO FOSTERING BELONGING IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
MOVING FORWARD WITH DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION AT DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL: REFLECTING ON OUR PROGRESS
IS COMPARATIVE JUDGEMENT A VIABLE ASSESSMENT TOOL TO BOTH MEASURE AND ENHANCE LEARNING?
LEVERAGING LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES HOW WE CAN BUILD INCLUSIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITIES THAT FOSTER A SENSE OF BELONGING IN ALL LEARNERS
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE STEAM PROGRAMME A BLUEPRINT FOR LASTING IMPACT
Grant Dickens The British School New Delhi
Khalifah Bennett Prince of Wales Island International School, Penang
Kristof Starost Charter International School, Bangkok
Mike Alborough The International School @ParkCity
Lynsey Gogin Dulwich College Seoul
Todd Thornback Bangkok Patana School
Vicky Walker Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi
Warda Muse Jerudong International School
Foreword
On behalf of the FOBISIA CPD Executive Committee, we are thrilled to welcome you to the very first edition of the FOBISIA Fellowship Journal! This Journal celebrates the insights, creativity, and leadership our 2024–25 Fellowship Awardees bring to their schools and the wider educational community.
Congratulations to our inaugural Fellowship Awardees for successfully completing the Fellowship Programme. Their dedication, innovation, and commitment to growth have been inspiring, and this Journal reflects the remarkable progress they have made.
We also extend heartfelt thanks to the Mentors, whose guidance and expertise have been invaluable in supporting our Awardees every step of the way, shaping the next generation of educational leaders across FOBISIA schools.
We hope this Journal sparks conversation, provokes reflection, and inspires new ideas you can take back to your practice. We look forward to continuing this journey together, learning from one another, and strengthening the impact of the Fellowship Programme.
Warm regards,
Julia Armstrong CPD Chair Kellett School Hong Kong
Swati
Sinha Bedi HQ Support
Grant Dickens
The British School New Delhi
SPACE OUT THE NEED FOR A FRAMEWORK LIKE SPACE OUT
Transitioning into a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) classroom can often feel abrupt and disorientating—much like experiencing educational whiplash. Students accustomed to traditional classroom approaches, where content knowledge typically takes center stage, may initially find the abstract and reflective nature of TOK perplexing. Teachers, too, might grapple with presenting complex epistemological questions clearly and effectively. Also, at Parent-Teacher Conferences (PTCs), this disconnect becomes strikingly evident, as parents frequently ask, "What is TOK?"
This ambiguity surrounding TOK's aims, methods, and expectations highlights the necessity for a clear, consistent framework that supports students, parents, and teachers alike. SPACE Out addresses this exact challenge by providing structured opportunities to scaffold critical thinking and reflection, bridging the gap between conventional learning and the unique demands of TOK.
The Wider Need Beyond the TOK Curriculum
The value of a structured critical thinking framework extends far beyond TOK classrooms. Indeed, the entire educational community benefits from embedding second-order thinking— thinking about thinking—across all subjects. Research consistently demonstrates the transformative potential of metacognitive practices. For instance, Rivas et al. (2022) emphasize that learning quality significantly improves when students engage actively in metacognitive processes, noting the essential role of cognitive and non-cognitive regulation in effective problem-solving. Furthermore, the development of a robust Theory of Mind (ToM), as highlighted by Wang (2015), enables students not only to recognize their own knowledge gaps but also to appreciate different perspectives and comprehend the intricacies of knowledge construction. This enhanced awareness fosters empathy and critical awareness. Moreover, empirical studies reinforce the value of explicitly teaching critical thinking. Coates, Rosicka, and MacMahon-Ball (2007) reported substantial gains in critical-thinking capabilities
among second-year Diploma Programme students exposed to structured TOK methodologies. Such findings validate the need for integrating similar thinking routines throughout the broader curriculum. This promotes analytical rigor, deepens content understanding, and cultivates learners who are reflective, thoughtful, and better prepared for future academic and real-world challenges. Thus, the case for a structured, accessible framework like SPACE Out extends powerfully across educational contexts, benefiting students, educators, and the wider community alike.
What is SPACE Out?
SPACE Out is a versatile thinking framework designed to seamlessly integrate second-order thinking into high school classrooms across all subjects. Its primary goal is to facilitate a clearer transition to TOK classes while simultaneously enhancing students' critical thinking competencies. Each component of the SPACE Out acronym encourages students to analyze topics critically and from diverse angles. The acronym stands for:
Stakeholders: Encourages students to identify who is impacted by or involved in knowledge creation and distribution. It prompts reflection on accessibility and control of information. A guiding question might be, "What roles do different institutions play in controlling or distributing this knowledge?"
Perspectives: Invites examination of multiple viewpoints and how biases and contexts shape interpretations. Students are encouraged to consider, "How do cultural, social, and historical contexts shape our perspectives on this topic?"
Authority: Challenges students to evaluate sources of knowledge critically, prompting questions around expertise and evidence. An example question includes, "Is it possible to be certain about this topic, and how can we judge the validity of evidence?"
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Construction: Guides students to consider how knowledge is produced, emphasizing the role of collaboration, methodologies, and material tools. Students might explore, "How does the method used to produce knowledge influence our understanding or feelings about it?"
Ethics: Encourages critical reflection on the moral implications associated with knowledge. It pushes students to question their responsibilities and ethical considerations, possibly asking, "Were any ethical boundaries crossed in the production of this knowledge?"
(Zoom) Out: Promotes making broader connections to other disciplines, topics, and contexts. Students reflect on questions such as, "Can you make connections between this topic and other topics we've studied in class, or does it confirm or challenge things you've learned elsewhere?"
By systematically applying these reflective prompts, SPACE Out facilitates deeper, more conscientious understanding and fosters critical thinking skills essential to educational and personal development.
Using the SPACE Out Framework
One of the successes of the framework is its versatility. Not only can it be used in diverse subjects, but is it can also be applied in diverse ways.
Individual Activities
Individual SPACE Out activities provide short, structured opportunities for critical thinking. At The British School (TBS), 37.5% of these activities typically require only 5 to 10 minutes, seamlessly integrating into classroom routines.
Accessing Content: In a Geography lesson on slum development, students participated in a gallery walk, examining images from slums in Dharavi and Kibera. Guided by the SPACE Out prompt, students considered: "What might each stakeholder—slum residents, local government, NGOs, urban planners, international media—know or not know about the conditions, causes, and challenges of these slums?" This approach facilitated deeper reflection and empathy, enhancing their understanding of complex geographical issues.
Brain-Break Activities: In Art classes studying self-portraits, students paused their practical activities to reset and reflect. Midway through a double period, students discussed: "Is imagination the most significant tool in creating artistic knowledge?" This brief dialogue refreshed engagement, encouraged thoughtful dialogue, and deepened their conceptual understanding of artistic processes.
Extension Tasks: History students exploring the Elgin Marbles used SPACE Out for differentiated learning. An extension task invited early finishers to address: "What factors might influence a person's perspective on history?" Students contributed their insights via post-it notes, fostering an inclusive environment where every student engaged meaningfully.
Lesson-Level Applications
SPACE Out also effectively structures entire lessons. In an English class analyzing advertisements, students were tasked to identify implicit meanings in ads they gathered beforehand. Using SPACE Out prompts, they tackled questions like, "How can we prove an interpretation deviates from the author's intention?" and "Should an authority regulate problematic texts?" This structured critical inquiry promoted rigorous analytical discussions and deeper comprehension.
In Science, students examined elements of the periodic table through a SPACE Out-informed activity. They created mock news reports on fictional elements, reflecting on: "How can existing knowledge help construct new understanding?" This creative task reinforced scientific concepts while simultaneously developing their critical thinking skills.
Whole-Unit Integration
SPACE Out can also shape entire instructional units. In Psychology, students explored research methods guided by the overarching question, "How do the tools we use to construct knowledge influence the types of knowledge produced?" The unit culminated in group presentations where students critically evaluated methods and reflected deeply on the knowledge construction process, highlighting how systematic inquiry can drive sustained, reflective learning.
Wider School Opportunities
Beyond individual lessons and units, SPACE Out has also been embedded into wider school initiatives. One example is our “I AM TBS” Week—a whole-school intervention designed to explore each element of the SPACE Out framework. Each day of the week was dedicated to one aspect: Stakeholders, Perspectives, Authority, Construction, or Ethics. During tutor times, students engaged with thought-provoking questions linked to the theme of the day, encouraging school-wide reflection and discussion across year levels.
Through these diverse implementations, SPACE Out demonstrates its versatility as a powerful pedagogical tool. It not only embeds critical thinking across subjects but also cultivates a reflective school culture, preparing students comprehensively for academic success and thoughtful citizenship.
Testimonies
The SPACE Out framework has been widely embraced by both teachers and students, as evidenced by the following testimonies:
Teachers' Perspectives:
"I found SPACE Out an interesting opportunity to see my students' opinions on what we were doing in class."
"This is an activity that I have done with different year groups, and it has always resulted in engaging discussions."
"I plan to incorporate the SPACE Out activities into my chemistry lessons as frequently as possible. These enriching discussions help students understand the nature of science." Students' Perspectives:
"I really liked that I was learning from what my classmates were saying. My friends had different perspectives from me, so it was good to see things in a different way."
"It was a constructive, fun activity that helped me understand the topic at hand in a more comfortable, casual environment. I'm certain it encouraged me and my classmates to participate collectively and pick up ideas not just from the teacher but from each other as well."
"I like that SPACE Out activities push us to think more deeply, and I like that it usually involves some kind of debate."
These testimonials underscore SPACE Out’s effectiveness in fostering dynamic and reflective learning environments, promoting deeper student engagement, and enhancing crossdisciplinary understanding.
Challenges & Refinements
Implementing the SPACE Out framework was not without its challenges, but it also provided rich opportunities for growth, collaboration, and school-wide engagement. One of the most important steps in our rollout was a comprehensive focus on teacher training. This included whole-faculty professional development sessions, as well as more targeted departmental training. These sessions not only introduced the framework but also created a sense of shared ownership and collective pedagogical vision.
To support implementation, we created resource packs with sample activities and guiding questions, which allowed teachers to adapt the framework confidently into their
subject areas. We also made SPACE Out mandatory for a short trial period, which helped ensure consistency and offered us a useful baseline for feedback. During this phase, we used Google Forms to collect data from a range of stakeholders. The feedback informed refinements in training materials and resource design, allowing us to be responsive to the real-time needs of staff and students.
Crucially, we also looked for opportunities to celebrate successes. During morning briefings, teachers shared positive experiences and highlighted how the framework enriched their lessons. These small but consistent moments helped build a community of practice and reinforced the value of the initiative.
We extended SPACE Out to our parent community as well. In one TOK parent session, we handed out SPACE Out posters and explained how they could use these to spark conversations with their children at home. This parentfacing approach was instrumental in smoothing the cultural transition into TOK and reinforcing the value of second-order thinking beyond the classroom.
SPACE Out also gained visibility through wider school initiatives such as IMTBS Week, where it featured as part of interdisciplinary activities. This further normalized the language and made it more accessible to both students and teachers.
Looking ahead, one ongoing challenge is ensuring consistency. While SPACE Out is being used widely across lessons, it’s important to maintain shared language and clarity around its use. The goal is for both teachers and students to recognise when they are "spacing out"—and to cultivate a shared awareness of how this supports deeper, more transferable thinking. Establishing this consistency is key to ensuring a smooth and meaningful transition into TOK.
Moving Forward
The long-term goal of the SPACE Out framework is to create a smoother, more intentional transition into the TOK programme by building a school-wide culture of critical thinking, perspective awareness, and second-order reflection. To truly measure its success, we will need to track both academic outcomes and affective experiences. This means reviewing student performance in TOK assignments over time, while also collecting qualitative data through interviews with students and parents about how prepared and confident they feel entering the TOK programme.
Maintaining and expanding this initiative will require ongoing collaboration and strong buy-in from all stakeholders. A key priority will be to refine the framework with a representative committee of teachers from different disciplines and grade levels. Distributing training responsibilities and collaborating on the creation of shared resources will not only sustain momentum but also empower staff to tailor SPACE Out in ways that are contextually relevant. Celebrating success will remain essential. Continuing to use platforms like morning briefings and faculty meetings to spotlight impactful practice will help reinforce a shared pedagogical culture.
Equally important is celebrating the contributions of our students. Moving forward, we hope to include students in the training process—inviting them to explain the framework to younger year groups, model reflective thinking, and contribute examples of SPACE Out in action. This will not only empower students as thinkers but also embed the language and habits of SPACE Out more deeply into the school’s culture.
We also see value in identifying shared platforms to showcase this work across year groups and subjects. Whether through curated student work displays, cross-curricular projects, or digital portfolios, celebrating student thinking will demonstrate the richness and reach of SPACE Out—and ensure it remains a living, evolving part of our community's academic identity.
Final Note
I’d like to thank the TBS community for their support and enthusiasm with this initiative, and thank FOBISIA for their support along the way, in particular my mentor Paul Johnson, who has offered encouragement and food for thought along the way.
If anybody is interested in adopting the SPACE Out framework in their school, you can use these resources and contact me at g.dickens@british-school.org.
Prince of Wales Island International School, Penang
FOSTERING A HOME FOR HEARTS IN TRANSITION:
AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY OF STAFF TRANSITION SUPPORT AT POWIIS
In July 2016, I arrived at POWIIS eight months pregnant and ready to start my new job. Balancing leadership responsibilities with the demands of motherhood presented significant obstacles to adapting to my new environment. Nine years later, I reflected on how crucial transition support was to my success in the organisation. Though my story is unique, the acculturative stress faced as an international educator is not.
By the 2010s, studies of sojourner acculturation focused primarily on students and business professionals, leaving a void in examining the experience of international educators (Roskell, 2013). Research has progressed, but is still scarce (Stasel, 2021; Arnold, 2021). So why is this important? We can see through the limited studies that international educators have unique challenges and needs related to their acculturation process. Consider that ISC Research recorded, as of January 2025, international schools employed 713,539 staff members globally. It is in our best interest to conduct more teacher acculturation studies to offer clearer pathways to supporting international educators in the future (Stasel, 2021; Stroud & Evans, 2023).
This study focuses on staff transition support during the 2024-2025 school year at POWIIS to formalise a process for examining our systems measured against staff experiences, ensuring success stories are not one-offs but outcomes of intentional practices. As this study is iterative, with the research informing practical changes at POWIIS, I adapted and employed a research-based framework to assess how staff members are supported in the varying stages of transition, determining what was visible, identifying and acting upon gaps and finally, considering aspirations.
This study is interwoven with POWIIS’s vision, "An adventure for the mind and a home for the heart," to ground the approach, cementing our commitment to staff well-being and success. This approach was inspired by an interview with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) organisational psychologist Christina Norris-Watts, who highlighted the central role of the J&J Credo in their practices (Norris-Watts, 2024). Mirroring this, I designed research questions representing staff transitions support through the lens of our vision statement:
How does an international school foster ‘a home for the heart’ through a constant state of transition? How do we know we’ve fostered a home for the heart?
Methodology
A mixed-methods investigative approach was used to capture POWIIS staff experiences using staff surveys, feedback conversations, and an audit of systems, processes and documents (handbooks and guidance). The study's primary data analysis methods were descriptive quantitative analysis and thematic analysis.
TES Staff Pulse
TES Staff Pulse survey data was collected from August 2024 until February 2025. This voluntary anonymous well-being survey is sent monthly, including up to 10 randomised statements that staff select the extent to which they agree on a scale of 0-10. Staff may skip any question they do not want to answer. Each question allows voluntary comments as well.
TES offers custom question options, so I included nine custom questions over seven survey cycles. Unlike TESgenerated questions, participants received custom questions
Khalifah Bennett
concurrently, which increased the response rate. When reporting TES quantitative data, results are categorised as follows:
Staff conversations were conducted through line-managerial and collegial capacities, allowing a balanced range of feedback. Some were more willing to discuss their personal experiences informally. Staff discussed their professional needs more often through formal conversation.
Systems, Processes and Documentation
POWIIS has an extensive digital file system for every aspect of school operations. These documents were used to determine if systems or processes existed to support staff transitions and whether they were fit for purpose.
Framework
The POWIIS Staff Transition Support Framework, adapted from Schlossberg’s Transition Framework (Schlossberg et al., 2012), helps focus questions for collecting and analysing data from each staff transition stage. This ensured a clear direction guided by our school vision.
Results
Quantitative Data
The following are the quantitative data results for questions 4, 6, 10, 11 and 12. Figure 3 shows how 51 staff members responded to question 4.
Figure 1. TES Survey Questions
Figure 2. POWIIS Staff Transition Support Framework Adapted from Schlossberg’s Framework (Schlossberg et al., 2012)
Figure 4 shows the percentage breakdown of staff responses for TES Staff Pulse Survey questions 6,10,11, and 12.
Qualitative Data
Staff Moving In. New staff spoke favourably about the onboarding and induction process, including HR support, buddy systems, staff support and settling-in follow-up meetings. Staff members were not prepared for Malaysian culture when they arrived. New staff experiencing their first post abroad had the most significant shock.
The first term was especially hard, making decisions without understanding the implications. Timetables, faculty meeting days and ECAs were part of staff routines, but not understanding the impact caused stress, leaving new staff overwhelmed. One example was staff who took on boarding responsibilities, unknowingly overloading their busiest work day, making term one nearly unbearable and spread far too thin.
New staff with trailing families expressed pressure to settle and find a new norm quickly. Single staff were more reliant upon making immediate connections, feeling vulnerable to isolation.
POWIIS has a clearly outlined induction and onboarding process for new staff, including airport pickups and welcome packs of essentials for their residence. This continues with induction week ahead of whole-staff INSET week, settling principal meetings and mentor/buddy schemes. The comprehensive online school calendar and Staff Bulletin with quick links give staff access to all aspects of school operations. Organic systems such as community WhatsApp groups and carpooling are evidence of ways existing staff contribute to new staff support.
Staff Moving Through. Existing staff discussed difficulty coping when colleagues leave the school. Social dynamics change, and they start the school year uncertain that they will forge new relationships to fill the void. For some, this impacts their households as their spouses and children also mourn the loss of relationships.
Staff stated limited opportunities to engage with new staff and turnover fatigue (Arnold, 2021) impacted their well-being. Continued support needs for existing staff were vocalised. Middle leaders expressed that while growth opportunities are available, they need specific training to navigate their roles and responsibilities confidently.
POWIIS has visible systems for supporting staff transition through the organisation, including weekly faculty meetings, fortnightly line-manager meetings, leadership opportunities, and regular staff briefings.
For socio-emotional support, POWIIS offers cultural sharing sessions, staff socials, milestone acknowledgement and informal community-building initiatives led by staff members.
Staff Moving On. Staff moving on from POWIIS after the 2024/2025 school year expressed how supportive colleagues have been. They appreciated the forums for selling their belongings and the shipping assistance provided by the school.
POWIIS has an exit interview process, including a survey and an HR interview. HR offers support with closing business affairs. Staff get approved leave for interviews and closing affairs. The school celebrates leavers at the end of the school year by giving speeches and parting gifts.
The exit interview process was generally well-received. However, those still uncertain about their future felt overwhelmed by the process. Conversations were noticeably different based on the certainty of futures, as staff with job confirmations were more relaxed and optimistic, and staff without positions were more anxious and unsettled. Some leavers perceived tension and change in tone from leadership once they communicated their intent to leave, which strained connections.
TES Survey Thematic Analysis
Figure 5 is the thematic map of TES survey comments for questions 1-12. Key themes and subthemes were identified using coded comments.
Figure 5. TES Data Thematic Map: Themes and Subthemes
Discussion
Positive New Teacher Onboarding and Induction
Effective onboarding and induction help mitigate acculturation obstacles (Stasel, 2021), and at POWIIS, there are clear, visible and intentional supports for new staff through the induction and onboarding process, of which staff spoke highly. As induction is a process and not a single event (Stirzaker, 2004), systems like settling-in meetings and mentor/buddy schemes extend the process, thereby prolonging the honeymoon stage for new teachers and increasing the likelihood of positive acculturation (Stasel, 2021).
New teachers must make decisions without understanding the impact, so leadership must show flexibility, easing stress by meeting their needs (Stirzaker, 2004). In the example where a staff member chose the wrong shift for boarding duty, his schedule was adjusted, resulting in a much more positive experience.
Whilst great effort goes into the induction and onboarding program for new staff, prioritising existing staff's well-being must be included in the process because they strongly influence new staff’s experience (Stirzaker, 2004). If their well-being is not considered, for example, the impact of staff turnover fatigue--the effort required to support new cohorts and departures each year-- (Arnold, 2021), the time and resources put into new staff induction and onboarding will be thwarted by a negative staff culture of existing staff whose needs are not being met.
Workplace Inclusion: Valued Connectedness
Survey data shows staff value the connections they make with their colleagues. They view it as an integral part of their happiness and success as an international teacher, finding safety, support, community and a sense of belonging. Cultural sharing sessions, staff socials, milestone acknowledgements and informal community-building initiatives provide some opportunities for staff to make connections.
New staff start the year with high enthusiasm, which should be capitalised on (Stirzaker, 2004; Roskell, 2013). Leadership should consider how many opportunities staff have to connect and engage with their colleagues once the school year begins. Leadership can encourage sharing veteran perspectives to build community (Stroud & Evans, 2023) and foster the connection that staff want.
Nurturing Community
Though data shows that staff value connections, it also reveals there are barriers at each transition stage related to time constraints, departmental isolation, inconsistency, vulnerability, and perception.
Leadership decisions are paramount in removing barriers to connectedness and nurturing community. A lack of clarity or inconsistency in leadership communication or support impacts teacher confidence at every stage (Stroud & Evans, 2023; Arnold, 2021). When staff are unsure of themselves and their environment, it creates a negative perception amplified by staff who share in the uncertainty. These negative perceptions begin to influence staff culture.
Take, for example, the perception that existing staff cannot be bothered to engage with new staff, whilst new staff are perceived as aloof and not willing to make the effort to engage. Both groups express an interest in connecting, but the barrier of perception, potentially brought on by inconsistency and uncertainty, prevents it. Leadership can nurture community by increasing structured social opportunities for staff interaction. Structured opportunities are necessary due to communicated time constraints and departmental isolation, decreasing organic connection opportunities.
Additionally, leadership must continue to strive for consistency in messaging and support. Staff experiences varied between departments, roles and line managers. Without a clear and uniform standard of support, staff will continue to express vastly different experiences within the organisation. The quantitative results in figure 4, question 11, displays this clearly. Middle leadership also echo this sentiment expressing a need for role-specific training for more clarity and confidence to execute their role and support their team.
Limitations
Potential Bias
Recognising potential bias in researching a staff I am a part of, attempts to limit bias included choosing a mixed-methods approach and relevant research to triangulate findings. I also incorporated TES-generated questions in addition to my custom questions. Finally, for most informal conversations, barring those with departing staff, care was taken not to initiate and only contribute once a topic or theme was established.
TES Data Collection
TES survey structure uses emojis ( ☹ for 0 and ☺ for 10), which impacted the staff’s understanding of how to respond to a question, as reflected in Question 9 and Question 2. Quantitative data was, therefore, excluded for these two questions.
Moving On
By the time of submission, there was limited data for staff moving on from the organisation, as most of the impact will be in term three and beyond.
Conclusion
POWIIS endeavours to foster a home for the heart for staff by offering transition support at each organisational stage. New staff support is most clearly defined and intentional, as apparent in favourable feedback from quantitative and qualitative findings.
Staff moving through the organisation have the most substantial impact on staff culture and experience a significantly adverse effect of transience within the community. They need more consistent and intentional support systems and structured opportunities to build connections with their colleagues. They also need more meaningful professional development specific to their roles.
Departing staff members are supported through systems, but may need more targeted well-being support to address the impact of departing. Further research is necessary for the moving-on stage, as we collect information on how the 20242025 departing cohort is supported.
From this study, POWIIS employed several initiatives to increase staff transition support.
There is discussion regarding a POWIIS former staff community forum where staff can maintain connections and share their transition experience, offering a tool to improve future practices.
Finally, through this study, an understanding of Arnold’s (2021) suggestion for a dedicated transition coordinator role emerged. In support of this, I drafted a job description proposal.
References
1. Anderson, M. L., Goodman, J., & Schlossberg, N. K. (2012). Counseling adults in transition: Linking Schlossberg's theory with practice in a diverse world. Springer Publishing Company.
2. Arnold, T. (2021). Teacher transition in international schools: A narrative enquiry into the experiences and perceived needs of international school educators. [Doctoral dissertation]. Kingston University. Retrieved from https://eprints.kingston. ac.uk/id/eprint/53438/
3. Norris-Watts, C. (2024, August 14). Discussion of Johnson & Johnson's exit interview process. Khalifah Bennett.
4. Roskell, D. (2013). Cross-cultural transition: International teachers’ experience of ‘culture shock’. Journal of Research in International Education, 12(2), 155–172. Retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1177/1475240913497297
5. Sam, D. L., & Berry, J. W. (Eds.). (2006). The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology. Cambridge University Press.
6. Stasel, R. S. (2021). Educator acculturation while living and working overseas: Stories from seventeen sojourning teachers and school leaders at international schools. [Doctoral dissertation, Queen's University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle. net/1974/29823
7. Stirzaker, R. (2004). Staff induction: Issues surrounding induction into international schools. Journal of Research in International Education, 3(1), 31–49. Retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1177/1475240904041464
8. Stroud, R., & Evans, R. (2023). Eat those words: Flipping understandings of culture shock failure through self-leadership in overseas international schools. International Journal for Leadership in Learning, 23(1), 155–184. Retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.29173/ijll36
Figure 6. POWIIS Transition Support Initiative
Appendix I
Staff Transitions Coordinator
Job Proposal
Appendix II POWIIS Staff Conversation Topics
HOW CAN WE BETTER ASSESS GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP?
Walk into almost any British international school and you’ll find the language of global citizenship embedded in mission statements, promotional materials, and corridor displays. Yet when teachers are asked how they know global citizenship (GC) is actually developing in their learners, we often struggle to respond. Activities are widespread; International Days, service projects, Model UN, themed trips, etc., but hard evidence of impact is less common.
This article summarises a year-long Fellowship project that set out to bridge that gap. Drawing on UNESCO, OECD, Brookings, and Oxfam research, we developed and trialled a simple fivestage assessment framework in a range of real school contexts. The results were eye-opening: while many activities genuinely nurtured global competencies, others looked impressive but left little lasting impact. Most encouraging of all, modest tweaks e.g. asking sharper questions, giving students space to reflect, aligning tasks with clear objectives, transformed good events into powerful learning experiences.
The central message: if we value global citizenship as highly as literacy, we must plan for it, teach it, and assess it.
Why Global Citizenship Matters
Academic journals and research highlight the many benefits of promoting GC. UNESCO offers a valuable summary, including a well-established definition (see Figure 1).
domains of Global Citizenship
The three core domains (Cognitive, Socio-emotional, and Behavioural) are essential when evaluating learning. From ubuntu ("I am because we are") in African philosophy to sumak kawsay ("harmony within communities, ourselves, and nature") in Quechua, these values have been foundational to UNESCO’s mission since its founding in 1947. Students who internalise these domains demonstrate greater tolerance, reduced prejudice, and an increased willingness to take social action.
Here are some key benefits of taking GC seriously:
1. It raises academic achievement.
OECD PISA (2018) found that students scoring in the top quartile for global competence performed 12% better in reading and were significantly more likely to complete higher education.
2. Employers demand it.
A British Council survey of employers in ten countries reported that 79% consider global citizenship essential for future workforce success.
3. It nurtures inclusivity, empathy and civic responsibility.
“A global citizen understands how the world works, values differences in people, and works with others to find solutions to challenges too big for any one nation.” – UNESCO: Global Citizenship and Peace Education.
The Assessment Gap
UNESCO’s 2022 Global Education Monitoring Report revealed that fewer than 30% of countries possess a formal framework for assessing GCED. Oxfam’s Education for Global Citizenship: A Guide for Schools (2015) points out the consequence:
“Although many schools embrace the values and aims of global citizenship, few have systems in place to assess what learners have gained from this education or how effectively it is being implemented.” (p. 18)
Kristof Starost Charter International School, Bangkok
Figure 1: UNESCO definition and
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So why should we assess it? If GC is embedded in our mission and vision statements as a key learning outcome, how do we know whether we’re actually developing it in students? If we value its importance, we must evaluate its impact and tailor learning activities to maximise outcomes.
Other reasons to assess GC:
Accreditation bodies: e.g. CIS, Ofsted deep dives into personal development
Stakeholder interest: parents and universities increasingly seek evidence of soft skills
AI-era: education needing human-centred competencies more than ever Importantly, assessing GC will help:
Confirming whether meaningful learning occurred
Making learning visible to students
Improving the design of future activities
Helping teachers focus learning
Elevating global citizenship to the same level of importance as academic grades
Assessing GC doesn’t mean testing students in traditional ways. Research shows that when students are engaged through formative assessments and reflective tasks, they learn more deeply, while also providing feedback on the activity itself.
A Five-Stage Framework for Assessing Global Citizenship
The framework was developed through a review of literature and best practices in GC assessment. Four key sources were used: UNESCO (2015), Brookings Institution (2017), OECD (2018), and Oxfam (2015). The model was designed not to reinvent the wheel but to provide a practical approach that can be applied to existing activities with tools already familiar to educators.
Figure 2: Five-Stage framework for Assessing Global Citizenship
In simple terms, the five stages help make any GC-relevant learning activity more intentional against learning objectives:
Set clear objectives aligned with the three GC domains.
Plan activities that reflect those objectives.
Use assessment tools throughout to engage learners and capture learning.
“When students know they will reflect and be assessed, they engage more critically in global learning experiences.” Brookings Institution, 2017
It is crucial to vary assessment methods. Tools might include quizzes, self-reflection surveys, check-ins, think-pair-share prompts, observations, or discussions. Open-ended prompts (e.g. “What do you hope to learn today?”) or pre-activity predictions can also offer meaningful insight. These can all then be compared against responses in the ongoing and postactivity assessments.
These methods support the development of global citizenship and enable schools to:
Identify which activities had the most (or least) impact
Adjust future planning to focus on more transformative learning
Clearly demonstrate growth in students’ global awareness and competencies
Findings from Practice
A major benefit from assessing is the collection of data. Even from reflection tasks aimed to help students realise their learning, vital information comes back that can be used to improve activities. A sample of results are shown in Figure 3 from the piloting this year.
Figure 3: Sample of data results from assessments
A major difference in simply including tasks that ask about GC, gets both staff and students to realise that GC is part of the learning.
Figure 4: Word cloud of student responses to “What is global citizenship?”
As a trial for the first year, we used the five-stages across multiple activities such as the community service projects, themed trips, and international day. From these alone, we recorded a huge amount of data and feedback for our activities. The feedback identified important gaps to improve on as shown in Figure 5.
From these, we also have put together a set of common challenges that can be expected or thought about before putting together the planning.
Common Challenges:
Survey fatigue: student engagement drops with repetition
Shallow reflection: students need scaffolding to reflect meaningfully
Question framing: “Is empathy important?” → always answered yes, and gives little insight
Inconsistent facilitation: not all teachers make GC links explicit
Sustainability: applying this consistently to day-to-day learning
Staff-related Barriers: time and workload as well as confidence in writing or assessing GC outcomes
Figure 5: Four examples of data insights and our own reflective questions
Recommendations & Next Steps
From this year-long project and trial, we collected a huge amount of data that has informed us of student learning in regards to GC, as well as giving valuable feedback for the activities that we are planning. What worked:
Clear objectives against the three domains of GC definition drive purposeful learning. Students are more likely to connect experiences to GC when the goal is stated up front
One or two key learning outcomes per activity are enough
Create ready-to-use rubrics and assessment templates for consistency
Explicitly telling students what purpose is
Train staff to embed GC outcomes in planning
Interactive challenges. Activities that intentionally placed students in unfamiliar situations (e.g. operating in a language they did not understand) generated the deepest reflection.
Mid-activity “micro-reflections”. A single probing question at half-time proved enough to improve post-assessment insight compared with sessions lacking this pause.
Rather than attempting to assess GC in every lesson or event, our recommendation is to start small. Piloting the framework with one or two key activities, such as a service project or themed day, provides a manageable way to build confidence and gather useful insights. From there, successful practices can be scaled gradually, with shared rubrics and tools applied across departments. This measured approach ensures that assessment becomes embedded, not burdensome, and helps shift GC from a once-a-year event to a consistent part of the school’s learning culture. Small steps can create lasting change.
Conclusion
Global citizenship should not just be a decorative extra. The journey from intention to impact requires clarity, consistency, and reflection. This project explored how to move beyond well-intentioned activities and meaningfully assess global citizenship.
Using familiar approaches we already use and activities that are already in place, the five-stage model was designed for ease of implementation to get the most out of the activities. With a few purposeful questions and a culture of reflection, teachers unlock deeper learning while collecting the evidence of learning as well as feedback to improve activities.
One of the most important outcomes was how assessment helped students recognise their own growth. Unfortunately what gets assessed is what gets valued in the majority of learners and staff. There is still a lot to improve in the implementation, and a main issue has been the additional time required to execute this, however, if we value global citizenship as we say we do in our mission and vision, we must plan for it, teach it, and assess it.
Acknowledgements: Thanks go out to FOBISIA for the Fellowship opportunity and mentors Paul Bannister (Jerudong International School), Dinah Hawtree (Prince of Wales Island International School), Neil Elrick, and the Charter International School community.
BELONGING AS A FUNDAMENTAL NEED:
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO FOSTERING BELONGING IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
A sense of belonging is a fundamental human need and lies at the heart of every thriving school community. When students, staff, and families feel connected, valued, and included, it creates a foundation for academic success, emotional wellbeing, and meaningful relationships. Research shows that belonging improves student engagement, attendance, resilience, and overall happiness, while reducing feelings of isolation and disengagement.
According to Allen and Kern (2020), one in four adolescents report feeling disconnected from their school, a statistic that highlights how urgent and widespread this issue can be.
In international schools, where students often move not just between classrooms but between countries, cultures, and communities, the challenge is even greater. Many arrive mid-year with limited English, few familiar faces, and a small support network. For some, school becomes the only stable environment they know. In this context, belonging does not happen by accident. It takes deliberate action from the whole community.
Every single person in a school community makes a difference. Teachers, learning assistants, administrative staff, CCA coaches, counsellors, and security guards all play a vital role in creating an environment where everyone feels seen, known, and accepted.
This project began as an effort to understand and support the experience of belonging at the International School @ ParkCity (ISP) in Kuala Lumpur, where I am a Science Teacher and Head of Year. This project has developed into a practical toolkit that other schools can use. At the heart of it is a simple question: what helps students, staff, and parents feel like they belong, and what gets in the way? By identifying the conditions that
promote connection and the barriers that prevent it, we can take clear, actionable steps to foster inclusion, build trust, and strengthen the relationships that make a school feel like home.
My Fellowship project set out to explore what belonging really in a school context and how we might begin to enhance it in practical, accessible ways. Rather than aiming for a sweeping overhaul or abstract framework, I focused on building a set of tools that schools could immediately apply. This included a belonging audit for new students and staff, a growing collection of research and resources, and a userfriendly website to bring it all together. The aim was to create something grounded in lived experience, shaped by data and current research, and guided by the everyday reality of school life. It was about moving beyond good intentions and finding simple ways to make a meaningful difference.
Mike Alborough
The International School @ParkCity
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Defining Belonging
As I share on the Belonging Toolkit website (www. thebelongingtoolkit.com), two key definitions have shaped my understanding of belonging. One of the most widely cited comes from Goodenow and Grady (1993), who describe belonging as “the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others in the school social environment.”
Allen and Kern (2020) provide a more detailed breakdown of what it means for students to experience a sense of belonging. At its core, they define belonging as a subjective feeling that others genuinely care for, accept, and respect a student for who they are. It involves being truly known, not just by name, but through an understanding of a student’s interests, fears, and aspirations, and being accepted for both strengths and weaknesses.
Respect is essential, with each individual treated with humanity regardless of background or differences. Inclusion is another vital element. Belonging means active participation in school life, whether through class activities, social groups, or extracurriculars. Equally important is support, where students can access help for academic, emotional, or personal challenges.
Ultimately, belonging is a collective effort, created by the entire school community. Peers, teachers, staff, and parents all work together to build an inclusive and supportive environment.
This is especially relevant in an international school context. New students arrive throughout the year, sometimes having moved countries multiple times. Staff may be working thousands of miles from home. The transience of international education means we must be intentional and proactive in creating systems that help people settle, connect, and feel that they truly belong.
The Belonging Audit: A First Attempt
One of the core elements of my Fellowship project was to design and trial a school-level “belonging audit.” This involved creating a set of surveys (available on the website to download) tailored to different members of the school community: new students, existing students, staff and parents.
The New Student Belonging Survey was the first tool we explored. It was completed by over 80 new secondary students at ISP during the 2024–25 academic year. We carried out the first survey one month into the academic year, then repeated it after a full term to measure changes and check in with the students we had supported through interventions. The purpose was twofold: to identify students who were already thriving, those who seemed to integrate naturally, make friends quickly, and find their feet without much support, and to spot those who were struggling to settle, who felt disconnected or isolated, and who might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
The survey results were insightful. While many new students reported positive experiences, a small but significant number shared that they didn’t yet feel part of the community, didn’t know who to turn to for help, or hadn’t made meaningful connections. These findings prompted timely pastoral interventions and helped us begin forming a clearer picture of what support systems work and where we need to improve.
Action from Insight
We didn’t want the survey to be a box-ticking exercise. The purpose was to uncover patterns, identify students who might be struggling, and take meaningful, personalised action. After reviewing responses from over 80 new students, we were able to highlight a group that needed additional support based on their feedback. Some students reported feeling unwelcome, not having a trusted adult in school, struggling to make friends, or experiencing barriers related to language and cultural adjustment.
For each of these students, we developed a set of targeted, thoughtful interventions. These included pairing students with older buddies who spoke the same language or had a similar background, encouraging form tutors to check in more frequently with specific students, linking students with co-curricular activities to build connections, and identifying staff mentors who could become a consistent and trusted presence. In some cases, we also engaged families and made changes to help celebrate the student’s identity, for example, inviting parents to be part of our International Week, or adding cultural representation to shared spaces.
These strategies weren’t revolutionary, but they were effective. And crucially, they came from listening to students directly.
Staff Belonging: A Next Step
While student belonging was the initial focus, staff belonging deserved equal attention. After all, it is teachers and staff who shape the school environment, and their sense of connection and wellbeing directly influences the student experience.
So, in June 2025, we ran the first Staff Belonging Survey at ISP (See ‘Staff’ in here). We used this as a basis and adapted it with a small committee here at ISP before sending it out.
The results were overwhelmingly positive. Staff described the school as collaborative, inclusive, supportive, and communitydriven. Many reported strong relationships with colleagues and a genuine feeling of being welcomed and valued. Still, there were areas for growth. One recurring theme was the desire for greater social connection across different parts of the school, not just within departments, but across primary and secondary, teaching and admin. As a result, we’re forming a Staff Culture and Club Committee with the aim of organising fun, informal events to help people connect outside of their immediate teams, celebrating the rich multicultural diversity of our staff body, and building a sense of shared identity, beyond job titles and departments.
This strand of the project is still developing, but the energy around it is encouraging and purposeful. There’s a genuine appetite for building stronger, more intentional connections between colleagues.
A Toolkit for the Wider Community
Alongside the surveys and data gathering, I created The Belonging Toolkit website. This is a growing repository of ideas, strategies, and resources to help schools strengthen belonging across four key areas: students, parents, staff, and the school environment.
The site is designed to be simple, practical, and easy to navigate. It’s a place to find ready-to-use actionable tools, ideas and insights.
For students, the focus includes (but is not limited to):
EAL and SEND inclusion
Attendance and engagement
Transition support for new joiners
Use of AI
Building relationships between students and staff
For parents, the Toolkit highlights:
Strategies for communication across language barriers
Ways to build trust and inclusion with diverse families
Ideas for involving parents in school life
For staff, the Toolkit shares:
Research articles on educator wellbeing and inclusion
Practical ideas for mentoring, team culture, and community building
Sample surveys and templates for assessing staff belonging
And in terms of the school environment, there are ideas for: Making displays more inclusive and representative
Structuring shared spaces to encourage connection
Embedding belonging into school values, routines, and leadership practices
Every tool, article, or infographic on the site is cited and linked, with a Google Drive folder full of further reading for those who want to dig deeper.
Reflections and What’s Next
Looking back, this Fellowship project has felt like the beginning of something, rather than the completion of it. The surveys, the website, the staff committee - they’re all early steps in what I hope will be a much longer and wider conversation.
There were two big takeaways for me. First, belonging is not something you can delegate. It does not belong to one person or one team. It is everyone's responsibility, all the time, from classroom teachers and senior leaders to office staff and parents. Second, we often assume that belonging happens on its own. It does not. It takes structure, clear intention, and regular reflection. When schools make the effort to ask the right questions, listen closely, and take small, meaningful actions, the impact can be significant.
The Belonging Toolkit is very much a work in progress, and I’d love for others in the FOBISIA community to contribute, challenge, or collaborate. Whether it’s trialling the surveys, sharing examples from your own schools, or suggesting new areas of focus - please get in touch.
This work will continue at ISP in the 2025–26 academic year. We plan to repeat the student and staff surveys annually to track change over time, explore the use of the Classroom Belonging Survey with teachers, build a more robust approach to transition support for students arriving mid-year, and strengthen systems for welcoming and inducting new staff.
I’m grateful to the Fellowship for giving me the structure and motivation to begin this work. But I’m even more excited to see how it grows, both in my own school and beyond.
Learn More
You can access the full Toolkit, survey templates, and further reading at: www.thebelongingtoolkit.com
Lynsey Gogin
Dulwich College Seoul
MOVING FORWARD WITH DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION AT DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL: REFLECTING ON OUR PROGRESS
Abstract
“True inclusion is not a box to check but a journey we walk together.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are increasingly prioritized across international schools. Dulwich College Seoul (DCSL) has taken steps to embed DEI in its mission, vision, values, and daily practice, navigating the unique cultural context of South Korea. This project followed an action research approach using a cyclical model of planning, action, observation, and reflection. The central inquiry explored how DEI practices can be effectively embedded in a culturally specific international school context and reflects on DCSL’s DEI journey, the challenges encountered—including cultural barriers, resistance, and language differences—and insights gathered from recent staff, student and parent surveys.
Introduction
As schools worldwide recognize the urgent need to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), international contexts present both unique opportunities and distinct challenges. In South Korea, which has relatively limited cultural diversity compared to many western countries, DEI work must sensitively navigate established traditions relating to conformity and social hierarchy while encouraging more open dialogue about identity and inclusion.
At DCSL, embedding DEI into our mission and daily operations has been an intentional and evolving journey. Our commitment is rooted in a belief that true inclusion requires continuous reflection, community participation, and culturally sensitive leadership.
Key findings highlight both successes and areas requiring deeper engagement, especially in staff training, inclusive communications, and student support structures. Action plans for 2025–2026 are in development to address gaps, focusing on foundational DEI training, policy refinement, and student
leadership initiatives. Through examining positionality, bias, and the role of allyship, this project offers valuable lessons for educators and leaders committed to building inclusive communities within culturally nuanced contexts and aims to support other educators and institutional leaders engaging in similar work within international or culturally specific school communities.
Understanding Positionality & Bias in Education
A major focus of our DEI journey this year has been deepening understanding of positionality—how personal identity shapes perceptions, power, and experience. As an expatriate educator who grew up with systemic privileges in the UK, relocating to South Korea challenged my assumptions about visibility, belonging, and authority. These experiences reinforced the dynamic nature of privilege and marginalization, shifting across contexts.
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Introducing positionality to staff during training sessions revealed a wide range of understanding. For many Korean colleagues, the concept was unfamiliar, emphasizing the need for foundational work before addressing more complex DEI frameworks. Resistance or confusion often stemmed not from opposition but from a lack of exposure to these discourses. However, it’s important to recognise that this was not limited to local staff—many international colleagues were also engaging with these ideas for the first time, and the journey of unpacking positionality has been a shared one across the whole staff body.
In classroom and leadership decisions, unconscious bias also plays a significant role. Whether assuming English proficiency, socio-economic norms, or attitudes toward disability, small assumptions can create exclusionary environments. Raising awareness about these biases through reflective practice and real-world examples - such as student feedback about feeling overlooked during cultural events, was and remains critical.
Senior School Student feedback from the Positionality task revealed two dominant themes: self-understanding and allyship. Many students expressed a desire to deepen their self-awareness through journaling, affirmations, reflecting on personal identity, and learning about their ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic status, mental health, and potential disabilities. This self-inquiry sparked new awareness about privilege, personal strengths and challenges, and the impor-
tance of being kind and patient with oneself. In parallel, students voiced a strong commitment to supporting marginalised groups through empathy, open-mindedness, cultural respect, and learning about issues like racism, LGBTQ+ rights, and disability inclusion. They called on the school to take proactive steps by raising awareness, celebrating diversity through events, offering safe spaces, promoting inclusive teaching practices, and providing more assemblies and mentorship led by or about underrepresented communities. Insights from the Social Identity Wheel mapping activity showed that students most frequently think about their gender and ethnicity, while socio-economic status and disability are least considered - yet these were also areas students were most curious to learn more about. Gender, race, and age were seen as the most influential identities in shaping both self-perception and how others perceive them.
Positionality and bias recognition are ongoing processes. They require humility, vulnerability, and the creation of psychologically safe spaces where staff and students can explore uncomfortable truths and grow from them.
Survey Insights & Action Planning
Our 2025 DEI survey for staff, students and parents completed in Term 3, 2025 provided rich insights into the evolving culture at DCSL.
Key Findings:
The survey results reflect a school community that is beginning to build momentum around diversity, equity, and inclusion. A clear strength lies in staff engagement with the concept of positionality—most academic staff identify as being in the early to mid-stages of awareness, with many contributing thoughtful actions to grow further. There is also evidence of a strong foundation for inclusive professional development, with widespread access to training on belonging, unconscious bias, and embracing diversity. Most staff feel comfortable discussing needs with line managers and bringing their authentic selves to work within their immediate teams.
However, several areas require focused attention. Staff ex press uncertainty around leadership representation, fairness in pay systems, and confidence in raising discrimination concerns. Diversity in the leadership team is perceived as particularly limited, and many staff do not feel the school’s workforce reflects the student population. While DEI train ing is available, satisfaction levels suggest it could be more practical and impactful. Academic Staff also reported mixed experiences of inclusion, with a notable proportion sometimes feeling pressure to hide aspects of their identity. These insights point to the need for clearer communication on DEI aims, greater representation at leadership levels, and stronger systems for equitable treatment and accountability across the organisation.
report having been treated unkindly or having observed peers being unkind to those perceived as different and a quarter feel they have been treated differently from peers—most commonly due to academic ability, appearance, or country of origin. While most students feel they can access help when needed and understand the rules, emotional wellbeing and equity in classroom dynamics are areas requiring attention. Responses suggest gaps in inclusivity and representation, particularly in the curriculum, where only 17 students agreed they see people like themselves in books and posters. The data highlights a pressing need for continued open conversations, clearer representation in curriculum materials, and consistent teacher support to ensure every student feels seen, heard, and respected.
A unique challenge for the administrative cohort is navigating cross-cultural communication in a predominantly English-speaking, international setting, which may not align with their linguistic or cultural norms. Several respondents described modifying behaviour or avoiding expression to prevent misunderstandings, highlighting a need to bridge cultural divides more explicitly in DEI work. In comparison to academic staff, the administrative team may lack access to inclusive dialogues or training opportunities, which could unintentionally foster exclusion or disengagement from whole-school DEI initiatives.
Patterns indicated generational and role-based differences, with younger and newer staff expressing greater openness to DEI work, and Korean staff sometimes reporting distinct challenges compared to international colleagues.
The student DEI survey responses reveal a generally positive sense of belonging and safety among most students, though areas for growth remain. A majority of respondents (73%) feel there are groups where they belong, and 82% report feeling safe at school, yet only 8 of the 152 students who responded to the survey strongly agreed they feel like they matter, with over a quarter unsure. Experiences of unkindness and differential treatment are concerning: Over a third of student’s
According to the parent survey, there is a profound sense of safety, positive belonging, and even healthy teacher-student dynamics throughout the entire school community. Families with neurodiverse children especially supported and praised the environment and professional staff’s efforts towards inclusion. In addition, they noted that DEI is actively being endorsed and appreciated multicultural celebrations along with the interactions of staff towards the identity of students. Other feedback pointed to some gaps that included the need for addressing implicit academic gaps, culture and language social boundaries, and deep understanding of hidden identities. It is clear from these insights that there is an active DEI journey accompanied by a reflective growth mindset.
Following staff DEI training and the analysis of survey responses, a series of courageous conversations with colleagues and students across the school to address concerns, share reflections, and build mutual understanding were initiated. These dialogues created a safe space for staff and students to express their experiences and perspectives—some for the first time—on topics such as representation, inclusion, and equity in school policies and culture. By opening up honest, sometimes uncomfortable, but deeply necessary conversations, we were able to identify common themes and specific areas for growth. This transparency laid the groundwork for collaborative action planning, including adjustments to procedures, targeted professional development, and clearer communication pathways, ensuring that DEI is not only discussed but meaningfully embedded in our school community.
Action Plans
The DEI Action Plan was produced following working group input and grounded in survey data. It outlines a comprehensive approach to fostering an inclusive school culture and focuses on seven key areas based on Angie Browne’s Being Luminary Action Plan: updating policies to reflect equity and diverse identities; enhancing the physical and digital environment; embedding DEI in professional learning and curriculum; and strengthening inclusive practices across student, staff, and parent cultures to ensure everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.
Areas of growth include:
Developing foundational, culturally relevant DEI training differentiated by staff role.
Revising and simplifying bias reporting procedures with restorative practice support.
Launching student and staff workshops focusing on racism, sexism, allyship, and privilege.
Strengthening inclusive communication by adapting DEI language for cultural and linguistic accessibility.
Creating more safe spaces and affinity groups to facilitate open dialogue.
These plans aim to move DCSL from intention to implementation with greater depth and sustainability.
DEI Journey reflections
Over the past year, DCSL has prioritised several key DEI initiatives. Foundational actions included establishing DEI as a Whole College priority, introducing DEI to all staff, launching staff training workshops, introducing Safeguarding DEI Scenarios, and increasing student discussions through Worldwise Living lessons and leadership forums. Despite this, challenges quickly emerged. Cultural resistance, particularly rooted in traditional views of hierarchy and social harmony, affected how DEI concepts were received. Terms like “positionality” and “privilege” were new and sometimes difficult for local
colleagues and students to engage with. Language barriers and the fast-paced rollout of complex ideas also hindered full participation, particularly among administrative staff. Yet these concepts also prompted reflection and re-evaluation among international staff, many of whom had not previously encountered or applied such frameworks within their own practice. This reinforces the importance of pacing, scaffolding, and creating shared entry points into the work, regardless of cultural background.
Moreover, unconscious bias—especially around race, gender and disability—surfaced subtly in student, staff and parent reflections, revealing deeper work needed in shifting mindsets. Gaps in confidence about addressing discrimination in the staff survey highlighted a need for clearer policies and support structures.
Despite these challenges, progress has been steady. Staff and students have begun demonstrating increased self-awareness, with strong enthusiasm emerging for building allyship and expanding inclusion efforts
Conclusion & Future Directions
Reflecting on the past year, DCSL has made meaningful strides in introducing DEI into school life. The journey has reinforced that true inclusion requires not only policy changes but shifts in mindset, language, and community culture and there is still a long way to go until DEI is embedded in all aspects of Dulwich life.
Key lessons include the importance of culturally adapting frameworks and policies, offering differentiated training based on language and culture needs, and empowering students as DEI leaders. Honest reflection on positionality and bias remains essential to nurturing authentic allyship and systemic change.
This project highlights three key strategies for effective DEI implementation in culturally specific settings: (1) Begin with culturally adapted foundational training, (2) empower local staff and students as co-leaders in DEI, and (3) embed reflection mechanisms to respond dynamically to community needs.
Looking forward, DCSL’s DEI efforts will focus on strengthening administrative engagement, expanding student leadership, broadening conversations around underrepresented identities such as disability and LGBTQ+ inclusion, and maintaining momentum through visible, transparent actions.
Building an inclusive school is a continuous journey, not a checklist. By fostering accountability, empathy, and open-mindedness, international schools like DCSL can create communities where every individual feels seen, valued, and empowered.
Todd Thornback Bangkok Patana School
IS COMPARATIVE JUDGEMENT A VIABLE ASSESSMENT TOOL TO BOTH MEASURE AND ENHANCE LEARNING?
Assessment of writing is historically inconsistent and difficult (Weadon et al. 2020, 62). Guidelines around administering valid and reliable assessment of writing in primary schools remain subjective, even in government legislation (Standards and Testing Agency (SaTA), 2024). Current guidance provides teachers with ‘flexibility to reach a rounded judgement’ (SaTA 2024) as long as it offers ‘valid and reliable measurement’ (Ofqual 2019, 31). This gives educators no consistent means of assessing writing. Consequently, different schools, teachers and age phases could interpret the quality of writing differently using their own bespoke assessment systems, providing they are shown to be reliable and valid.
In addition, The Department for Education (DfE) recently announced plans to review the assessment approaches in England in order to ‘address the key problems’ (2024, 1) and work ‘in consultation with education professionals’ (2024, 4). In March 2025, the interim report into the Assessment and Curriculum Review expressed ‘concerns about the consistency of judgements in writing assessments’ (DfE 2025, 39). Therefore, there is a need to explore approaches to improving the assessment of writing to raise standards.
What is comparative judgement?
The method of writing assessment that we have introduced to promote consistency in my setting is Comparative Judgement (CJ). Initially an algorithm proposed by Thurstone (1927), CJ is a process where teachers can use their own judgement to compare two writing samples and decide which one is superior (Weadon et al 2020, 48). Ofqual explains that CJ is where ‘specific criteria are generally not provided, meaning that this method relies upon assessors’ pre-existing understanding/ beliefs about what good writing looks like’ (Ofqual 2019, 21). That is, CJ is the process of a judge comparing two pieces of writing based on their own opinions of the writing, and not, as Ofqual (2018) considered a problem with writing assessment based solely on rubrics, ‘the presence of devices’ in a text (Weadon et al 2020, 47).
Much of the research into CJ acknowledges the need for additional research into its impact on formative intervention for writing (Heldsinger and Humphry, 2020). This article will outline the potential benefits of using CJ as an assessment tool and investigate the possibility of using it as a formative tool to improve learning, rather than solely a summative tool.
What is the research to suggest we should be using it?
CJ is viewed as a potential solution to the inconsistencies in human judgement of student attainment (Christodoulou 2020, 181). Kelly et al (2022) refer to two ingredients that are imperative when considering CJ as a viable assessment tool: that humans are better at making relative judgements than absolute judgements and that comparative judgements have a high level of validity.
Reliability
Reliability is ‘the extent to which outcomes would be replicated if an assessment were carried out again’ (McMahon and Jones 2015, 370). Their study questioned the use of CJ as an assessment tool and found a consistency of 94.8% among assessors with the same assessment scripts. Consequently, as the independent variable was the assessors themselves, the study indicated that the same assessment conclusions are likely to be reached when the judges change, thus demonstrating reliability.
One way of measuring reliability of an assessment would be through equivalence: ‘the level of consistency across all judges’ (Heale and Twycross 2015, 66). A meta-analysis using the equivalence method to explore reliability of CJ concluded that the only contributor to reliability is ensuring lots of judgements are made for each assessed script. This supports Christodoulou’s claim that ‘to get reliable scores, you need to make a lot of judgements’ (2020, 183). Essentially, more judgements means more data and, consequently, more reliability.
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Validity
Validity is ‘the degree to which the instrument measures what it is supposed to be measuring’ (Thomas 2017, 146). This, in relation to CJ, the ability to judge a student’s work based on its quality rather than other factors.
Bias can reduce validity and CJ can reduce the extent that teachers assess work produced by their own students more favourably (McMahon and Jones 2015) or have preconceived biases about students if the teachers know their identity (Weadon et al. 2019). CJ enables assessors to judge the quality of a product from students not known to them.
Workload
Several studies related to the use of CJ found it to be a more efficient tool, in terms of time taken, for judgements than other assessment methods (Mcgrane et al. 2018, Benton and Gallacher, 2018, Ofqual 2020, Humphry and Heldsinger 2020). In fact, Benton and Gallacher’s study suggested that CJ ‘produces judgements for essays about four times the speed of traditional marking’ (2018, 25).
What was our approach?
Heldsinger and Humphry (2020) compared teacher judgement of writing using CJ (which they referred to as ‘pairwise’) to create ‘calibrated exemplars’ (4). Subsequently, teachers used them to judge additional writing samples rather than a rubric. They referred to this as the ‘two stage method’. Heldsinger and Humphry concluded that research into how the information can be used for FA would be desirable (2013, 19) (2020, 9) but neither of their studies provide data about how this can lead to an improvement in writing. In fact, Heldsinger and Humphry describe a limitation of their study as limiting ‘to the context of summative assessment’ (2020, 8-9).
Priyanka Pereira shared examples of how to use CJ for FA on the Edutalks podcast (2022). One of these examples was to share the top performing piece with the rest of the group and ask children to consider why it was an exemplar and what others could learn from it. That is, instead of using a rubric to dictate what good writing looks like, using a script that has been deemed by several judges in over ten comparisons to be quality writing and then thinking about why. Additionally, Thomas (Sgwrs Podcast, 2022) also referred to the alteration of teaching objectives within the Literacy curriculum as a result of
the writing needs from CJ results as part of a pilot study led by the Central South Consortium.
Therefore, action research into the potential use of CJ as a formative tool was based on adaptation of Heldsinger and Humphry’s (2020) existing research, in addition to Pereira’s (2022) and Thomas’ (2022) approach.
NMM runs an ‘Assessing Primary Writing’ window for each year group from 1 to 6. In these CJ sessions, over 10,000 scripts of children’s writing were input and assessed by teachers from different schools. Upon completion, the students were given a scaled score based on the performance of their writing in the judgement. The initial window provided a baseline to measure academic improvement and an opportunity to select exemplars from across the attainment range.
I compared the writing progress of children whose teachers had adapted the learning by using CJ formatively against the progress of children whose teachers had not. In order to do this, I used a questionnaire to ask teachers how they used the CJ data and then compared the initial writing samples with subsequent writing tasks. My hypothesis suggested that the children who had received an adapted curriculum based on CJ would show greater improvements in their writing.
In order to obtain writing samples from the students, each was provided with a writing stimulus from the NMM website. This meant that over ten thousand students in each year group were writing a narrative based on the same visual stimulus. The writing was then scanned into the online system where it was anonymised and judged by the assessors from around the world. This, as Weadon et al. (2019) suggested, increases the validity of the data by reducing the risk of teacher bias regarding familiar students. The consequence of this process provided a scaled score for each child in addition to an average scaled score for the school compared with other schools.
The initial results provided a baseline in order to measure improvement and, by having the average score from all other schools combined, teachers were able to identify exemplars from the school.
The second part of this study considered the consequence of the formative intervention, or lack thereof. That is, to compare the writing of the children in a later independent task compared to the NMM moderated script. Ultimately, I looked at how the children in year groups who did use CJ according to the teacher questionaire to make curriculum alteration improved in comparison to those that did not.
What were the findings?
In the initial baseline assessment, I measured that Group A had 44.4% (16) of the 36 students using the conventions of paragraphing correctly. In the subsequent assessment of their learning four months later, 50% (18) of children were using paragraphs correctly. Therefore, despite CJ potentially highlighting that over half of the children were unable to follow the written conventions for paragraphing, limited subsequent improvements were made. Arguably, this lack of intervention led to a minimal increase in student application of paragraphing in the next assessment window.
To validate these findings, another educator also looked at the same writing samples. Similarly, they found 47.2% (17) of Group A were using paragraphing correctly at the baseline, and 58.3% (21) at the end. Although there are small differences in the judgements, the inter-rater reliability was measured using Cohen’s (1960) Kappa calculation formula. This method was chosen as an alternative to the Andrich’s (1988) PSI, used by Heldsinger and Humphry (2020), because of its applicableness to judges needing to categorise rather than use traits. This initial baseline measurement showed a value of 0.832. This indicates a substantial reliability in the results. The analysis of the subsequent results showed a good reliability value of 0.722.
Conversely, in the initial baseline assessment, Group B had 39.3% (11) of 28 students using the conventions of paragraphing correctly. At the next assessment window, following the adapted teaching sequence, 64.3% (18) of children were using the conventions of paragraphing correctly in their writing. This increase of 25% in contrast to 5.6% in the other year group highlights greater progress in this area of their writing. These findings reflect positively with the hypothesis. However, the potential influence of other variables, such as time between assessment windows, will be considered in greater detail subsequently.
The additional judging educator also found 39.3% (11) of Group B had been using paragraphs correctly at the baseline assessment and 71.4% (20) at the final assessment. This meant that the additional judge found more children had improved in this facet of their writing than when I analysed the writing. This result reflects that I may have been assessed more cautiously in order to limit my researcher bias towards the hypothesis, and vindicates the use of an additional assessor.
In addition to both judging 11 of the 28 students as using paragraphing conventions correctly in the baseline, all 11 were from the same writing scripts. This provided a 1.0 inter-judge reliability as the agreements for this part were unanimous. The Kappa Cohen formula also gave an inter-rater reliability of 0.674 for the subsequent assessment, so this could therefore
be viewed with even greater reliability than baseline for Group A. This is surprising given the potential for researcher bias to influence the decision. Since the additional judge did not know which sample came from which year group, there was no way for them to have any researcher bias.
In relation to the research hypothesis, this data indicates that CJ can be used as a formative tool for learning if it leads to an adaptation in teaching approaches. Thus, it would indicate the hypothesis to be true and therefore add empirical weight towards advising educators to use CJ findings as a FA tool.
Moving Forward
Since, but not resulting from, this study, NMM have made large adaptations to the feedback they provide the students following their judgement windows. This adds greater vindication to the outcomes of the study and the need to use the assessment data to inform and enhance learning.
Recent trials on the NMM platform have utalised the use of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) to provide individual children, classes and cohorts with formative feedback to help improve their learning. They do this through the AI analysies of writing, whilst keeping the ‘Human in the Loop’ through smaller samples of teacher judgements and audio feedback.
As a result, NMM has gone beyond the research methods of this study, and that of Heldsinger and Humphry’s (2020), to further enhance the reliability and usefulness of the data provided from our assessments.
This means that we are entering a new symbiotic era of Comparative Judgement. One which reliably measures the learning of our children whilst simultaneously leading to an improvement in learning.
References
Benton, T. and Gallacher, T. (2018). Is comparative judgement just a quick form of
multiple marking? Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 26, 22-
Christodoulou, D. (2020). Teachers vs tech? : the case for an ed tech revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Department for Education (2024) Curriculum and Assessment Review: Review Aims, Terms of Reference and Working Principles Review Aims. Available at: https://assets.publishing. service.gov.uk/media/6699698f49b9c0597fdb0010/Curriculum_and_assessment_review_-_aims_terms_of_reference_ and_working_principles.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (2025). Curriculum and Assessment Review: Interim Report. Independent Report, Department for Education, England, published 18 March 2025.
Edutalks (2022) Comparative Judgement (Marieke van Geel & Priyanka Pereira). Podcast. Available at: https://open.spotify. com/episode/2NHp0KLOUN9QP3JEBltxtq?si=MCPNJ2xLQ6-HQxhpgKhuow
Heale, R. and Twycross, A. (2015). Validity and Reliability in Quantitative Studies. Evidence Based Nursing, [online] 18(3), pp.66–67.
Humphry, S. and Heldsinger, S. (2020). A Two-Stage Method for Obtaining Reliable Teacher Assessments of Writing. Frontiers in Education, 5.
Kelly, K.T., Richardson, M. and Isaacs, T. (2022). Critiquing the rationales for using comparative judgement: a call for clarity. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, pp.1–15.
McGrane, J.A., Humphry, S.M. and Heldsinger, S. (2018). Applying a Thurstonian, Two-Stage Method in the Standardized Assessment of Writing. Applied Measurement in Education, 31(4), pp.297–311.
McMahon, S. and Jones, I. (2014). A comparative judgement approach to teacher assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 22(3), pp.368–389.
Ofqual (2019) A review of approaches to assessing writing at the end of primary education. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c9cdfd0e5274a5278f2755d/International_primary_writing_review_-_FINAL_28.03.2019.pdf
Sgwrs (2022) Comparative Judgement Marking, Podcast. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5pHI4kjdbomMdgpsCDSl5u?si=IZwzQLmuQguAJnF7AMuhlQ
Standards and Testing Agency (2024) Key stage 2 teacher assessment guidance. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/ government/publications/key-stage-2-teacher-assessmentguidance/key-stage-2-teacher-assessment-guidance#assessing-english-writing
Thurstone, L. L. (1927). A law of comparative judgement. Psychological Review, 34(4), 273–286.
Wheadon, C., Barmby, P., Christodoulou, D. and Henderson, B. (2019). A comparative judgement approach to the largescale assessment of primary writing in England. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 27(1), pp.46–64.
Vicky Walker Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi
LEVERAGING LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES
HOW WE CAN BUILD INCLUSIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITIES THAT FOSTER A SENSE OF BELONGING IN ALL LEARNERS
A sense of belonging is a vital element of a child’s educational experience, referring to the feeling of being valued, accepted, and included within the school community by both their peers and their teachers as well as the wider community. Studies have also shown that when students feel as if they belong, they are more likely to have positive relationships, engage in learning, and experience better academic outcomes as well as more positive well-being.
Culture also plays a pivotal role in shaping students’ sense of belonging. Recognising and valuing students’ cultural backgrounds, including their linguistic diversity, helps create a more inclusive environment. This inclusivity is important in fostering a sense of pride, helping students to feel more connected to their school community (Goodenow, 1993; Hagerty et al., 1996). Given the changing landscape of international education, it is more important than ever to consider how these linguistic communities can be reflected and valued within school settings. After all, languages are not merely a method of communication, but also reflect a person’s identity, culture and thinking. With belonging being such an essential component of international education, I will now share a variety of ways in which school communities can foster a greater sense of belonging in their linguistically diverse learners, leading to better learning outcomes and happiness for all.
Strategies to Enhance Cultural Inclusivity and Belonging
Cultural Integration within the Curriculum: Incorporating diverse cultural perspectives into educational materials can help students see themselves reflected in the curriculum, enhancing their sense of belonging. For example, using literature that features characters and authors from different backgrounds can foster empathy and inter-cultural understanding. Incorporating units that reflect students’ home languages (for example
what is happening during a particular time in history for the home languages present) can also help students to build up a more holistic view of the world around them. First language sources, in history, for example, can also enhance overall learning by fostering more in-depth discussions around the areas of bias and perspective. This supports the development of students as global citizens and opens up wider discussions about interpretations and translations of texts. Developing the curriculum by looking at the opportunities in which units of work can be opened up for linguistically diverse learners is the first step. Evaluating what languages and cultures are present in your communities will also provide opportunities to enhance the curriculum by considering multiple perspectives that can be implemented in both long term and short term planning.
Multilingual Support: Using students’ home languages in educational settings can also improve their engagement and academic performance, further reinforcing their sense of belonging. This approach aligns with translanguaging strategies, which encourage students to use their entire linguistic repertoire to facilitate comprehension and expression
across languages, enabling them to grasp complex academic concepts more effectively (Canagarajah, 2011; García et al., 2017). Translanguaging also enables students to make connections between their home language(s) and the target language, improving their proficiency in both (Hillcrest, 2021). This is particularly beneficial for English language learners, as it allows them to use their first language as a scaffold for learning English and academic content (Freeman and Freeman, 2023). Students, for example, can be introduced to a key concept and allowed to discuss their understanding in a first language, before being provided with scaffolds to articulate their learning in English. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), for example, is an educational approach that integrates language learning with subject content instruction. This method aims to enhance both language proficiency and subject knowledge simultaneously, offering students a more immersive and meaningful learning experience. This can be used to enhance student understanding in the following ways:
Integration of Content and Language: CLIL provides an immersive environment for language acquisition and content learning (Cenoz and Gorter, 2013; Sanako, 2025). This enables students to deepen their understanding in a given aspect of the curriculum. This approach is built around four pillars - content, communication, cognition, and culture—ensuring that students develop language skills while gaining subject knowledge and cultural awareness (Sanako, 2025).
Enhanced Language Proficiency: CLIL also fosters natural language development by exposing students to authentic contexts, promoting vocabulary acquisition, fluency, and comprehension (Adrian and Mangado, 2015; British Council, 2024). Students are encouraged to discuss key issues or concepts in a language that supports their learning, before scaffolding their communication and articulation of these concepts in English using appropriate scaffolds. Research has shown that CLIL students often demonstrate comparable or superior levels of content knowledge acquisition compared to those in traditional subject-based instruction, as it provides authentic contexts for learning and promotes interdisciplinary connections (Journal on Education, 2024).
Cognitive and Cultural Benefits: This type of learning enhances critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and cultural awareness by engaging students with diverse perspectives and real-world applications (British Council, 2024; Sanako, 2025). Integrating language with content has also been found to increase learner motivation by making language learning more relevant and engaging through real-life applications (British Council, 2024). These real-life contexts ensure that students can see the relevance of what they are learning, applying their knowledge and skills to real-life, authentic scenarios and contexts for learning.
Cultural and Social Integration: Translanguaging as a linguistic strategy also facilitates social interactions and cultural integration by allowing students to navigate diverse linguistic environments with greater ease and confidence (Frontiers in Education, 2024). It empowers minority language speakers by valuing their linguistic resources, fostering a positive classroom environment where diverse languages are seen as assets rather than barriers. Celebrating cultural diversity in the classroom also helps students feel confident, accepted, and understanding of the world around them. Translanguaging is also a method used to facilitate social interactions and enhance cultural integration by allowing students to navigate diverse linguistic environments with greater ease and confidence (Frontiers in Education, 2024). Where students can see themselves represented and valued in their community, they are more likely to feel valued and confident in their placement within it. Having a language policy that includes a translanguaging element and pedagogies to support this is vital for implementing a change on this scale.
Within this process, it is also important to engage with a range of stake holders, including staff, students and parents. This will not only mean that your language policy is fit for purpose but ensures that any policy you do have will serve your community more authentically. Professional development amongst staff in specific strategies such as CLIL or translanguaging will also be vital to ensure that everyone is aware of the benefits of such an approach and can develop confidence in their practice. These practices can then become consolidated and embedded, leading to further development of the curriculum and enhancing the sense of belonging for all students and staff within the school community.
Fostering a sense of belonging among students is a critical component of their educational journey, influencing not only their academic success but also their overall well-being and happiness. By recognising and valuing students’ cultural backgrounds, including their linguistic diversity, educators can create inclusive environments that promote a sense of pride and identity among students. Strategies such as cultural integration in the curriculum, multilingual support, and translanguaging can significantly enhance students’ engagement and academic performance, ensure that they see their place in the world, provide motivation as well as authentic contexts for learning. Additionally, educational approaches like Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and translanguaging offer a holistic method for integrating language and content learning, further enriching students’ educational experiences.
As schools continue to navigate the complexities of linguistic and cultural diversity, embracing these strategies can lead to more inclusive and supportive learning environments. By valuing students’ diverse backgrounds and fostering a sense of belonging, we can empower students to become confident, engaged learners who are better equipped to succeed in a globalised world. Ultimately, creating a culture of belonging is not just about academic achievement; it is about nurturing well-rounded individuals who feel valued, respected, and connected to their school community and the world around them.
References
1. Adrian, M., & Mangado, M. (2015). The effects of CLIL on language proficiency and content knowledge. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 3(1), 1–23.
2. British Council (2024). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Retrieved from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/educational-policies-practices/articles/content-and-language
3. Canagarajah, S. (2011). Codemeshing in Academic Writing: Identifying Teachable Strategies of Translanguaging. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 401–417.
4. Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2013). Towards a plurilingual approach in CLIL: A trilingual school in the Basque Country. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 34(3), 235–246.
5. Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. (2023). Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Heinemann.
6. Frontiers in Education (2024). Bridging worlds with words: translanguaging and its impact on identity formation, academic integration, and social adaptation among Jordanian graduate students. Frontiers in Education, 9, 1464741. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1464741
7. García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan.
8. Goodenow, C. (1993). Classroom belonging among early adolescent students: Relationships to motivation, engagement, and persistence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), 402–415.
9. Hillcrest, D. (2021). Academic benefit of translanguaging. MinneTESOL Journal, 37(2).
10. Hagerty, B. M., Williams, R. A., Coyne, J. C., & Early, M. R. (1996). Sense of belonging and indicators of mental health in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 18(4), 267–273.
11. Journal on Education (2024). Understanding the benefits and challenges of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Journal on Education, 6(4), 18941–18953. doi: 10.31004/joe.v6i4.5876
12. Sanako (2025). Benefits of CLIL in Modern Language Education. Retrieved from https://sanako.com/benefits-of-clil-in-modern-language-education
Warda Muse Head of Chemistry
Jerudong International School
Warda.Muse@jis.edu.bn
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE STEAM PROGRAMME
A BLUEPRINT FOR LASTING IMPACT
Global education systems are increasingly adopting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) to cultivate creativity, systems thinking and future-ready competencies (Boix Mansilla, 2022; Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019).
However, sustainability remains a critical barrier to long-term success. This article presents an evidence-based, scalable model for STEAM integration, developed through a one-year pilot at Jerudong International School (2024–2025).
Grounded in cognitive science, ecological relevance and agile design, the framework combines partial immersion (Drake & Burns, 2004), problem-based learning (Brassler & Dettmers, 2017), and authentic assessment within a sustainability-driven curriculum.
Drawing on internal evaluation data at Jerudong International School, our two-term model yielded a 74% increase in interdisciplinary fluency and tripled teacher collaboration. This article analyses the core theoretical principles underpinning the model, the tensions it surfaced and actionable insights that schools can use to reimagine learning through purpose, process and possibility.
74%
Our early results show that of students gained demonstrable interdisciplinary fluency.
01 THE STEAM SUSTAINABILITY GAP
STEAM's potential is well-documented (Boix Mansilla, 2022; Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019), yet 67% of programmes dissolve within three years (OECD, 2023). The disconnect lies in implementation design; most models prioritise:
Iterative, student-driven problem-solving that builds ambiguity tolerance and cognitive resilience
The framework's success within our context stems from its cognitive-ecological design, which strategically balances two o en competing priorities: the need for deep disciplinary mastery established by cognitive science research and the imperative for authentic interdisciplinary problem-solving. By alternating between focused disciplinary immersion and applied synthesis challenges, the model respects how learners construct knowledge whilst fostering the adaptive expertise needed to address complex, real-world problems.
This rhythm is further reinforced through agile problem-based learning cycles and assessments that value process as much as product, a deliberate departure from traditional STEAM initiatives that prioritise flashy outcomes over enduring understanding.
1.1 Research Questions and Objectives
How can a sustainable STEAM framework foster interdisciplinary learning whilst preventing cognitive overload and institutional inertia within a one-year implementation?
What immediate e ects does STEAM participation have on students' ability to apply knowledge across domains and develop adaptive expertise?
How can teacher collaboration and institutional structures be optimised to support the e ective integration of STEAM across departments within a single academic year?
02 SCHOOL CONTEXT: JERUDONG INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Located in Brunei, Jerudong International School is a large, diverse and dynamic institution committed to embedding sustainability into its curriculum.
The school's strategic pillars, capacity, curriculum, campus and community, provided an ideal foundation for integrating STEAM education, aligning seamlessly with the school's ethos of leveraging the transformative power of education.
If it isn’t transformational, then it isn’t education.
Nicholas Sheehan Executive Principal Jerudong International School & Panaga School
JIS' campus, rich in natural biodiversity and coupled with a strong emphasis on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, positions the school uniquely to lead in this space. Furthermore, the school's culture of student engagement, coupled with its forward-thinking approach to educational innovation, created the perfect environment for trialing an ambitious STEAM framework aimed at shaping future-ready learners.
JIS STRATEGIC VISION
Curriculum
Academic Enrichment
Campus Utilisation
Development
Community Enhancing Expanding
Capacity
Student
Sta
Figure 1
JIS’ Strategic Vision is centered on high expectations and continuous improvement. The strategy focuses on four interconnected dimensions: Community, Capacity, Campus, and Curriculum, with each dimension driven by clear goals, themes, and sub-strands.
03 METHODOLOGY: STEAM IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP
The STEAM implementation unfolded through four iterative and agile sprint phases: Discovery & Positioning (Phase 0), Defining the STEAM Core (Phase 1), Curriculum in Motion (Phase 2) and Full-Scale Implementation (Phase 3). Each phase was informed by needs assessments, ecological priorities and pedagogical theory.
0
Discovery & Positioning
1
2
Defining the STEAM Core
3
Curriculum in Motion Full-Scale Implementation
3.1 The Catalyst for Change: Student-Led
Design and Institutional Reflection
Our transformation began with Phase 0, a design provocation launched with our Year 9 students. We asked:
"How might we design a sustainable solution that meaningfully improves our school community?"
This went beyond a pedagogical exercise, serving instead as an invitation to reimagine learning as a process of inquiry, design, and impact. During this pilot phase, we observed not only how students responded but also how the system itself responded to this challenge.
The data revealed several structural gaps: siloed departments, insu icient planning protocols and inconsistent teacher confidence in interdisciplinary teaching. These gaps were not obstacles but signals of what was needed to create a truly sustainable and scalable STEAM framework. Our data analysis showed that 100% of the sta agreed that our STEAM e orts were still in their infancy, revealing a collective awareness of untapped potential. Yet only 25% of sta reported any current cross-departmental collaboration and fewer than 7% felt confident teaching through an interdisciplinary lens. For students, one-third had never engaged in a STEAM project and only one-third believed STEAM integration was a regular part of their learning. This gap between belief and practice highlighted an important insight: without institutional sca olding, philosophical alignment does not easily translate into pedagogical action.
of sta agreed our STEAM e orts are in
feel confident teaching interdisciplinarily.
This gap highlights that without institutional support, philosophy fails to translate into practice.
3.2 Defining STEAM: Aligning Purpose
and Pedagogy
Phase 1 focused on establishing the foundational principles that would guide the entire STEAM programme. The STEAM Working Party, comprising colleagues from multiple departments, was convened in alignment with our school’s shared ethos of educational transformation. One of the Working Party’s first tasks was to dismantle barriers to collaboration. Recognising that traditional structures reinforce silos, we designed three leverage points to catalyse interdisciplinary integration: (1) co-planning sessions, (2) shared interdisciplinary rubrics to align assessment language across subjects and (3) "sprint"
As we began to define our vision, we posed critical questions to sharpen our focus: What does STEAM truly mean in our context? How can we ensure it amplifies, rather than competes with, existing initiatives? What core principles should guide our decision-making process? At the heart of our vision was the commitment to student agency and choice, making these central to our guiding philosophy. STEAM was not introduced as an additional curricular requirement; it was approached through inquiry, integration, and purposeful outcomes. This shi enabled students to take real ownership of their learning and created conditions where interdisciplinary work could
A cornerstone of our approach was partial immersion, strategically implemented as a cognitive sca old than a mere compromise. We intentionally designed a learning rhythm that alternates between deep disciplinary immersion and purposeful interdisciplinary synthesis, grounded in cognitive science.
Research shows that learners require robust disciplinary mastery before they can navigate the complexities of interdisciplinary connections (Drake & Burns, 2004). This insight drove the structure of our learning model,
Deep Dive Phases (95% of term time):
Focused, immersive disciplinary learning, ensuring thorough understanding of core content
Preloading (various intervals):
Targeted instruction to foster connections between disciplines whilst deliberately avoiding premature interdisciplinary synthesis
Synthesis Sprints (various intervals):
Applied, real-world interdisciplinary challenges designed to stretch students'
Phase 2 involved a comprehensive curriculum audit. Our goal was not to forcefully insert STEAM into subjects where it did not fit, but to identify natural intersections. We sought out moments where di erent subjects could collaborate to address real-world issues. Rather than "fitting in" STEAM, we sought to flex the curriculum. This flexibility allowed us to implement five interdisciplinary projects across the Middle Years, each anchored by a sustainability-related driving question.
The curriculum integration process was guided by research in cognitive load theory (Sweller, 2020) and interdisciplinary transfer (Boix Mansilla, 2022). To ensure connections were rigorous and meaningful, we conducted a neural network analysis of the curriculum, identifying what Bransford et al. (2009) term “natural intersection nodes”, points where disciplinary concepts share underlying cognitive schemas. This revealed three research-validated integration modalities:
Cyclical Deepening: 01
Building on Kornell and Bjork's (2008) spacing e ect research, core projects repeat with escalating outcome complexity (e.g. Year 8 identification of GIS map locations to tangible school-wide food waste reduction solutions). This aligns with Schmidt's (2010) findings that spaced interdisciplinary revisiting improves transfer by 37% compared to one-o projects.
Thematic Rotation: 02
Our UN SDG/Green Flag rotation system applies Lattuca and Stark's (2022) "contextual diversity principle," solving similar problems across di erent contexts enhances adaptive reasoning. Data from 42 schools shows this approach increases real-world application by 29% (International Baccalaureate Organisation, 2023).
environmental
Pedagogical Innovation Zones: 03
Drawing from Perkins' (2022) "threshold concepts" framework, we positioned subjects at specific integration points along the PBL framework.
Figure 3
Green Flag - Our aim is to integrate the Green Flag initiative into the curriculum, fostering sustainability and empowering students through
education and action.
PROBLEM BASED LEARNING
Ask questions & explore through inquiry/research
1
2
3
Identify and define the problem statement
Imagine possible solutions
4
Apply knowledge to design solutions Communicate
5
Figure 4
PBL is used as a methodology for tackling real-world STEAM problems, acting as a cohesive link across subjects to enhance interdisciplinary learning and problem-solving skills.
Table 1: Threshold Concepts Framework
Problem Framing
Explore through Inquiry
Perspective-taking Drama
Goldstein & Winner (2012) on empathy development
Koedinger et al. (2012) on math transfer Quantitative reasoning Mathematics
Solution Design
3.3.1 Implementation
Our curriculum audit identified 21 high-potential integration nodes. The five selected and implemented STEAM projects across Years 7 to 9 achieved what Hattie (2017) calls "discipline synergy e ects":
Mathematics-Geography collaborations showed 42% greater systems thinking
Drama integration doubled ethical reasoning scores (Goldstein & Winner, 2012)
Our use of agile problem-based learning architecture connected the Middle Years subjects in an interdisciplinary framework and reflected emphasis on fostering cognitive resilience through flexible, iterative processes.
Hetland et al. (2013) Studio Thinking
One such project was the Year 9 project: "How can we reduce e-waste through sustainable technology practices?" Students began with a product teardown, comparing an old Nokia phone with a modern smartphone to explore issues of obsolescence, materials and waste. They then worked in groups to develop one of four solutions: creative (e-waste art installations), analytical (data science visualisations), entrepreneurial (product prototypes) and digital (awareness campaigns).
The projects culminated in a STEAM Exhibition, where students presented their solutions to a panel of teachers and external experts. The winning group was invited to showcase their work at a local university, demonstrating the authentic engagement and real-world impact made possible by interdisciplinary STEAM education.
3.3.2 Assessment: Measuring Process,
Not Just Products
STEAM required a rethink of traditional assessment. Conventional metrics failed to capture the complexity of the interdisciplinary, inquiry-driven work that our students were doing. Instead, we developed a three-tiered
Fluency Rubrics tracked students' ability to move between disciplinary modes, for example, from scientific analysis to design thinking (Hattie, 2017).
Process Portfolios documented the iterative nature of problem-solving, valuing failures as much as successes.
Public Exhibitions created authentic accountability by having students present and defend their work in front of expert panels (Project Zero, 2023).
This holistic approach to assessment allowed us to evaluate not just the products students created, but the processes through which they developed ideas, tested hypotheses and worked collaboratively.
3.4 Scaling the Vision: From Pilot to Systemic Change
In Phase 3, we will be scaling the programme by deepening its integration across year groups and expanding community engagement. Our goals include developing a vertical mapping of STEAM skills for progression, hosting public exhibitions to showcase student work and building partnerships with universities, industries and NGOs to connect students with real-world experts. This phase focuses on evolving to a sustained, transformative practice through both structural and cultural shi s. A key development was the establishment of a dedicated Senior and Junior School STEAM Coordinator positions, ensuring long-term momentum. This decision, supported by research, demonstrates that specialised support can significantly enhance the longevity of educational initiatives.
At this juncture, our school is at a pivotal stage in the advancement of STEAM education. Over the past two terms, authentic, department-led interdisciplinary initiatives have been implemented with demonstrable impact. This level of integration positions JIS within the top 5% of institutions globally for interdisciplinary practice (International Baccalaureate Organisation, 2023). Our next step is to extend this model across all three terms, ensuring consistent interdisciplinary engagement from Years 7 to 9. This is beyond an incremental step and represents a key opportunity to harness what cognitive scientists refer to as the "repetition-innovation paradox" (Kapur, 2018), the phenomenon where repeated, structured interdisciplinary practice paradoxically enhances creative capacity.
Neuroscience supports this shi : when students engage in STEAM cycles at regular intervals (at least 15% of contact time; OECD, 2018), myelin sheathing strengthens neural pathways, enhancing connections between knowledge domains (Lövdén et al., 2020). Our two-term model has yielded a 74% increase in interdisciplinary fluency and tripled teacher collaboration. However, the "third-term dividend" remains untapped. Harvard's Project Zero (2023) shows that this third iteration is when students achieve "adaptive expertise transfer," transitioning from conscious practice to unconscious competence.
This highlights the essence of STEAM: it is not simply about adding more content, but about designing an ecosystem where interdisciplinary thinking becomes the default mode of knowledge engagement.
3.4.1 Key Takeaways and Insights
Clarity Before Action: 01
Defining a shared STEAM identity helped create coherence and empowered strategic decision-making.
Focus on uncovering natural intersections in the curriculum rather than forcing STEAM into every subject. Start with Synergies: 02
Structure Enables Creativity: 03
PBL frameworks provided the structure needed for interdisciplinary work to thrive.
Assessment Must Evolve:
Shi from traditional assessments that focus on products to those that evaluate processes and collaboration.
Student Agency is Central:
When students own the problem, they take ownership of the learning process.
Partial Immersion is Powerful:
Depth in individual disciplines provides a strong foundation for interdisciplinary synthesis.
STEAM is Sustainable When Scalable:
Sustainable impact requires systems and structures, not just isolated projects.
Whilst the article presents an evidence-based STEAM model, it does not fully address the messy realities of implementing such a programme. School context challenges such as institutional resistance, teacher burnout, student agency and curricular rigidity are present in any ambitious educational initiative, especially one that demands significant cultural, structural and pedagogical shi s. Recognising, explicitly highlighting and engaging with these complexities is essential for making a programme genuinely transformative and ensuring its sustainability over time.
04 LIMITATIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
We acknowledge the contextual nature of educational innovation and this model reveals three universal insights that transcend institutional settings. First, the partial immersion approach, when calibrated to neural readiness markers (Lövdén et al., 2020), creates a Goldilocks zone for interdisciplinary learning, avoiding the pitfalls of siloed instruction whilst preventing the cognitive overload inherent in premature synthesis. This delicate balance between disciplinary depth and connective thinking mirrors what Kapur (2016) identifies as the "preparation-for-future-learning" e ect, where structured domain mastery enables unexpected transfer.
Second, collaboration does not emerge from goodwill alone. Our agile structures, co-planning protocols, interdisciplinary rubrics, sprint deliverables, show that teacher teamwork thrives when time is bounded and processes are explicit. This challenges the common assumption that culture alone sustains collaboration; in practice, sustainable innovation requires both culture and structure.
Third, the most enduring outcome of STEAM is not any single project but a cultivated mindset: students learn to seek connections across domains, tolerate ambiguity and interrogate the real-world consequences of their designs. In this sense, STEAM’s highest value lies in developing dispositions for adaptive expertise and ethical reasoning.
Future research could potentially focus on the longitudinal effects of STEAM participation, particularly examining whether students involved in such programmes demonstrate greater adaptive capacity as they progress through upper years. Comparative studies across FOBISIA schools would offer valuable insights, enabling cross-institutional analysis of STEAM's impact on diverse student populations. The rise of emerging technologies, particularly generative AI, also offers exciting possibilities for scaffolding interdisciplinary connections.
As the educational landscape stands at a crossroads between entrenched, traditional models and the uncertainty of future needs, this pilot highlights that sustainable transformation does not require revolutionary upheaval or superficial additions. Rather, it necessitates a deliberate, research-grounded redesign of how schools structure time, assess growth and fundamentally redefine what it means to learn in a rapidly changing world.
To deepen your understanding of each phase, access the relevant webinar workshop resources linked here, which expand on the strategies and insights discussed throughout the article.
1
Phased Resource Hub
Access curated planning tools, frameworks, and real project examples.
2
Collaborative Platform
Designed for the FOBISIA community to share, adapt, and contribute resources.
Figure 5
3
Practice-Informed, Purpose-Driven
Every resource is grounded in real school contexts, aligned with SDGs.
A phased resource hub and practice-informed, purpose-driven tools aligned with SDGs and student-led learning.
For further reading and to explore the research behind this model, please refer to the full list of references, linked here.
Acknowledgements
Sincere appreciation is extended to the FOBISIA team for their invaluable insights and collaboration. Particular thanks go to Mark Beresford for his mentorship, to Nicholas Sheehan for his vision and endorsement, and to Daniel Milner for his leadership, mentorship and guidance. Gratitude is also owed to the JIS STEAM Working Party, the architects of our blueprint, whose dedication and expertise have been instrumental in shaping this initiative.
