International School Magazine - Spring 2022

MAGAZINE SPRING 2022

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International School THE MAGAZINE FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATORS

Contents

EDITORS Mary Hayden Jeff Thompson editor@is-mag.com www.is-mag.com

MANAGING DIRECTOR

24

Steve Spriggs steve@williamclarence.com

Power for the future

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Diversity as the bedrock of peace

Hope through Education

Features 4 Hope through Education: meet the Pioneer Cohort of the Amala High School Diploma Polly Akhurst 6

Parental engagement re-imagined: new beginnings and fresh starts Elisabeth Neiada

10

Diversity as the bedrock of peace: implications for education Conrad Hughes

14

What can ethical philosophy teach international educators about global citizenship? Callum Philbin

16

Thou Shalt Not! When education becomes indoctrination (and how to avoid it) Paul Regan

Leading, teaching and learning 18 Making Best Practice International Richard Mast 20

Why we are a Language Friendly School Jacob Huckle

24

Power for the Future Richard Harwood

26

Covid Leadership: Lessons learned for the future Sarah Pearce

30

Creating Flexible Frameworks for Service Learning John Haakon Gould

From the schools and associations 34 How will your students value the career guidance they received in high school? Giuseppe Iademarco 38

Why international partnerships and collaboration are more important than ever Hannah Starkey

40

International mindedness, Admissions, Wellbeing, Teacher Supply – key issues for international schools Pia Maske and Fiona Rogers

Personal Reflections 44 The Slopes of Kilimanjaro: the backdrop to leading, guiding and supporting an international school in Tanzania Robert Horton 46

Desmond Tutu: an Arch for Forgiveness Malcolm McKenzie

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Spring 2022 | International School | 3

Features

Hope through Education Meet the Pioneer Cohort of the Amala High School Diploma

By Polly Akhurst

M

ajd was at work in March 2020 when he saw the advert for the Amala High School Diploma.

Having fled the war in Syria and sought refuge in Jordan, he had spent years looking for ways to complete his high school education, but all of the options he found were either too expensive or too time-consuming. He had resolved to work instead, but never forgot this dream of completing his education. Edel, who had fled Somalia, had been out of school for several years and had no opportunities to continue her education. When her friend alerted her to the opportunity, she knew she must apply. Ibrahim, originally from Sudan, had dropped out of school due to bullying and violence. When he saw the opportunity from Amala it gave him hope of a second chance.

Majd, Edel and Ibrahim applied to be part of the pioneer cohort of the Amala High School Diploma in Jordan - an alternative pathway for refugee and conflict-affected youth to complete their secondary education.

Eighteen months later, on 8 October 2021, they stood proudly on a stage among 20 fellow pioneers to celebrate their graduation. This was an immensely proud moment not only for the students, but also for the Amala team, who have been working on making this new Diploma a reality over the past four years.

A new educational pathway for refugee youth The idea for Amala was born in 2016 while my cofounder Mia and I were working for the United World Colleges’ refugee scholarship initiative. We discovered that only 1 in 3 refugees had access to secondary education, 4 | International School | Spring 2022

leading to only 5% going on to higher education (UNHCR, 2022). Once young refugees reach adolescence they often face considerable barriers to entering the national education systems of the countries where they live. We saw the possibility of creating an alternative pathways option for upper secondary completion and delved further, surveying hundreds of refugee youth about the education they wanted. We discovered that the issue wasn’t just about access but about quality: refugee youth wanted an education that would not only prepare them for the future but could help them to improve their lives – and the lives of their community – today.

These insights led us to develop our rationale for a curriculum centred on the development of agency for positive change, focusing on ‘lifeworthy learning’, a concept coined by David Perkins (2014).

With the educational support of our partner school United World College of South East Asia, between 2018 and 2020 over 150 international educators worked alongside displaced youth to develop ten courses within the Diploma, ranging from ‘Peace-building’ to ‘Maths for Change’.

The Pioneer Cohort Majd, Edel and Ibrahim were among the 25 pioneer students who started their studies in June 2020. The pandemic meant that the programme, designed to be delivered through a blended learning model, was initially delivered through remote learning. The students, supported by Amala’s Jordan facilitation team, studied via Zoom synchronously from 9am to 5pm on both

Features days of the weekend. They completed independent work during the week, often at the same time as working to support their families. Yet not one student dropped out in those difficult first months, and in spring 2021 in–person learning could finally commence.

The students formed an amazingly strong community in spite of the pandemic. The pioneer cohort were of seven different nationalities and Ibrahim, Majd and Edel all comment on the ways in which their fellow students’ experiences, and backgrounds of religion, culture and gender, enrich the learning environment. Ibrahim says that the biggest change he has seen in himself is that ‘I learned how to be empathic and inclusive. Every human needs these things. I learned how to understand other people, and respect them.’

Many of the activities within the Diploma courses involve students presenting their ideas and opinions in class. This kind of learning was new to students, but had a positive impact, according to our facilitator Fatima: ‘There is such an increase in their confidence, their ability to understand themselves and their needs and to speak up.’ Edel concurs that ‘I am more communicative and connected. I know myself more and what I can do.’

For Majd, Amala’s assessment approach, which involves students creating evidence of their learning against a set of competencies, had the biggest impact. He explains that ‘The most significant thing I learned was that I had to take responsibility for my learning. It made me work harder towards my goal.’

During the Diploma, students develop and implement projects for positive change in their communities. Edel’s project, ‘She Can’, focuses on supporting girls who wear hijabs to do sport. She explains: ‘In our community there aren’t many hijabi girls that do sport. Our project is to give them the confidence to do what they love and support their abilities.’ Ibrahim’s project raises awareness of the issue of corporal punishment in schools, while Majd has developed ScholaScope, an online platform to link students to universities offering scholarships. He comments ‘When I started ScholaScope I had limited knowledge. Amala courses helped me do my homework on businesses and how to structure them.’

access higher education, with several already securing places at universities in Jordan, Canada and the US. Students have been supported in their applications by a group of professional guidance counselors from international schools. The pioneer cohort are also continuing to work on their projects. As Ibrahim explains: ‘I want to get more information and knowledge and reduce corporal punishment in my community and the surrounding area.’ Majd has recently secured funding to support him to further develop ScholaScope platform and has won a place on a competitive incubator programme.

In January 2021 a second cohort started the Diploma in Jordan and, in May 2021, we also launched the programme in Kakuma Camp, Kenya. We are starting to recruit for our third cohort of students in Jordan, who will start in April 2022. We are also pursuing accreditation of the programme with both the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and are working on wider recognition of the programme, in order to open up higher education opportunities for many more students.

Amala’s name is inspired by the Arabic word for hope, and Edel, Ibrahim, Majd and the pioneer cohort embody the hope that education provides. As Ibrahim says about his fellow pioneers: ‘At Amala, I met many people who are smart and creative but who didn’t have opportunities. Amala gave us an opportunity to recognise our capabilities. We can be leaders in the world, I’m sure of it.’ ◆

Looking to the future What next, now Ibrahim, Edel and Majd have graduated?

All three and many of their pioneer peers aim to

Polly Akhurst is the Co-Executive Director of Amala

Education and is an alumna of UWC Atlantic. Further information about Amala can be found at: amalaeducation.org

✉ polly@amalaeducation.org

References

• Perkins D N (2014) Future Wise: Educating our Children for a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

• UNHCR (2022) Education. Available from www.unhcr.org/uk/education.html

Spring 2022 | International School | 5

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Parental engagement re-imagined:

new beginnings and fresh starts

By Elisabeth Neiada

I

t is early September 2019 and we are in Athens, Greece. September brings with it the first day of school, a day filled with emotions that characterise new beginnings and fresh starts. On that day, Dr Seuss’ words would always replay in my head: ‘You are off to great places, today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!’. These words perfectly encapsulated my feelings, not only as a student but later as a teacher and parent. For me, the first day of school was exciting and magical, infused with parents’ hopes, expectations and/or fears for the academic year; students’ curiosity about their new classrooms, teachers, and often new classmates; and teachers’ passion and commitment to instil a love of learning in their (new) students.

I remember that a pinch of hope and sense of positivity would reign this day,

6 | International School | Spring 2022

reminding me to enjoy the journey and not only to anticipate the destination.

Fast-forwarding to early September 2021, we are in Athens, Greece. Our journey has been overshadowed by the covid-19 pandemic, which has turned our world upside down and still keeps our destination unknown. More than exciting and magical, the latest two ‘first-days of school’ have been marked by fear and uncertainty on people’s faces, cleverly hidden behind face masks.

Fear about what our ‘new normal’ will be for students, teachers and parents, and uncertainty about potential school closures and disruptions to learning.

It is said that in times of uncertainty, people reconsider, refocus, and reprioritize by considering questions such as ‘What is most important right now?’, ‘How can we turn misfortunes into opportunities?’ and ‘In what ways can we support, motivate, and help each other?’. The Save the Children report of 2015 identifies education as one of the highest priorities for children in times of crises, and reads: ‘children feel safe and protected at school, and they feel better at school. Education is the key to their future, their protection, their happiness, and their health’ (Save the Children, 2015). As an IB educator, I cherish those words that have informed my educational pedagogy and teaching in my classroom. Apart from being an educator

though, I am also a former IB Diploma Programme student and proud parent of two children. It is with all the different facets of my identity that I write this article, to draw attention to my most pressing priority in the last two years, from both a professional and personal standpoint: parental engagement in schools, which forms part of the wider umbrella of parent-school relationships.

Parental engagement in IB schools in Athens, Greece, is my research interest as a current doctoral student in Education.

My research seeks to understand how parental engagement is constructed and manifested in five IB schools in Athens.

The aim of this article is to describe my study and invite readers’ thoughts on parental engagement, in a time of constant change.

Parental engagement as a term signifies parents’ orientations, attitudes, practices, behaviours, and identities when involved in their child’s school education (Barr & Saltmarsh, 2014).

Existing literature suggests that parental engagement includes the involvement of parents not only in students’ academic studies (Epstein et al, 2002), but also in students’ learning inside and outside of school, particularly at home (Goodall, 2017). Several researchers consider engagement in students’ learning a holistic

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process, intrinsic to the development of the student as a whole individual (de Oliveira Lima & Kuusisto, 2019). The assumption underpinning this argument is that engagement in children’s learning leads to strong ties between parents and educators, creating fertile ground for trust and partnerships to flourish between parents and schools. This in turn renders parental engagement a continuous, interactive, and mutual process between parents and schools. Studies have shown that active and ‘successful’ parental engagement has a positive impact on the whole school community, and is linked with: increased quality of education for students and higher levels of academic attainment (Sterian & Mocanu, 2013); a positive school culture, including an orientation toward innovation, continuous learning and improvement (Connolly et al, 2019); and stable and nurturing home environments, with emphasis on parental confidence and skill (Lawson, 2003).

In practice, however, parental engagement is more intricate to unravel as, it is argued, it is culture- and contextbound (Barr & Saltmarsh, 2014). This means that diverse family and school factors play into parental engagement, which – individually or collectively – influence its course in each school. For instance, family factors include parents’

Parental engagement as a term signifies parents’ orientations, attitudes, practices, behaviours, and identities. capabilities, cognition, confidence, aspirations, and backgrounds, while school factors include a school’s type, mission, profile, policies, and leadership practices. Second, the nature of parental engagement is underpinned by human relationships, relational trust, positive interactions, and open communication (Connolly et al, 2019). On this, Barr & Saltmarsh have observed a wide range of ways in which schools ‘manage their relationships with parents, as well as variation in what parents themselves view as important for engagement with their children’s schooling’ (2014: 491-492).

Where does parental engagement stand in IB schools that represent a range of cultures and contexts? I have chosen to work with IB schools in Athens, as their

school profiles and characteristics provide a framework with interesting antitheses.

IB schools in Athens are ‘same, same but different’, exhibiting both similarities and differences. Their main apparent similarity is that they offer one, two or three of the IB Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, Diploma Programme.

Naturally, IB schools in Athens abide by the IB mission, Learner Profile and education centred around international mindedness (IB, 2021). Also, IB schools in Athens use English as their formal language of instruction, as opposed to the Greek national system of education which is taught in Greek. As a result, IB schools in Athens are viewed as ‘international’ schools in Greece. At the same time, IB schools in Athens include Greek elements to various extents because of their geographical location. ‘Greek’ elements are embedded in a school’s culture, composition, administration, and/ or organisation. For instance, all IB schools offer Greek as a main or additional language of instruction, celebrate Greek national holidays along with Greek traditions and customs, and create ties with the wider local community in Athens through service learning and community service. Finally, all IB schools in Athens are private schools with high tuition fees, often described as ‘elite schools’  Spring 2022 | International School | 7

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(Valassi, 2009), the implication being that IB schools in Athens cater for families of higher socio-economic status (SES).

With regards to their differences, IB schools in Athens vary in terms of their history, mission, size, type, curricula offered and nature of the teacher, parent and student populations. Some schools date back to the early 1900s and carry significant history, whereas others are more recent, established after the 1960s. Then, besides the IB universal mission, IB schools in Athens have their own school mission that characterizes the school’s entity, vision, and outlook.

Moreover, alongside the IB programmes, IB schools in Athens may teach other curricula too: examples include the Greek national curriculum, the College Preparatory Programme (CP) and Advanced Placement (AP) courses in High School. Consequently, the way in which each IB school defines itself ranges from ‘International’ to ‘GreekAmerican’, ‘American’ and ‘modern Greek’. Finally, IB schools in Athens vary in their parent, teacher and student populations in terms of nationalities and native languages spoken. The majority of IB schools in Athens are Greek in their student population, with just two of them demonstrating significant presence of

international parent, teacher and student bodies.

Considering that parental engagement is influenced by the culture, context and make-up of a school, I am critically examining factors and processes that affect parental engagement in IB schools in Athens. Each school constitutes a stand-alone case study, with schools then being studied collectively to pinpoint similarities and differences in engagement practices. More specifically, my research raises the following questions in the context of participating IB schools: • What approaches exist with regards to parental engagement?

• In what ways, if any, is parental engagement linked to parental choice?

• What are the diverse family and school determinants that influence parental engagement?

• How do parents and educators perceive their individual and collective roles in supporting parental engagement?

Answers to these questions are being sought through the viewpoints and lived experiences of parents and educators.

Participant observations, interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis are the basis for gathering data in this qualitative study. To the best of my knowledge,

this is the first study to be undertaken that marries the two fields of parental engagement and IB schools. IB schools in Athens do not appear to have been researched at all before now, let alone with regards to parental engagement.

Literature indicates that parental engagement as a phenomenon has been researched in the context of public schools in countries including the US, the UK and Australia, and using teachers as the prime point of reference rather than the whole school community (Barr & Saltmarsh, 2014; Epstein et al., 2002).

So here I am today, off to great places, academic ‘new beginnings’ and ‘fresh starts’. My hope is to support, motivate and inspire parents, educators and schools in prioritizing human interactions and human relationships. The novel situation of covid-19 has noticeably impacted parenting quality, family dynamics and parental engagement practice. We are thus called to reflect on ‘lessons learned’ from covid-19 and turn misfortunes into opportunities. The time spent at home with my children, the enforced physical separation from schools and the feeling of resilience developed during this crisis have changed my understanding of parental engagement. I believe it is time, now more than ever, for us to be fully present with our children: to engage with them with love, respect, care, flexibility and perserverance, in order to equip them with qualities and skills needed for a stable future of happiness and health. ◆

Elisabeth Neiada is a doctoral candidate

in Education. She has taught at international schools in Athens, London, Paris and New York.

✉ een26@bath.ac.uk

References

• Barr J & Saltmarsh S (2014) ‘It all comes down to the leadership’: the role of the school principal in fostering parent-school engagement. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 42(4): 491-505.

• Connolly M, Eddy-Spicer D H, James C & Kruse S D (2019) The SAGE Handbook of School Organization. Los Angeles, Calif: SAGE • de Oliveira Lima C L & Kuusisto E (2019) Parental Engagement in Children’s Learning: A Holistic Approach to Teacher-Parents’ Partnerships. In Pedagogy in Basic and Higher Education-Current Developments and Challenges: IntechOpen.

• Epstein, J L, Sheldon S B, Sanders M G, Simon B S, Clark Salinas K, Rodriguez Jansorn N & Van Voorhis F L (2002) School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Retrieved from www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ERIC-ED467082/pdf/ERIC-ED467082.pdf • Goodall J (2017) Narrowing the Achievement Gap: Parental engagement with children’s learning: London: Taylor & Francis.

• IB (2021) IB World Schools in Greece. Retrieved from www.ibyb.org/ib-world-schools-in-greece • Lawson M A (2003) School-family relations in context: Parent and teacher perceptions of parent involvement. Urban Education. 38(1): 77-133.

• Save the Children (2015) What Do Children Want in Times of Emergency and Crisis? They Want an Education. Retrieved from www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/ global/reports/education-and-child-protection/what-children-want.pdf • Sterian M & Mocanu M (2013) Family-school Partnerships: Information and approaches for educators. Euromentor Journal. 4(2): 166.

• Valassi D (2009) Choosing a private school in the Greek education market: a multidimensional procedure. Atelier. 6: 13-14.

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Spring 2022 | International School | 9

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Diversity as the bedrock of peace implications for education

By Conrad Hughes

I

n 1924, when the world’s first international school was established – then known as the League School, and later as the International School of Geneva (Ecole Internationale de Genève, or Ecolint) – the vision was an education for peace.

But what did peace mean in 1924, and what does it mean today? And how do we educate for peace?

In 1924, the memory of war was still vivid. The violence of extreme nationalism had drenched Europe and its colonies in blood. The tensions that led to WW1 were around the suppression of multiple ethnic identities: Serbians could no longer celebrate who they were, children would no longer learn Hungarian at school, the ambitions of world dominion by colonial powers would drown out the hopes and aspirations of others. The violence of WW1 was caused by the tension created when the will of a few is thrust upon the diverse aims of many.

Colonisation also aimed to destroy diversity: to take continents with thousands of languages and impose one or two; to destroy ancient customs and belief systems and replace them with one or two religions; to destroy ancient narratives, as priests did in Mexico, smashing Inca tablets containing sacred coda; or as Macauley did in India, designing an education system that would try to make Vedic culture vanish from students’ minds and memories.

Unlike these attacks on diversity, from the start Ecolint sought diversity and not uniformity: different national dresses and not one uniform; an international history and geography course, not the study of one nation only; bilingualism and not monolingualism. But the dark power of homogeneity, of monochromatism, of violent dogmatism continued.

Hitler was against diversity: no Jews, no homosexuals, no anarchists, no people of colour, no freemasons, no

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handicapped people. The idea of the Third Reich was bloc, Western bloc imperatives; the forced repression one race, one language, one Empire. Other dictators of millions of people under one monolithic idea on through history have wanted the same thing: either side of the fence.

Mussolini, Stalin, Franco, Salazar, Pinochet, Videla, Mao In the 1960s, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Bocassa, Mobuto: a desire was a creation driven by many different partners: for a morbid standardisation, a single party state. And Ecolint’s International History course, started in the to destroy diversity, books must 1920s, was shared with universities be burnt, art must be censored, in England; the United Nations freedom of speech curtailed, School in New York Unlike these attacks International powers restrained, people killed. and the United World Colleges Above all, an anti-diverse education on diversity, from joined. The IB Diploma was born must allow no space for critical out of diverse views of education: the start Ecolint thinking whatsoever: people must Kurt Hahn’s vision of a strong think one way only. dimension, Ruth sought diversity extracurricular Marie-Thérèse Maurette, the Dreifuss’ belief in the centrality of most striking and visionary leader and not uniformity: philosophy, and the deep-seated of our school’s early history, an idea of a broad and balanced, not different national a narrow, curriculum, came from a outspoken feminist who smuggled Jewish asylum seekers across the coalition of diverse views working dresses and not border at the Gare des Eaux together. Ecolint did not design Vives to save them from occupied the IB alone. Little of worth can one uniform.

France, was deeply disillusioned be designed alone, by one person,

by World War 2. But the dream as the propaganda of Great Man of peace – of a place where a history would have us believe. In thousand flowers can bloom, where we can live in fact, nothing can be designed in total isolation. respect of one another, where diversity is a strength With the fall of the Berlin Wall, we entered – remained. The Cold War brought more violent modern history, even more concentrated: a globalised homogeneity with it: of a symbolic kind, with an iron economy built on consumerist values, driven by a curtain across Europe, brainwashing on either side, handful of rich men and companies. This structural but also real violence: wars in Angola and Congo, violence is destroying the planet, just as the Brazilian Iran and Iraq for example, were driven by Eastern rainforests are burnt, coral reefs destroyed and wild 

Spring 2022 | International School | 11

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animals become extinct, choking and wallowing in the wake of a carbon footprint that is destroying all life. For diversity is life: biodiversity, the reciprocity of the ecosystem and, at an individual level, a balanced diet, a varied lifestyle. If we live monotonous lives, the body sickens and we die. The enemy of diversity is the enemy of life itself.

Ecolint has grown since our origins: we have over 4000 students, eight schools, eight different curriculum structures, 140 nationalities, over 90 languages. We must cherish and be thankful for such extraordinary diversity. And to see the best political and historical example of diversity and, more precisely, how diversity leads to peace, we need look no further than Switzerland. In 1291, when the three original cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwald pledged to support one another under the homogenising and oppressive yoke of the Habsburg empire, they were creating a country devoted to diversity: today, that’s 26 cantons, four national languages, seven leaders in a governing confederation, representing different political parties, the courage to let the people decide through referenda and national initiatives.

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Diversity and peace mean freedom, in fact multiple freedoms that co-exist.

However, multiple freedoms do not mean cynical self-centeredness.

But peace and diversity mean making compromises, being pragmatic, being prepared to disagree and then seek consensus. The road to peace through diversity is not the romanticised and artificial mythology of national hegemony, it is not the rose-tinted, propagandasaturated history textbook that tells only half the story, it is not the comfort of bias and thoughtless monocultural reproduction. Embracing diversity means embracing complexity. It takes hard work.

As our understanding of the history of ideas

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deepens, what we used to attribute to the few in fact belongs to the many: Lafontaine’s fables were adapted from Aesop’s fables, and Aesop’s fables were ancient communal African tales – in fact much evidence suggests that Aesop himself was an African.

There probably was no author called Homer – Homer simply means the blind one: The Iliad and The Odyssey are a congregation of ancient myths from diverse origins; Pythagoras’ theories came from India and Babylon, not from Greece; Thales’ principles came from Egypt, Pascal’s triangle was not invented

by Pascal but much earlier and is probably from Mesoamerica; there was a female biologist hidden beneath Crick’s and Watson’s so-called discovery of DNA, and she was never accredited and never received a Nobel prize. Her name was Rosalind Franklin. Many of Rodin’s sculptures were actually made by Camille Claudel; European cubism was actually unacknowledged cultural appropriation of millennia of African art. History and culture are the work of many, not the one.

And with time, as we find out who the many were, may we teach our students the truth and not the

fable. Who can stand in front of children today and talk of Columbus discovering America, or omit the Senegalese and Moroccan soldiers who were put on the front line of trenches in World War 1 and not treated by nurses? Who can still pretend that the origins of philosophy are with Socrates and Plato?

To get to the core of diversity means removing the simplistic veneer of the single story, the one that’s easier to swallow; it means grappling with complexity.

Formulas are easy to remember, but they are often oversimplifications and sometimes they are simply not true.

Diversity and peace mean freedom, in fact multiple freedoms that co-exist. However, multiple freedoms do not mean cynical self-centeredness. There is a danger that the world we have created creates societies where each person looks after themselves more than the collective whole. What does it mean to be a global citizen? No person is an island. We are diverse and free, but we must support each other.

We need each other. We are connected, and despite our diversity, we are one, like a mosaic made up of millions of beautiful shards of precious metals and glass, shimmering under the broad rays of the sun.

Peace and diversity mean systems that are not structurally repressive but multilateral. La paix au travail: another vital Swiss institution, means that management must work peacefully and respectfully with employees; we must work together, in our diverse structural organisation, with the dream of peace in our minds, not petty conflict and fear.

Ecolint is a great school because there are checks and balances for all of us, to which we must all be made accountable. This makes us stronger and more responsible. It protects us.

And each of us has several identities: our passports, our languages, our cultures, our beliefs, our orientations. Which do you bring to work and why?

Which of your multiple identities do you celebrate as a teacher? May La Grande Boissière be a place where we all bring out the beauty of our multiple identities, where we celebrate our diversity and where each student feels safe and happy to do so. Peace and diversity mean active listening, not distracted or competitive listening, active, whole person listening, restorative practice, feedback, believing in each other’s capacity, having the courage to speak up, but to do so with respect in our hearts. In the final analysis, peace implies diversity. An education for peace is an education for diversity. With the challenges we are facing at many levels, an education for diversity and peace is an education for life. Let’s make it happen, together. ◆ Dr Conrad Hughes is Campus and Secondary Principal at the International School of Geneva, La Grande Boissière campus, Switzerland. This article was originally a speech given to faculty at La Grande Boissière at the beginning of the school year, September 2021. ✉ conrad.hughes@ecolint.ch

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What can ethical

philosophy teach international educators about

global citizenship?

By Callum Philbin

I

n September 2021, when I started lecturing students on an undergraduate course in international teacher training, I began by asking them to debate whether ‘citizens of the world are citizens of nowhere’. The discussion was passionate, moving across contemporary debates around climate injustice, vaccine ethics and migration. The students were broadly in favour of viewing themselves as global citizens, but were also inclined towards putting their own citizens first when faced with social problems. I asked them to respond to this statement because I think it is arguably the most important question in contemporary political philosophy, and it comes down to whether the next generation of international educators should promote universal ethics or focus on the nation state as the best vehicle for encouraging equality and justice around the world.

Thankfully, we already had thousands of years to consider this question. Around 400 BC the philosopher Diogenes, residing in Athens, was asked where he came from, to which he responded: ‘I am a citizen of the world’ (Taylor, 2019).

Many might remember Diogenes as the philosopher who lived in a bin (to demonstrate his rejection of materialism), making him not only an early cosmopolitan

but maybe the first performance artist, the Banksy of the ancient world. By rejecting a political membership, Diogenes both exiled himself and simultaneously aligned himself to a more universal human community.

Diogenes’ cosmopolitanism was influential at the time, particularly on stoic philosophy. In the teachings and actions of Epicurus, one can see the incipient ideals of international education in Greek antiquity. As early as the fourth century BC Epicurus, the son of a schoolteacher, purchased a plot of land outside Athens and formed a school called ‘The Garden’ (Odell, 2019). Inspired by ideas from Democritus and Pyrrho, who in turn had been influenced by the gymnosophists of India, he developed a school fundamentally different from other schools at the time (ibid). The ethos of Epicurus’ school placed an emphasis on relaxed contemplation as students were encouraged to grow their own food, while theorising how to live a quiet, fulfilling life through simplicity. The school focused on reason for the purpose of self-reflection, and the rejection of excess. There was no competition within the school, as students graded themselves, and a connection with nature was a core part of the programme. However, what was truly revolutionary about this community, and what makes it for me an early iteration of international education, is that it was open to different sexes, races and nationalities, encouraging learning

Features

Our unique historical moment challenges how we think of citizenship. between women, slaves and non-Greeks (Hibler, 1984) as well as male Greeks.

Another striking feature is that admission was completely free. Even in modern terms, this progressive education without elitism and exclusion sounds aspirational.

Jump forward two thousand years to 2016, when in a speech that followed the Brexit Referendum then British Prime Minister Theresa May offered a crude response to the ideas of Diogenes and the practice of Epicurus, stating that ‘if you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere’. This maxim encapsulates the contemporary debates between nationalist and cosmopolitan identities, and raises the question: do we owe more to our fellow citizens than to humanity?

We love our families first, we feed our children first, we care for our neighbours first because we have common connections, bonds and responsibilities to them. Is it unethical or immoral to believe that love starts at home?

Rousseau accounted for this in Émile

(Rousseau, 1979), writing about how we can transcend some of our individual interests to care for a common good, so that individual good can become public good. Through self love, for Rousseau amour propre, we can come to care for others within our communities. Theresa May had this in mind when referring to people who had less interest in those living on their own streets thans in connecting to ‘international elites’. Rousseau had similar concerns, believing that care had limitations, and that feelings of empathy weaken if extended across the whole world (Rousseau, 1992).

But Rousseau lived at a very different historical moment to our own. The growth of multicultural societies, the mass migrations of recent times, the proliferation of digital technologies that allow us to connect and experience events in realtime from all around the world: surely these affect the possibilities for empathy.

Our unique historical moment challenges how we think of citizenship. In 2017, Saudi Arabia made Sophia the first (female?) robot to gain citizenship (TechCrunch, 2017). At a conference a few months later, she announced her intention to destroy mankind – a sentiment I sometimes feel at academic conferences too. The sinister point though is that a robot has gained citizenship at a time when many humans are blocked from gaining political membership of the countries in which they reside. Rousseau might feel that this is ethically consistent with communitarian commitments – our responsibilities start with those closest to us – but should the most vulnerable not be thought of first? And who really are the ‘us’ and the ‘them’?

Personally, having taught in international schools for the past decade across Europe and the Middle East, I am starting to feel deterrorialised, as though my national background tells others little about who I am. International educator might be a

stronger identity. In the students I work with, I see contradictory views on the links between person and place, citizen and country, with some tending towards strong national identities while others prefer transnational ones (such as being feminist or a part of the LGBTQ+ community).

International schools are places where these identities are contested and challenged, and maybe that is our purpose as international educators: to encourage informed debate, promote intercultural understanding and help students to discover varied political identities suitable for the 21st century.

Whether we choose to connect strongly to a national identity or to embrace a cosmopolitan one, we must be committed as international educators to raising a generation that can solve issues that go beyond the nation state: including climate change, racial injustice and economic inequities.

Another Enlightenment philosopher, Montesquieu, highlights well a viewpoint that we should all at least consider, writing ‘If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman […] because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French’ (1949: 80).

International schooling is still nascent and the intensification of globalisation has raised many questions about how we should consider citizenship. Luckily, we can look back at ethical philosophy to guide us as we move forward. We may choose to focus on small solidarities or put no bounds on our moral sympathy, but as we teach the next generation, I believe Montesquieu’s words are worth considering. ◆ Callum Philbin is a Lecturer in Educational Studies on the ITESS course with NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands. ✉ callum.philbin@gmail.com

References

• Hibler R W (1984) Happiness Through Tranquility: the School of Epicurus. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.

• Montesquieu (1949) Mes Pensées. In R Caillois (ed) Oeuvres Complètes. Paris: Gallimard.

• Odell J (2019) How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. New York: Melville House.

• Rousseau J J (1979) Émile: Or On Education. Translated by A Bloom. New York: Basic Books.

• Rousseau J J (1992) Discourse on Political Economy. In C Kelly and R Masters (eds).The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Hanover: University Press of New England.

• Taylor A (2019) Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone. London: Verso.

• TechCrunch (2017) tcrn.ch/2hcIbxi [accessed 9 February 2022].

• The Telegraph (2016) www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/05/theresa-mays-conference-speech-in-full/ [accessed 9 February 2022].

Spring 2022 | International School | 15

Features

Thou Shalt Not! When education becomes indoctrination (and how to avoid it)

By Paul Regan

I

was only about eight years old, but I can still vividly recall the moment. I was sitting at my desk in my little South London Catholic primary school in about 1962.

Our formidable Irish teacher had just finished going through the Ten Commandments yet again, demanding that after she enunciated each one of them, prompted by a rap of her feared cane on the desk, all thirty five of us should repeat them after her with sufficient volume and conviction. After repeating commandment number six, this time for me it was somehow different. Innocently, I raised my hand, and when challenged, I asked her the meaning of ‘adultery’, since it made no sense to me to be told not to commit something I had no understanding of. The response was immediate and chilling. Sent to the Headmaster’s office, I received 3 strokes of the cane on my hand and spent the rest of the day standing in the corner of the class, temporarily excommunicated. My innocent desire for an explanation had been mistaken for heresy and subversion.

I recalled this memory recently after reading that the British Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, had circulated new guidelines to teachers in state schools advising them how to avoid political (not religious) bias.

A few weeks earlier, one English primary school had made the front pages after it was revealed that students had been encouraged by their teacher to write letters of complaint to the Prime Minister. The complaints, generously laced with pie charts and bar charts, were suspiciously sophisticated and biased for primary age children and a teacher plot was uncovered. In the same week, schools in another education authority run by the Green Party had been instructed to teach Critical Race Theory, a hugely controversial ideology which asserts that even young white children are guilty of unconscious race bias, and, regardless of how poor they might be, they are necessarily heirs to white privilege and power. Suddenly, indoctrination in schools was back on the political and media agenda as if it was somehow a brand new phenomenon.

Further up the education food chain, in a bizarre turning of the tables a respected academic and author, Professor Kathleen Stock, was recently hounded out of the University of Sussex by her own students after she gave a reasonably argued refutation of certain dogma around trans rights. Her offence must have been her failure to indoctrinate

16 | International School | Spring 2022

her students in the way they had come to expect.

Religions, politics, and ideologies come and go, but what remains constant is the desire of competing groups to fight out their proxy battles in schools. Huge assumptions, biases, prejudices, utopian fantasies, fear-mongering, unproven assertions and dodgy statistics are presented to children every day as facts and theories. Claims such as ‘The science is settled’ pepper our modern discourse and leak into the school curriculum, and are repeated ad nauseam until they cease to have any meaning. It is not so different from teaching the word ‘adultery’ to eight year olds, whist refusing to explain it. We all know that teachers, mostly without realising, indoctrinate us because we have all been subjected to it in some form during our own schooling, and then perhaps spent years trying to reeducate ourselves away from the harm it has caused us.

Conversely, we can all remember the teacher who bucked the trend, helped us to think for ourselves, justified every knowledge claim with a reason, a proof or a counterclaim, and educated rather than instructed us. We regard many others of our teachers as having wasted our precious time.

Those of us who teach or have taught in international schools may

Features be tempted at this stage to take the high ground. Often is the famous is-ought gap wherein we commit a fallacy constrained by cultural sensitivities due to locating in a host whenever we move from statements of facts to statements country, sometimes blessed to teach classes of students of values, investing empirical knowledge about the world from diverse backgrounds, and armed with multiple tools with normative baggage. The latter maintains that only two for applying critical thinking, we may indulge in the fantasy types of statements are meaningful – relations of ideas that we do not indoctrinate. Our school mission statements (logic, maths, geometry for example) and statements of vie with each as virtue signalers for open mindedness and facts which are observable, verifiable and justifiable. tolerance; we nurture, encourage, debate, question and So where does this lead us? I have assumed that reflect, but we never indoctrinate. Or do indoctrination is something to be avoided. we? Let us take one example.

You might say that this is itself a bias, but The dominant ethical strands in many if asked to justify it I could do so on the Those who international schools are global citizenship, grounds that both theory and practice teach in cosmopolitanism and international tend to confirm that students learn better mindedness. They have been embedded when they are encouraged to question, to international in our thinking and teaching by all of the enquire, to be sceptical, to problem-solve schools international curriculum and assessment and to be allowed to form and justify their programmes, and repeated at endless conclusions. should reflect own conferences, seminars, training courses So if indoctrination is wrong or continually and in numerous mission statements. unhelpful, then how can we avoid it and These are noble sentiments which we how can our students recognise it? We on their own expect students to imbibe, even to act can start by applying Hume’s Law and perspectives out in order to satisfy their examiners.

Hume’s Fork to help them and us to But implicit in this quasi ideology is a facts from values, and opinions and opinions. distinguish notion of superiority of the anywheres from knowledge, and establish this as a (those whose home is the world at large) paradigm. If students can spot bias in you compared with the somewheres (those or in their peers, try not to resent it but who still cling to their local communities, nation states and embrace it as a measure of your own success. home cultures). In his recent chapter entitled Academies Or you could look at it another way. In her book for Anywheres, Nicholas Tate (2021) wrote: The Scout Mindset, the writer and podcaster Julia Galef ‘Those who teach in international schools should distinguished between two distinct mindsets: the scout reflect continually on their own perspectives and opinions and the soldier. The scout seeks out new knowledge, is not in relation to ethical, political, cultural and social issues, frightened to have their views proved wrong by events especially controversial ones such as those dividing and is not disoriented by ambiguity. The soldier, on the Anywheres and Somewheres’. other hand, only wishes to confirm their views, normally The problem with indoctrination is that we approve in an echo chamber, and will try to double down even of it when we share the assumptions behind it and when facts point the other way. According to Galef, both disapprove of it when we don’t. So how might we mindsets have their place in decision-making but both are avoid the incoherence of wishing to encourage healthy rooted in different emotional responses. An ability to spot scepticism and truth-seeking in our students, whilst the difference between scout and soldier reasoning may continuing to frame for them a cognitive and moral path be a good first step toward peeling away our cognitive which depends on their accepting, even embracing, bases and learned prejudices, and accepting that the world our own and our schools’ values and intuitions? is complicated. It would be exciting to share that with The eighteenth century moral students, calling out soldier or scout thinking whenever philosopher David Hume, in his it appears. work A Treatise of Human Or you could try imitating the Greek philosopher, Nature (1738), gifted us two Socrates in endless conversations, he famously unraveled tools, which might the assumptions and definitions of his interlocutors and led help us. They are them, often against their will, to a state of confusion (aporia) sometimes which then became the basis for new knowledge and called dialectic. Perhaps we need more confusion in our classes. ◆ Hume’s Law and Paul Regan is education consultant to the R P Goenka Hume’s International School opening in Kolkata in 2023. He was Fork. previously founding Headteacher at the United World College in Mostar. ✉ paul_regan5@hotmail.com The former Reference

• Tate N (2021) Academies for Anywheres in M C Hayden (ed) Interpreting International Education. London: Routledge

Spring 2022 | International School | 17

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Making Best Practice International

By Richard Mast

A

s teachers and administrators, we seek to improve our knowledge and skills, and our expertise manifests in what can be called ‘best practice’. That is, we aspire to improve, refine and apply the full range of skills in all of our roles in a school. Best practice becomes the hallmark of our identity.

We become proud to be excellent practitioners. Teachers and administrators who venture overseas are sought-after because they are experts. That expertise is manifest in their ‘best practice’. Private schools and international schools that offer an international curriculum for host country students are eager to have access to this cohort of international experts. The expectation is that because the curriculum is ‘international’, the teachers need to be ‘international education experts’ in order to teach it.

The administrators who are brought in are expected to facilitate the processes of implementing the curriculum and to take responsibility for school operations. This is particularly the case when some sort of accreditation process is anticipated.

It is not a surprise, therefore, that teachers and administrators launch into their roles and apply their skills and knowledge based upon their experience and the expectations

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of the schools: being hired as the international expert means demonstrating that ability. However, educators in this situation are from a culture different from that of the school community. Just because a person is an excellent teacher in their home country does not mean that they will be an excellent teacher of Vietnamese or Indian or Angolan or Arabic students, particularly when they are teaching those students in their home countries. And just because a person is an excellent administrator of schools in one cultural context does not mean they will be an excellent administrator in other contexts.

What is being experienced is the

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International best practice also impacts the providers of the international curricula. meeting of cultures. The ‘best practice’ of a Western-trained teacher or administrator has been designed by and for members of a Western culture. For students and teachers of other cultures the best practice may be inappropriate.

When an international curriculum is offered, the ‘best practice’ is perceived to be based on the Western culture model.

The missing piece in this puzzle is awareness, and understanding that learning is culturally bound. This is a disconcerting idea because it means that if students are from a culture different from the teacher, the teacher’s teaching and learning processes are not guaranteed to be applicable. The conclusion that has to be reached is that the teacher and administrators have to change to fit the context of the audience for their contributions to the school.

As Kennedy points out: ‘The main point made by the body of research is that culture needs to be respected if we are to understand deeper processes such as learning’ (2013: 6).

The respect noted here has to mean more than recognising the problem.

It means that what is best practice in one culture is not necessarily best practice in another. Being respectful means changing our best practice to be effective and successful. Leask and Carroll make the important point that ‘No learning environment is value-free, and moving between systems with different expectations and assumptions will almost inevitably result in intercultural incompatibility’ (2013: 3). The incompatibility inherent in bringing one cultural perspective into the world of another culture requires a new understanding of what best practice means.

As argued by Crozet et

al: ‘An intercultural interaction is neither a question of maintaining one’s own cultural frame nor of assimilating to one’s interactant’s cultural frame. It is rather a question of finding an intermediary place between these two positions – of adopting a third place’ (1999: 5).

The third place in the international school context is an international version of best practice. International best practice is one in which the teaching and training methods are based upon the culture of the learners. That is, the educational and cultural context of the school community shapes the way the pedagogy is developed and applied. It also impacts the way the school is operated while implementing an international curriculum. Within this has to be culturally attuned communication and a conscious avoidance of imposing one culture upon another.

International best practice also impacts the providers of the international curricula. Since these curricula are shaped by a particular culture, provision has to be made to allow teachers and administrators to adapt in order to ensure that students and teachers are accessing the learning and training in ways that reflect and support their culture. In addition, provision needs to be made to identify the teaching methods being used that are compatible with and supportive of the school’s culture and to share this information with other schools. This includes incorporating these pedagogies into training programs. Within this approach to international best practice has to be recognition that there will be

implications for international accreditation agencies. To evaluate a school based upon the standards applicable to schools in one cultural context is not appropriate if it is recognised that people in different cultures think differently, perceive the world differently, have different value systems and traditions and have different expectations of education and schools.

The challenge is to see the situation for what it is. Instead of inadvertently imposing one form of teaching, learning and administration on all schools, teachers and administrators expand their repertoire and diversify their skills for the benefit of all learners. This is an enriching process that confirms the notion that culture impacts the way we function. When bringing together people from diverse cultures, educators have the responsibility to find the appropriate pathways. That is the basis for international best practice. ◆ Richard Mast trains Chinese and foreign teachers and administrators in China and Australia. ✉ rmast617@gmail.com

References • Crozet C, Liddicoat A J and Lo Bianco J (eds) (1999) Striving for the Third Place: Intercultural Competence through Language Education. Deakin: Australian National Languages and Literacy Institute.

• Kennedy K J (2013) Culture and Learning: Reconstructing Research on Learning for Students in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: UNESCO Education Policy and Reform Unit.

• Leask B and Carroll J (2013) Learning and Teaching Across Cultures: Good Practice Principles and Quick Guides. Melbourne: IEAA Office of Learning and Teaching.

Spring 2022 | International School | 19

Leading, teaching and learning

Why We Are a Language Friendly School

By Jacob Huckle

D

ulwich College Suzhou (DCSZ) is an international school in Jiangsu province in the East of China that offers a Britishstyle curriculum leading to IGCSE and IB Diploma qualifications. We have a diverse student body consisting of multilingual students who speak a variety of languages, with the largest linguistic groups other than English being Mandarin and Korean. Our college has a reputation for high-quality English instruction that meets the needs of our different learners. In the senior school, for example, we have a curriculum model based around language pathways that allows us to deliver differentiated English courses to provide appropriate scaffolding and challenge for students with different language profiles, which is supported by first-language courses in Mandarin and Korean.

At the same time, I think it’s important we also recognise that most schools – even those with culturally and linguistically diverse student and staff bodies – are underpinned by a monolingual bias (Barratt, 2018) that influences everything from curriculum to assessment. So, at DCSZ, we want to ensure we’re intentionally shifting our policies, practices, and beliefs towards ‘embracing multilingualism as a means of learning, a way of life, and a cherished value of our [community]’ (Soto & Gottlieb, 2020: 178). This transition from monolingualism to multilingualism is one of the essential shifts schools should undergo to ensure success for all learners (Soto & Gottlieb, 2020).

We want to keep developing to ensure that we are truly living our values, including this core value in our school: We value the rich diversity of our students and families and support all students to be multilingual learners.

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What does it mean for an international school to truly value the linguistic and cultural diversity of its community? What does an international school that seriously embraces multilingualism look like?

At Dulwich College Suzhou, we’ve been working through these questions during the last couple of years as we seek ways to become more inclusive and leverage the cultures and languages within our school.

The IB describes multilingualism as a fact, a right, and a resource (IB, 2011). It’s a fact that international schools are multilingual and all children have the right to learn the languages of their family, the languages of the community in which they are living, and the language

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of instruction in the school. This gives us a big responsibility to explore all the possible ways of tapping into those languages as resources to enrich the learning of all. For us, an important step towards realising this vision in our context was to become a Language Friendly School. In 2021, we became a member of the Language Friendly School network, an initiative of the Rutu Foundation for Intercultural Multilingual Education based in the Netherlands that brings together a diverse range of schools from around the world, all committed to valuing the languages spoken in their communities.

As the organisation’s website (www. languagefriendlyschool.org) states: ‘All schools should aim to become linguistically and culturally inclusive, meaning they recognize and embrace their students’ multilingualism, and take action to give space to these languages within the school community’. The Language Friendly School mission is rooted in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Sustainable Development Goal 4. The Language Friendly School organisation helps schools to take practical steps to ensure they, in their own contexts, are delivering ‘equitable quality education’ for all learners, which ‘is only possible when education responds to and reflects the multilingual nature of the society’ (UNESCO, 2017).

All Language Friendly Schools are supported to develop a language plan that acts as a roadmap for creating a linguistically and culturally inclusive school environment. For us, this aligned well with work we’d already started as part of our regular school Language Policy review, and gave our plans for improvement in this area more focus.

At DCSZ this academic year, one of our senior

All Language Friendly Schools are supported to develop a language plan that acts as a roadmap for creating a linguistically and culturally inclusive school environment. school strategic goals has been to implement an intentional translanguaging approach that promotes multilingualism for all students as well as enables students to use their home languages as resources for learning. To achieve this, we’ve had professional development sessions focused on how all teachers can draw upon students’ other languages in their subject lessons. We’ve also recently established a Language, Culture, and Inclusion Committee, a student group that will work collaboratively to identify ways of becoming more inclusive and celebrating the cultures and languages in our community. We plan to build on this further by offering a parent course focused on raising multilingual children, which we hope will help build a shared vision throughout our whole school community.

Beyond supporting us to develop our roadmap, I think being part of the Language Friendly School network also brings a number of other significant benefits: • We have been able to attend Language Friendly School network meetings which provide 

Spring 2022 | International School | 21

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valuable opportunities to collaborate and share ideas and resources with like-minded professionals around the world.

• Becoming a certified Language Friendly School was a chance to celebrate and share our vision for multilingualism more broadly in our community.

This gave us momentum and motivation to keep working on this important area.

• We now have clear, student- and parent-friendly language to use as we communicate our mission: we are language friendly! This will allow us to build a shared understanding of the importance of multilingualism and get everyone on the same page. As a large college made up of three separate schools, being language friendly is a clear vision that can build coherence across the campus.

• As a Language Friendly School, we can not only receive guidance on our development plans from language experts, but we have another layer of accountability to ensure we are doing everything we can to meet our goals.

Becoming a Language Friendly School is one step towards meeting our responsibility to ensure that we are a school that ‘not only reflects and celebrates the multiculturality of every individual but also uses it to drive every aspect of the school’s ethos and philosophy of education’ (Staricoff, 2021). It is clear that being language friendly is beneficial for all: it affirms the identities of our multilingual learners but also leverages the cultural and linguistic diversity in our classrooms to enrich and deepen learning for all, including students who are not yet multilingual. In

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the words of Emmanuelle Le Pichon and Ellen-Rose Kambel, ‘Language Friendly Schools seem to have a resonance that goes far beyond the inclusion of languages and cultures, allowing the blossoming of each person in their own difference’ (Le Pichon & Kambel, 2022) ◆ Jacob Huckle teaches at Dulwich College Suzhou, China and is a part-time doctoral student.

✉ jacob.huckle@dulwich.org

References • Barratt L (2018) Monolingual Bias. In M DelliCarpini (ed) The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

• IB (2011) Language and Learning in IB Programmes, Cardiff: International Baccalaureate.

• Le Pichon E and Kambel E R (2022) The Language Friendly School: An Inclusive and Equitable Pedagogy. Childhood Education. 98:1, 42-49.

• Soto I and Gottlieb M (2020) From Monolingualism to Multilingualism. In M E Calderón et al (eds) Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learners’ Success. London: Corwin. [pp 160-182] • Staricoff M (2021) Multilingual Thinking in Multicultural Classrooms. Available at my.chartered.college/research-hub/ multilingual-thinking-in-multicultural-classrooms/ • UNESCO (2017) Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: The Key to Unlocking SDG 4 Quality Education for All. Available at unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247333

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Power for the future

By Richard Harwood

24 | International School | Spring 2022

T

he possibility of almost unlimited carbon-free energy may have been brought a step closer in recent months as several reports have appeared internationally of breakthroughs in the development of nuclear fusion reactors. The quest is to develop practical nuclear fusion, which is the process that generates the immense energies that power stars such as our Sun. If nuclear fusion can be successfully recreated on Earth, it offers the potential of virtually unlimited supplies of low-carbon, lowradiation energy.

The energy emitted by the Sun is generated in its core, which is a nuclear storm of unimaginable fury. In the core, gases are both compressed and ionised, with atoms being stripped of their electrons. Simultaneously the gases are being superheated to what can be considered a fourth state of matter: plasma. This is the most energy-rich fuel in the Galaxy, perfectly prepared to feed a star for billions of years.

The Sun’s furnace burns at about 15 million degrees Celsius, giving the atoms present immense energy and enabling

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deuterium + tritium + heat energy

fusion reaction

helium + energised neutrons

heat water to produce steam for turbines

Above: The steps involved in a nuclear fusion power plant. Left: Photograph of the Sun, taken from Skylab, showing one of the most spectacular solar prominences ever recorded, spanning more than 588,000 kilometres (365,000 miles) across the solar surface (NASA).

them to move and collide in the process the core of the Sun cannot be achieved Experimental Reactor) being built in called fusion. A three-step form of fusion on Earth, so to compensate for this the southern France. This facility is supported that converts hydrogen into helium is the temperatures used must be dramatically by a consortium of world governments, most common reaction, taking place at a higher at around 100 million degrees including EU member states, the USA rate of 1010 times per second. The mass of Celsius. The engineering feat required to and China. It is viewed as the last helium made does not equal the mass of produce these conditions requires new experimental step in proving that nuclear hydrogen consumed. This materials and means of fusion can be a reliable energy provider mass is released as energy controlling magnetic fields. for the second half of this century. that finds its way out of No materials available The establishment of the ITER facility The basis of the Sun as ‘sunshine’: the can withstand direct can be viewed with some long-term energy that lights and contact with such heat optimism, particularly when seen in power in a heats our world. and so researchers have conjunction with other alternative fusion reactor Here on Earth, we are devised a solution in research approaches such as that being facing up to the threats which the super-heated pursued at the NIF (National Ignition is the principle involved in climate gases, or plasma, are Facility) project at Livermore, California, that energy can held within a doughnutchange and beginning to USA. However, it cannot be seen as stress the need to find shaped magnetic field. diverting urgency from the international be released by carbon-free sources of The Joint European Torus cooperation needed to reduce carbon forcing atomic energy. Several of the (JET) reactor located dioxide emissions in accordance with the alternative energy forms in Oxfordshire, UK has COP 26 (United Nations Climate Change nuclei together pioneered attempts at we need to exploit Conference) resolutions. Nuclear fusion rather than further are derived from fusion, and in February cannot be seen as a solution to help the Sun and its effects: 2022 it announced the us achieve net-zero emissions by 2035 splitting them. solar power and windachievement of record– though it may well be a solution to energy, for instance. breaking amounts of providing power for society in the second However, harnessing energy production that half of this century. ◆ the fusion reactions that were double what had are central to the Sun’s existence would previously been achieved. Though the provide us with a source of energy free experiment was only achieved over a of greenhouse gases and only very small short timescale, the importance of the amounts of short-lived radioactive waste. result lay in the vindication of the new The basis of power in a fusion reactor materials and design choices made in is the principle that energy can be constructing the reactor. For instance, the released by forcing atomic nuclei together walls of the reactor are now constructed rather than splitting them, as is the case of an alloy of beryllium and tungsten in the fission reactions that drive existing which absorbs far less of the reactant nuclear power stations. Atoms of two gases. The JET reactor experiments are isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and significant in that they provide evidence tritium, are heated together to generate for the development of the larger-scale the fusion reaction that produces helium ITER facility (International Thermonuclear and energised neutrons. In a power station, the heat from these energised Dr Richard Harwood is an education consultant (scientific and international education). neutrons would be used to convert water ✉ rickharwood@btinternet.com into steam to drive turbines. The huge gravitational pressures that are present in Spring 2022 | International School | 25

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Covid Leadership Lessons learned for the future

By Sarah Pearce

I

n Winter 2020, this magazine referred on its front page to ‘Coming through the Covid-19 crisis’, with several articles devoted to the topic. Unfortunately, as I write this in Winter 2022, we are still ‘coming through’ the crisis; globally, regionally, locally and individually. Although there have been moments of hope that feel as though we are progressing to a level of normality, the imminent threat of the pandemic is always looming; ready, at the very least, to inconvenience us and, at its worst, to wreak havoc on our lives.

Schools have borne a significant brunt of the burden during this crisis. In many countries, schools have still not returned to face-to-face learning in what is now not months, but years. Other countries have pages of requirements for schools to follow, including maskwearing, isolation and quarantine, social distancing, where the children can eat lunch, and if PE is allowed. Schools have had to close and move to online learning with only hours of notice, re-open with safety guidelines in place, ensure parents are following the rules and, most importantly, to act as a haven of safety and security for the young people in their care, as well as for the families

26 | International School | Spring 2022

Schools have borne a significant brunt of the burden during this crisis.

In many countries, schools have still not returned to face-to-face learning in what is now not months, but years. of those young people. It has been a momentous task, to say the least, and one which has been in many cases judged, criticised and condemned from all corners of our communities and social media.

Through all of this, school leaders around the world have stayed the course for their staff, students and wider communities, ensuring that the health and wellbeing of all is paramount in every decision. Connolly et al (2019) refer to the rock-filled rucksack of educational responsibility that school leaders must carry; I am sure

Leading, teaching and learning school is to minimise its importance in the organisation (Connolly et al, 2019).

Rost and Burns suggest that leadership is a relationship of influence, and management is one of authority (1993); both are required in different contexts when running a school. Influence is part of the language of leaders and followers, of creating scalable and sustainable change to achieve mutual goals; it is more aligned to our educational ethos. Management, on the other hand, is unidirectional and more concerned with the organisational aspects of school.

As I reflect on leading a school during the pandemic, I’m aware there were times when leadership was needed to motivate the staff to act in a manner that suggested they were on board with the multitude of changes, processes and rules that needed to be embedded. However, management, with its ‘top-down’ hierarchy, was also essential, as when health and safety are on the line there are severe consequences for tasks not being completed; a commanding approach is necessary to ensure the functioning of the school, and for the safety of the community.

In bringing these two aspects together we learn that, especially during a crisis, one cannot just be a manager, or a leader – we need to be both; they are two sides of the ‘school leadership’ coin. When used effectively and in the right context, both build trust in leadership and foster a feeling of safety and security for the community.

that even they would not have imagined the size of the boulders that leaders lug with them every day during this crisis. ‘Leading in the context of a pandemic is no easy feat’ says Wilson (2020) and the weight of that leadership has been inescapable.

Difficulties aside, it is important that we reflect on the experiences of this pandemic and glean lessons that can be taken forward, once the world returns to normal.

Below are a few of the lessons I have learned that I hope will influence my future leadership practices.

Not knowing is okay Often a school leader is the last stop for the community; they are the person who makes the final decision. With information constantly changing and we, as leaders, being asked to make decisions based on knowledge of a disease that even scientists were struggling to keep up with, there were times when we weren’t sure of the answer. Admitting when we aren’t sure, and subsequently fostering a culture of ‘admit[ting] to others when [we] had made a mistake’ (Harris and Chapman, 2002), is an essential characteristic of leadership during a crisis, and 

Leadership vs Management Many a leadership trainer or consultant has stood in front of a group of middle leaders and discussed the difference between these two terms. Usually, the answer is something around leadership being ‘good’, positive and what staff are looking for, and management is ‘bad’; it is task-driven and can be authoritarian But is it that simple? Whilst they are not synonymous terms, the idea that one can exist without the other in a functional school is unfounded; the downplaying of management as part of running a Spring 2022 | International School | 27

Leading, teaching and learning

Staff, student and community wellbeing should be at the forefront of all decisions that we make during a crisis such as Covid-19. one which should be a regular part of leadership in normal times; Stephen Munby (2019) calls this part of ‘imperfect leadership’.

In this connection, Wilson (2020) suggests that during a crisis leaders need to avoid defensiveness in the face of criticism or mistakes. This is by no means an easy feat but is one that, for any school leader, will ensure that – moving forward – we continue to have the trust of the communities we serve. A principal I once worked for led by the motto that ‘the school is bigger than one person’; let’s leave our egos at the door and make sure that, even when we haven’t made the correct choice today, we strive to do better tomorrow.

Wellbeing is crucial Staff, student and community wellbeing should be at the forefront of all decisions that we make during a crisis such as Covid-19. During the early stages of the pandemic, I was constantly being asked, or asking myself, what more can we do for staff? What more can we do for the students and parents? The thing we forgot to ask was, what more could we do for ourselves? Many of us, as leaders, place ourselves at the back of the wellbeing queue – not through martyrdom, but usually through lack of time and resources. However, as Harris (2020) states, ‘self-care and consideration must be the central concern for all leaders to ensure that they remain healthy and well-enough to help others’. I am sure

many of us learned this whilst leading a school through a pandemic, and I do hope it is one lesson we will take forward into future endeavours. The backpack is heavy, and perhaps cannot be put down permanently, but taking some of the weight off temporarily is essential to ensure we can keep carrying it for our communities.

Final thoughts The pandemic continues to influence both our professional and personal lives, though the light at the end of the tunnel is certainly becoming brighter.

I am sure that if we were to collectively reflect on our experiences we could have a list of hundreds of leadership lessons learned, and I have no doubt that leadership scholars around the world are actively researching this as we speak. School leadership is hard, it is exhausting and often it is thankless, but it is also one of the most rewarding and meaningful jobs we could have.

It is my hope that, once the world returns to normal, we will take the insights gained during the experience and, to the benefit of our communities, become better school leaders. ◆ Sarah Pearce is currently completing a doctorate in Education,

having worked in leadership of schools in Dubai, Malaysia and, until recently, the USA. ✉ sktp20@bath.ac.uk

References • Connolly M, James C and Fertig M (2019) The difference between educational management and educational leadership and the importance of educational responsibility. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 47(4): 504–519.

• Harris A and Chapman C (2002) Leadership in schools facing challenging circumstances. Management in Education. 16(1): 10–13.

• Harris A (2020) School leadership in lockdown. My College. Available from: my.chartered.college/impact_article/school-leadership-in-lockdown/ Accessed 22 February 2022.

• Munby S (2019) Imperfect leadership: a book for leaders who know they don’t know it all. Bancyfelin: Crown House Publishing Ltd. • Rost J C and Burns J M (1993) Leadership for the twenty-first century. Westport, Conn: Praeger.

• Wilson S (2020) Pandemic leadership: Lessons from New Zealand’s approach to COVID-19. Leadership. 16(3): 279–293.

28 | International School | Spring 2022

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Leading, teaching and learning

Creating Flexible Frameworks for Service Learning

By John Haakon Gould

S

ervice learning. We can all agree on Common language can be a powerful the range of benefits it provides to tool to encourage a community-wide students. A deeper understanding of understanding of the experiential learning course content. A realization of what is process. meant by reciprocity and power dynamics Whether you’re just getting started in community partnerships. Opportunities on this journey, or trying to refine your to explore and develop interests in a school’s approach, l invite you to catch a meaningful way. The list goes on. Still, glimpse of the process here at Shanghai we may also recognize that, practically Community International School (SCIS). speaking, it can be difficult Balance to get started. Or you While we may strive may simply be wondering: for authenticity in How can we do it better?

This adaptable our service learning One approach the start that schools can take scaffolding can programs, may require something is to create flexible more foundational: an frameworks for service. be invaluable institutional inventory.

This adaptable scaffolding can be invaluable for all for all involved. Schools are a system of interconnected smaller involved. For teachers For teachers and bodies that must balance and coordinators, these a range of priorities. can be empowering, coordinators, A rigorous curriculum rather than a burden on expands students’ thinking. planning or a series of these can be Pastoral programming tick boxes. Furthermore, cares deeply for their one can also easily empowering. social-emotional wellembed best practices being. Extracurricular for teaching and learning opportunities create an such as coaching, universal exhilarating atmosphere design for learning to apply knowledge and skills. We should (UDL), international mindedness, and not only be mindful of these, but also more. These flexible frameworks can realize that service learning calls for ensure that community partnerships promoting student agency and a school are strengthened in an equitable culture with empathy at its core. way. They can invite parents into the This brings forth the question: how learning process. For students, they can can we leverage these to inform and be viewed as much-needed support optimize our whole-school approach to and an energizing collective avenue service learning? through which to pursue service.

30 | International School | Spring 2022

Leading, teaching and learning

Themes We’ve come to realize that a thematic approach to service learning has its advantages by providing a window for inquiry, knowledge-building, and possible action. This inevitably begs the question ‘What variables may enter into the theme selection process?’

A great place to start could include: • Reviewing the school strategic plan • Reminding ourselves of the mission and core values • Explicitly considering curriculum standards • Carrying out activities with students like the personal inventory and 4 Corners Activity (Cathryn Berger Kaye)

• Reviewing outcomes (from the International Baccalaureate or otherwise) • Complement with existing frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals Here at SCIS we’ve presently ended up with five themes.

We’ve noted the students’ desire for sharing their love of learning; their self-discoveries of skills they possess; and what issues they find captivating.

Also, students show willingness towards a cooperative effort to tackle the seemingly insurmountable sustainability crisis.

Breaking stigmas often associated with openly discussing health issues has been increasingly popular.

From the very outset of this selection process student voice was essential. Yet, how would they chronicle their journey? Celebrate ongoing struggles and successes? Each

Initiatives Of all the avenues for service, curricular integration can seem the most daunting for coordinators and teachers. But what if there was a way to make it less so? A way to fur ther suppor t horizontal and ver tical alignment? While engrossed in the planning process, a shor tlisted set of conditions for planning long-term initiatives came to mind, as follows.

(This is by no means comprehensive or hierarchical).

They should be transdisciplinary.

Their non-specificity allows accessibility across all subject areas, albeit to varying

Lastly, demonstrating an enduring understanding of global citizenship and shifting perceptions of those very concepts has led to lively conversations and an overall increased awareness. theme links to a student voices platform; regularly updated not only for institutional memory purposes, but also to provoke further inquiry. Digital storytelling advice from experts, such as LeAnne Lavender,

In an ever more divided world, students’ eagerness to lend their own voices to initiatives focused on justice, equity, diversity, and belonging has been inspiring.

could further elevate reflection.

Pause for a moment now and think of your organization. What factors would you consider in your theme selection process?

They should be transdisciplinary. degrees. For example, an initiative focused on health and wellness may include integration in math while evaluating measurements of mental health; language acquisition due to building and applying relevant vocabulary; science and physical education via the study of biomechanics, and more!

They should be measurable. Devising

a set of success criteria and reflecting on successes and failures to evaluate next steps is vital. For example, for the initiative noted above, quantitative data may be collected in terms of tracking submissions from different community members (for instance teachers, students, parents) Qualitative data from stakeholders too would provide  Spring 2022 | International School | 31

Leading, teaching and learning

They should be scalable. An experience can start within school walls.

During the planning process, other factors – such as organizational resources, existing curriculum opportunities, networks, and more – should be accounted for.

From Ideation to Realization Let’s explore two initiatives more in depth.

another essential feedback loop. Cocreating these criteria with students promotes even fur ther buy-in.

They should have longevity. For example, an initiative that involves guest speaker invitations around the topics of justice, diversity, equity and belonging presumes that this is an ongoing process of progress. This can be grounded even fur ther by it being evident in the school’s strategic plan. Regardless of the initiative, it can grow and adapt on a yearly basis.

They should be scalable. An experience can star t within school walls. It might be within a classroom, or a division. Yet, the potential for external community engagement should be possible. For example, an initiative focused on capturing voices in the community might begin with the upper school in a cer tain context, spread to the lower school in another context, and aspire for a wider goal of par tnering with a local elderly home or across the country to explore various perspectives of ethnic groups. Additionally, another initiative may focus on policy – how it’s created, why it’s impor tant to be informed and inform others. This may initially center on what it means to be a member of the school community by examining essential agreements, but ultimately lend itself to practicing active citizenship through other means.

32 | International School | Spring 2022

Community Voices Concepts of fact versus perspective have come alive while uncovering generational views and interpretations of historical events.

Multilingualism and musical creativity can literally be heard with guitar riffs around the world which promote intercultural understanding. Archetypes and other models of language and literature have taken on more meaning as we’ve connected and celebrated the everyday heroes of our community. Community Voices ensures that we never stop listening.

SCISDragonfit The complex topics associated with health can be a collaborative conversation across the diverse school community.

Purposefully curated prompts for monthly challenges are part of an ongoing social media campaign. These connect to subjects and encourage participants to be active, rather than passive, learners.

A call for action is further reinforced through an established external community partnership with Lifeline.

Whether it’s recording a conversation questioning ableist mainstream views, sharing a recipe and

accompanying ‘food story’, or a creative writing piece about feelings on vulnerability after failure – submissions have come in all forms. Enlisting the expertise of instructional coaches, counselors and more has made the aspirations of Dragonfit more achievable as we’ve demonstrated a unified commitment towards wellness.

Community This is a snapshot into our program.

Themes have been formed, initiatives gradually expanded. We have embraced the flexible frameworks model due to the fluidity it provides and its capacity for us all to learn, unlearn, and relearn. As a community, we may all be at different stages of our service learning journeys, but we share this one truth: The ability to get started. ◆

John Haakon Gould is Service-Learning Coach and IB Diploma CAS Coordinator at Shanghai Community International School Hongqiao.✉ jgould@scis-china.org

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Spring 2022 | International School | 33

From the schools and associations

How will your students value the

career guidance they received in high school?

By Giuseppe Iademarco

34 | International School | Spring 2022

From the schools and associations

W

hen it comes to a student’s future career, studying at an international school opens up a world of possibilities. A range of global universities is within reach, while exposure to teachers and families from different countries and backgrounds magnifies the number of pathways students have in front of them. However, it is not always the case that much guidance is provided to navigate such a plethora of opportunities. In fact, the schools that do provide career education may not always do it the best way. For those that tell students what to think, instead of how to think, a better approach would be to teach students about motivation and purpose, and to leverage mentors.

For some international schools the assumption is that students lack knowledge of 1) themselves and 2) the available options that fit them best. On this basis the approach used is to: improve students’ understanding of their own traits (including strengths and weaknesses, tastes and preferences), and then show them options that people with those traits seem to be better at. This approach is problematic on two levels. First, the process of self-discovery is done using a mix of psychometric assessments, personality tests, and the like. For all their allure (respondents do like learning about themselves), reassurance they provide (‘this is why I am messy – I am a P, not a J!’), and comfort of solidarity (‘I am part of a “type”; it’s not just me’), research has moved on from personality tests. They are not quite horoscopes, but they are far from being rooted in science (Duggan, 2013).

Secondly, showing students opportunities that are available today might not be that helpful. Vast databases exist to help high school students navigate all types of jobs. It is not everything on earth, but it is enough to be just noise (‘do you like biology? there are 100 jobs you can do’). Worse still, these databases show jobs that exist today – not the ones that students will find once they graduate from their bachelors, masters or doctorate degrees. Since the early 2000s, the internet revolution has created entire new industries; with web 3, users’ control of data using blockchain is introducing yet another wave of new consumer behaviors and markets (NFTs are just one example); with the emergence of the metaverse (still a vision today more than a reality), who can predict what will be next?

A better way to help students navigate the world of careers is to start with a framework. Tactics are important – students need help with drafting their first ever resume, or researching internship options.

However, excellent teachers and counselors know that if students ask them what to do, especially when it comes to the complex and uncertain field of careers, they should not answer the question directly. Instead, they should offer a theoretical model (to help them think), and show comparisons (to help them put the theory into practice) so that students themselves can answer the question.

This way, students discover more meaningful and relevant future selves and possibilities than teachers and counselors could have done.

A better way to help students navigate the world of careers is to start with a framework.

A framework around motivation and purpose In my decade-long experience as a people manager, there is one theoretical framework that I found consistently true: Herzberg’s theory of motivation (1987). Its central tenet is that the drivers of motivation at work (the ‘motivators’) are separate and distinct from the drivers of dissatisfaction (‘hygiene factors’). The presence of hygiene factors, such as money or working conditions, is enough to stop dissatisfaction from occurring, but more of it won’t motivate. True motivation comes from the work itself, the opportunity to learn, growth in responsibilities, the ability to impact others, and being recognized for achievements. So the next time a student asks for ‘careers that will make lots of money’, shift the conversation to what really matters.

Another, slightly more complex, framework that is worth offering students embarking on career exploration revolves around the concept of purpose.

Here is the context: students’ careers are the result of the various initiatives they undertake. More than big, pivotal decisions, these are made of hundreds of everyday decisions about where they spend their focus, talent, time, and finances. This process can follow an overall strategy, but by nature will be opportunistic, exploiting chances as they arise. 

Spring 2022 | International School | 35

From the schools and associations However, if you have no guiding principle, it will be hard to maintain the route you had in mind and end up in a happy place.

An example might help. Say a student wants to be a doctor, so she prioritizes entering medical school.

As she prepares for it however, she realizes that public health policy is really what she wants to be doing, instead of being a medical doctor. Or perhaps by taking a part-time job to get some money as she prepares for the MCAT, she ends up working in sales at a pharma company and really enjoys it. The question here is – what was her original purpose?

Helping humanity, as doctors or epidemiologists would? Or fulfillment by smashing targets and getting results that impact others quickly, as a sales job would allow for? Whatever it was, the point is that as she is living her life, she wants to make sure she is heading in a direction that fulfills her as a person. Having a conversation about purpose and values early on can be of huge significance. There are plenty of resources on this out there – from books to card games and group exercises – that teachers and counselors can adopt to propel students to reflect about this.

After presenting the theory, students need to be shown some ‘case studies’. Here is where mentors

36 | International School | Spring 2022

The only way forward is to act: less planning, and more doing. come in. Mentors are professionals, ideally alumni or graduates of other international schools, early in their careers (in their first or second job at most).

Having recently graduated from university, they are close enough to high school students to ensure relatability, but have enough ‘life’ experience to be relevant. Conversations with mentors have to be real and genuine. No pre-recorded answers to stale questions, no short videos around a ‘day in the life’.

Through these interactions (in person or online; oneon-one or in groups), students interpret the decisions the mentors have made through the lenses of the theories, before turning those lenses on themselves.

‘Do I want to impact humanity? Or explore the world? Or support my family? Hmm, what that one

From the schools and associations mentor said really resonated with me – I would never have thought that was possible’.

Action versus planning Across many conversations with school owners, school heads or college counselors, I have noticed steady interest in career education over the past few years. However, interest often wanes in the face of obstacles (such as the pandemic, low budgets, new hires, changing priorities) that lead to postponed decisions, extended timelines, and new initiatives being put on hold.

It is never the perfect time to start something – especially something as daunting as educating students about careers (don’t we all struggle with our own at times?). However, the only way forward is to act: less planning, and more doing. Start having students read about the theories of motivation and purpose, and facilitate conversations about these

topics to stimulate further reflection. Partner with a company specialized in helping international schools to engage mentors, or start having alumni and guest speakers come to your school, virtually or in person, to have them share their experiences.

Make those ‘theory’ sessions and mentor exchanges a regular part of school life, not oneoff events, even if they are not contained in a watertight curriculum. You never know what nuggets of inspiration students will get from which sessions or mentors. What you will know is that teaching students how to think, and presenting them with interactive opportunities to test their ideas and Giuseppe Iademarco is a co-founder of Millie [milliegroup.com/educators] ✉ giuseppe@milliegroup.com

References

• Duggan W (2013) Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement. New York: Columbia Business School Publishing.

• Herzberg F (1987) One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review. 65(5): 109-120

Spring 2022 | International School | 37

From the schools and associations

Why international partnerships and collaboration are more important than ever

By Hannah Starkey

O

ver the past 18 months, international collaborations have helped schools around the world to seek new ideas, digital solutions, and much-needed support to navigate through unknown territory. ‘Covid-19 has shown us that we have both the most and least connected generation of pupils in our schools, ever. Whilst technology provides the links, an over-reliance on it builds barriers of human contact.’ says Sue Hannam, Headteacher at Lichfield Cathedral School in England. Forging links with an international school has brought a vital perspective for schools and can introduce students to new cultures, traditions, lifestyles and global issues.

38 | International School | Spring 2022

Sue added: ‘There is a paradox here, whereby our pupils are easily able to link and communicate with others across the globe but are not always in the habit of practising one-to-one personal skills faceto-face, in the way they may have done in the past. Part of our role as educators is to ensure the education we provide builds awareness about the wider world, about sustainability and about playing an active role in the global community.’

The Global School Alliance connects pioneers in educational reform and development, providing a platform for sharing of best practices, resources and opportunities to increase school

improvement, teacher development and student transformation. The growing community represents over 5000 schools in 120 countries worldwide and unites educationalists through regular conferences, informative webinars, virtual partnerships, joint projects, council meetings and global discussions.

Whilst some schools prioritise international collaboration and embed it in the school ethos, others find it increasingly difficult to establish global connections. It takes time, effort and drive to build these relationships with schools in other countries, so why do leaders think it’s worth making that investment?

From the schools and associations Sharing of best practice Working collaboratively with another teacher has proved to be one of the most powerful tools for teacher development, helping to boost confidence and compare systems. From classroom observations to valuable pedagogy exchanges with educational leaders around the world, schools can benchmark their own teaching and learning practices and receive infinite inspiration. International school partnerships allow teachers and leaders access to expertise they may not otherwise have.

Teachers can also learn a variety of skills from their overseas partners such as language and communication, cultural awareness and tolerance and enhanced knowledge of their own subject. Robert Ford, Director of Heritage International School, said: ‘It is a real source of strength for me, and pride, that we can be authentic, open, honest and learn from each other as a group of very different international school leaders.’ Heritage International School were founding members of the Global School Alliance and have since described the global community as being ‘central to how we continue to develop our global learning’.

Most recently Heritage International

Teachers can also learn a variety of skills from their overseas partners such as language and communication

School Moldova established a virtual partnership with a school in Tunisia and have celebrated the completion of their first joint project. They will continue to strengthen the partnership with online exchanges and projects.

Adding depth to the curriculum Connecting students with like-minded peers around the world creates a much deeper understanding of how their counterparts live and surrounding global issues: an impact much greater than any

lesson could achieve. The opportunity to see first-hand what daily life is like in a different international context brings learning to life by connecting the curriculum and the learning they’re experiencing in the real world. Students at Bina Bangsa International School in Indonesia recently partnered with a school in Poland for a virtual culture exchange project. Project leader Ronald Eturma Galagatan said: ‘Getting to know new friends from the other side of the world made this project very special.

Sharing cultures was indeed very fruitful and an eye-opener.’ Similarly, a teacher at Delhi Public School Nashik in India which partnered with a school in the Philippines, described how the students have already benefited from their collaborations: ‘The project has allowed them to be better communicators, be respectful about the culture and values of their counterparts, become more sensitive about the others’ culture and, above all, develop global citizenship’. ◆

Hannah Starkey is Senior Marketing Executive for True Partnerships Group and pioneers the development of the Global School Alliance. The Global School Alliance is free to join for all schools to become members and teachers to become ambassadors. Join here: www.globalschoolalliance.com/join

✉ Hannah@truepartnerships.com

Spring 2022 | International School | 39

From the schools and associations

International mindedness, Admissions, Wellbeing, Teacher Supply Key issues for international schools

40 | International School | Spring 2022

From the schools and associations

By Pia Maske and Fiona Rogers

A

recent international school leaders conference, organised by Pearson, included a panel on the future market for international schools. With panellists from ISC Research, COBIS, and ECIS, this session covered a lot of ground looking at a range of themes: admissions; teacher recruitment and retention; student profile; wellbeing; future thinking and new ideas; increasing competitiveness in the market; and the changing role of parents. In this article, two of the panellists share their thoughts on some of these issues.

Pia Maske, East Asia Field-Based Researcher, ISC Research The last fifteen years have seen several global crises that have resulted in a repatriation of Western expatriates to their home countries, including the 2008 financial crash, the oil and gas crisis between 2014 and 2016, and the Covid-19 pandemic. International schools that have been heavily reliant on the enrolment of children from such families have felt most impact. Many schools have had to adapt their marketing, admissions and, for some, their tuition fees, to broaden their access. For other international schools, demand from local families and non-Western expatriates had already driven a demographic shift that meant such schools were not impacted so drastically by global crises affecting the expatriate sector.

Today, partly due to the global crises and also due to demand, most international schools enrol a significant proportion of local children and expatriates from all countries and regions of the world. Although demand is high, so is competition between schools, and many promote their international education offering and its potential to attract new admissions. This promise of an international education has resulted in parents selecting an international school for their child as a pathway to higher education in the US or UK – and many students achieve this. However, the new International School Student Profile report from ISC Research suggests that international school students have more expectations of their international school education than that. They are drawing upon the reflective, critical thinking skills that they have developed in order to challenge elements of their own education.

Youth-led movements, several of which have recently been formed and actively supported by well-educated international school students and alumni, such as The Organisation to Decolonise International Schools (ODIS) and Reset Revolution, are speaking out and taking action to promote change. In addition to issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ), and sustainability,

these organisations and groups are challenging a common assumption that an international education results in the development of international mindedness.

ISC Research studied this in more detail for its International School Student Profile report. The research suggests that there is confusion regarding the meaning of international mindedness. Although many international schools adopt the International Baccalaureate’s definition of international mindedness, many use it loosely or interchangeably with such terms as ‘global mindedness’ and ‘cultural intelligence’.

With no current solution designed to effectively measure and track the development of international mindedness of students between the ages of 3 to 18, it is currently very difficult for schools to assess. In a survey conducted by ISC Research with international school students, teachers and alumni during July 2021, 100% of respondents said that international mindedness had not been measured in their classrooms.

International schools can offer students a pathway to global higher education and can provide the opportunity to bring diverse cultures together in order to engage in conversations important in the development of international mindedness. Further work is necessary, however, if international schools are to deliver on a promise of developing international mindedness.

There is an amazing diversity of schools across the British international schools sector.

Fiona Rogers, Deputy CEO and Director of Professional Development and Research, COBIS There is an amazing diversity of schools across the British international schools sector, but despite the breadth and variety, there are common issues or key themes which are significant for many such schools in the current climate. Two of these, which are inextricably linked, are wellbeing, and teacher recruitment and retention.

Wellbeing is not a new focus for schools, but the events of the past two years have been a catalyst for schools to increase their work in this area. Schools have had different strands to consider – students, staff, and also the wider school community. Many international schools – particularly those catering for a large proportion of international families – found themselves playing an increased role in supporting the wellbeing of their wider community during the pandemic.

Looking to student wellbeing and mental health, in some countries children were not physically in school for very prolonged periods. During periods of school closure, schools have had to develop new approaches to supporting student wellbeing remotely, and faced many new challenges. How do you provide pastoral or safeguarding support for a child with difficulties in their home environment, when they can’t physically leave their problematic home environment? And with students returning to school in many places, research  Spring 2022 | International School | 41

From the schools and associations

The pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on teacher recruitment and retention. is already starting to appear that suggests the wellbeing implications are likely to be long-running.

Staff wellbeing – which has been magnified by the challenges arising as a result of the pandemic – has become a key priority for schools, with clear links to recruitment and retention. But it is important to flag the wellbeing of school leaders as a crucial consideration for the sector as a whole. So many school leaders pushed themselves to the limit over the past two years – and continue to do so, putting the wellbeing of their school communities first, and ensuring continuity of high-quality teaching and learning in the face of adversity. To ensure the ongoing success of the sector however, it is vital that we start to see an increased focus on looking after the wellbeing of leaders in our schools. To borrow a common theme – we need to support our leaders to put their own oxygen mask on first.

Turning to teacher recruitment and retention, even before Covid-19, research conducted by COBIS and ISC Research on Teacher Supply in British International Schools found that around 90% of school leaders felt that it was challenging to recruit the required quality of permanent staff. And the pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on teacher recruitment and retention, including wellbeing implications for staff who have not been able to travel or see family for many months,

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international staff choosing to return home, challenges with visas and travel for new international school staff, and so on. Looking at recruitment for the most recent academic year, many Heads have reported an increase in recruitment of teachers already working internationally, and in some cases an increase in appointment of local staff. The international schools sector has been talking for a number of years about the idea of ‘growing your own’ teachers, and the opportunities for training new teachers (with internationally recognised qualifications) within the international school environment. COBIS has been advocating the idea that teaching is a global profession, to support the growth of the global teacher workforce and facilitate the movement of teachers between domestic and international markets. The increase in local recruitment and school-based training is something that is likely to continue to grow in the coming years, and will be crucial to meet the need for high-quality teachers in a growing market. The UK Department for Education’s plans for iQTS (due to be piloted from September 2022) – an international teaching qualification based on English Qualified Teacher Status – could play an interesting role in this, and may well become an attractive option for international schools with a high proportion of local staff, looking to differentiate themselves within the market.

The recording of the full panel discussion can be accessed here. For a wider discussion of these and other issues, join the 40th COBIS Annual Conference – Connect, Reflect, and Explore: 7-9 May 2022 (London, UK and online). ◆ Pia Maske is East Asia Field-Based Researcher with ISC ✉ pia.maske@iscresearch.com

Research.

Dr Fiona Rogers is Deputy CEO for COBIS

✉ fiona.rogers@cobis.org.uk

Real student insight Unlock their potential with adapative assessments powered by research and evidence

www.cem.org/ism Spring 2022 | International School | 43

Desmond Tutu

an Arch for Forgiveness

By Malcolm McKenzie

A

rchbishop Desmond Tutu, a model of and for forgiveness, passed away on 26 December 2021.

Like many South Africans, and many others around the world, I am still mourning this huge loss.

Tutu was a gracious, generous, spirited, just, and forgiving human being and change-maker, the likes of whom we do not see nearly frequently enough. If there were more such people, our world would be a much better place. In this piece I share words I wrote originally in December 2020, as my tribute to a man who has been a guide and beacon for me and who is now gone. I hope that a few comments about and insights into this truly remarkable person might inspire all of us. My words of that time are as follows.

‘One of the most celebrated, and compassionate, of contemporary South Africans is Desmond Tutu. After Nelson Mandela, Desmond may be the best known of my compatriots. He is a truly remarkable man. Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, almost 10 years before the same award was given to Mandela. Soon after this, in 1986, he became the Archbishop of Cape Town. The Nobel Peace Prize Motivation (or citation) for Tutu praised him ‘for his role as a unifying leader figure in the non-violent campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa’. In his insistence on nonviolence, Tutu was an intentional heir to Mahatma Gandhi and his practice of satyagraha. Gandhi had developed this philosophy of non-violent protest when he lived in South Africa in the last few years of the 19th century and the first few of the 20th, before returning to India.

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Desmond Tutu was the Chairman of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). This bold and successful experiment in restorative justice was set up soon after the open elections in 1994 had brought apartheid and legalized racial discrimination to an end.

The Commission toured the country over a period of years, holding hearings in cities and towns large and small. Victims of racially motivated and state sanctioned violence were encouraged to come and tell their stories, in public. Sometimes the perpetrators of the violence made public confessions. The purpose of the TRC was to encourage openness, recognition, forgiveness, and healing – healing that was individual, communal, and national. It was a hard, grueling, but also exalting experience. The TRC was given the power to grant amnesty, which it did, at times controversially. Of course, and sadly, almost all the victims of this violence were black – but not every one. Amy Biehl was a Stanford University activist student who came to Cape Town on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1992. Amy wanted to help in the final days of the dying of apartheid. Here is Desmond writing about Amy Biehl: On August 25, 1993, she was driving into the Gugulethu township when her car was stopped by an angry mob. The group had just emerged from a political meeting to protest the police slaying of a young black boy. Amy’s passion for justice and her purpose for being in South Africa were not written on her face. To the protesters, Amy was just another person, another symbol of apartheid oppression. They dragged her from the vehicle and beat, stoned, and stabbed her to death. Amy was twenty-six years old.

Personal Reflections

One of the most celebrated, and compassionate, of contemporary South Africans is Desmond Tutu.

In 1998, the four young men convicted of her murder were granted amnesty by the TRC. Amy’s parents, Linda and Peter Biehl, not only supported this decision but went on to establish the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in Cape Town. It is a charity dedicated to fighting violence and helping the very community where Amy was murdered. Two of the men, Easy Nofemela and Ntobeko Peni, now work for the foundation named after the woman they killed. They have a close relationship with Linda Biehl (Peter Biehl has since passed away) and have formed a unique bond.

How could such forgiveness come to pass? Imagine not only agreeing to the pardon of your daughter’s killers but employing them and developing a close working relationship with two of them. This seems superhuman.

In 2000, when I spent a year at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts as the Academy’s first Bicentennial Visiting Scholar, I taught senior courses in South African and African Literature. I invited Linda and Peter Biehl to come to the Deerfield campus, from California, to tell their story. They were compelling, and electric in their compassion. They changed the lives forever, through their witness, of the young American students who were privileged to hear their tale of forgiveness.

Desmond Tutu has written a great deal, about his faith, the TRC, and the complexities of our humanity, and of being human. In 2014, he and his daughter Mpho published The Book of Forgiving, subtitled ‘The Fourfold Path for healing ourselves and our world’. In the final pages of the book, they write this: We can’t create a world without pain or loss or conflict or hurt feelings, but we can create a world of forgiveness.

We can create a world of forgiveness that allows us to heal from those losses and pain and repair our relationships. The Book of Forgiving shares the path to finding forgiveness, but ultimately no one can tell you to forgive. We can ask you to do so. We can invite you on the journey. We can show you what has worked for others. We can tell you that the healing that we have seen from those who have walked the Fourfold Path is humbling and transformative.

Here is that Fourfold Path: Telling the Story; Naming the Hurt; Granting Forgiveness; Renewing or Releasing the Relationship.

It is not possible to do justice in a few sentences to the intricacies of this pathway, or journey. If you wish to grasp it fully, read the book. But here are a few indicators.

Telling the story is the way of making meaning of our

hurt and injury, and the first step in reclaiming our dignity. Not telling our story binds us to our trauma.

Naming the hurt deepens the detail, allows feelings to be attached to the facts, and begins the movement forward from pain and grief. Granting forgiveness may be slow and drawn out, but through recognizing a common humanity, and choosing to forgive, we can gain freedom from the damage of the past. Renewing or releasing the relationship is the final and fourth stage. Forgiveness sometimes leads to renewal of a relationship, sometimes full release from it.’

In the weeks after his death, news media and social media were full of quotes and sayings attributed to Desmond Tutu. Many of these captured his irreverent wit, his refusal to accept injustice, and his generosity of spirit.

Here are just two, which resonate with me and with the theme of practising forgiveness: If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

Enemies are always friends waiting to be made.

Thank you Desmond, the Arch, for your life and for your largeness, and for embracing and enveloping your enemies with forgiveness. ◆ Malcolm McKenzie is Head of School at Keystone Academy, China ✉ malcolm.mckenzie@keystoneacademy.cn This article was originally written for Keystone Academy’s weekly newsletter.

Spring 2022 | International School | 45

Personal Reflections

The Slopes of Kilimanjaro

the backdrop to leading, guiding and supporting an international school in Tanzania

By Robert Horton

T

ravelling by plane from Kilimanjaro Airport to Dar-es-Salaam, those on board have the privilege of flying over the highest mountain in Africa (5,985 metres). When the pilot points this out, there is often a gasp of breath from many passengers as they attempt to move to the best available seat to catch a glimpse of the majestic landscape below. I was constantly enthralled by this experience – even though I had the privilege of knowing that I could see Kilimanjaro every single day from my own back garden! The mountain and

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the surrounding environment provided a wonderful backdrop for my work as leader of an international school in one of the most interesting and exciting countries in the world: Tanzania. My five years, 2012-2017, as Director of the International School Moshi (ISM), a boarding/day school of 550 students set on two campuses, two hours apart by road, was an enormously rewarding experience and a period of my life filled with joys, trials, and tribulations.

The joys were countless. A breathtakingly beautiful campus, students who

were anxious to learn through the three International Baccalaureate programmes, and teachers who were constantly prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that the school provided a quality learning environment. Their task was by no means easy, of course, as my colleagues had to face numerous frustrations throughout each week. We were not a rich school in terms of finances, and our facilities were not all ‘state of the art’. However, the school provided a myriad of amazing learning opportunities both within and beyond the classroom in one of the most

Personal Reflections vibrant and stimulating countries in the world. Our students had the opportunity to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, explore local game parks, and engage in authentic service-learning programmes, often situated just outside the school gates. Our boarders also learned the enormous value of living and working with both adults and young people whose culture and background were different from their own.

The school’s finances and student roll occupied much of my time and, when I arrived, were a major focus. Working with the Marketing Officer to create eyecatching advertisements for billboards in big cities was always interesting, and constantly focused the mind on the school’s unique selling points, as did attending marketing events in Arusha, Dar-es-Salaam and other cities. One of the major challenges was the fact that our two campuses, at the time one of them day-only, and the other both day and boarding, were 80 km apart. Our day-only campus in Arusha supported the needs of a greater number of international students while the campus in Moshi served a larger population of Tanzanian students. Balancing the needs of both communities kept myself and other senior leaders very busy. When I started at the

Leading a boarding school brings another set of issues to daily life.

It is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week experience. school, the Arusha campus only accepted students aged 3-16; we decided then to implement the IB Diploma Programme in order to provide a K-12 experience for families who felt their children would benefit. As might be expected, this took time to thrive and there were occasions when I truly wondered whether we would succeed. However, the programme is now very successful and developing rapidly.

Leading a boarding school brings another set of issues to daily life. It is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week experience – but I loved the somewhat monastic daily routine from breakfast to dinner and beyond. Some local issues made this aspect of the job particularly demanding. For example, we regularly lost electricity – and occasionally the

support of the school’s generator too. We also experienced some frustrating health issues, heavy monsoon rains, and periods of complex political activity. Living and working in a boarding school, however, brings you even closer to the students due to the social interactions experienced seven days a week. Students and teachers really get to know each other well as the school community feels like a household/ home. Helping to support young people both during the week and at weekends required a lot of thought, and providing meaningful activities for boarders of all ages kept us all extremely busy, including our student leadership groups.

Looking back on my five years in this demanding role, I think my greatest challenges involved supporting and 

Spring 2022 | International School | 47

Personal Reflections

I was proud of so many of the amazing educators I managed to hire guiding our teachers who worked so hard, often in very difficult circumstances, to provide the highest quality of teaching and learning. Living conditions were sometimes by no means easy, and internet provision intermittent. Work permits were a constant frustration and involved many hours of discussion both inside and outside the school.

As the school’s leader, I felt very much responsible for the lives of the teachers and their families, and managing this area of my work was like walking a tightrope, often wondering when I would fall. I was always grateful for the patience and enthusiasm so regularly displayed by many of my colleagues. Recruiting teachers was a year-long task, and involved me travelling extensively across the world but also within Africa: video recruitment was only in its infancy at the time. Selling the Tanzanian dream without a huge salary and benefits package was cer tainly a challenge, but I was proud of so many of the amazing educators I managed to hire, some of whom are still working in and leading the school today.

Teachers were not the only adults who played a major part in my professional life at this time. Our school community was supported by numerous local staff and many of those on our Moshi campus lived in their own village on the school site.

Looking back on my time in Tanzania, it was my daily interactions with this group that form some of my greatest memories.

I shall never forget my driver who regularly drove me from one campus to the other, the gardeners, cooks, cleaners, and those who often interfaced with the local government on my behalf. Many didn't speak English, but it amazed me how we could connect through a shake of the hand or even just a smile. I am hoping that this very important group of people felt that I touched their lives positively as they certainly touched mine.

One of the most demanding tasks I helped to lead forward during my tenure as Director was a quest to be accepted into the United World Colleges movement (UWC, 2022). From my very first day in the school, I felt that there 48 | International School | Spring 2022

was a close match between the mission statements of the two organisations, and following many site visits/inspections, meetings in London and many school and community meetings across both campuses, the dream gradually looked as if it might become reality. I cer tainly cannot claim all the credit as the journey was supported by so many, and I moved on from the school before

a final decision was made. But the International School Moshi, wonderful as it was, is now in the past, and the school is currently flourishing under a new name: The United World College of East Africa (UWCEA, 2022). Now, many more young people from a wide variety of cultures are learning on the slopes of Kilimanjaro on two day/boarding campuses – and I, for one, am absolutely delighted! ◆ Dr Robert Horton was Director of the International School Moshi between 2012 and 2017 and, more recently, Education Director for the Yew Chung Education Foundation.

✉ rkjh20@gmail.com

References

• UWC (2022) United World Colleges. Available from: www.uwc.org • UWCEA (2022) United World College of East Africa. Available from: www.uwcea.org

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