International School Magazine - Summer 2020

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Developing a positive school culture Focus on second language learners | Saluting our frontline teachers in the fight against pandemic

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We always emphasise what went well in the lesson as well as areas for development.

My view is that even if the lesson is amazing, there is always room for improvement.

Louise Simpson, page 65

in this issue... comment

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Searching for the silver lining Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson

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language matters Developing a multilingual ethos to foster student and teacher agency Mindy McCracken, Lara Rikers and Jim Cummins

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A whole school working towards effective instruction and assessment for EAL students Kerrilyn Thacker

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International schools and provision for second language learners Maurice Carder

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Unleashing the creative potential of home languages in the classroom Simon Johnson

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Schoolscapes and multilingual awareness in international schools Susan Stewart

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Identity construction: fostering student agency Niki Cooper-Robbins

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Translanguaging and the journey to effective bilingualism Peter Daignault

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features

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Teach humans not subjects Brendan Hitchens

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‘A smooth sea never made a skilful sailor’ Rob Ford

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From isolation to collaboration Leila Holmyard and Devin Pratt

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sponsored content English as a Medium of Instruction: challenges and solutions Trevor Grimshaw

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Cognia helps close performance gaps and creates culture of ongoing improvement Sheppard Ranbom

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Passion to profession Anne Louise Williams

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Five reasons to adopt English Medium Instruction into your school today Sacha Mlynek

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at home These are unprecedented times for us all—and especially for teachers, administrators, and students. Our hearts go out to all who have been affected by the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19).

We know that a growing number of countries have closed schools temporarily, and many schools are offering online learning resources to help keep students’ literacy skills sharp.

Renaissance is here to support you by giving you free monthly access to our online digital library, myON and myON News. Below are some of the key features:

myON key features: Enable teachers to Learn to enrich curriculums

Choose from up to 13,000 authentic, digital books

Celebrate achievement and watch your students Grow

Help students Engage with personalised reading

We’ve created a set of resources to help educators, students, and families access these programs remotely.

Please click here to view these resources or email us on: international@renaissance.com

We value the trust you place in Renaissance and wish you the best as we navigate these challenging times together.

*Images for illustration purposes only. ©Copyright 2020 Renaissance Learning, Inc. All rights reserved.

Accelerating Learning for All™

In this issue

curriculum, learning and teaching

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Helping students to get the best out of themselves Tunji David Lees

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A key communication principle Richard Mast

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High Performance Learning: Building the cognitive competencies that we know lead to high performance Deborah Eyre

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regulars Fifth Column: A hero for today: Trump or Gump?

E T Ranger

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Science Matters: Changing the world as we know it?

Richard Harwood

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Alice in Education Land: More values and something of a quarrel Chris Binge

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people and places

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Promoting RIPE: Research Informed Practice in Education Karen Taylor

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Masks ... just the tip of the iceberg?

Beccy Fox

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Changing the education system of a whole country Geoffrey Neuss

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Collaborating with students to deliver a world-class international school Stefan Jacobek

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What is international education in Africa?

Proserpina Dhlamini-Fisher

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How to get the most out of lesson observations in an international school Louise Simpson

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book reviews

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Should Robots Replace Teachers? by Neil Selwyn reviewed by Naaz Kirmani

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They‘re Called the ‘Throwaways’. Children in Special Education using Artmaking for Social Change, by Christa Boske (ed) reviewed by Richard Caston

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Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson Editors Jonathan Barnes Editorial Director James Rudge Production Director Alex Sharratt Managing Director For Editorial enquiries contact Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson Email: editor@is-mag.com Website: www.is-mag.com International School © is published by John Catt Educational Ltd, 15 Riduna Park, Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1QT, UK Company registration 5762466

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Comment

Searching for the silver lining Editors Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson applaud international schools for their strength and resilience in the face of the coronavirus pandemic Writing on a topical subject in a traditionally published book, journal or magazine is always to take a risk that – even when writing, as we are, just before the publication goes to press – the contribution will be out of date before it reaches the reader.

So it is with our Comment in this issue, written in the context of unprecedented social change as coronavirus sweeps the globe, forcing social isolation and leaving devastated families, organisations and economies in its wake.

But does this (very dark) cloud have a glimmer of a silver lining? Certainly the crisis has highlighted, in addition to the worst of human nature as some have sought to capitalise on the vulnerability of others, the very best of humanity. There have been very many examples of kindness and generosity of spirit shown not only to family, friends, neighbours and colleagues but also to complete strangers, and a wider recognition and appreciation of those in the health and wellbeing services who have been on the frontline of the COVID19 battle, and in some cases have paid the highest price for their dedication.

In the context of education, one silver lining has surely been the impressive response made by international schools, amongst others, to school closures – often at very short notice – and the commitment shown to supporting students’ learning in challenging circumstances. Online courses and materials have been developed almost overnight, teachers with previously little more than a passing acquaintance with the use of technology in the classroom have developed skills undreamt of only a few months earlier, and the generosity of spirit manifested in society more widely has been exemplified by the sharing of resources, ideas and expertise between schools worldwide which had little or no previous connection. Senior Leadership Team meetings held via, for example, Skype, Zoom or Teams, have – it is rumoured – become more efficient in their use of time than previous face-to-face meetings, and educators who had previously felt at a disadvantage when interacting with their digital native students have developed levels of confidence in using

apps, platforms and other features of technology that were previously shrouded in mystery. If nurses and doctors are the heroes of the medical response to COVID-19, then teachers and leaders are surely heroes of the educational response.

Three cheers then for teacher commitment, expertise and experience – and for the enormous amounts of professional development that have arisen from mutual need and support, where colleagues volunteer their expertise to facilitate the development of others. The adaptability, flexibility and goodwill shown by teachers and leaders worldwide in this current crisis must surely be cause for celebration.

Amongst the myriad unanswered questions crossing our minds as we look forward to the post-COVID-19 era is one of particular relevance in the international school context: what will the future hold for education, and indeed international education, now that technology has gatecrashed its way into what were (relatively) technology-free aspects of education? Formal learning clearly can take place, albeit with limitations in some curriculum areas, without the necessity for a classroom and formally structured school days, and the world has not stopped spinning on its axis because students are not being assessed in exam halls at desks set a fixed distance apart. Amongst all the current uncertainty, one certainty would seem to be that education in future will not be as it was pre-COVID-19.

And in looking to the future, we need to note here that, sadly, this is the last issue of International School magazine to be published by John Catt Educational. After many years as the magazine’s publisher, it has been decided by our colleagues at John Catt that it is time to move on. We expect to continue as Editors of the magazine, and are currently in discussions about alternative means of publishing future issues. In the meantime, we wish to express our gratitude to John Catt colleagues for the support and encouragement we have received during our long partnership. Please do keep sending your articles, and ideas for articles, which we will be pleased to receive via editor@is-mag.com.

We’d like to hear your thoughts on this and any other articles in this magazine Email: editor@is-mag.com

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Language matters

Developing a multilingual ethos to foster student and teacher agency Mindy McCracken, Lara Rikers and Jim Cummins explain the process and practice

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to that point. They were also actively exploring how emerging technologies could be harnessed in pursuit of expanding students’ language awareness, biliteracy development, and overall learning. We have continued to share ideas and collaborate in co-presenting at various conferences since that time. Their account of the instructional directions they and their colleagues pursued illustrates powerfully the role of teachers as knowledge-generators.

A school’s journey towards multilingual instruction The important question we have to ask ourselves as knowledge generators in diverse schools is how we can not Summer |

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Preamble from Jim Cummins Although we had met previously at the 2011 ECIS ESL/ Mother Tongue Conference in Düsseldorf, my first extended encounter with the instructional innovations that Lara and Mindy had initiated at the International School of The Hague (ISH) came in April 2013 when I was able to spend several days at the school as a result of an invitation from Pascale Hertay, who at the time was Deputy Head of the Primary School. The ways in which Mindy, Lara and their colleagues had integrated students’ home languages into multiple facets of instruction across the curriculum was beyond anything that I had seen up

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‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’ – Lao Tse

only translate multilingual research and theory into practice, but also enable our practice to extend our understanding of the possibilities of multilingual instruction. The short answer to this question is that we start with a single step.

Empowering teachers and students to create a multilingual mindset together is not an overnight process. It has to be a carefully planned journey.

Although every school’s steps are unique, some are applicable for all schools. Our first step was to establish what we were aiming for, a clear vision to reflect our values, linked to a plan for bringing this vision to life. At the 2011 ECIS ESL/ Mother Tongue Conference in Düsseldorf, we learned about the critical role students’ home languages play in developing their knowledge of additional languages and in supporting their total well-being. From that time onwards, we wanted to bring the use of home language more actively into our daily practice and push harder for a vision that promoted language equality at our school.

By sharing the research about language acquisition with our students, parents, teachers and administrators, we slowly built up our multilingual vision through time. This shift was carried out through a series of conversations with both individuals and larger groups of school staff. When we explained bilingual research to school leaders in accessible terms, they began to understand the rich learning and personal value students’ languages and cultures could bring to learning in classrooms. They gave us permission to carry this message further. They began likewise to understand that by incorporating students’ languages into daily learning, they were giving our multilingual students the best chance of reaching their true learning potential, and not just in English but in all of their languages. This insight, that we can overcome language barriers by tapping into our students’ strongest languages, became a turning point in our school: a matter of urgency. A new mantra emerged: ‘Learning should never be put on hold while we wait for a child to acquire a language.’ (Gravelle, 2000). Through this growing, collective understanding, we helped additional school stakeholders to understand that it was counter-productive to cut multilingual students away from all they knew, simply because their knowledge was coded in another language.

In order to connect our instruction with the totality of students’ experiences, we shifted our entry criteria for our home language programmes to also accommodate those children who had acquired ‘identity languages’ or languages Winter

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they identified with from living in countries abroad for extended periods. We had to recognise that the world had changed for international families and that students’ linguistic identities can indeed be very complex and not always a reflection of their passport status.

Bringing on board all stakeholders in our organisation with these important messages was absolutely crucial to setting in motion this new, multilingual vision. With this vision in place, we knew we needed to launch into action and identify the language-related needs of our multilingual students, developing flexible teaching practices that addressed their needs in both a holistic and an explicit manner. Teachers, as practitioners first and foremost, would need to see what multilingual practices could look like in their classrooms. Due to the hectic reality a teacher faces, we wanted to develop an action plan with manageable, realistic steps everyone could achieve. We had to consider the right steps for us as a linguistic and educational community. It was through these manageable steps, tailored to our individual school context, that we were able gradually to build up our innovative, multilingual ethos which continues to foster student and teacher agency today.

Towards a whole school approach How did we accomplish this? First of all, we discovered that we needed to be the change we wish to see. So we set our first staff meeting to share video examples of the multilingual practices we were trialling in our EAL lessons. We shared these examples with class teachers and celebrated those who were willing to innovate and experiment alongside us. We strongly encouraged our teachers to experiment, to see how their home languages might best be used to further classroom learning. This, in turn, led to our students experimenting with their languages in the classroom. In taking this important step, we did not forget that the best professional development can be found in our very own schools. And our teachers, like all people, really appreciated being a part of the change process. Their ideas helped to shape our next steps forward.

Having ownership of the process was essential for moving our teachers into a multilingual mindset and supporting multilingual approaches.

It is important, before implementing change in your school, to ask teachers what practices are already working well. Celebrate these successes and build on them with steps you take together. This ensures the continued development

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Afterword – Jim Cummins The instructional innovations implemented by Mindy, Lara, and their colleagues at ISH are not simply translating research and theory into practice; these innovations are generating knowledge and understanding of how to teach culturally and linguistically diverse multilingual students. In these classrooms, theory and practice are infused within each

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other. Current understandings of how to teach effectively in multilingual school contexts include the following key instructional strategies – essentially lenses through which we can collectively view and reflect upon our practice: • • • • •

Scaffold comprehension and production of language; Reinforce academic language across the curriculum; Engage students’ multilingual repertoires; Maximize literacy engagement; Connect with students’ lives and the knowledge, culture and language of their communities; • Affirm students’ identities by enabling them to use their language and literacy skills to carry out powerful intellectual and creative academic work.

A visitor who walks around ISH and other schools pursuing the same vision (see, eg, Little & Kirwin, 2019) can see immediately evidence of all of these instructional strategies in students’ work displayed in corridors and classroom walls. Teachers in these schools have transformed the way students see themselves, but they have also transformed our conceptions of what constitutes effective instruction for all students.

References Gravelle M (2000) Planning for bilingual learners-an inclusive curriculum.

Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.

Isola R & Cummins J (2019) Transforming Sanchez School: Shared leadership, equity, and evidence. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing.

Little D & Kirwin D (2019) Engaging with Linguistic Diversity. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Mindy McCracken is Home and Identity Language Leader, and Lara Rikers is English as an Additional Language Leader, at the International School of the Hague (Primary).

Dr Jim Cummins is a Professor with the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) at the University of Toronto.

Email: m.mccracken@ishthehague.nl l.rikers@ishthehague.nl

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of quality practices, centered on students’ learning. Do this instead of stripping away everything to start anew; a collaborative change process works much better than topdown imposition of change (Isola & Cummins, 2019). It is equally important to explore with teachers what isn’t working or may be blocking them. Where you find consensus about a problem area, teachers will be supportive of a change you try to make. Engaging in ongoing dialogue and feedback with colleagues will enable you to identify realistic goals that support teachers in moving forward in their understanding of multilingual education and infusing this understanding into their classroom practice.

All educators need to be involved at some stage in the decision-making process towards change, and there needs to be a solid implementation plan to carry this change through.

We have to keep in mind that most teachers have extensive knowledge and expertise from their years of working in the classroom. What they may lack is the support from leadership in working out how to integrate these ideas into their daily practice. Teacher agency is likely to increase when they are given opportunities to help school leaders to prioritise school development steps that support student learning. In essence, leadership is shared across the school community in an atmosphere of professional trust and freedom.

At ISH, staff and students have undergone a significant mindset shift in how we perceive and value home languages and their subsequent development in our classrooms.

Driven by this new understanding, teacher- and studentled multilingualism is changing daily practices and actively showing that all languages matter equally in our school. Our collective experience has shown that students’ awareness of language and their creativity in using their multiple languages are dramatically increased when teachers tap into their own creativity in transforming previously monolingual classrooms into vibrant multilingual instructional spaces.

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A whole school working towards effective instruction and assessment for EAL students Kerrilyn Thacker says collaboration between departments is key One wonderful thing about international schools is their diversity. Students and teachers with varied cultures, languages, beliefs and backgrounds work together with the objective of academic success for all. While this provides many opportunities for learning, two major challenges occur.

Firstly, content teachers are not usually suitably trained to provide instruction that supports students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Ottow, 2019) and, secondly, professional development has typically been ineffective at changing classroom practice (Wiliam, 2007).

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Antwerp International School (AIS), inspired by a four-day WIDA Institute (WIDA, 2019a) and armed with the knowledge of the features of quality professional development (Yaron, 2017), took action to plan a year-long focus on effective instruction and assessment for EAL students. AIS was founded in 1967 in the suburbs of Antwerp, Belgium. We currently offer the International Baccalaureate through the Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme to approximately 370 students from 40 nationalities. In August 2018, AIS moved towards

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a more focussed and strategic approach to professional development. This included the formation of teacher-driven Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) (Du Four et al, 2016; Solution Tree, 2019). These were non-hierarchical groups in which teachers worked on an area of interest for the entire school year with the objective of improving student learning.

Small groups of teachers targeted their ability to use formative assessment, feedback, differentiation and assessment diversity to promote student learning. Others focused on ways in which they could improve students’ approaches to learning, such as critical thinking skills, research skills and self-management skills. While the initiative was driven by a group of teachers who developed protocols for the PLCs, the school’s management provided the structure to allow these groups to be successful by setting aside scheduled time for meetings throughout the year. The PLCs laid the foundation for the action plan that would be developed to improve instruction and assessment of EAL students.

The Inspiration of the WIDA institute During that first year of PLCs, two EAL teachers attended a fourday WIDA Institute. As a member of the WIDA International

School Consortium (WIDA, 2019b), AIS was committed to using research-based standards and assessments as well as developing inclusive models of support for EAL students.

While AIS had been using the WIDA Measure of Developing English Language (MODEL) for over five years as a placement tool for EAL students and to monitor annual progress, we did not feel that we were utilising the WIDA Framework optimally. The four days of the WIDA Institute modelled best practice, provided opportunities for collaboration, and allowed time for consideration of actions we could take to move our whole school forward in its delivery of inclusive instruction for EAL students.

At the start of each day at the Institute, a brilliant cooperative learning jigsaw activity was conducted in which the WIDA Essential Actions (Gottlieb, 2013) were discussed.

We brought that activity back to AIS and conducted the same task over four weeks with the other member of the EAL team, the Primary School Principal and the Secondary School Principal. This created a common understanding of the fifteen ‘evidence-based strategies for educators to apply in implementing standards-referenced, language-centred education’ (Gottlieb, 2013:10) and the conditions required for EAL students to be successful in English-instruction schools.

This led to an action plan agreed upon by the EAL Department and the two principals. Discussions took place about how to realise the action plan, and the whole-school goal emerged: ‘Teachers will use the WIDA framework to differentiate instruction and assessment through understanding the language proficiency levels of their students, understanding the language demands of their lessons and using three different kinds of scaffolds’ (see Figure 1).

Structuring the long-term and short-term goals Knowing that one-off professional development was unlikely to change classroom practice, the EAL Department divided the whole-school goal into chunks. Smaller, achievable short term goals (STG) were created. This would allow for a sustained focus on effective instruction and assessment for

Figure 1: Visualisation of the Whole-school EAL goal including short-term goals Summer |

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Language matters EAL students for the entire year in a similar way to the PLCs which were now established at the school.

We planned the year around an initial whole-school oneday WIDA workshop ‘Differentiation for Linguistically Diverse Students’, which was held on 16 September 2019. The short term goals were selected based on the content of the workshop so that we could continue to connect learning to the workshop throughout the year. It would allow us to build on a shared understanding of what EAL students require to simultaneously acquire academic language while learning grade-level content. The short-term goals cover the most essential information that teachers need to know about language to provide instruction for EAL students (Ottow, 2019). These were sequenced in such a way that they built on the knowledge, understanding and skills of the previous short-term goal. For example, teachers need to be able to analyse the language demands of a lesson before they can select appropriate scaffolds for the lesson.

We were fortunate to have developed the EAL action plan with our Principals as their support was key to planning the year, as was the dedication to the sustained focus from all levels of administration. The Primary and Secondary School Principals coordinated to allocate common time throughout the year for teachers to work towards the short-term goals. Chairs of Departments and Programme Coordinators also agreed to support the EAL goals through discussions within their departments. It was amazing to see an EAL whole-school goal supported by all levels of the school’s structure!

Structuring the sessions The majority of the whole-school goal would be targeted during the Tuesday afternoon 75-minute faculty meeting time. As each short-term goal was linked to a task that teachers were required to complete, it was considered

essential not only that teachers received the relevant information but also that they had time to work towards completing the task. The EAL team also wanted to use strategies of effective professional development, such as modelling best practice, encouraging collaboration, incorporating active learning and being content focussed (Darling-Hammond et al, 2017). With this in mind, each session has been planned to allow for a variety of groupings (whole school, ability-based, grade-level clusters, mixed primary-secondary or discipline-based), a range of strategies to present information (direct instruction, cooperative learning activities, teacher-led inquiry) and a balance between theoretical and practical tasks.

The future The EAL Department has led two sessions so far: one on asset-based student profiles and the other on planning a lesson incorporating the four language domains. Teacher engagement during the sessions has been positive and it has definitely provided teachers with the opportunity to collaborate across grade levels and discuss issues that impact EAL students. We have already started to develop a common language to discuss EAL students. In particular, teachers have begun to use more descriptive, assets-based language to share what students can do in grade-level classes. Looking forward to the rest of the 2019-20 school year, and years to come, the process has firmly reinforced that collaboration across all levels of the school is essential to establish more effective instruction and assessment, and to meet the needs of multilingual students and international schools.

References Darling-Hammond L, Hyler ME and Gardner M (2017) Effective Teacher Professional Development, Learning Policy Institute. Available at: https:// learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/effective-teacher-professionaldevelopment-report (Accessed: 16 October 2019) Du Four R, Du Four R, Eaker R, Many TW and Mattos M (2016) Learning

by Doing: a Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (3rd edition). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Gottlieb M (2013) Essential Actions: A Handbook for Implementing WIDA’s Framework for English Language Development Standards. Wisconsin, US: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium.

Ottow SB (2019) The Language Lens for Content Classrooms: A guide for K-12 teachers of English and Academic Language Learners. West Palm Beach, US: Learning Science International.

Solution Tree (2019) About PLCs, All Things PLC. Available at: https://www. allthingsplc.info/about (Accessed: 16 October 2019).

WIDA (2019a) International Institutes, WIDA. Available at: https://wida.wisc. edu/grow/international/institutes (Accessed: 11 November 2019).

WIDA (2019b) International Schools Consortium, WIDA. Available at: https:// wida.wisc.edu/memberships/isc (Accessed: 16 October 2019).

Wiliam D (2007) Changing Classroom practice, Educational Leadership, 64, 4, 36-42. Available at: http://rapps.pbworks.com/f/Julia%20Articles%20 ASLI%202011.pdf (Accessed: 19 October 2019) Yaron L (2017) The Five Ws of Quality Professional Development, Education Week. Available at: https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/05/09/thefive-ws-of-quality-professional-development.html?cmp=eml-eb-popweek +05192017&M=58006538&U=1351704 (Accessed: 16 October 2019).

Kerrilyn Thacker is EAL and Mother Tongue Coordinator at Antwerp International School, Belgium Email: kthacker@ais-antwerp.be Winter

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International schools and provision for second language learners Maurice Carder presents an overview of the issues and a model school of good practice

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citizenship and multilingualism are the norm. Latest statistics not only show an enormous increase in the number of international schools but also demonstrate how the clientele has changed. Whereas the general norm previously was for the majority of students to be ‘international’, increasingly the local community is now providing a large proportion of students. ISC Research (2020) provides detailed statistics on these issues, showing that 51% of such schools are now ‘for Summer |

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The 2019 ECIS Multilingual Learning in International Education (MLIE) conference in London was the opportunity to launch Second Language Learners in International Schools by the present writer, with contributions from Patricia Mertin and Sarah Porter. The book aims to cover the whole range of issues concerned with this group of students, in a world which has seen the focus change from an acceptance of native speaker, usually English, predominance to one where global

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International schools are different from schools in national systems in many respects, but especially in a political sense. profit’, and many British independent schools are seizing the opportunities that are opening up.

The national educational systems of the Anglosphere have been influential in developing provision for instructional programmes for Second Language Learners. However, in each country – the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada – the development has followed a different trajectory, and the model adopted by an international school often depends on the predominant ethos of the school: British, American, Australian or Canadian.

There is often an uncritical acceptance that the provision of Second Language (SL) instruction in the home country will automatically be the correct model for the international school.

This can have either positive or negative consequences.

International schools are different from schools in national systems in many respects, but especially in a political sense – never more so than in the present climate, where immigrants have become the butt of many politicians’ aspirations to power. International schools can provide the context for an ideal SL model to be developed, that will consist of three elements, each of equal importance: a SL programme; continuing professional development (CPD) for all staff and administration; and a programme of mother tongue (MT) instruction. Virginia Collier notes that: ‘Most important is, first, to understand the crucial importance of the mother tongue in the student’s cognitive development. From hundreds of research studies of the relationship between students’ mother tongue and cognition, we know that children must develop cognitively in their mother tongue until at least age 12 in order to be successful in curricular mastery in their second language’ (in Carder, 2018: xvi-xvii). While Collier points this out as being the most important factor, in most international schools it is often very low on the agenda. At the very least, schools should make parents aware of what is at stake before they enrol their children.

CPD is a vital element for teachers and administrators.

Collier, again, notes that: ‘Now it is clear from the research that second language teaching strategies benefit all students’ (ibid: xviii). Relevant CPD needs not only to be undertaken, but also to be reinforced and repeated, every three years. This leads to the central element: the nature of the SL programme.

There is not space here to go into detail of the various models on offer, which focus on the vital need to have qualified, professional teachers of ESL (or other SL) to devise and deliver the programme. They will serve as SL programme designers, instigators of the CPD training, and ‘centres of expertise’ for all matters relating to bilingualism, such as the length of time needed for SL students to achieve proficiency with nativeWinter

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speaking peers; assessment; the need to distinguish between SL factors, and students requiring learning support. Nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) have advantages in this context: for example, they have the benefit of having learnt English as a SL themselves, and they are intimately familiar with the construction of the language. Additionally, SL students will often feel more affinity with a NNEST than with a native speaker.

Though the ‘support’ model of ESL can be problematic if it is taught by unqualified teaching assistants, and if SL students are treated disadvantageously, a recent visit to an international school in Asia showed the present writer how, with the complete backing of the administration, such a model can be hugely successful. International School Manila (ISM), in the Philippines, made a decision some years ago to change from an extraction ESL programme to a model based on inclusion. This ensured that students would be sitting in classes with their fluent English-speaking peers for most of the curriculum. An inclusion model, based as it is on ESL students participating in mainstream classes containing the sophisticated language of the various subjects, requires large amounts of pre-planning and cooperation between ESL teachers and subject teachers. The additional support given by teaching assistants in this activity is essential. Such a support model can easily be dismissed as merely paying lip-service to a programme designated from above. However, after an intensive week at ISM where I visited many classes at different levels, being taught in the many different subjects of the curriculum, I encountered a model that is not only working but excelling. Timetabling is always a bugbear when it comes to scheduling ESL because of the need to back ESL against all the different subjects across multiple grade levels.

ISM is to be commended for tackling this issue successfully.

As far as instruction in the various subjects is concerned, there was repeated evidence of joint pre-planning by ESL teachers, content teachers and teaching assistants.

This was substantiated by the high levels of technology visible, whereby students had templates uploaded to their computers before classes, all the teachers involved were clearly thoroughly acquainted with all the material being worked on, there was often frequent co-teaching, or backand-forth sharing of instruction, and teaching assistants were either supporting students or directly instructing the class. Teachers informed me that much time was spent on lesson preparation and after-class feedback. The school is to be commended for developing, sustaining and being actively involved in a complex model of ESL support which can only be of benefit to all students, and will inevitably lead to positive outcomes at higher levels as literacy in English is the key to achievement.

References ISC Research (2020) www.iscresearch.com/data Carder M (2018) Second Language Learners in International Schools.

Trentham Books: London

Dr Maurice Carder is an author and consultant on second language issues in international education (www.mauricecarder.net).

Email: maurice.carder@gmail.com

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Unleashing the creative potential of home languages in the classroom Students from different backgrounds bring great opportunities, writes Simon Johnson

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learn languages other than English, shouldn’t we also value and welcome all the languages that already exist in our school communities?

Think of the wealth of knowledge and intercultural exchange, as well as language learning opportunities, that students from different backgrounds bring to the classroom. Also, when charged with the education of children whose primary home language is not English, we need to consider how we can facilitate and encourage our students’ development in their home language too. Multiple longitudinal studies by UNESCO have consistently revealed that a student’s academic proficiency in their home language plays a significant role in their success in additional language learning and across the whole curriculum.

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Many international school students are already multilingual, but our classrooms often don’t reflect this. In our action research project, we were amazed by the transformation that occurred when we invited students to use their home languages in class.

Imagine walking into any science or humanities-based lesson in a national or even international school in which all students are engaged in the same task yet using different languages. For most of us that would probably be an unusual sight. Yet we have to ask ourselves why. Why does this seem such an unlikely scenario when so many schools serve a multicultural and multilingual student body with home languages that are not English? If we are to promote multilingualism and encourage students to

| 2020

Language matters As teachers at an international, English-medium school in Istanbul, in our day-to-day experience we witness the correlation between our students’ ability to learn additional languages and their home language proficiency. We also see how students who share the same home language use this in class to support each other. My colleagues and I decided to look for ways to plan for and encourage the use of home languages in two primary Year 3 classes (ages 7-8). But how can you help or assess your students’ progress and understanding if you can’t understand their home language? Our solution was to find high school student volunteers who shared the same home language as each student. We had 36 Year 3 students who between them spoke 15 different home languages. We were able to enlist 18 volunteer high school students and cover the majority of languages. For those languages we couldn’t cover, staff and family members were asked to help out. Volunteer students who were taking the IB Diploma were also able to gain CAS credits for their participation.

We devised a culminating activity related to the main concepts of the unit our Year 3 classes were following with their homeroom teacher. Only this time they were to complete the project in their home language, with the help of our high school volunteers. The central idea of the unit was ‘Family histories connect people to cultural and personal identity through meaningful inherited information’. Their task was to bring in an artefact and describe it from differing perspectives, such as its origin and connection to their family, how it was made, why they like it and what it means for them. We briefed the high school students on how to prepare the younger students for their presentations and also on how to assess them. The Year 3 students met with their high school language coaches for one lesson a week, and worked together in their home languages to prepare a short oral presentation. During these sessions there was a constant buzz of excitement. It was a highlight of the week for all of us and the results were stunning, with impacts beyond the scope of the activity itself.

The project had a positive effect on both the high school and the primary students, not only in the way they interacted in the classroom but also in how they perceived themselves and each other, and in the relationships they had with their teachers, parents and siblings. Our evidence for this came from observations, written reflections and video interviews with the students which focus on what they liked about the project and what they had learned. A noticeable number of the high school students remarked that they had learned how to better relate to younger children, how this had transformed the way they interacted with their younger siblings at home, and even how they now had greater empathy for teachers! Several primary students said they felt proud to be able to present school work to their parents in their home language as this was a rare opportunity for them. Also, the class teachers reported that the children, of their own accord, began to independently share, compare and discuss vocabulary from their home language with class friends from different cultures in other activities.

The results were stunning, with impacts beyond the scope of the activity itself.

Simon Johnson is a Language Learning Support and Multilingual Specialist currently based in Istanbul.

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Schoolscapes and multilingual awareness in international schools Susan Stewart reports, with Jackie Jia Lou and Jean-Marc Dewaele

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our offering of 23 home languages as part of the curriculum.

A few months and many conversations later, we embarked on a research project together, in collaboration with Jackie’s Birkbeck colleague, Dr Jean-Marc Dewaele. Our project was generously supported by the BAAL (British Association of Applied Linguistics) Applying Linguistics Fund, specifically designed to support ‘innovative activities which link research and application/public engagement’.

Entitled Increasing the visibility of linguistic diversity in an international school, our project included the Grades 3 and 4 children as co-researchers, with half of each grade serving as a control group. The (non-control group) children Summer |

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In January 2018 I was fortunate to meet Dr Jackie Jia Lou, a Birkbeck College (University of London) Sociolinguistics lecturer with an interest in ‘linguistic landscape’. The term ‘linguistic landscape’ can be understood as the visual display of languages in a geographic area; the associated term ‘schoolscape’ refers to the linguistic landscape of a school.

Following an informal visit by Jackie to my school, The International School of London (ISL), I began to develop an understanding of what ‘linguistic landscape’ is and how this might be relevant within the context of international schools. For Jackie, this was her first visit to an international school with a linguistically diverse student population and

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It is important for this rich field of data to be made available to researchers who are keen to engage with schools and teachers. documented the schoolscape, each being given an iPad for 20 minutes with the instruction to ‘take photos of the languages you see around the school’. They then took part in creative workshops, designing posters in a language of their choice which were later framed and displayed in a location of their choice around the school. Questionnaire surveys were administered to all children, control group included, at three stages of the project to examine the impact of these participatory activities on students’ multilingual awareness; this included questions on attitudes towards multilingualism as well as a floor plan of the school where children labelled their language use around school. The control group took part solely in the questionnaire surveys. Further data was collected from children’s interactions during the workshops (some being transcribed and translated) and from their poster presentations, as well as from interviews with children and teachers. In addition, Jackie carried out her own geosemiotic surveys, photographing multilingual signage, student work and other media in all shared areas of the school.

What did we find?

Of interest was children’s interpretation of the term ‘languages’ in the schoolscape, as more than 15% of the photos did not actually have language in them, but included such things as a Chinese New Year rehearsal, the Music room where they sing in Spanish, and material objects which looked ‘foreign’. Less encouraging was the fact that 44% of the photographs were taken in the ‘languages corridor’ where the majority of home language lessons take place, with the most common photo being the signage (for example ‘FRENCH’) outside particular classrooms. This finding highlighted what we refer to as the ‘spatial regime of languages’, with many children noting in the surveys that they only use their languages in the specific language classrooms. This contrasts with what their teachers and the researchers observe, which is that the children use the languages flexibly in the classroom, playground and other areas around school. In later surveys, some children did extend the range of spaces to include areas such as the reception area, where they meet their parents at the end of the school day.

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in the school. Of the 11 creative projects, 8 used nationalist symbols such as maps or flags, as was also evident in the linguistic landscape of the school. The Spanish language group chose to make a poster with clay models of traditional foods, and then embarked on a discussion of which nation (Spain or Mexico) could claim nachos as their own. The Japanese group included origami cranes in their design, although one Japanese child did insist to his classmates that ‘not all Japanese can do origami’. One pair of children, however, decided that all languages were of equal value and created a multilingual poster of greetings, later displayed in the school reception area.

Whilst ISL offers 23 home languages as part of the curriculum, this does not represent the full range of languages spoken by the student population. This became evident when a Hindi-speaker, with the help of his Spanish-speaking classmate, created a large-sized poster containing a map, a flag and a petition at the end stating ‘Not everybody has mother tongue class of their own language, so we have created this, so that the Hindus can have their own mother tongue class’. The lack of language status afforded to some languages within the schoolscape could be said to echo the value attached to the languages in the wider UK context. For example, we noted in the geosemiotic survey that the largest language group within the school, namely Arabic, had only one instance of Arabic displayed outside the classroom.

What next?

The current paucity of research on multilingualism in international schools means it is important for this rich field of data to be made available to researchers who are keen to engage with schools and teachers. Collaboration between academics, teacher-researchers, teachers and children can bear fruit in multiple and unexpected ways. This project led many of the involved teachers to reflect on their classroom practice, in particular the need to explicitly encourage students to use their full linguistic repertoire in their learning. Later in the project, Jackie noted that the ‘concentration of language classrooms in one corridor resulted in the physical compartmentalization of languages and the lack of visibility of multilingualism in the rest of the schoolscape’, which highlights the need for school-wide reflection on the use of teaching space, as well as signage and displays that reflect the languages of the students – and not ‘uneven multilingualism’. Since the project, the term ‘linguistic landscape’ has made its way into the school’s language policy, which is most certainly an excellent starting point for bringing about a change to practice.

With personal and professional thanks to Jackie and Jean-Marc for the opportunity to collaborate in this research project.

Reference The research described in this article has also been published in the BAAL Newsletter, winter 2020, 116, 9-10. Available via https://www.baal.org.uk/ wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BAAL-News_116_Winter2020.pdf

Susan Stewart is Head of Multilingualism at the International School of London and Chair of the ECIS MLIE committee. She also collaborates with the ISL Middle School Research Institute.

Email: sstewart@isllondon.org

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Identity construction: fostering student agency Niki Cooper-Robbins on practical ways to gather data around students’ own perceptions of their linguistic repertoire and ability

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impact the wellbeing of a learner. From that point onwards, discussions and activities were factored into my lessons to broach this subject further. The motivation was fourfold: to help students celebrate existing strengths in their language repertoire, to emphasise the interconnected nature of languages, to understand the acquisition process, and to offer reassurance that although the frustration is normal, it will eventually pass.

In an attempt to understand better the behaviours of my students, I researched the concept of identity construction, rooted within the field of sociolinguistics and language ideologies. This area explores the relationship between language and identity. As outlined by Blackledge & Pavlenko, the key characteristic is that language and identity are a process of ‘ongoing construction, negotiation and renegotiation of identities in multilingual settings’ (2001:243).

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Allow me to begin by describing one of the worst moments in my teaching career. This is not the usual protocol when wanting to share good practice. However, without this incident, it’s unlikely that these developments would have transpired. Whilst supporting a young Arabic speaker with the reading of a simple story book, I employed the strategy of encouraging her through praise. Genuinely impressed with her progress, I commented on how well she was doing. She stopped, turned to me with the most frustrated expression, and said ‘But Arabic I read very good.’ My heart sank, and the realisation that students can have very different, often negative, perceptions of their own ability in a new language really struck a chord with me. My well-intended efforts to encourage her had been received as patronising and insensitive. With my proverbial wrist firmly slapped, I had been made acutely aware that language learning isn’t just a developmental process of acquiring skills. More significantly, it is also an emotional journey that has the potential to

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Language matters languages and, in turn, language policy and pedagogy. The dominant language in an international school setting is more often than not the language of instruction, usually found at the top of the hierarchical pedestal in terms of status and prestige. One’s proficiency in that language can be used as an unjust marker to determine the social standing of community members, especially students.

Simultaneously, there can be an individual’s desire to identify with a society on the grounds of acceptance. The latter aspect moves into the realm of socio-psychology, as people strive to integrate due to a perceived sense of vulnerability and insecurity in a new language environment.

Such pressures can be reinforced by parents, whose good intentions about their child becoming proficient as soon as possible in the school’s language of instruction often add to this burden and entrench misunderstandings around language acquisition. The need to dismantle this language hierarchy to foster a healthier, multilingual climate becomes apparent.

Dewaele & Nakano (2013) researched the notion of multilingual speakers feeling different when switching languages. For me, this became tangible when students presented their projects in their home language and English. From the marked differences in confidence, body language, depth of content and language usage, this confirmed the place and value of home languages in my classroom. To summarise, there are many emotions associated with language acquisition: my reading explained the observations made in the classroom, and confirmed my commitment to explore this further through the lens of social and emotional wellbeing. This initiative now underpins the languages philosophy and pedagogy implemented in my school context today, and this article shares some of the key practices developed to date.

To offer some context, the educational setting is United World College Maastricht (UWCM) in The Netherlands. The practices outlined have evolved over the last seventeen years, along with the school and its identity. As the English Language Learning (ELL) Coordinator, my role entails supporting the many students who arrive with little or no English at the primary, middle and high school. We do not select students based on their proficiency in English: to do so would disqualify many students from applying and would contradict the UWC mission. The upshot of this opendoor proficiency policy is a whole-school ELL department designated to serve the language needs of our students.

With 115 nationalities, the school is a rich melting pot of linguistic diversity. Students’ need for social and emotional support, whilst learning the school’s language of instruction, remains the common denominator.

The practices outlined below range from community and small group to individually focused tasks, with the overarching purpose to raise awareness among students, teachers and parents as we strive for an environment where all languages are respected and supported. The school’s language philosophy and policy is the keystone to all of this work. Investing time to articulate the school’s standpoint on this forms a compass and reference point for all members of the community. Ensuring that this policy is well communicated is essential, and the following approaches have supported this process.

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There are many emotions associated with language acquisition.

Offering reassurance and highlighting existing strengths through language badges Language badges are the initiative of our Student Buddy Service group, born through our Youth Social Entrepreneurship programme where a team of IB Diploma Programme (DP) ELL students advocated for their language needs as equal members of our school community. These students support our newly-arrived high school students and help them to access our community as they transition into the new school and language. As translators in assemblies for leaders of Linguistic Diversity workshops offered to new staff, parents and students, this activity counts towards their Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) commitment. Our community members are encouraged to wear their language badges for the purpose of celebrating our community’s linguistic diversity, and to make it easier to connect with people as we get to know each other. This activity also highlights controversial topics such as the use of flags to represent languages. Giving community members control over their badge design offers autonomy and plenty of conversation starters. A fun sense of competition also transpired among staff, and some of the more creative badge-makers found themselves commissioned to make badges for others!

Demonstrating the interconnected nature of languages, offering reassurance, celebrating existing strengths and understanding the language acquisition process through visual and tangible language profiles This activity can be implemented using a range of materials and visuals. It can also be adapted to suit any age from kindergarten to high school. Its purpose ranges from raising community awareness about linguistic diversity, and creating a central display in the school in order to represent the languages in the community, to raising awareness of the individual’s transient linguistic profile and current strengths.

As well as being included as one of the Linguistic Diversity workshop activities run by the Student Buddy Team, this also forms part of our language profiling activities when new students arrive. Community members are asked to draw their language profile using shapes. The larger the shape the greater the proficiency in the language. These spark fun and interesting discussions as we consider our profiles as individuals and as a group. This sets the tone for further dialogue and establishes a common language when we revisit this as part of our ongoing assessment practices.

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An example of this activity with younger students, using pizza slices as an analogy

An example of a language profiling activity with a new student

Tracking language development over a period of time to offer reassurance and raise awareness of the language acquisition process Inspired by Professor Paul Kei Matsuda’s keynote at the 2017 ECIS MLIE conference in Copenhagen with a focus on assessment and accountability, this activity helps students to observe their language development over a period of time.

More specifically, it helps with the identification of which skills have progressed and areas for further development. The task entails a student selecting a current piece of work and comparing it with a previous piece of work completed earlier in the school year. In our context we use this as part of our portfolio and three-way conferencing practices because it helps students to find and provide evidence of their growth.

Raising awareness about the interconnected nature of languages, celebrating existing strengths and explaining the language acquisition process through skills per language activity This activity is designed to help students to understand that their skills per language can differ and to help them to identify personal language targets. This can also contribute towards building self-esteem as students realise that their profile consists of skills that are already strong. Constructive dialogue can also help students to realise that these strengths have the potential to help them navigate their new languages.

Exploring the interconnected nature of languages and different language domains through body silhouettes Roswita Dressler’s article (2015) inspired this activity. We are asked to consider where our languages are in our bodies and why we place them there, through real-time silhouettes drawn to scale (a great motivator for younger students!) to a simple silhouette drawn on A4 paper. This exercise facilitates discussion around language and emotion. It also raises awareness about the interconnected nature of our languages and their different purposes in our lives, and is an activity well worth revisiting at regular intervals to bring any subtle profile changes into consciousness.

An example of using scales 0-100 to ascertain a student’s perception of their language proficiency.

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An example of the activity used as part of our portfolio documentation. This reflects home, host and school languages.

Parent Education Workshops to offer reassurance, to demonstrate the interconnected nature of languages and to raise awareness of the language acquisition process Inspired by Eowyn Crisfield’s 2018 workshop ‘Parents as Language Partners’ at UWCM, we have revived our parent workshop practices and now host a number of workshops throughout the year. A key aspect of these workshops is empowering parents to map out their child’s language pathway by identifying which languages will be developed and for which purposes. For this to be a successful partnership, understanding parents’ expectations is fundamental so creating opportunities for discussion is key. These activities now form part of our parent feedback practices where the parents have the opportunity to | 2020

Language matters

We continue to strive for a place where linguistic diversity is utilized and celebrated, where the interconnected nature of languages is nurtured, and where the language acquisition process is understood. share their own expectations, having seen their child’s expectations in the portfolio. This information can be used to inform the succeeding three-way conferences and new language goals established in collaboration with the parent, teacher and student.

cards and as terminology between adults, this process has been visualised and is used as a reference point when discussing the skills with students. Over time, students become familiar with the terminology and make reference to it themselves. It offers reassurance that progress is being made and it also manages expectations that language learning takes time and investment.

A visual breakdown of a student’s language profile (A1-B1 range) using assessment data following a request from a Year 4 student.

An example of a parent feedback form in response to the child’s expectations

To conclude, the implementation of a wide range of activities has helped us to adopt a more holistic mind-set towards languages in our community. It remains a work in progress.

We continue to strive for a place where linguistic diversity is utilized and celebrated, where the interconnected nature of languages is nurtured, and where the language acquisition process is understood. Most significantly, the agency demonstrated by the students through these activities has taught us that a healthy multilingual environment can only be truly established when the social and emotional wellbeing of its language learners is acknowledged, supported and prioritised by all members of its community.

References Blackledge A and Pavlenko A (2001) Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts. International Journal of Bilingualism, 5 (3), 243-257 Dewaele J-M and Nakano S (2013) Multilinguals’ perceptions of feeling different when switching languages, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 34 (2), 107-120

An example of a student’s expectations Understanding the language acquisition process by naming it In our context we use the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) when assessing a student’s language proficiency. To avoid this language being reserved for report Winter

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Dressler R (2015) In the classroom. Exploring Linguistic Identity in Young Multilingual Learners. TESL Canada Journal, 32 (1), 42

Niki Cooper-Robbins is English Language Learning Coordinator at United World College Maastricht, The Netherlands Email: n.cooper@uwcmaastricht.nl

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Translanguaging and the journey to effective bilingualism Peter Daignault examines the real objective of EAL/ELL

1. That mother tongue learning is best (UNESCO, 2017).

2. That a time period of 5-7 years is required for an EAL student to develop enough academic language, after which L2 English speakers may achieve competitive parity to native English peers in schools (adapted from Cummins, 1979) 3. That the stronger a student’s L1, the more effective the acquisition of an additional language (L2).

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Finally, the article chronicles a four and a half year learning journey, from grade 8.5 to 12.5, of a Japanese male student with a beginner level proficiency (WIDA, 2020) in English.

An examination of the student’s learning disposition and context is presented.

The context of the student Hiro (not his real name) arrived from Japan at our international school in eighth grade at the age of 13. It was already February and Hiro had missed a month and a half of school.

With nearly 2/3 of the school year completed, a successful transition seemed daunting to conceive in so little time.

9th grade, therefore, would be decisive. Among the critical novelties and challenges of Hiro’s transition were: • The English Medium of Instruction (EMI) school and the international school culture • Academic standards and expectations • A ‘western’ learning style Summer |

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This article presents the context of, the rationale for, and the progress towards the development of effective bilingualism in international schools. Here, effective bilingualism refers to a high-level development of first language (L1) and a high-level acquisition of second language (L2). This bilingual proficiency allows for a student’s cognitive and competitive productivity, such as in learning and in demonstrating learning (adapted from Cummins, 1979).

This article is also based on three core understandings of L2 acquisition and learning:

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The translanguaging activities began simply and became more complex as Hiro’s bilingualism emerged.

• A computer as learning companion • Most importantly, a new language of learning and community It was Hiro’s and his family’s first time living outside of their home culture, Japan. His proficiency score in the latter half of 8th grade placed him at the intermediate range on the middle school proficiency test (WIDA) – although later he confessed that he did not even understand the questions on the test!

Hiro enrolled into an EAL support class and remained there for the rest of the short year. Other factors which would determine Hiro’s success in learning at an EMI school relate to his character. What kind of a student and boy is Hiro? His disposition matters.

• • • • • •

Is he academic or sporty?

Is he extroverted or reserved?

Will he make friends?

Will he join clubs and teams?

How strong is he in his L1?

Did he begin developing formal academic language at school back in Japan?

CALP Academic language development Of special note is the timing of Hiro’s arrival. Across cultures, the ages 12-14 generally herald a significant shift in academic rigor, from a ‘middle school’ and/or ‘lower form’ to a ‘high school’ and/or ‘upper form’ stage of learning. Even a light examination of these phrases, ‘upper’ vs ‘lower’, imply a significant cognitive shift. The success of this language development depends largely on the entirety of previous academic L1 development.

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academic language, for a beginner speaker of English as an L2 in 9th grade, seems insurmountable. In addition, the learning culture at international schools sometimes does not help. It is unfortunate but still common to witness teachers who stress that English language development is required before learning takes place.

Translanguaging and the emergent bilingual Hiro’s 9th grade proficiency level (WIDA) was an overall 1.9; an ‘entering’, beginner, level. According to the accompanying ‘can-do’ descriptors, Hiro could ‘provide basic information about self’, ‘read everyday signs’, ‘label images’, and ‘point out objects when named orally’. Therefore, translanguaging (learning across languages) was the only option if Hiro were to learn anything. In a meeting to discuss Hiro’s linguistic context and strategies, teachers were advised to engage in translanguaging as much as possible to afford him the opportunity to access learning in Japanese, his L1. Thus, all learning activities became immersed in English, in Japanese, and through both a western cultural context and Hiro’s home-culture context. The translanguaging activities began simply and became more complex as Hiro’s bilingualism emerged. Below, some of the activities are listed in increasing complexity. They were: • Translation of content terminology as a primary activity • Creating 2 column lists of vocabulary for science, mathematics, social studies and English (see Figure 1)

Figure 1 Translations of key vocabulary • Writing in Japanese and producing a translation in English with Google translate • Finding texts such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ in Japanese (see Figure 2)

Figure 2 A translation of ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ • Allowing Hiro to read a Japanese short story for English short story unit • Accessing Japanese culture for learning • In the social studies colonialism unit, Hiro researches Japanese colonial history in Korea and China • For the journalism unit, Hiro writes a news article (see Figure 3) based on a classic children’s story, ‘Momotaro’

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Hiro is an international student success story because of translanguaging, which has allowed him to learn.

Figure 3 News article based on Japanese children’s hero Momotaro • For the unit on political systems, he researches various political parties in Japan.

• The Works Cited page (see Figure 4) of his research looks like this:

Figure 4 Works Cited page reveals research carried out in L1 • Accessing learning videos on YouTube • Accessing learning materials in Japanese (see Figure 5) through Japanese language searches of key concepts, skills, and knowledge

• Parent-supported self-study in mathematics and chemistry using Japanese textbooks • Analyzing political cartoons’ conventions and techniques These are just several of the translanguaging bilingual learning experiences that Hiro has had throughout his high school experience. Through translanguaging, Hiro now effectively learns bilingually. Moreover, having nearly completed the first half of grade 12, Hiro has thus far written a bilingual college application essay for a Japanese and a US university, engaged in a bilingual research project, and delivered a bilingual TED Student Talk.

Concluding thoughts There are many ‘Hiros’ in international schools. They leave their home languages and cultures at a relatively late age (11-14), and face the immense challenge of learning in a language in which their proficiency levels impede learning.

Hiro is an international student success story because of translanguaging, which has allowed him to maintain and develop his L1 and, most importantly, to learn. He deserves much of the credit for this success. His work ethic and levels of maturity have enabled him to develop a high degree of bilingualism.

When questioned about his ‘type of bilingualism’ using Cummins’ model, Hiro replies that he still needs to develop his formal academic Japanese. He says that he is in between the first and second levels of bilingualism, A and B. That said, Hiro will return to Japan to continue his tertiary learning in Japanese. And while he knows he will also have to work hard to re-integrate into learning in his L1, he feels confident and sufficiently prepared to do so.

According to Hiro, effective bilingualism was not easy at first. However, as his translanguaging practice normalized, so did his efficiency and efficacy. This refutes the argument that bilingual learning is too time-consuming and requires too much effort. Indeed, effective bilingualism is simply another approach to learning that is appropriate for all students who are bi/multilingual. After all, why should students who are bilingual learn monolingually? Hiro commented that by his last two years in high school he did not notice the extra effort or extra time involved.

Bilingualism, to him, had become the standard method of learning. Finally, Hiro’s linguistic and cultural identity were maintained, developed, and dignified throughout his 4.5 years at an English medium international school.

References Cummins J (1979) Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters.

Working Papers on Bilingualism. 19: 121–129.

UNESCO (2017) Mother tongue-based multilingual education: the key to unlocking SDG 4: quality Education for All, Available via https://unesdoc. unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247333 WIDA (2020) https://wida.wisc.edu/

Peter Daignault is a teacher of IBDP Language and Literature, French, Spanish, EAL, and a co-teacher of social studies Email: padaignault@gmail.com Figure 5 Chemistry work from class activity Summer |

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Features

Students from Canterbury Primary on a trip to Parliament House, Canberra, Australia.

Teach humans not subjects Brendan Hitchens offers a perspective on education for a changing world If education is solely about preparing young people for the future, then they are being sold short of the knowledge, the capabilities and the skills they already possess – so too the impact they are capable of making right now. 2019 was a prime example of the power of youth, with 16-yearold Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg being named Time Magazine’s person of the year, eight-year-old Texan toy reviewer Ryan Kaji becoming the highest earner on YouTube with an annual income of US $37 million, and then 17-year-old musician Billie Eilish nominated for six Grammy Awards for her genre-defying debut album. And let’s not forget the countless young people who campaigned for LGBT rights, gun control, Indigenous sovereignty, mental Winter

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health advocacy, gender equality and immigration, leading to changing policy, laws, minds and thinking. The sage words of US academic and anthropologist Margaret Mead have never rung truer: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has’. So-called Generation Z are not only engaged; they are empowered, and education must react accordingly.

With another decade of the 21st century upon us, jobs across all sectors of the workforce are already beginning to look drastically different. A changing economy, growing populations, environmental degradation and the automation of roles are but a few of the issues we continue to face. As

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Greta Thunberg and Billie Eilish are two examples of the power of youth.

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community groups, sister-school relationships or environmental education. They can amplify their voice through social media, eLearning tools and constantly advancing technologies, such as a school radio station or podcast, a student magazine, or a YouTube video channel.

Global citizenship, and consequentially contextual learning, address the key skills that many educational theorists have described as the 4Cs: critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. Using the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals and integrated into existing curriculum areas such as science, mathematics, literacy and the humanities, students can learn about and begin to tackle the world’s biggest problems as defined by the United Nations.

One successful example of this is The Foundation of Young Australians’ $20 boss program, in which they encourage students to create a social enterprise that will have a positive impact in their local community and abroad. 2019 projects included Melba Secondary College students in Victoria running an event selling handmade food products to their community, with all proceeds going to refugees in South East Asia; a student from Scotch College in Adelaide who created a digital photography company that is completely carbon-neutral; and students from Tregeagle Public School in New South Wales who addressed food wastage by collecting and using seconds from local fruit farmers to make and sell condiments. In the words of the Foundation: ‘young people are ambitious, creative and capable of rethinking the world and solving tomorrow’s problems today. And can do it all with a social conscience that will let them build a better world in the process’.

With great hope and the future in mind, next time someone asks you what you teach, tell them ‘humans’.

Because education is so much more than a subject. Education may be a basic human right, but being a teacher is a privilege.

The chance to shape and inspire young people each and every day is a rare opportunity, and one that should never be taken for granted. So, here’s to our students: the artists and the activists, the explorers and the entrepreneurs, the creators and the change makers. Here’s to the here and now.

Brendan Hitchens is an educator from Melbourne, Australia Twitter: @brendanedu Email: hitchens.brendan.b@edumail.vic.gov.au Summer |

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has been said many times, we are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. These new challenges present new opportunities but, as a world, we have never been better connected, nor better educated to tackle these problems.

As most professions are evolving at a rapid pace, so too must education. It’s time to say goodbye to the ‘sage on the stage’/‘chalk and talk’ era of teaching, the factory line of graduates, the rote learning and memorisation of text books, and one-size-fits-all standardised testing. Instead education across the world must utilise student voice and agency, and focus on connectedness, collaboration and co-creation. One such way to do this is through the medium of global citizenship.

The Victorian Department of Education and Training in Australia defines global citizenship as ‘an awareness of our interconnectedness with people and environments around the globe and their contribution to a global society and economy’. According to the Department, which referenced it in their Framework for Improving Student Outcomes: ‘when students develop a sense of global citizenship, they learn to respect key universal values such as peace, sustainability and upholding the rights and dignity of all people. Global citizenship programs develop students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and competencies. Effective schools draw on real life intercultural experiences which deepen students’ understanding of the world and their place in it’. Global citizenship education provides the opportunity for students to learn about real-world issues in real-world contexts. It encourages them to take on different perspectives and to make informed decisions. It also allows students to see the impact of their learning and that it is not happening in isolation. Through integrated and inquiry learning, students can learn big-picture ideas such as identity and diversity, peace and conflict, and globalisation and interdependence.

Students of today are technologically savvy, critical and divergent thinkers who are more and more becoming active and informed citizens. They want to know not only what they are learning, but why they are learning it. Student voice allows them to raise their views, concerns and ideas, as well as to share their experiences and ambitions. Through voice and agency, students can initiate school-wide campaigns, such as rubbish-free lunches, a recycling program or water-conserving drink taps. They can extend this learning to participate actively in not only their schools, but also communities, locally and globally – be it field trips, camps, study tours, volunteering with

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‘A smooth sea never made a skilful sailor’ Rob Ford explains why creating a positive school culture is the key to a successful international school Even before the chimes of clocks around the world fell silent, heralding in the new year and new decade, some colleagues of mine in international schools around the world were looking ahead to the first day back with trepidation at what they may face in the new term as school leaders. Reflecting Winter

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on the journey of any school, the distance that can be covered in a short space of time cannot be overestimated for genuine school improvement in diverse contexts with a clear strategy anchored in the establishment of a positive school culture. No school stays at the top forever, and as

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Our true sense of urgency is to get our schools to be high-performing in everything they do, and the only way that will happen is when all staff are working towards this goal.

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It is the strength of the school community as a whole, but in particular the staff, that moves a school forward and allows a foundation to be built that permits any new Leadership Team to tackle the fundamental issues I have just described.

Creating a ‘positive school culture’, coupled with learning that is rooted firmly in a World Class 21st Century approach, is a systemic process with stability as the only way forward. There are always plenty of curveballs and steep learning gradients to climb along the way, but empowering our colleagues to be leaders is central to this success. John Kotter has published frequently on the notion of ‘urgency’ in addressing issues head-on. Big changes cannot happen without it, but there Summer |

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contexts change and education becomes more complex as we go into the new decade of the 2020s, the challenge for international school leaders is accepting uncertainty as the norm – and the way in which we respond to change is crucial. It can range from falling rolls, a cycle of poor results, fundamental and frequent changes in the school leadership and ownership, an untenable financial deficit, unstable national/regional contexts, recruitment crisis of staff; and the list goes on. It reads like a horror story for potential school leaders, especially those looking at leaving their national system to work in the international school system. But the challenge can also be the motivation.

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Features is a need to focus our efforts in order to avoid what Kotter also calls ‘a false sense of frenetic urgency’ rather than a ‘true sense of urgency’. Our true sense of urgency is to get our schools to be high-performing in everything they do, and the only way that will happen is when all staff are working towards this goal. In an article for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Leah Shafer (2018) asked what makes a good school culture, and quoted the work of Ebony BridieMitchell: ‘A culture will be strong or weak depending on the interactions between people in the organization. In a strong culture, there are many overlapping and cohesive interactions, so that knowledge about the organization’s distinctive character — and what it takes to thrive in it — is widely spread.’

The only way we can take any school forward is by building capacity in our staff – in the leaders with the formal titles, and particularly in those without. A well-executed and properly targeted quality assurance system is a key part of building capacity in individuals. I witnessed, and was part of, the leadership of such a QA system and approach in my former school in Royal Wootton Bassett, UK. In 2011, because

of this work, the school became the first and only school to obtain 27 ‘outstandings’ in 27 Ofsted national inspection categories. Canadian writer Michael Fullan (2015) says this about accountability: ‘Accountability assumes that the most important thing to do is to make sure that a person down below acts in line with direction or criteria passed down by someone higher up. It is often understandable (but wrong) to conclude that because the education system often lacks focus, we must tighten it with strong direct accountability. At best, carrot and sticks work only in the short term, and always become dysfunctional in the middle to long terms, as Daniel Pink (2009) has convincingly shown in his book ‘Drive’, an examination of motivation … my colleagues and I have shown time and time again that if you give people skills (invest in capacity building), they will become accountable … tighten the screws and they will game the system … In short, accountability is achieved through targeted capacity-building rather than directly’.

It is implicit that professionalism and professional responsibilities underpin our organisations and structures:

The only way we can take any school forward is by building capacity in our staff – in the leaders with the formal titles, and particularly in those without.

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At some point, any school in turbulent seas need to move from a ‘vicious cycle’ to a ‘virtuous cycle’ if they are to move forward and control their future as a school.

professional courtesy, compliance with duties and tasks, relevant standards, and so on. In order to develop an organisation where leadership is distributed, professional capacity building in individuals is targeted. Where there is a sense of common purpose and the only deciding factor in leadership conversations and decisions is ‘what is for the good of the school?’, we need to trust and devolve more, not less. This does not happen by chance, and is due partly to a positive school culture but also to a targeted strategy aimed at getting staff to want to offer more discretionary effort.

Doug Lemov’s blog ‘Teach like a Champion’, and many of his recent thoughts shared through his social media channels, have resonated. Lemov once tweeted Monet’s ‘resistance is always proportional to the scale of change being attempted’ and has concurred with UK headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh’s premise that ‘The Head/LT’s main focus should not be the kids, but the staff. Happy staff means happy kids’. This is what we are working towards with our staff as leaders. Every external verifier will question variability in leadership standards as a key thread to pull as a school priority. We may have to model and scaffold the steps sometimes, but ultimately their ownership of their QA, their learning areas or faculties, and the raising of standards and attainment linked to where a school wants to be, can only be achieved by building their individual capacity. Taking fear, capriciousness and inequity out of any school with a consistently positive school culture allows leaders to tackle fundamental structural weaknesses across any school. I am yet to see the leadership strategy or philosophy that says fear and metaphorically bashing the staff over the head regularly will improve outcomes in the medium and long terms.

At some point, any school in turbulent seas need to move from a ‘vicious cycle’ to a ‘virtuous cycle’ if they are to move forward and control their future as a school. Leaders lead and direct this climate as a Leadership Team, and honesty in dialogue and discussions is always central to the way we achieve our aims because we are all motivated by making decisions that can only be for the good of the school.

International school leaders entering the new decade with apprehension would be wise to ensure that the schools we lead are built on positive cultures, and that the challenges which inevitably arise in any country and context are not the rocks we are driven onto in rough seas, but the ones we navigate safely as a team – with a common purpose permeating the entire wider community as we chart a course for smoother waters.

References Fullan M (2015) The Principal: three keys to maximizing impact, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Kotter J P (2008) A Sense of Urgency, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Shafer L (2018) What Makes a Good School Culture? Available via: https:// www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/07/what-makes-good-school-culture

Rob Ford is Director of Heritage International School in Chisinau, Moldova, and was previously Principal of Wyedean School, Gloucestershire, UK. See his blog ‘Mail from Moldova’ on https:// mailfrommoldova.home.blog/blog/ Email: robert.ford@heritage.md Summer |

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From isolation to collaboration Leila Holmyard and Devin Pratt on breaking barriers and making connections in international schools Elementary teacher Samantha Sams describes isolation as ‘the disease that killed my love of teaching’ (2015). With its roots in the industrial revolution, the teaching profession has long been a solitary endeavour. A study in the USA by Scholastic and the Gates Foundation (2012) found that only about 3 percent of teacher time is spent collaborating with colleagues.

The majority of teachers plan, teach and assess in isolation, leading to less inspiring student experiences, inconsistent curriculum implementation, reduced teacher commitment to the school, and a lack of innovation (Hord, 2008; Mawhinney, 2008; Levin, 2006). In this article, we consider how the broader research on teacher isolation may be applied to the international school community, and suggest five strategies to promote collaboration in international schools. Of the many negative impacts of teacher isolation, two stand out for us as having unique implications for international schools: reduced teacher commitment and inhibition of innovation.

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simultaneously to a new cultural and new professional context. This double impact is significant for international schools. Recruitment often comprises a major time and financial cost, and a high teacher turnover can affect a school’s productivity, reputation and morale. As such, retention of teachers is often a priority. By supporting new teachers to integrate into the school community, international schools lay the foundation for new teachers to develop a substantive commitment to the school.

Teacher isolation has been shown to stifle innovation in schools: when individuals concentrate only on their own role, they lack awareness of what the organisation as a whole can potentially achieve (Senge, 2006). International schools are uniquely positioned to be global leaders in educational innovation, often unrestricted by the financial, political and organisational challenges faced by national schools. Yet the continuing isolation of teachers may be limiting international schools in their embracing of innovative instructional approaches that allow schools to break free from

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Focus on teaching practice Structure team meetings around the following questions, adapted from Stuart (2016): • What knowledge, skills and dispositions should every student acquire?

• How will we know when each student has achieved the skills and dispositions?

• How will we respond when a student does not learn?

• How will we extend and enrich the learning of students who are already proficient?

These questions avoid housekeeping issues, and guide teams to practice-based collaboration, including curriculum articulation, creation of common assessments and a focus on individual student needs (DuFour, 2004). They lead teachers towards the sharing of successes and challenges around student learning, allowing them to improve their current practice and explore new approaches.

Establish norms to promote mutual respect When trust is present, teacher teams are more likely to cooperate, share ideas and develop collaborative relationships.

Taking time as a team to create a set of norms or guiding principles will make meetings respectful, focused and a safe place to take appropriate risks. This is especially valuable when sharing student learning data, which requires a level of professional vulnerability, but can have a powerful impact on student learning outcomes when underpinned by the four questions above.

Promote shared leadership Co-creation of norms provides another benefit: a sense of accountability to the team. When expectations and boundaries are clear, teachers can seek improvement by experimenting with new ideas. An example of this might be an agreement that every teacher in the team uses the same common assessment, but an individual teacher may trial a new instructional strategy to prepare students for the assessment and report back to the team. A balance of accountability and autonomy recognises that each teacher possesses expertise, and can both contribute to and benefit from being part of the team.

Create time for collaboration Teacher teams need dedicated time to meet in the school day. How schools use their time speaks to what they find

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important: job-embedded collaborative time shows that school leaders value team sharing and the contribution that teachers make to the shared knowledge of the school.

Ensuring teachers have the time they need to learn from one another pays dividends for the students, and facilitates the strategic renewal of the school.

Engage in and share professional learning Professional development related to the taught subject or to pedagogy is needed to promote creativity and stimulate dialogue in a team. Team members should also engage in professional learning about the structure and purpose of collaborative teams, and schools should identify team leaders and offer professional development to support their role.

This may include effective facilitation of meetings focused on practice and the development of leadership skills that engender trust.

International schools have the potential to be global leaders and innovators in education. To fulfil this role, school leaders must embrace collaborative learning by creating cultures and structures that support teacher dialogue focused on practice.

At the foundation of successful collaboration is the relationship between teachers: mutual respect, shared norms and shared leadership are key to successful teamwork. A collaborative environment also facilitates effective onboarding of new teachers, bringing consistency to curriculum delivery and stability to the international school community.

References Dufour R (2004) What is a professional learning community? Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6-11.

Hord S M (2008) Evolution of the Professional Learning Community.

Journal of Staff Development, 29(3), 66.

Levin H M (2006) Why is educational entrepreneurship so difficult? In: F Hess (ed) Educational Entrepreneurship. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, pp 165-182.

Mawhinney L (2008) Laugh so you don’t cry: Teachers combating isolation in schools through humour and social support. Ethnography and Education, 3(2), 195-209.

Sams S (2015) Uncovering the Cure [Online]. Medium. Available from: https://medium.com/@m0nkeyb3ll/uncovering-the-cure-b949e552a358 [Accessed 30 January 2020].

Scholastic and the Gates Foundation (2012) Primary Sources 2012: America’s Teachers on the Teaching Profession [Online]. Available from: https://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/pdfs/Gates2012_full.pdf [Accessed 30 January 2020].

Senge P (2006) The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (revised/expanded ed). New York: Doubleday.

Stuart T (ed) (2016) Global perspectives: Professional learning communities at work in international schools. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Devin Pratt is Assistant Head of School at Frankfurt International School. In July 2020 he will take on the role of Director at Walworth Barbour American International School in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Email: devinrpratt@gmail.com Leila Holmyard is an education consultant and International Baccalaureate workshop leader, site visitor and examiner based in Frankfurt, Germany.

Email: leilaholmyard@gmail.com Summer |

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conventional educational boundaries and become flexible, dynamic institutions that prepare students effectively for our rapidly changing world.

The antidote to isolation is collaboration. When teachers engage in dialogue, they connect ideas, share problems and solutions, seek feedback, reflect and offer mutual moral support. This leads to professional learning and a sense of belonging. Below we present five strategies for promoting collaboration in international schools. These emerge from the doctoral research of one of the authors, Devin Pratt, who explored the nature of group learning of a collaborative teacher team in an international school in Asia. The strategies are supported by the literature, notably the work of DuFour (2004) on Professional Learning Communities.

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English as a Medium of Instruction: challenges and solutions Trevor Grimshaw calls for a fully-developed approach If you are reading this article you will almost certainly know that English is the pre-eminent language of instruction around the globe. English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is found at all levels of education, from pre-school to postgraduate studies. A vast range of academic subjects are nowadays taught through the medium of English, including science, mathematics, technology, humanities, world history, business studies, physical education and the arts.

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at a phenomenal rate. Research suggests that by the year 2022 there may be as many as 11,000 English-medium international schools, employing half a million Englishspeaking teachers worldwide (Bunnell, 2016). Many parents see an English-medium primary and secondary education as the best way of preparing their children for higher education in the core English-speaking countries (the USA, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

As educational institutions all over the world seek to internationalise, the trend towards English-medium education is ever stronger in the ASEAN countries, India, China, the Gulf

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States, Africa and Latin America. In mainland Europe alone over 6,000 Masters programmes are delivered in English (Breen-White and Faethe, 2013). Nowadays, when a Chinese professor teaches Chinese History and Culture to a diverse cohort of international students in a Chinese university, they are increasingly likely to do so in English.

However, teaching subject knowledge and skills in English to learners of diverse backgrounds presents many challenges.

A much-cited survey of 55 countries commissioned by the British Council (Dearden, 2014) revealed widespread concerns about how to teach effectively through English. Relatively few institutions have written guidelines to support their staff in the practice of EMI. Here we should pause to note that EMI should not be confused with Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). EMI is not concerned with the teaching of the English language as a subject per se. EMI and TESOL constitute distinct professional communities and involve distinct skill sets.

Specific issues reported in the EMI research literature include the struggles of educators to communicate subject knowledge to students who have limited proficiency in the language of the classroom (Macaro, 2018). Quite understandably, teachers are often uncertain about how to address the needs of learners for whom English is a foreign, second or additional language. Intercultural communication is a major challenge in many pedagogical settings, not only in terms of classroom interaction but also in terms of differing expectations of the learning process. Furthermore, EMI is highly controversial in many contexts, because the acquisition of academic knowledge through a second language raises profound issues of national or ethnic identity. A key question is: If learners associate the English language with science, business and internationalist values, what assumptions will they make about other languages and cultures, including their own?

A fully developed approach to EMI would help educators to make informed decisions about how to teach and assess learners whose first language is not English. It would provide teachers with an understanding of the dynamic relationships between language, communication, comprehension and learning. It would equip them with strategies for ‘language conscious’ teaching. It would also provide a framework for the continuing professional development of English-medium educators. Such an approach would draw upon insights

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References Breen-White M and Faethe E (2013) English-Taught Master’s Programs in Europe: A 2013 Update, Institute of International Education Bunnell T (2016) The Changing Landscape of International Schooling, London: Routledge Dearden J (2014) English as a medium of instruction – a growing global phenomenon, London: British Council Macaro E (2018) English Medium Instruction: Content and language in policy and practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Dr Trevor Grimshaw is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education at the University of Bath and Director of Studies for the MA EMI. Email: edstg@bath.ac.uk Summer |

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An informed approach to EMI would enable school leaders to develop inclusive policies.

from a range of pedagogical approaches that have been practised in recent decades, including Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Content Based Instruction (CBI), Immersion Education, Language Awareness, and Language across the Curriculum.

An informed approach to EMI would enable school leaders to develop inclusive policies. It would help educators to develop a critical awareness of how English as a global language functions in relation to other languages in the curriculum. Given the diverse contexts in which EMI is used, a ‘one size fits all’ approach would clearly not be appropriate. Educational leaders need guidance on how to tailor their EMI policy and curriculum to suit their own specific institutional context. This approach would involve an understanding of the nature of bilingualism, multilingualism and plurilingualism. It would also consider how these relate to cognition, age and the social context of learning.

The approach would need to consider the diverse linguistic profiles of the educators themselves. They may be from countries where English is spoken as a national language (‘native speakers’); they may be ‘non-native speakers’; or they may be bilingual / multilingual professionals for whom English is only one of their working languages. There would also need to be a strong emphasis on the relationship between intercultural communication and learning. The approach would provide educators with the knowledge and skills to work across diverse cultures. Last but not least, teacher development for EMI would need to include training in practical research methods, so that educators could carry out classroom-based studies to inform the design of appropriate pedagogy and curricula.

Such are the aims of the MA English as a Medium of Instruction (MA EMI), a full-time postgraduate course that has been developed by the Department of Education at the University of Bath. The course is designed to help preand post-experience educators face the challenges of an internationalised environment. It builds upon the experience of the University of Bath as a centre for teacher education and research in the field of international schooling. And it draws upon the expertise of an internationally diverse team of tutors who have practised EMI in five continents. Informed by the latest research and practice, it provides a comprehensive introduction to the exciting and rapidly developing world of English-medium education.

The MA EMI is currently recruiting for September 2020: go.bath.ac.uk/ma-english-medium

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Cognia helps close performance gaps and creates culture of ongoing improvement Accreditation and planning processes address the big question: ‘How do we know that what we’re doing is really the best we can do?’ Sheppard Ranbom reports.

Manaret Heliopolis International School (MHIS) opened in Cairo, Egypt four years ago to provide students from families of relatively modest means a top-notch international education. ‘In a country where teacher-centric learning is everywhere, most Egyptian young people are apathetic about school by the time they reach middle and high school’ says Sam Welbeck, the school’s founding principal. ‘Our goal was to create the antithesis of a military-style learning regimen. We intentionally created a learner-centric school—a place where learning is fun and nurturing, and that creates lifelong learners who are free to think for themselves.’

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and one of only 13 IB schools in Egypt. Begun as a K–3 school, MHIS has added a new grade each year and now serves students in K–7. The school offers an inquiry-based, projectcentered approach that allows students to take responsibility for their own learning at a young age.

Mr Welbeck notes that two years after the school opened, its leaders wanted an independent, objective evaluation to see if the school was achieving its vision and high standards, and effectively executing its plan. The leaders turned to Cognia™ (then AdvancED®), an international accreditation, assessment and school improvement organization, to put their work to the test. ‘The choice of working with Cognia was easy,’ Mr Welbeck says. ‘We wanted to work with a group

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• Reflect on what they are doing • Seek to prove what the problem is and determine whether it requires a solution • Determine what type of solution is required based on evidence • Judge whether the proposed solution will solve the problem • Implement the solution and monitor results • Make regular changes based on results • Repeat the continuous improvement cycle New tools lead the way Mr Welbeck notes that the Cognia Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool® (eleot®) and stakeholder surveys have been particularly effective. The Cognia eleot, Mr Welbeck says, is the ideal instrument for a learner-centric school. Installed on cellphones and other mobile devices, eleot does not videotape the teacher but focuses on what students are doing and how they are responding in classrooms, across multiple aspects that support learning. ‘This app gives us a fair and objective assessment of classroom practice. It helps teachers improve their practice and school leaders develop policies to better support more engaging teaching.’

In addition, Cognia provides surveys that enable members of each institution’s educational ecosystem to share their perspectives and experiences. School leaders learn how the work of the institution affects these stakeholders, including, most importantly, students. Teachers, staff, parents, and students can work with building leaders to set school goals and gain a shared vision of what needs to be accomplished.

The stakeholder engagement process also helps to develop a common language and understanding about what learnercentric education is. ‘Everyone becomes part of the culture and conversation about how learners improve instead of

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focusing on what students are doing,’ Mr Welbeck says. The Cognia stakeholder process encourages student voice. At MHIS, for example, students participate with parents and other leaders on an advisory council suggesting needed changes at the school.

Actionable improvement plans Accreditation does not lead just to a seal of approval. At MHIS, educator and stakeholder committees focus on different areas of improvement to develop actionable plans to raise performance. All plans include clear decision checkpoints that allow the school to make changes in programs, policies, and practices in short periods of time.

The school has made particular progress in helping students (97 percent of whom are first-time English language learners) raise performance in English language literacy, including reading, grammar, and fluency. In the upper grades where students have been in school for two years or more, the school has seen a 34 percent increase in achievement on a commonly used standardized test that maps student growth across these skills in a year and a half. The school is now working to make the same types of improvements in numeracy, science, and social studies in the upper grade levels.

For lower grades, the school has created its own diagnostic exams to set benchmarks for and measure improvement.

Site visits expand horizons In the Cognia accreditation process, school leaders have opportunities to conduct accreditation reviews at schools in their own and other countries. ‘I’ve had the chance to see how schools in Eastern Europe and Egypt use eleot, monitor progress, and tackle their biggest challenges. That’s one of the best things about being part of the network. You see that every school is different, and you bring back new ideas.

Cognia doesn’t tell you what to do. They show you how to examine everything and make needed changes based on evidence. They help schools address their biggest questions, most notably: ‘How do we know that what we’re doing is really the best we can do for our students?’’ says Mr Welbeck.

For information on Cognia accreditation contact Dr Annette Bohling, Chief Certification Officer, or visit cognia.org Sheppard Ranbom is an education writer based in Washington, DC and president of CommunicationWorks, a Washington, DC-based public affairs and education consulting firm focused on improving the quality of education in the United States and other countries.

Cognia, formerly AdvancED l Measured Progress, is the world’s largest accreditor and offers accreditation and certification, assessment, professional learning, and improvement services to institutions and other education providers, serving over 80 countries and 36,000 institutions. The organization serves and supports nearly 25 million students and five million educators every day, and is a trusted partner in advancing learning for all. Find out more at cognia.org

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that had credibility and a broad global network. We also were intrigued by their accreditation process, which taught us some humbling lessons.’

Cognia showed Mr Welbeck’s colleagues that the school employed numerous performance-monitoring approaches to gather all kinds of data, but never put the data to use.

The school relied on teacher feedback, grades, and report cards to tell parents how well students were performing. But none of the micro-level information being gathered could demonstrate at the macro level if new programs and existing policies bolstered student and school performance.

‘Cognia showed us how to find the story the data tell.’ according to Mr Welbeck. ‘We learned that it’s not enough to know that in the second term Yusef exceeded his firstterm score in reading or math. The bigger questions are: ‘How is Yusef’s data helping us decide whether we are doing better for him and students like him? How does this and other data influence where we invest our financial resources and time to close performance gaps?’ ‘We were making the same mistake too many schools make. With no objective understanding of our performance, we attributed success to our own programs when grades went up and attributed every problem to students when grades went down.’

Now, Mr Welbeck notes that thanks to the accreditation process and its focus on continuous improvement, school officials systematically:

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Australian Olympic 800 metre runner Peter Bol and table tennis player Milly Tapper – the first Australian athlete to compete at both an Olympics and Paralympics – helped launch the new partnership at an event at Federation University’s Mt Helen campus on 6 November 2019. Image credit. Federation University.

Passion to profession Anne Louise Williams looks at the development of the next generation of sports leaders Many International Baccalaureate (IB) schools are aware of, and indeed participate in, the World Academy of Sport (WAoS) Athlete Friendly Education Centre (AFEC) initiative.

Schools are accredited as an AFEC when they demonstrate the requirements of providing exceptional support to their high-performing student athletes. These IB World Schools are then able to offer the Diploma Programme over an extended period for their student-athletes. WAoS has now partnered Winter

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with Federation University, Australia to offer jointly an IB Careerrelated Programme, International Sports Management (ISM).

Anne Louise Williams from WAoS recently caught up with Dr Sue Brown, Programme Director ISM, Federation University, and Chris Solly, Managing Director WAoS, to understand more about this partnership, why the programme will be of interest to schools, and what it provides for students. Their responses to her questions are as follows.

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Students will study career-related modules delivered online with ‘ready to teach’ resources and support for teachers from education and industry specialists.

Dr Brown, what types of subjects will students be offered as part of this CP and how will they be delivered?

SB: The university will offer students first year foundation subjects to be studied over the two years of the CP. These subjects may include Introduction to International Sports Management, Sports Event Management and Sports Marketing, as well as Managing Sport Development, or Sports Performance Management. A decision on exactly which subjects will be offered is currently being finalised by WAoS and Federation University. Students who successfully participate in and complete the courses in this CP, upon graduation will have direct entry and can apply credits to the undergraduate Bachelor of International Sports Management at Federation University.

Students will study career-related modules delivered online with ‘ready to teach’ resources and support for teachers from education and industry specialists. Our partnership with WAoS in developing the courses brings together real industry experience, making them engaging, practical and inspiring for students. The completely digital course delivery includes virtual classroom and interactive lessons so students can learn with other students.

The programme will deliver quality online courses with extensive teaching resources to help support students’ learning and have minimal impact on teachers’ time … the CP, International Sports Management modules will provide resources, in-depth notes, tools and teaching plans to help students achieve the best results possible in the programme.

Access to resources will be available and updated regularly to ensure the CP is taking on feedback from teachers.

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Chris, how advantageous would this CP be for students who are interested in working in the sports industry?’

CS: For those students who are committed to a career in global sport, the CP with a guaranteed pathway through to our Undergraduate in International Sports Management is a unique offer. It allows those interested in the industry to combine their passion with their profession, and is also potentially particularly interesting for schools who already are an accredited Athlete Friendly Education Centre and have strong relationships with local and national sporting organisations. WAoS and Federation University along with our many International [sport] Federation partners will provide not just a curriculum, but real-life experience and opportunities for industry connection and engagement whilst they are studying their course. In our opinion this is critical to set students up for life after their formal education as they move into the global sporting industry.

Dr Brown, Federation University based in Ballarat, Australia is known for its high employability of graduates. How has the University achieved this?

SB: Federation University has a proud history in graduate employment with 80% of sport management graduates gaining employment in the sport management industry within 6 to 12 months of graduating. Our teaching philosophy is underpinned with linking theoretical principles with ‘real world’ practices. We have a strong commitment to providing our students with opportunities to apply what they have learnt through their studies to ‘real world’ scenarios through industry placements. We believe this has put our students ahead of the field when it comes to employment. The sport management industry is diverse and can offer students a fulfilling career with a range of job opportunities in varying specialised fields. The global sport industry is worth US$ 700 billion and growing, and the demand for highly qualified, globally connected sport management professionals is growing. The sport management industry is a unique workplace where people are able to combine their passion for sport with a professional career.

If you are interested to know more about the IB Careerrelated Programme, International Sports Management, please email cp@worldacademysport.com for a schools information pack or go to the website passiontoprofession.sport Summer |

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Chris, firstly, what is the importance of this newly formed relationship between WAoS and Federation University?

CS: Federation University was chosen as the international IB Career-related Programme and undergraduate partner for WAoS based on a combination of factors, but mainly due to its standing with graduate employment success and learner needs. Federation University has a long history of working with industry to develop and deliver programmes that are of the highest academic standard mixed with practical experience through rigorous placements. This will be the first fully online IBCP and Undergraduate in International Sports Management, and WAoS is delighted to have partnered with such a forward-thinking university.

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Sponsored content

Five reasons to adopt English Medium Instruction into your school today Sacha Mlynek introduces a suite of programmes to help the transition English Medium Instruction (EMI) in secondary and primary schools is growing in popularity across the world. There are many reasons for this, including: • a desire to prepare students for EMI university courses • the high value put on English as a global language of business and popular culture • the personal enrichment gained by speaking more than one language EMI programmes are a type of education programme which aim to develop English proficiency by using English to teach the content and skills of mainstream curriculum subjects.

Example subjects might include the Sciences or Geography.

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These programmes take many forms, with instruction in English varying by amount of time across the curriculum or by subject area. Students on EMI programmes can be thought of as ‘multilingual learners’. This term recognizes their knowledge of other languages, including their first language (L1), as well as their developing knowledge of English.

It is often assumed that in order to learn English students should use only English. However, this is unlikely to be the most effective approach. Different types of research show that the first language (L1) spoken by multilingual learners is in fact an important tool in the successful learning of English.

Here are five reasons why you should start using English Medium Instruction in your classrooms.

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Sponsored content

1. Language proficiency and academic achievement

Maintaining and developing a student’s first language alongside English medium instruction is associated with: • better acquisition of English • beneficial outcomes in other academic areas • higher proficiency in L1

Our mind’s capacity for learning multiple languages is enormous. Research on multilingualism shows that when an individual knows more than one language, these languages actually support one another. There is extensive evidence of strong positive relationships between proficiency in the L1 and proficiency in a second language. Research has also shown that students who are educated in both their L1 and in English tend to learn English more effectively and do better academically than their peers who are educated in English only.

2. Bilingual programmes have better outcomes

Bilingual programmes lead to successful multilingual learners.

3. Non-bilingual programmes benefit when L1 is supported

The use of the ‘mother tongue’ in the classroom can also improve results in English in non-bilingual EMI programmes.

Sometimes bilingual programmes are not possible for a school, but research shows that the use of the L1 can also improve results in non-bilingual programmes. This includes using L1 to explain the meanings of new words, to compare and contrast the language features of L1 with English, and to teach thinking skills.

Some schools will be able to provide daily ‘mother tongue’ lessons for their students to support continued development in L1. Where even this is not practical, teachers can allow multilingual learners to use their L1s in ways that support their learning in English. Research shows that students organize their thinking, plan and review their work, and manage tasks more productively when they can collaborate with other students who share the same L1.

4. Engagement and motivation

Early and sustained provision of L1 support improves student engagement and motivation in education.

Research indicates that an inclusive attitude to students’ L1 has positive effects on their engagement in the education

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system. Parents should also be encouraged to provide home support. Some parents assume that speaking only English at home is the best way to help their children achieve their long-term linguistic, academic, and personal goals. In fact, parents can and should be encouraged to keep using their L1 at home, for example in conversation and reading, to nurture their child’s L1 development.

5. Social and emotional well-being

Programmes that value students’ L1 reinforce their identities, support their social and emotional well-being.

Research indicates that an inclusive attitude to students’ L1 has positive effects on their personal and cultural identities, and their social and emotional well-being. It is important in contexts with multiple languages that schools give value to all the L1s of their students by finding opportunities to use and celebrate them.

Ways forward The growing popularity of EMI programmes worldwide provides a unique opportunity for policymakers and school leaders to lead the way in emphasizing the importance of supporting the development of students’ L1 alongside English.

Different contexts will require different interpretations of how these key messages can be put into practice. However, there is rarely a strong case for English-only education, and so we urge policymakers and school leaders to implement EMI programmes that recognize and support students’ L1.

For more information on how Oxford University Press can help with English medium instruction in your classroom visit oxford.ly/EMI Email: Sacha.Mlynek@oup.com Summer |

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‘Bilingual programmes’ include EMI programmes which use both the L1 and English to teach the curriculum. Research shows that the mutually supportive relationship between languages is best when development in both languages is maintained for long periods. Bilingual programmes have better outcomes in English and other curriculum subjects than English-only programmes. The longer bilingual education can be maintained, the better the outcomes.

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

Helping students to get the best out of themselves Tunji David Lees argues that schools should dedicate more time to acquiring life skills As educators, we want our students to succeed academically and to guide them towards successful lives and careers.

According to a report by the World Economic Forum (2016), however, it is estimated that the majority of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist. In a world that is changing rapidly, we have to ask ourselves – how do we prepare our students for drastically different job markets and future technological innovation in a world we don‘t yet know? Let us explore several important factors that will help students to get the best out of themselves in any possible future, and then explore some practical ideas which can be implemented at school.

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increased multilingual ability and a high level of general adjustment. A quality international education will reinforce this, helping students to develop into well-rounded global citizens. As the world becomes increasingly globalised, we expect the international education industry to grow alongside it. It is now more important than ever for today’s youth to be comfortable in different cultural environments, to be adaptable to new ways of doing things, and to be understanding of others and their way of life.

Does your school offer a truly well-rounded education?

Let‘s look beyond academics here. The International Baccalaureate (IB) includes Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) as a core component of the Diploma Programme. Around 80% of IB Diploma graduates say that as a result of participating in CAS activities they have developed better interpersonal skills, self-awareness, empathy and planning skills, and have learned

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

to persevere and take on new challenges (Hayden et al, 2017). These so-called ‘soft skills‘ are all-important elements of personal development. There are similar components of non-formal learning in other curricula, and with many schools placing increasing emphasis on learning beyond the classroom through extracurricular activities and industry-related experiences such as STEM programmes and inter-school events such as Model United Nations (MUN).

STEM or STEAM Education STEM or STEAM Education is an interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics which is becoming increasingly popular in international schools. For good reason: it is estimated that 2.4 million STEM jobs in the United States went unfilled in 2018, and that this demand will increase by 13% over the next 10 years (Education Commission of the States, 2020; Smithsonian Science Education Center, 2020). Anticipating these factors, many schools are responding by developing their own STEM or STEAM programmes, to best provide their students with the skills necessary for these future careers, and to give them the best possible advantages when they enter the workforce.

While the benefits of such school programmes are clear, it is our view that greater emphasis should be put on student leadership and well-being.

Well-being can be described as the state of being healthy and happy. Leadership can be defined as getting the best out of yourself and others. By first learning to understand themselves, and then how to understand and collaborate with others, students can be successful and adaptable no matter what changes the world of tomorrow might bring.

Well-being and social emotional learning To date, the Kingdom of Bhutan is the only country in the world to have made well-being a fully integrated part of the national school curriculum. This was implemented on a systematic basis with the help of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, forerunners in the field. Statistical reports into the effects have shown not only a marked increase in student well-being, but also improved academic performance (University of Pennsylvania, 2020). In the past few years, many international schools have implemented well-being initiatives, but there is still much progress to be made across the education industry as a whole on the implementation of similar programmes.

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

• The first is to define the group of students you want to work with, whether it’s the entire school, one or multiple year groups, or a small cohort of student leaders.

• The second is to define the scope by setting clear objectives; what you want the students to get out of it, and how you will measure its effectiveness. The SMART model can be useful here.

• Brainstorm how to make the learning outcomes measurable and think of what resources you can use, for example journals, personal learning plans, student/ teacher mentor meetings, or other more creative ideas such as reflection games.

• Decide whether you want to have a one-off initiative or a deeper structural change. An important consideration will be whether you have the resources in-house, or whether it’s better to outsource. Budgetary constraints are also important, as well as securing administrative approval.

• If developing a consecutive programme, make sure to consider the fluid nature of international schools where students come and go every year; whatever you come up with needs to take that into account and be open both to existing students and to new arrivals.

• Finally, make sure what you’re designing is fun and engaging for students, as well as educational! There are a wide range of resources available online that can be used to help with ideas.

What the future holds In the first forms of organised education, in the time of ancient philosophers and scholars, knowledge was reserved

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for a small minority of the population. It took until the 19th century for the value of mass education to become recognised in the Western world, and for nation states to begin national programmes focused on educating children in reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Education has come a long way since then, with international schooling often leading the way in curriculum innovation. We would argue that schools should dedicate even more time to facilitating the acquisition of life skills. Only the development of the whole child, including well-being, social-emotional learning and leadership skills, helps to fully prepare them for the world of tomorrow – whatever that might bring.

References Education Commission of the States (2020) STEM Demand, Available from http://vitalsigns.ecs.org/state/united-states/demand Hayden M C et al (2017) The Impact of Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) on students and communities. Available from https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/ d1c0accb5b804676ae9e782b78c8bc1c/cas-finalreport-2017-en.pdf Smithsonian Science Education Center (2020) The STEM Imperative, Available from https://ssec.si.edu/stem-imperative University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center (2020) Positive Psychology Research, Available from https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/research/ positive-psychology-research World Economic Forum (2016) The Future of Jobs and Skills. https:// reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/chapter-1-the-future-of-jobsand-skills/#view/fn-1

Tunji David Lees is Head of Student Development at the Swiss Leadership Camp & Academy, and has been working to deliver experiential learning programmes for students and schools for over ten years.

Email: tunji@swissleadershipcamp.com

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Based on the experience of the Swiss Leadership Camp & Academy, there are several important points to consider when implementing or improving student personal development initiatives at school:

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

A key communication principle Richard Mast looks at cultural issues surrounding international schools in China When a Chinese school decides to incorporate an international curriculum or begin to use international teaching methods, it tends to follow a particular pattern of decision making. The assumption is that foreign teachers and administrators need to be brought in to model the teaching, and to assist with training the Chinese teachers. When the foreign teachers and administrators arrive, they take on the role of ‘experts’. That is, they have the role of being the experts in international curriculum, teaching and assessment. As such, they come in to demonstrate their skills and to help the Chinese teachers to understand what to do. The Chinese teachers step back from being responsible for the teaching and learning of the students, because the curriculum, its pedagogy and assessment are unknown. They defer to the experts. As such, they keep silent. Part of this results from cultural deference shown to leaders. In this case the foreigners are the leaders; therefore, they are not challenged or questioned.

The problem is that this scenario, although logical and essentially appropriate, has a component that is not helpful.

That is, there is a delineation of responsibility that is not helping the students. The students being exposed to the international curriculum are Chinese. Their perceptions, thinking processes, perspectives, values and responses are all based upon their cultural experience. When they are asked to learn according to the expectations of the international Winter

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curriculum, it should not be a surprise that they are confused, stressed and not able to comprehend what is going on, let alone what they have to do. If a foreign teacher could speak fluent Chinese in teaching a class, the students would still not know what is going on. This issue is not about language; it is about two cultures coming together and trying to find a pathway for the benefit of the students. If the foreign teachers continue to teach in their way, as they think they ought to, then the students will not progress in the ways that anyone wants them to.

For this coming together of cultures, some things have to happen that are outside of the standard approach taken in these schools. The foreign teachers are the experts in international curriculum, international teaching methods and assessment processes. The Chinese teachers are the experts in the learning of Chinese students. They are the experts in Chinese culture. There are two approaches available. The first is to impose the model of international education and expect the Chinese students to fit into that model: the students have to do all the heavy lifting by changing to fit the expectations that were created for children from western cultures.

The second approach is to build a teaching and learning model based upon Chinese culture. If we accept that Chinese students will always think and act in ways that are consistent and built upon Chinese culture, then the path to success has

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the pedagogy that is foundational to western teaching and that is assumed within the MYP approach. The teachers and administrators miss the point of the curriculum. They do not recognise that the essential component of international pedagogy is students learning to think. This drives western education but is not made explicit. The teachers and administrators can only respond to what they read or experience in their training. This type of assumption means that the curriculum is not interpreted in the ways intended.

Just as the foreign teachers need to listen to the Chinese teachers, the foreign administrators need to recognise that Chinese teachers, administrators and parents will interact with the international curriculum in ways that are unrecognisable to them. Of course they will. They can only interpret the curriculum from the foundation of their culture. Almost all elements of the international curriculum and operational components common in international schools are alien in this environment. The school leaders need to get to the heart of the Chinese views of education and then use this understanding as the prism for interpretation of the curriculum and operations in the school. Any suggestion that the international curriculum and its supporting processes can be brought into a Chinese school and assumed to be the way forward for the school borders on imperialism and is not appropriate. The principle here is that there has to be extensive and deep discussions about what it means to bring an international curriculum into a Chinese learning environment. This is not so say that it should not happen.

Rather, the argument is that a Chinese version of the international curriculum has to evolve if benefits are to be gained for the students in the medium and long term. That is, the students will be able to transition into a way of teaching and learning that is recognisable from a Chinese perspective and through which the students will have every chance of success in future international study.

For international organisations seeking to bring their services to China, the situation is exactly the same as described above. Whether it is an organisation seeking to offer accreditation services, training, curriculum materials or recruitment services, the Chinese way of thinking and operating is very different. The differences are much greater than the organisations may wish to face – but face the differences is what they have to do. If there is no adjustment, accommodation or flexibility of approach on a scale that is uncomfortable, then the chances of success are not high.

Organisations seeking to offer services in China will present structures, but it is the assumptions and processes that underpin their offerings that will be the issue. These have to be explored with an open mind and with a great deal of probing. Not only is the range of components operating in this situation very wide; there are points of contradiction, confusion and sensitivity that have to be identified and addressed. None of this is easy, but it is critical. Without this level and form of communication, the journey for the students, teachers, parents and administrators will not be what it should be.

Richard Mast trains Chinese and foreign teachers and administrators in China and Australia.

Email: rmast617@gmail.com Summer |

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to take that into account. The foreign teachers have to adapt their teaching strategies to take into account the learning styles of the students. For this to happen, they have to learn from the Chinese teachers. There has to be open and confident dialogue between the Chinese teachers and the foreign teachers. This is very hard to achieve. The Chinese teachers do not believe that they can teach the foreign teachers anything in relation to the international curriculum.

When this premise is presented to them, they become nervous and do not believe that they have a role to play.

The role of administrators is to bring this discussion into the open and ensure that there is an exchange of ideas. Again, this is difficult for all concerned. The foreign teachers have trouble accepting that they need to change their teaching and that they can learn from the Chinese teachers. The Chinese teachers do not believe that they can or should teach the foreign teachers. Part of the problem is that this type of conversation is not at all common in schools – but it must happen for the sake of the students. The Chinese teachers need to be able to tell the foreign teachers how the students will interpret their teaching method. Given that the Chinese teachers, at least initially, have real difficulty recognising that learning can happen with western pedagogy, this is not an easy conversation. When Chinese teachers first observe foreign teachers in their teaching, they are not at all convinced that learning is taking place. A long transition process of mutual understanding is needed for this to happen.

In the meantime, it is essential that the foreign teachers do not assume that what they say and do will transfer into a learning situation in the minds of the students. This is an example of ‘lost in translation’ beyond the linguistics. The students do not know what the teacher is expecting of them, and they do not know how and what to do. The Chinese teachers have to act as the conduits of communication.

Without their input the foreign teacher is wasting time and effort, and the students are not going to get the benefit of that input. The Chinese teachers have to be able to tell the foreign teachers that there are situations where what they think is happening is not actually the reality. The Chinese teachers have to see themselves as equals. In fact their role is very important, because without them presenting the reality of the experience for the students, the foreign teachers will not be able to be the effective teachers they want to be.

The foreign teachers have to probe and seek to understand what is happening in the minds of the students. The foreign teachers have to accept that they are also learners, as well as the students.

This situation goes beyond the classroom. A Chinese school may choose to take on an international curriculum without recruiting foreign teachers. This is just as fragile a situation. Even if the curriculum documentation is fully- and well-translated, the interpretation of that curriculum, the processes, the pedagogy, the expectations, the aims and the assessment is done in ways that are not intended by the curriculum designers. The teachers and administrators focus on the structure and do not fully recognise the educational values and processes that are implicit in the curriculum. The only things they can focus on are the structural components.

For example, when a school decides to pursue a curriculum such as the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), they focus on ideas such as ‘Inquiry’. The teachers are not experienced in

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

High Performance Learning: Building the cognitive competencies that we know lead to high performance We know what is possible and we know how to make it possible, writes Deborah Eyre Though traditionally we have assumed that high performance for all students was an impossible pipe dream, now it seems it could be possible – so in forward-looking schools this ambition will inevitably shape their work. Of course many teachers still think that everyone doing well is impossible, and that they are doing as well as they can – given the class Winter

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they are teaching. But it is worth remembering that there was a time in the past when educators thought girls could not achieve as highly as boys. We thought it was genetic because that’s what most psychologists believed. We also thought that students working in a second language would be unlikely to do as well as their monolingual peers. And

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Of course, building brains is not all straightforward. The journey for some is more difficult. Like driving, some will take longer to master it and pass the test – but that does not indicate how good their driving will be in the longterm. Teachers must move away from easy work for some or lowering the cognitive bar at the first sign of failure; just a redoubling of efforts and exposure to different types of opportunities is what’s required. It’s not ‘I can’t’, it’s just ‘Not

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yet’. Building self-belief in students is step one in building brains. But merely believing that everyone has the potential to become a high performer doesn’t make it happen. You don’t become a top athlete just by believing you could be one. If we want the vast majority of students to do well then we need to systematically build cognition, and that means focusing teaching on developing not only ways of thinking but also learner behaviour and values and attitudes.

Fortunately we know a lot from research about how the most successful learners think and learn, and it is this that we need to replicate if we are to deliver high performance for the many rather than the few. We need to optimise our teaching and learning so that everyone can do what high attainers have always done intuitively. What is more, we need to use contemporary research evidence to do this, and not only to rely on evidence from the past. While taxonomies such as Bloom’s Taxonomy were good for their time, research into cognition has moved forward a long way in recent years and these taxonomies no longer represent the state of the art.

What we know from a meta-analysis of the research into how the most able think and learn (Eyre, 2016) is that there are a set of cognitive competencies that really make a difference: 20 that relate to thinking (Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics) and 10 that relate to learning and life behaviours (Values, Attitudes and Attributes). These can be clustered into 8 sub-sets. Successful learners are beyond the novice stage on most of them but none of us master them all to the expert level. As the individual student starts to progress through the 5 levels from novice to expert they gain both capability and intellectual confidence, and that is what helps them to succeed.

Helpfully, most teachers will almost inevitably be doing some of what is necessary already, so this is not a case of starting from scratch so much as being much more disciplined and systematic. If we want success for everyone, not only those who catch on fast, then we need to ensure that we build all of the high performance learning (HPL) competencies via our teaching, and do so more deliberately and more frequently. That way students will have enough practice to give them a strong chance of gaining mastery.

We also need to draw students’ attention to them so they see their importance.

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we thought that dyslexia and dyspraxia would inevitably limit a child’s educational progress. Well, life has certainly proved otherwise. Girls are outperforming boys in school.

Multilingualism is now seen as an asset rather than a problem, and individuals with dyslexia and dyspraxia are at the top of various professions.

Yet in many schools, despite all research evidence to the contrary, it is still assumed that the majority of students are incapable of achieving highly. Recent research in leading international schools (Glass, 2019) found that more than 60% of teachers felt that they had students in their classrooms who are not capable of high performance. They, like many others, still see their students as having a certain level of ability and refer to them accordingly – as less able, more able, for instance. Of course many of these teachers have already accepted that innate ability does not account for everything.

They are familiar with the nature vs nurture arguments, and have accepted that factors such as environmental context and family background can play a part. Some have even adopted Carol Dweck’s (2008) Growth Mindset ideas. But the key point is that while they recognise these features, many teachers stay wedded to the idea that they are merely additional or even marginal factors. In the end they still believe that you either have what it takes to succeed in school or you haven’t. Hence we expect our exam outcomes to largely reflect the bell curve of ability rather than assume that high achievement could be the norm in our school.

Research shows, however, that intelligence is one of the least inheritable traits as it has no obvious genetic link (Rietveld, 2013). Throughout a child’s lifetime, as a result of their experiences, changes to DNA occur and it is these that determine a child’s skill development and intelligence levels rather than their birth genes. When we ensure that students have the right learning opportunities, the right support and the self-belief that they can achieve highly, then most of them do. Research from a whole variety of directions indicates this.

Why is this and why didn’t we know this before? Well, neuroscience tells us that the brain is exquisitely plastic and can be developed (Jaeggi et al, 2008). So it’s not a case of either born to succeed or born to fail. We can build intelligence, build new neural pathways. And not just a little growth. High performance really can be the standard and the norm in your classroom and in your school.

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Curriculum, learning and teaching

Competency development is not optimised if you hide it away. It needs to become the language of the classroom, and to have real effect it becomes the language of the entire school.

Furthermore, if competency building forms the backdrop of your teaching then it helps to make the intentions visible to students. Competency development is not optimised if you hide it away. It needs to become the language of the classroom, and to have real effect it becomes the language of the entire school, visible around the school and talked about and valued by every teacher, by the students and by their parents – starting as young as possible.

day to day practice, ways that promote independence of thought and mastery of the subject rather than merely preparation for the next assessment point. The 7 Pillars of High Performance Learning capture some of the key vehicles which support the development of the HPL competencies.

Each pillar is significant in itself and has a unique part to play, but it is when the pillars work in harmony that we start to see amazing results.

When in 2010 my research into high performance learning was first published, cognition was not in fashion in educational circles. Now however, with rapid strides in neuroscience and the wider learning sciences, cognition is starting to be recognised as the key to educational performance. The field of learning science is growing, and schools are moving away from data-driven school improvement and towards data-informed self-improving schools with learning at their heart. At the same time we are discovering more and more about how our genetic make-up develops and the sense of possibility this offers. So we know what is possible and we know how to make it possible. International schools have a unique opportunity to explore this new world without constraints from government, and professional learning communities in reflective international schools are discovering that education can, and should, expect more from more.

References Dweck C S (2008) Mindset: the new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books.

Eyre D (2010) Room at the Top: Inclusive Education for High Performance.

London: Policy Exchange.

Eyre D (2016) High Performance Learning: How To Become A World Class School. London: Routledge.

Glass R (2019) Even the best can be better: Could your staff attitudes towards students be holding you back? Oxford: High Performance Learning (www. highperformancelearning.co.uk) Jaeggi S M, Buschkuehl J J and Perrig W J (2008) Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 105(19):6829-33 Rietveld C A et al (2013) GWAS of 126 559 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with educational attainment. Science, 340:1467–1471

Professor Deborah Eyre is a global educational leader, academic researcher, writer and influencer focused on helping good schools become world class.

The building of these crucial HPL competencies is made easier by working in ways that naturally embed them into Winter

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Email: Deborah.Eyre@highperformancelearning.co.uk

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Fifth column

A hero for today: Trump or Gump?

E T Ranger compares and contrasts

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with it. An expatriate child growing up in a developing country, attending an elite international school with fee assistance from a major employer, may have a comfortable sense of privilege and an image of a ladder of ambition on which we start half way up.

Another is the Gump model. Forrest Gump started with physical, intellectual and social disadvantages in an impoverished single-parent family, and in due course life delivered all the miraculous events which the mythology of his home community could picture. This creed of infinite ‘can do’ is a staple of lands of great and institutional inequality, where the climb from the depths is clear and the target obvious. Cinderella, Aladdin and his lamp, Dick Whittington and his cat, are all similar fantasies from past eras which Summer |

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We need heroes. Who do we identify with? In those imaginary pre-industrial village times beloved of pop psychology, it was our fathers and mothers, and we aimed to be as good as they at whatever craft the family practised. Boys, we used to be told, might aspire to be blacksmiths, or farmers, or hunters, or camel-drivers – and girls to be mothers. Today, especially in the allegedly wide world served by international schools, we have myriad models available to us.

One is the Trump model. Given a million dollar launchpad, and the confidence that comes with being richer than most people roundabout, one can make a fortune, and many people would accept that as their aim in life. Very few of us will follow that pattern, but we may have much in common

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Fifth column

I recall being told by a West African girl’s guardian that she had been set a target of GCSEs, failing which would lead to her being sent home and married.

thread their story through the social fabric of their day to ultimate triumph.

What are these stories trying to tell us, and why is that message so attractive?

The Trump model is one in which the starting point is already well clear of poverty or disadvantage; social miracles by which one overcomes great handicaps are no part of the picture. The demons to be overcome by the adventurous entrepreneur are the nameless regulators who restrict enterprise, but this isn’t half as much fun as a giant that eats children, or a half-decent dragon. This is not the trope for small children. The really gritty tales in the modern repertoire are along Gump lines, and they don’t tell such a jolly message.

Don Quixote, Till Eulenspiegel, Thelma and Louise: these are road movie themes to warn of the potential for disastrous outcomes on Life’s journey. They might serve as warnings for teenagers, but not as dreams for little ones. Indeed, Miguel de Cervantes’ own life story topped the fictional adventures of his hero, but it still ended tragically. Faust, Peer Gynt, King Lear, Lemminkainen, War and Peace: in adult literature the great tragedies seem to outnumber the success stories. Is it that we make rosy promises to motivate children, but discover as adults that the enjoyment of life is in surviving?

How long can or should we continue to tell the Gumpian fairy stories? ‘Fairy story’: there’s a loaded expression! We all know that it is used to dismiss or trivialise an alternative account that we ourselves reject. Yet our heroic models, whether placed in our particular picture of history or in a fantastic other or future world, are an opportunity to offer images that incite children to try. The crunch comes when we must decide for how long we should promote targets which we know almost everyone will fail to reach.

Meritocracies generate more losers than winners. In ‘Murder in the Cathedral’, T S Eliot had Thomas a Becket say ‘Ambition comes when early force is spent, and we find no longer all things possible’. There seems to be a need for personal nuance in our promises, in the targets we offer our students, making some rewards available without diminishing the value of success. And to get this right we need to listen to their parents, because those are the voices which dominate their lives and frame their aims. There must be a danger that if we leave realism too late it can only induce cynicism and a loss of trust. Felipe Fernández-Armesto writes that every parent telling their children about Santa Claus is committing themselves to a future betrayal, when they will have to admit, Winter

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or confirm, the ugly rumour that … but here I feel I should be careful what I say!

Part of the creed of colonial countries is the ambition to make something out of nothing. In a ‘new’ land one is no longer classified by position on the Old Country’s rigid scale of inherited worth, or required to complete the traditional canon of socially necessary education, so one can aspire to success by effort alone. Targets are accessible, and to be achieved by will, not skill. Respect in this world is earned, not inherited. Or so we promise. Well, yes, but … This is a cruel deception if we take it literally. Certainly we liberals all aim for a just world in which effort is rewarded. But in terms of employability, wealth, respect, social success, influence, the true story is so much more complicated. Once merit is to be earned, a hierarchy arises on a competitive basis. Not just where you end up, but how far you have got, by each stage. Walking at 9 months, working the TV remote control at two years, using an iPhone at four, reading at five ... And to oppose the training of the home, family and nation is to claim ownership of the child. Surely this isn’t our right? I recall being told by a West African girl’s guardian that she had been set a target of GCSEs, failing which would lead to her being sent home and married. This makes practical and moral sense in a certain view, and it is our job to understand how to calculate the view that will give her the most happiness in her future.

I don’t recall that we saw marriage as the immediate priority.

It is all very well for us educators, often the coastal collegeeducated elite of the USA, known as Weird – Western, educated, industrialised, rich, democratic – societies, and their equivalents from other English-speaking countries. We proclaim that education is the key to all worthwhile success; isn’t that how we got where we are? But popular votes in the USA and UK have shown that other communities exist. Which of these do we nourish/aid/assist/promote? Gump is a comfort for the less fortunate, but a fantasy. A growing problem is the veracity/validity of the models. Because we can see a little about a lot of people, we can easily espouse remote models of whom we know little. In their turn, Influencers seeking quantity of contact rather than quality can manage their presentation so that the visible image is amazing. But it is a fiction. Money is showered upon celebrities and Influencers in proportion to the quantity of contacts, regardless of their quality. If money is accepted as the measure of good, then John Lennon’s claim to be better known than Jesus Christ is a claim not merely to fame, but to merit.

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Science matters

Illustration of the virus causing COVID-19.

Changing the world as we know it?

Richard Harwood looks at the science behind the COVID-19 outbreak

The structure of the virus showing the envelope with its glycoprotein ‘spikes’ and the RNA genome The illustration above, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, reveals the structure of coronaviruses. Note the glycoprotein spikes on

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the outer surface of the virus, which give the look of a crown surrounding the virus when viewed electron microscopically – hence the name. A new coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been identified as the cause of the current outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The characteristic ‘spikes’ are the means by which the virus attaches to the cells of our lung cavities, and also the target of those researchers aiming to develop a vaccine against the virus.

There have been several examples of previous coronavirus outbreaks in the past, the SARS epidemic of 2003 and the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak of 2013 being examples. All have involved viruses that transferred across species to humans. Where did the virus causing the current pandemic originate? How did it get to a food market in Wuhan, China, from where it is thought to have spilled over into humans? The answers to these questions are gradually being pieced together. A recently released study of the viral genetic sequence carried out by infectious disease expert Kristian G Andersen and colleagues at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California rules out the possibility that it could have been manufactured in a lab or otherwise engineered. Conspiracy theories do not stand up to scrutiny. It seems likely that the original animal reservoir for the virus was bats. The results from Andersen’s team, and those of Chinese studies, show that the sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is similar to other coronaviruses that infect bats.

Since other bat coronaviruses have crossed over to humans Summer |

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Cities in lockdown, the streets deserted, and all but nonessential shops closed, COVID-19 has already changed the way we live. There are some positive changes which can be enjoyed for a time – the levels of air pollution are falling. A dramatic reduction in noise from planes in the skies above, and traffic going by, means that we can hear birds singing.

Though how long can we continue in this way? These feel like ominous and certainly unprecedented times.

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Science matters via an intermediate animal host, it seems likely that this one did too. It appears that the intermediary was probably the pangolin, a scaly mammal sold in Chinese ‘wet’ markets (those that sell live animals, fresh meat, fish, seafood and other produce). China has now banned such markets, but that ban probably needs to be more extensive. There are wet markets throughout many other Asian countries and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

However, that is only part of the story; the second interface is the transfer of the virus to humans. Both interfaces were required for the pandemic to ignite. So where and how did the spillover from the bat to the pangolin – or other wild or semi-wild intermediate host – occur? Are there environmental pressures on natural systems that are bringing wildlife into closer proximity, both with other species and with humans, creating opportunities for pathogens to get into new hosts?

The United Nations environment chief, Inger Andersen, commented recently that ‘never before have so many opportunities existed for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people. Our continued erosion of wild spaces has brought us uncomfortably close to animals and plants that harbour diseases that can jump to humans.’

Aaron Bernstein of the Harvard School of Public Health has also commented that ‘the separation of health and environmental policy is a dangerous delusion. Our health

entirely depends on the climate and the other organisms we share the planet with.’

We had warnings from studies of previous epidemics. In the period of economic and social recovery post-COVID-19 the sheer depth of the re-structuring necessary globally will hopefully generate solutions and strategies to begin to find answers to the major problems that face us for the future. Peter Frankopan (Professor of Global History at Oxford University) has written a lengthy essay in The Times (UK; 28 March 2020) entitled ‘Pandemics are terrifying but they can make the world better’. His essay concludes as follows: ‘[I]t might be that the difficulties we are all facing do not just turn us into a more compassionate global community but one that recognises that closer co-operation is needed.

If that happens, one beneficiary will be the climate: after all, the world’s lungs are already breathing more easily thanks to the collapse of industrial production. Who is to say that this pandemic does not provide a turning point in world history.

With so many pessimists predicting doom and gloom, here’s to a ray of sunshine and hope at a time that is difficult, even if it is not, in fact, unprecedented.’

Dr Richard Harwood is an education consultant (scientific and international education).

Email: rickharwood@btinternet.com

The leading global guide to international schools – are you featured?

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• Check your school’s listing and let us know of any updates needed • Promote your school with up to 800 words, logo, photo and social media links • Feature on new ‘country profile’ sections, exploring the international education sector across the globe • Read news about international schools and articles from school leaders, teachers, universities, consultants and associations

The 2019/20 edition of John Catt’s Guide to International Schools is now available www.internationalschoolsearch.com is updated every day!

Contact: enquiries@johncatt.com or call +44 (0) 1394 389850 Winter

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Alice in Education Land

More values and something of a quarrel In which Alice witnesses a fight and gets involved in an argument

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Alice heard a noise outside the room, which grew in volume from a hum to a hubbub to finally reach the level of a full blown commotion. There were two voices, similar to each other but definitely different in some indefinable way, both gradually rising in tone. It sounded rather repetitive.

‘Yes, I do!’

‘You most obviously don’t!’

‘But I clearly do. It is my job.’

‘But just as clearly, you don’t.’

‘I have to!’

‘Then why don’t you?’

Alice could hear that the argument, if that was the right name for it, was going nowhere. She wondered if she would be able to put her debating skills to use to help the two Summer |

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This article is the third of a series to be included as occasional contributions to International School magazine, created by Chris Binge in response to some of his experiences in international education. Intended to be provocative and amusing, they are also used to provoke discussion when he leads workshops.

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Alice in Education Land whose voices they were to reach a conclusion. She poked her head around the door, which complained at being opened again as it was quite happy being closed. Alice had no sooner made a restrained coughing sound than she recognised the two people in front of her. They stopped their quarrel and turned to face Alice.

‘It’s Tweedledum and Tweedledee!’ cried Alice. Two more old friends from her previous trip, who she knew to be by nature rather disputational. ‘What on earth are you arguing about?’

‘He says he is responsible’ said Dee, poking Dum in the ribs, ‘and then he says he makes his students responsible as well.’

‘So I do.’ replied Dum proudly. ‘It is one of our values you know, or at least it used to be.’

Alice thought back to the Values she had seen on the poster, and remembered how the school had changed Excellence into Mediocrity. They had obviously changed the second one too, as it now said Avoids Responsibility. This would be the opportunity to find out why. She asked them to start from the beginning.

‘Right!’ said Dee, folding his arms and adopting what Alice thought was a rather smug expression. ‘First we must agree our terms. The Oxford Dictionary defines responsibility as being the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control of it, and the state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something. Now, let us consider the subjects you teach. Did you decide they should be part of the curriculum?’

‘Obviously not! The school management decides what goes into the curriculum, but anyway they are the sort of subjects that all schools would have on their curriculum.’

‘So there is a decision you do not have control of and are clearly not to blame for. What about the content of the courses? Are you in control of what the topics are?’

‘You know perfectly well that the content is defined by the organization that sets the syllabus and scheme of work.’

‘Exactly. Another set of decisions that you have no responsibility for. What about the students in your class? How do they get their final grade?’

‘Well, it is sometimes an exam and sometimes assessed coursework.’

‘You don’t even have responsibility for that then, do you?

In fact you have managed to avoid responsibility for whether the subject is taught at all, what the subject comprises and assessing how well the students do. All you have responsibility for is making sure you follow a path laid down by someone else. It is even worse for the students. They have none of those responsibilities either, and even the small decisions of what order to do things in and how long to spend on them are taken away from them, because you make them. Not only have you avoided most responsibility, you have made sure that the students aren’t allowed any either’.

‘You can’t just let teachers and students make up what they want to teach!’

‘You can!’

‘You can’t.’

‘It would be daft!’

‘No it wouldn’t.’

‘Yes it would! Look. Remember that chap I had in my class that smelt of glue and kept drinking tea?’

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‘The Mad Hatter?’

‘Exactly. Now, he was so barmy that, if I gave him the choice of what to learn, heaven knows where we would have got to. He came out with all sorts of gibberish.’

‘Did he engage in what you were trying to teach him?’

‘Not at all. He claimed to be a personal friend of Time, whom he must have upset a great deal to cause the lessons to go so slowly. His only interest was to continually experiment with whether a sleeping dormouse would wake up if it was dipped in tea.’

‘And did it?’

‘No, er Yes, er I don’t know. I was trying to teach.’

‘But not the Hatter obviously.’

Alice interrupted. ‘I remember the Mad Hatter. What did you do with him?’

‘We put him in detention of course.’

‘He was certainly quite an individual.’ This prompted a shiver from both Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

‘Did you s-say individual?’ they both stammered together.

Alice nodded nervously. ‘Don’t let the Red Queen hear you saying that word. You will be in real trouble. We got rid of individuals a long time ago.’

‘But surely all your students are individuals, all different, and their education should take this into account.’ Dum and Dee took turns to respond.

‘They all do the same courses. At the same age.’

‘They all take the same exams. On the same day.’

‘They all arrive at the same time.’

‘And leave at the same time.’

‘They are all here for the same number of years.’

‘They are all assessed in the same way, with the same rubrics.’

‘We measure them all against the same learning outcomes.’

‘They have the same books, the same computers.’

‘They even wear the same clothes!’ concluded Tweedledum, with a sheepish glance to Tweedledee, who was indeed dressed exactly the same as he.

‘In what way could we say we treat them as individuals?

No. Like all schools, we celebrate conformity.’

‘But that’s not fair.’ said Alice. ‘Lots of schools talk about differentiation and personalised education just because they recognise children are individuals.’

‘They may talk about it,’ returned Dee, ‘but they don’t do it.

They do all the things we just mentioned, however impressive their rhetoric. Just think about one aspect. How can a school that prides itself on treating children as individuals justify putting them all in identical uniforms?’

With that the identical individuals disappeared down the corridor into the distance, leaving Alice quite exhausted.

To be continued …

Chris Binge is Headmaster of Markham College, Lima, Peru.

Email: chris.binge@markham.edu.pe All the Alice in Education Land stories can be found on Educhanges.com, where there is also a link to an Alice Art Gallery of illustrations by such artists as Tenniel, Dali and Steadman, as well as an Alice playlist.

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People and places

Promoting RIPE: Research Informed Practice in Education Karen Taylor considers ways to consolidate best practice

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action research projects. The initial collaborators included Ecolint, the Association Genevoise des Écoles Privées, Evidence Based Education (UK), Durham University (UK), Université de Genève, The Abbey School (UK) and Wellington College China. The purpose of the conference was to lay the foundation for future events that would also bring together classroom practitioners and university researchers Summer |

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In 2017 a group of educators gathered at the International School of Geneva (École Internationale de Genève, known as Ecolint) to discuss the possibility of organising a conference to promote Research Informed Practice in Education (RIPE).

Our first conference was held on 30 June 2018 with 39 participants from schools and universities in Switzerland, France and the UK, all of whom presented their ongoing

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People and places

How might we use case studies to generalize about pedagogy? to promote school-based research in international schools.

Since then, the number of both school-based and universitybased educators expressing interest in RIPE has grown.

Members of the Principals’ Training Center will know that there are frequent requests for information about how other schools are handling particular issues. This seems to me to be indicative of a general tendency toward datadriven and research-informed decision-making amongst school leaders, albeit not systematic. Parenthetically, but not unimportant, is the fact that there may be tensions between understandings of research-informed practice and evidencebased education. The interpretations of these concepts may overlap, inform one another, or conflict.

Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2009) point to a potential problem whereby evidence-based education may ‘position practitioners as the recipients of other people’s knowledge’.

What I am arguing for here is greater learner agency – with the practitioner as learner. If we consider teachers as learners, then they should have the same complexity, richness and diversity of experience in their own learning process as we offer to students as learners.

Plus ça change ...

In 1975 Laurence Stenhouse described professionalism among teachers as ‘a disposition to examine one’s own practice systematically’ (1975:156) and referred to teachers as researchers. In 1991 Hargreaves and Hopkins linked teacher research to school improvement. One could go back further – John Dewey, for example, or even further – Rousseau: was Emile’s mentor a teacher researcher? The terms we use with such frequency today – reflective practitioner, action research, teacher research, practice-led research, mixed mode research, inquiry as stance – are not new, and yet one wonders about the degree of progress we have made in this domain, or perhaps coherency. In any case, there is good reason to focus on the relationship between teachers and educational research.

Why? There is an ever-growing body of research in education, cognitive psychology, neurobiology and other disciplines that contributes to deepening our understanding of how human beings acquire and retain knowledge in order to make meaning of their world. To recognize the complexity of learning and to develop one’s practice in response to it is no simple task, yet it is only in doing so that we can ensure student wellbeing. Research-informed practice is what allows for this. Educational research should motivate us to reflect on and modify our practice, especially given the particular challenges associated with teaching the diverse populations that may be found in both international and state schools: Winter

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• Challenges associated with teaching plurilingual children in a multilingual context • Developing inclusive pedagogical practice So, I find myself thinking more and more about deliberately building a shared body of knowledge. If we are thinking about developing the richest possible environment for learning (a community of learners that includes both children and adults) then we might naturally be led to the importance of Reflective Practice, which: • Embraces a willingness to alter both content and practice in the pursuit of individual meaning; • Focuses on learning theory, cognitive psychology, developments in brain research and special education; • Provides a powerful framework for ongoing, fault-free assessment of pedagogy; • Relies upon the teacher developing knowledge about how specific students learn; • Depends on colleagues giving and receiving professional help; and • Models the metacognition we would want for our own students.

(Powell, 2000) Educators talk endlessly about testing for prior knowledge, about the importance of formative assessment, and so on.

But isn’t continual assessment (practitioner inquiry) a form of research? How then might we formalize analysis and share our learning? How might we use case studies to generalize about pedagogy? How might we consider or reconsider what kind of research ‘counts’?, or consider and reconsider what constitutes a valid source of knowledge? What does quality practitioner research look like? As Heikkinen et al (2016) suggest, perhaps we are interpreting reality rather than measuring it … but that does not have to deny rigor.

RIPE: What are the benefits?

Valorizing teachers as professionals, as intellectuals: Reflective practice (and practitioner research) offer an opportunity for potentially ‘transformative professional development’ (Constable 2018). Think of what we know about effective professional development. Like any learning, it is at its best when it is authentic, embedded, relevant, and prolonged.

Visible learning: ‘All good teachers think about and change their work based on experiences, but teacher research is the act of making that thought visible, documented, systematic’ (Schaenen et al, 2012: 72). What might this mean for students?

Inclusion: if we are to move away from ‘deficit’ thinking, then we need to meet head-on the particular challenges of teaching plurilingual children in a multilingual environment and in the development of intercultural competences.

Finally, we may find ways of building a shared body of knowledge. I am thinking here in terms of the sociology, or even the geography, of knowledge. Consider the concept of geography itself. One might speak of physical geography, political geography, cultural geography etc. One might be making reference to the location of entities in physical space or to the location of ideas in conceptual space – which has implications in terms of knowledge and power and opportunity. I would like to encourage us to collectively build a shared body of knowledge that challenges notions

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People and places of traditionally legitimate sources of knowledge about pedagogy. I’m talking about the ‘epistemological power’ of practitioner research, not practitioner researchers as the academic world’s ‘other’.

Anderson and Herr (1999) spoke of ‘catalytic validity’: ‘the degree to which the research process reorients, focuses and energizes participants toward knowing reality in order to transform it’ (p16). We are looking at the space of intersection between theory and practice, at generating knowledge about pedagogical practice in order to improve it. International education is complex, and difficult to define.

At the same time, despite the diversity of specific contexts we share many of the same challenges, and although questions of equity and inclusion are context-specific, we might learn from one another. We might learn from approaches such as Reggio Emilia, from lesson study methods, from colleagues in the public system, or from academics collaborating with individual schools and from the work of NGOs and international organizations such as UNESCO. The more I talk to people the more I realize how much research is out there, and yet it feels as though the results of practitioner research are simply too widely dispersed. I am wondering how we can bring it all together. Jackson and Temperley (2007) spoke of the need for schools to become ‘networked learning communities’. It is our aim to create a network of international research schools. Let us know if you would like to be involved!

References Anderson G L and Herr K (1999) The new paradigm wars: is there room for rigorous practitioner knowledge in schools and universities? Educational Researcher, 28, 12-21 Cochran-Smith M and Lytle S L (2009) Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. Teachers College Press.

Constable H (2018) Universities, supporting schools and practitioner research. Research in Education, 101(1), 39-62.

Hargreaves, DH and Hopkins D (1991) The Empowered School. London: Cassell.

Heikkinen H L, Jong F P and Vanderlinde R (2016) What is (good) practitioner research? Vocations and Learning, 9(1), 1-19.

Jackson D and Temperley J (2007) From professional learning community to networked learning community. In Stoll L and Seashore Louis K (Eds), Professional Learning Communities: Divergence, Depth and Dilemmas.

Maidenhead: Open University Press Powell W (2000) Professional Development and Reflective Practice. In Hayden M and Thompson J J (2000) International schools and international education: Improving teaching, management & quality. London: Kogan Page.

Stenhouse L (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development.

London: Heinemann.

Dr Karen Taylor is Director of Education at the International School of Geneva, Switzerland and Associate Professor in Practice at Durham University’s School of Education.

Email: karen.taylor@ecolint.ch Ecolint Institute of Learning and Teaching www.ecolint-institute.ch/ course/ripe-research-informed-practice-education Durham University School of Education www.dur.ac.uk/education/ripe

If you are interested in writing an article for International School magazine, we would like to hear from you!

Articles have as their focus the sharing of ideas and good practice which may be of relevance to others with an interest in international education in schools – whether international schools, or national schools and other organisations encouraging an international dimension to education.

We will be pleased to receive articles relating to international education including: • good news stories • articles about good practice • articles about interesting initiatives • provocative articles that will stimulate discussion and debate Please get in touch with us at editor@is-mag.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Please also include a postal address so that, if the article is published, a copy of the relevant issue of International School can be posted to you.

When including photographs for publication, please note that: • photographs need to be of high quality (at least 300dpi, file size at least 6MB), and supplied in JPEG or TIF format. Images taken from the internet are not suitable.

• photographs must be submitted as separate files from the Word file article to which they relate, and cannot be reproduced if they are embedded in Word or any other programme.

• the article author(s) need(s) to have obtained permission to publish the photograph from anyone who can be seen in it.

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The editors of International School, Prof Mary Hayden and Prof Jeff Thompson, would like to encourage teachers and leaders/ managers/administrators to consider how they could contribute to this magazine. We would love to hear from you with your article ideas.

Articles should be submitted as Word files, ideally accompanied by a good quality photograph, to editor@is-mag.com [Please note that a photograph relevant to the theme of the article is preferable to a photograph of the author(s)] A one-sentence biographical note about the author(s) should also be provided, as well as email address(es), which will be included if the article is accepted for publication.

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People and places

Masks ... just the tip of the iceberg?

Beccy Fox considers cultural sensitivity in times of Corona At the beginning of every academic year we welcome new teachers to our school. As in all international schools, they arrive a few days early for their induction programme. In addition to the usual elements – a campus tour, setting up bank accounts, and getting to know the school server – we decided to add a session on cultural intelligence. This idea started informally with teachers, both host country and expatriate, sharing their personal experiences of working with different cultures. It became apparent that this was a very useful exercise, so we decided to include it in our formal induction programme for all staff.

Using the cultural iceberg analogy (Hall, 1976), we enjoy all the fun bits at the top: food, celebrations, dress and so on.

These are the reasons many of us enjoy travelling. But when it comes to living in a different country, it is the elements at the bottom of the iceberg that are the most useful to understand, that can be the most challenging and that require an empathetic approach. These are the elements that we look at in our workshop.

The workshop was developed while I was Director of an international school in Bali, a culture that has so many delightful characteristics at the top of the iceberg to enjoy.

In relation to the bottom of the iceberg we discussed body language (people may laugh when they are in an uncomfortable situation), time-keeping (Indonesia has a word to describe the different concept of time keeping: jam karet = rubber time), and the very important concept of saving face.

This session became one of the most talked about in our induction programme, with teachers often referring back to it.

One graphic that teachers found the most useful is shown below (Kaplan, 1966). It was useful in Bali for both Indonesian Winter

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and expatriate colleagues. The Western ‘to the point’ nature of problem-solving can be as difficult to comprehend for an Indonesian teacher as the roundabout face-saving spiral is to expatriates. In fact the arrow and spiral can be attributed not only to problem-solving and saving face, but also to how we drive, how we queue, and how we solve problems.

Fast forward to my new position in Hong Kong. I wanted to continue to offer this workshop, but it needed revising for my new host country. One of the immediate differences I noticed was the different approach to health. Mask-wearing is common. If you have a slight cold, it is good manners to wear a surgical mask: a hangover, presumably, from the SARS epidemic of 2003. Now we are in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis. At the time of writing, schools have been closed for at least six weeks. Government offices are closed, as is Disneyland, and about 99% of the population are wearing some kind of face mask when they go outside.

Not coming from a culture of mask-wearing, I have found this particularly challenging. Many authorities, including the World Health Organisation and the Hong Kong Chief Executive, have said that wearing a mask is only necessary if you are unwell, or treating someone who is unwell. I spent the first few days without a mask, surrounded by those who were. Masks were coming off in restaurants, smokers huddled together with masks on their chins, drivers were wearing masks while alone in their luxury sports cars. None of it made sense to me.

I then had to remind myself to practise what I preach; to take a culturally empathetic approach to this mask-wearing issue. Wearing a mask, in this time of great fear, is socially expected. Whether the mask is being used ‘properly’ or not, people in my host country believe it is appropriate to be wearing one at this time. And so, just as I cover my shoulders in certain parts of the world, I am now wearing a mask in Hong Kong. Just to be polite!

References Hall E T (1976) Beyond Culture, New York: Anchor Books Kaplan R B (1966) Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education, Language Learning, 16(1), 1-20

Beccy Fox is Head of School at Think International School, Hong Kong Email: headofschool@tis.edu.hk

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PASSION

PROFESSION World Academy of Sport works with the IB successfully delivering the Athlete Friendly Education Centre (AFEC) project. Here, high-performing student athletes in accredited schools are receiving enhanced support and flexibility, including an extended study period.

We are pleased to introduce Federation University as a new partner, working with us to deliver an IB Career-related programme, International Sport Management. This ensures a pathway to university with a focus on careers in the fast-growing global sports industry.

Please contact Anne Louise Williams for further details awilliams@worldacademysport.com

FED40388 Fed Uni Int Sport half page 134x190 v4 FA.indd 1

MA English as a Medium of Instruction A 1 year, full-time master’s degree at the University of Bath • Gain specialist knowledge and practical skills for the teaching of academic subjects in English.

• A course designed to help preand post-experience educators face the challenges of an internationalized teaching environment.

Explore the course: go.bath.ac.uk/ma-english-medium

17/3/20 1:29 pm

People and places

Picture courtesy of John Rider, Teacher at NIS Nur-Sultan.

Changing the education system of a whole country Geoffrey Neuss reports on setting up a curriculum in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan became an independent country in 1991 following the dissolution of the USSR. By the beginning of the twenty first century it was clear that the Kazakh secondary education system based on the old Soviet model required radical change. Their Certificate of Secondary Education was not accepted as an entry qualification to any university outside of Kazakhstan, and students leaving secondary school were unable to demonstrate an ability to think critically. In 2010 the Kazakh Government planned to establish twenty new trilingual (Russian, Kazakh and English) secondary schools around the country to pilot a new public education system, These were to be known as the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS).

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I was invited by the European Commission to travel to Astana (now Nur-Sultan) in 2010 to advise NIS on devising and setting up a new curriculum. My brief was to compare the Kazakh system with recognised international systems for science education and to make recommendations for changes. Before arriving in Nur-Sultan I asked to be sent the current syllabuses so that I could compare them with the A Level, Pre-U, IB Diploma, AP and European Baccalaureate syllabuses. The Kazakh syllabus was much more factually based than international syllabuses and included some material that would normally not be covered until university.

However it lacked any real structure, with no clear aims or objectives. No distinction was made between the recall of

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factual information, the ability to apply this knowledge in straightforward situations, and higher order cognitive skills such as the ability to evaluate, comment, discuss, explain and apply knowledge to unfamiliar situations. It was fascinating to look at a programme which had been put together by scientists dominated by the former USSR culture. Much of the actual science was the same, but its cultural context was different. For example, who in the West has heard of Mikhaĭlovich Butlerov? Yet in Kazakhstan he is known as ‘The creator of the theory of chemical structure’. It is as if many former USSR scientists have been airbrushed out of western culture – perhaps as a result of the ‘cold war’?

Before working with a panel of education experts from Kazakhstan I asked to visit a school to see the current syllabus being taught. During my visit they asked if I could demonstrate the difference between the western and Kazakh ways of teaching – not easy to do in 40 minutes with a class of sixteen students in a hall, being watched by teachers and administrators and being filmed for national television!

Before starting I put the students in groups of 4 and talked to them to make sure they could understand my English, and then began the lesson by asking what they knew about ionic bonding. They all immediately turned to the one text book (in Russian) they used in Kazakhstan. Closing all their books I then guided them to think critically about what they already knew, to get them to conclude that the information in the book was wrong. I had hoped that the teachers observing could appreciate this, but for them the most important difference was something that I hadn’t even thought about – the fact that I talked to all the students before I’d even started. In Kazakhstan teachers generally did not interact with students in that way. Later, after visiting classes, I realised that students were often encouraged to answer questions but only the answer expected by the teacher was accepted.

Teachers rarely smiled during the lessons and students were not encouraged to ask questions.

I spent ten days working with teachers, administrators and pedagogues guiding them through the differences in the various systems, showing them examples of how knowledge can be applied to solve problems in unfamiliar situations, and getting them to work on the aims and objectives for their new programme. The problems they faced were huge. Apart from those who taught English as a foreign language, almost none

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Formerly Head of Science at UWC Atlantic College, UK, where he taught IB Diploma Theory of Knowledge and Standard and Higher Level Chemistry, Dr Geoffrey Neuss is now a freelance consultant in international education.

Email: geoffn@inthinking.co.uk Summer |

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Picture courtesy of John Rider, Teacher at NIS Nur-Sultan.

of the teachers could speak English. The older the teacher the more they were entrenched in the Soviet paradigm of didactic learning, and some opposition was also expressed by parents. However the enthusiasm and professionalism of the Chair of NIS, Kulyash Shamshidinova and her Vice-Chair, Nazipa Ayubayeva, was extremely infectious – they are two people who can make the impossible become possible. My final report contained more than 50 recommendations as to how NIS should proceed. One of these recommendations was to establish one school which would seek validation to follow the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Because the IBDP is externally assessed and recognised by almost all countries as a university entrance qualification, it would provide the standard for the new national Kazakh programme.

My recommendations were accepted, and I was asked

by NIS to work as their external consultant to help them set up the future IB school and to organise the training for the teachers in all subjects for all the NIS schools. Cambridge International Education was contracted to help with assessing the new National Curriculum following a similar format to the IB for the other pilot schools. In early 2011 NIS established what would become the IB school in an existing building. We wanted a principal who was not ingrained in the old system and so appointed a 25 year old Kazakh, Anuar Zhangozin. Anuar is a maths graduate who is fluent in Russian, Kazakh and English. He was not then a teacher, but clearly demonstrated the vision and leadership qualities to meet the challenge. We changed the school day, shortened the contact hours and completely changed the way in which students were assessed. I arranged for many of the Kazakh teachers to shadow subject teachers at well-established IB schools around Europe. I brought in some of the best IB workshop leaders to train the teachers not only in their subject matter but also in the Theory Knowledge, in order to provide them with concrete examples as to how critical thinking can be facilitated in all their day to day teaching.

We also trained them in how to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. In addition we hired good international teachers to work full-time alongside the mainly young local teachers in the classroom.

The rest as they say is history. The school received IB World School status in 2013 and moved into a new purpose-built building in 2015, the same year that the first IB Diploma students graduated. In 2016 the IB Middle Years Programme was also fully authorised. The school now has some 160 students taking the IB Diploma each year and many of the students go on to study at prestigious universities worldwide.

The other 19 schools are all up and running throughout the country, and the leaving certificate is now accepted as an entry qualification by universities in other countries. Anuar has gone on to become the Assistant Director of Education for the whole of Nur-Sultan, to continue the process of extending the new curriculum to all schools in Kazakhstan.

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People and places

Collaborating with students to deliver a world-class international school Stefan Jakobek shares the outcome of a challenging and rewarding project International schools have played an important role in the development of many countries around the world. These highly regarded institutions have helped raise educational standards and driven valuable inward investment in emerging economies.

Established as a centre of educational excellence in Malaysia for more than half a century, the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) is a thriving example. Yet, pressures on the school’s two separate campus sites made redevelopment in a new location inevitable. This provided a welcome opportunity to develop a K-12 campus that would exemplify the school’s spirit and ambition. The opportunity would also finally bring together its Junior and Senior schools, and create spaces that truly support ISKL’s approach to teaching and learning in the 21st Century. This also was an opportunity to build a school that embodied the institution’s values and commitment to environmental sustainability.

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In 2013, HOK London’s Studio was appointed to design the new school. A 23-acre site had already been identified close to the centre of one of the liveliest, most vibrant cities in Southeast Asia. The need for 60,000m2 of accommodation, an active sports program, and the arrival and departure of over 80 daily buses required ingenuity in planning the site. Yet the most fundamental design drivers arose out of interaction and engagement with the ISKL community.

School design provides architects with rewarding opportunities to create buildings that shape young lives.

These buildings must be supportive, nurturing and inspiring.

The design team held multiple workshops that included 160 individuals, including the school leadership team, teachers, parents, administrators and facilities staff. Assisted even more by the school community’s collaborative attitude, these workshops enabled the team to establish a comprehensive design brief. This approach also captured the ethos and ambition of this distinct institution.

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People and places One of the design challenges was how to bring ISKL’s elementary, middle and high schools together on one site while retaining their individuality within a single identity.

In addition, achieving Malaysian Green Building Index Platinum certification was a key goal from the beginning.

The design also needed to embrace and connect to the city while creating a building that would belong to its location, distinctly Malaysian without pastiche. ISKL’s students provided the team with special insights. The youngest asked the team for quiet spaces that they would like to hang out in between classes. This helped the team understand the need to create spaces that students could use in many different ways. The students also were aware of what a sustainable campus should look and feel like. It quickly became apparent that they were already policing sustainable behaviour more fervently than their teachers. At this moment the design process became almost magical.

The design organises the building into distinct elements.

A curved connecting spine links the different teaching blocks and forms a threshold between the outer public realm of the city and the secure inner, private world of the school.

The public elements of the campus are placed at the centre, grouped around a central plaza. This is the heart of the school, a place where the ISKL community comes together and reaches out to the wider world. The campus has been arranged to accommodate the needs of differing age groups, with the character of spaces adjusting as students progress.

The Early Years centre nestles within a protective, walled garden. The Elementary School is more outgoing, with larger groupings complemented with specialised spaces contained within the spine. The Middle School is arranged around a collaborative, cross-curricular program. The High School is more subject-based as teachers prepare students to move out into the world beyond.

The building blocks are the classroom clusters, designed to a shared set of principles yet applied in various ways.

Classrooms are grouped around a Commons for individual and small group learning, larger gatherings and a social space between lessons. To facilitate adaptability, the internal structure has been kept to a minimum.

How we delivered the students’ vision for a sustainable school The new school is an exemplar of sustainable design, construction, operations and learning, feeding live data into a rich curriculum. ISKL became Malaysia’s first Green Building Index Platinum-Rated international school. The design champions ISKL’s commitment to a sustainable future through a three-pronged approach:

• Creating a low-energy, low-carbon campus; • Embedding an understanding of ecology; and • Maximising opportunities for environmental education.

Passive strategies drove the form and layout of the building, which the team designed to use 60% less energy than the baseline for schools in similar climates. Teaching blocks arranged on an east-west alignment protect classrooms from intense sun. Light shelves reduce artificial lighting loads.

Existing mature planting and a screened facade shield the eastern elevation.

The design draws on aspects of traditional Malaysian architecture to improve thermal comfort. Screens modulate light while providing privacy and shade. Shelter offers protection from the sun and rain. An open undercroft provides covered dining and social spaces. Naturally ventilated walkways lead to the centre of each wing, while courts cut into the spine encourage breezes. The design adopts a layered approach to cooling. Chilled water cools floors slabs at night, taking advantage of off-peak tariffs and reducing morning cooling loads. Transitional spaces benefit from cool air that escapes from classrooms. These spaces temper the impact of moving from the hot outdoors into a cooled internal environment. Low-velocity fans help cool classrooms. Outdoor plantings maximise biodiversity, enhance the school’s microclimate and enrich the curriculum.

A garden attracts local birds and insects. An ecology zone houses the recycling centre and a rainwater retention pond.

Providing efficient fixtures reduces potable water use by 75%. Rainwater, grey water and water harvested from HVAC condensate is used for irrigation.

This is a highly sustainable building in a challenging, tropical urban environment. Yet this would have meant considerably less if this approach was not carried through into the students’ educational lives. Existing waste management systems were upgraded for the new campus. Visible sub meters integrated into the building management system act as teaching tools showing real-time resource consumption and encourage students to save energy. Students continue to enthusiastically police energy use and waste management behaviour.

Stefan Jakobek is Principal and Senior Architect at HOK London Studio. HOK London Studio collaborated with local partner VERITAS Design.

Email: Stefan.jakobek@hok.com Summer |

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People and places

What is international education in Africa?

Proserpina Dhlamini-Fisher explores challenges and opportunities Since going back to full time consultancy work, I have found more time to reflect on my thoughts on international education, and the fact that the world we are living in today is as it is because of our past history, making it possible to compare where we are in Africa and in education with the rest of the world. I give myself real time to read and research, looking for developments, challenges and outcomes. Part of this work is with schools, organizations and governments to add value to educational development in Africa.

Africa as a continent is one of the fastest growing economies today, yet according to the World Literacy Map of 2020 we still have one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world (acknowledging that there are always several variables that contribute to such figures). These figures do Winter

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not mean that the continent is stagnant in its growth and development, but rather that based on whatever criteria UNESCO or other international bodies choose to use, the continent is still lagging behind. This brings me back to international education: is it really what is needed to lift Africans, or do we need to come together and create educational curricula that will empower our African children to be curious and proud learners? I am working with companies that are wanting this in some African countries, where schools are being created to meet the needs of the local population and are wanting to offer curricula that look both inward and outward. It makes me proud to know that all is definitely not gloom and doom, as is perceived by so many people about Africa.

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I went through international education myself as a child and, if I am honest, I experienced phases of being lost, not quite comfortable in my own skin, and was forgiven for my endless social faux pas but not embraced fully in the other world I inhabited.

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I salute the International Baccalaureate for continuing to work on its programs to create a more inclusive learning experience for students across the world, but we all know that the founding fathers of the IB were westerners and quality international school standards and practices are still measured in those terms. I am not claiming this is necessarily a problem, but am exploring ways to find a balance and a sense of appreciation and pride for all students and teachers in these schools in Africa.

I continue to wonder what international education really is, and if it is indeed adding value to the typical child in our continent. I went through international education myself as a child and, if I am honest, I experienced phases of being lost, not quite comfortable in my own skin, and was forgiven for my endless social faux pas but not embraced fully in the other world I inhabited.

Some African parents still aspire to send their children to international schools because they want an ‘international’ education that will open doors for their children to universities worldwide, forgetting that we can actually create those excellent schools and universities that help our African children learn their histories, make connections to the present and kindle an interest in the world, while remaining grounded and proud of who they are and where they come from. Thanks are due to the African Leadership Academy and universities, institutions that embrace African pride and have created curricula that empower students to get the best of both worlds while creating the desire to make a difference and contribute to the development and upliftment of people in Africa.

I am proud to be an international educator and thrilled that I am somehow able to contribute to the international educational space, especially on the African continent. I close by asking if international schools could be doing more to be inclusive, sharing resources and learning about the local history and culture – and not only on international day?

Proserpina Dhlamini-Fisher is Founding CEO of Educational Aspirations, based in Surrey, UK Email: proserpinadf@educationalaspirations.co.uk Summer |

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African economies are growing, and many people are realising that to be able to live in the 21st century we need to be innovative and creative, think like an entrepreneur to survive, and think out of the box. We have all kinds of schools across the African continent, from state to private and international. Each country has its own requirements and compliance laws for these schools. There must be some sort of international school in almost every country on the continent. But my question is: What is an international school in Africa? Is it a school which offers a curriculum that promotes an international outlook across all subjects? Do teachers go out of their way to teach students to think beyond their own borders whilst celebrating who they are and where they come from? Is it a school where teachers guide students to be curious, empathetic leaders, changemakers and problem solvers, where teachers facilitate opportunities for students to see themselves as global citizens capable of surviving anywhere in our world? Do our international school leaders in Africa create opportunities for the whole international school community to embrace diversity, and to learn with and from the local culture? Is that not what international means – existing between nations?

This has led me to explore the notion of international education further, only to find that there is no one solid definition, but rather a collection of definitions to suit different purposes at different times. My feeling is that because we as educators have not defined international education as something we all agree on, we find ourselves with a scattering of schools across the continent, all claiming to be international schools offering an international education to local and international students.

But when we dig deep into our existing so-called international schools on the African continent, this is not what we always see. A few of them exclude local students, so should really be called foreign – and not international – schools, or have school fees that are unattainable for normal folks who earn in local currencies. Many a time they are not international, but rather teach curricula from another country such as the US, England, France, Germany or other national contexts, and add the word international to their name: a leftover legacy from past colonial history.

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People and places

How to get the most out of lesson observations in an international school Louise Simpson shares why she has taken a different approach to lesson observations in her school As is the case in international schools all over the world, our students often move around during the course of their education, changing schools, cities and countries as their parents’ jobs change. In addition to this, a number of students in a class may also be getting to grips with a new language and a new curriculum. In this context, carrying out valid lesson observations can be somewhat complicated. It can be difficult for an observer to judge, for example, whether the teacher is struggling to deliver a great lesson that engages Winter

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children. Or whether it could be the recent intake of students new to learning at such a high level in English that is holding engagement back. It is for these reasons that since I became head at St Paul’s School in Brazil, we have taken a different approach to lesson observations.

Technology to support lesson observations For us, the first step in improving the lesson observations process was to develop unique lesson observation

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We always emphasise what went well in the lesson as well as areas for development. My view is that even if the lesson is amazing, there is always room for improvement.

Scrapping grading lessons I also made a recent decision to move away from grading lessons as I found that it wasn’t benefitting teachers. I know that there are strong views on both sides of the argument, but for us this was the right move. I brought in this change because you can often see excellence in a lesson that overall wasn’t necessarily excellent. And you can also see some mediocre practice in a lesson which all together creates an excellent outcome.

Having to mark one lesson as a ‘one’ and another as a ‘two’ does not provide good feedback to staff. What is helpful to staff is always being able to see something positive. We always emphasise what went well in the lesson as well as areas for development. My view is that even if the lesson is amazing, there is always room for improvement. We have to think about what the next step is for that teacher. If the lesson was brilliant, maybe our feedback would simply be to share the lesson with others.

A two-way dialogue linked to development I have found that lesson observations work best when there’s a two-way dialogue between the teacher and observer.

With the system we use from Blue Sky Education, observers can upload feedback straight away. Then staff can respond online, and we always offer teachers the opportunity to discuss any feedback in person. It’s important to recognise that there is no point observing lessons if the information isn’t then used to inform staff development and CPD. We allow staff to highlight online any training they think they

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need. Centrally we can then see if there are any trends developing or maybe a requirement to invest in training for the whole team. It means our staff are at the centre of their own development journey.

Whole school approach This is relevant for all staff too. I was keen to involve all departments and levels of seniority, from academic teachers to sports coaches and from senior leaders to teaching support staff, part-time and full-time. After all, opportunities for development are for everyone, whatever their role in the school. It’s a long way from when I took on the role of head, when each member of staff had an individual appraisal from the head. With over 200 members of staff, appraising each one on a one-to-one basis meant that many appraisals were being delayed and staff were not always getting the feedback they needed. It was a much too time-consuming process.

Each member of staff still deserves a one-to-one talk about their role and their development, but I wanted to have a more devolved system – one which allowed middle leaders to develop their leadership, coaching and mentoring skills and manage their own direct reports. I reshaped the leadership structure and put in place an annual appraisal cycle. Now everyone is appraised every year by their line manager, which is a huge improvement. These reviews have also been standardised, with room for flexibility, with everyone identifying objectives and then a training programme implemented which reflects both the individual needs and the needs of the school.

This new way of working is making a world of difference to our teachers – and that’s a great start.

Louise Simpson is head of St Paul’s School in São Paulo, Brazil.

Email: ls@stpauls.br https://www.blueskyeducation. co.uk/quiet-uprising-report Summer |

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frameworks. The same template doesn’t work for every lesson, so we created a series of lesson observation templates to ensure that the right one is available in a variety of situations. A year nine sports lesson will have a very different set of criteria than an IB lesson which focuses heavily on elements such as collaboration. The observation is much more valid if the observer is looking for the right elements from the word go, so our database of templates needs to reflect this. Observers can use the templates digitally or download them and print to take to lessons.

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Book reviews

Should Robots Replace Teachers?

AI and the Future of Education

by Neil Selwyn Polity Press, Cambridge (2019) Reviewed by Naaz Kirmani The title of this book aptly presents the dilemma faced today by educators, policy makers, organizations and individuals in formal educational settings. The book provides a reflective, challenging and comprehensive narrative of the present educational landscape and technological developments impacting formal learning environments. The author, Professor Neil Selwyn, is one of the leading academics on technology and education at Monash University, Australia.

His research and teaching focuses on the place of digital media in everyday life, and the sociology of technology (non) use in educational settings.

The book presents five chapters that critically examine technological developments such as autonomous classroom robots, intelligent tutoring systems, learning analytics, and automated decision making, and accentuates the role of human teachers in the midst of a digital revolution. In the Preface, Selwyn argues that the integration of digital technology into society must be presented as a choice, and must not rely on what he describes as ‘technological singularity’. He emphasises that discussions around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and education must be viewed in the realm of values, judgements and politics. Selwyn quotes David Cohen’s view of teachers as part of the ‘human improvement professions’, thus broadening the focus of teaching to include the development of character as well as the acquisition of knowledge.

Drawing on the philosophies of John Dewey and David Cohen, in the first chapter of the book Selwyn further highlights the complexities of teaching. This chapter lucidly presents the historical development of technology and education. There is a clear emphasis on approaching AI in education along social, political and economic lines.

Selwyn argues that support for AI in education results from broader political struggles and corporate desires to reform formal educational settings. He highlights the impact of neoliberalism on societies that led to a shift towards Winter

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privatization, increased individualism, a focus on data-driven efficiencies and accountabilities. He further raises important sociological concerns over possible inequalities associated with the increased automation of teaching.

The second and third chapters present important information on the potential and practicalities of classroom robots. They present scenarios of teacher robots, humanoid robots, intelligent tutoring systems and pedagogical assistants in formal learning environments in different contexts. Selwyn critically analyses these developments and questions the capacity of AI to replicate social, emotional and cognitive qualities of human teachers. He further urges nuanced discussions on the ethical implications of having physical robots in the classroom which raises clear issues of privacy in formal educational settings.

The fourth chapter, Behind-the-Scenes Technologies, covers a range of sophisticated examples of AI-driven education applications that present the obvious potential of the new technologies to change many aspects of teaching in profound ways. Selwyn argues that despite the growing capacity of digital technology, few people anticipate the elimination of humans from formal educational settings. Interestingly, he is critical of the individualised approaches offered by the new technologies and argues that there are likely injustices of individualized learning, which may only benefit a privileged group. He also highlights the limitations of the educational

[This book] lucidly examines the potential benefits and pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence in the formal education context.

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Book reviews application of AI; as computational processes are purely datadriven there is a risk of representing inaccurate, incomplete information about teaching and learning scenarios. As Hilary Mason reminds us, AI is not ‘magic’ – instead, ‘it’s math and data and computer programming, made by regular humans’.

The final chapter revisits and elucidates some of the central questions raised initially in the book. Selwyn urges us to be critical of the innovative technologies in education, which he describes as an area of exaggerated expectation and uninformed speculation. He continues to emphasize the value of ‘human teachers’ and strongly dismisses the notion that AI technology might supersede them. Selwyn argues that discussion and agendas around AI in education have been dominated by technology designers, vendors and corporate reformers; also necessary is the involvement of educators, students, parents and other stakeholders in education. Looking ahead, it is interesting to contemplate the evolution of AI, still in its infancy and raising a range of issues, arguments and concerns of enormous importance that will impact the future of education and society.

Selwyn’s book lucidly examines the potential benefits and pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence in the formal education context. It provides critical insight into various nuances and complexities in social, political and economic domains that require careful consideration when implementing Artificial Intelligence in education. The title of the book compels us to reflect on an issue that is neither simply technical nor educational. Instead it impacts history, society and humanity.

That being said, the book is engaging, thought-provoking and a must-read for those who are interested in issues pertaining to the future of education. It has immensely inspired me to continue my personal research into Artificial Intelligence in education.

Naaz Kirmani was Head of Senior School at Indus International School, Pune, India before becoming in 2018 a doctoral researcher at the University of Bath, UK. Email: N.Kirmani@bath.ac.uk

They’re Called the ‘Throwaways’ Children in Special Education Using Artmaking for Social Change

by Christa Boske (Ed) Leiden, Brill (2019) Reviewed by Richard Caston ‘Christa, our kids are the throwaways … no one wanted them … no one believed them … so many of our children have been thrown unwillingly into a system that no longer validates their existence … it’s shameful and unacceptable … they think of themselves as throwaways’. [Teacher to Christa Boske] Christa Boske and the contributors to her book describe how the lives of special education students have been transformed by the integration of artmaking into their daily lives. In the Introduction, ‘Artmaking as Sensemaking as a Winter

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Portrait of Resilience for Children with Learning Differences’, she presents a strong case for the programme and the positive ways in which students have benefitted from participating in it. Many of the students highlighted in the book, mostly in grades 6 to 8, have endured low expectations, bullying and abuse, both inside and out of school, and as a result have suffered from a host of social, emotional and learning difficulties. Their academic progress at school has often been neglected by the educational leadership and by a lack of inclusion within school communities; hence the term ‘throwaways’ in the title.

Through first-telling of individual stories of real life experiences, Boske helped the class develop a sense of

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Book reviews

A touching and sometimes disturbing book that will strike a chord with all educators.

Part 2 presents ‘Adult Voices’ from teachers and other professions involved with the programme at different levels.

Their comments give a range of views, and share enthusiasm for the programme and their own involvement with the students. Some thought deeply about their own approach and questioned their own practice: ‘Their artmaking made me think. Their work made me think about what I can be doing differently as an art teacher, the extent I can integrate art into their classes, and into their lives … their art made me think about myself and how I work with them … maybe they aren’t just being defiant for the purpose of being defiant’. [Adult Voice F] In the Afterword, ‘The Power of Artmaking as Sensemaking’, Boske draws on the work of Eisner, Gardner and Greene to reflect on how artmaking as sensemaking can provide unique contributions to cognitive development and critical thinking. She acknowledged the impact of the programme on both individual students and teachers, and the caring relationships that ensued that changed the school culture.

‘And my story does matter. Does it matter to you? What will you do with what you learned? Did you learn anything at all?’ asks Student S. ‘They’re called the Throwaways’ is a touching and sometimes disturbing book that will strike a chord with all educators, not only specialists in art or special needs: a chord that lies central to what it means to be a teacher and the responsibilities teachers and school leaders have for all students. At the beginning of the programme students were asked to choose a champion. Some chose their own mothers or another family member. Others chose people as champions who had supported them in the past, perhaps former teachers. A champion is forever.

Richard Caston is an artist and educator. He was Head of the Visual Arts department at the International School of Düsseldorf and an examiner for IB Visual Arts. He works today at his painting studio in Düsseldorf. [www.castonart.com] Email: richard@castonart.com Summer |

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empathy through sharing. The previously unheard stories of these ‘at-risk’ children revealed an often painful past. Through the artmaking programme students were able to find a degree of self-worth, identity and confidence, and develop resistance to the negative learning environment they had encountered, coming some way to terms with their often troubled personal histories.

The artwork used actual shoes as a form and as a metaphor for ‘walking in my shoes’ to portray each student.

Two hundred and fifty pairs of shoes were donated for the project, sufficient for the participants to be able to select the right model for their own creation. Boske discussed at length with each student what form and content they wished their shoe artwork to take, and the conversations were carefully noted down, forming written abstractions.

This documentation later accompanied the artwork in an exhibition at a local museum.

Part 1 of the book, ‘Youth Voices’, presents evidence from the students themselves, with the artwork exhibits photographed in detail, together with the written abstractions. The outside of the shoe sometimes contrasted with the inside space.

Student S wanted to cover his shoe with rocks: ‘I was hard on the outside. This was the hardest thing I could cover myself with. And then, that wasn’t enough. I needed to show how I push people away. I keep them at a distance. So, I wanted to cover my art with wire, just like barbed-wire. That was the look I was going for, so we used chicken wire. And that wasn’t enough protection. So, I wanted the fence to be electric too. I have an outlet on the back with a cord and a plug. I keep people out’.

The inside of his shoe included keys and other objects: ‘One of the things I need from you is for people to teach me to love. I need to see it. I need to see it around me. I need it for others and I need it for me. If you can show that you care and walk the talk, you may get a couple of keys. These keys will lead you to my gate. Inside the gate, I wrote my story. But you can’t get to it.

It is sealed in bottles. This is for me to decide if I will share it with you. What’s inside is what is going on with me. You will also see a sweetie inside. This is to symbolize what a sweet person I am on the inside’.

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Developing a positive school culture Focus on second language learners | Saluting our frontline teachers in the fight against pandemic