As the photos above and to the right show, I have been in London over the past week, where it has been very, very cold. The main reason for the visit has been to attend two back-to-back faculty recruitment workshops where I have been looking for teachers with suitable expertise and experience to enhance Awty’s international diversity.
The recruitment process is still underway as I write this, so it would be neither professional nor appropriate to say much about it in a public venue such as this. I will just make this comment: I think the single most important part of my role as Head of School is selecting the right teachers – after all, if we have the right faculty, then we are very likely to have the right school. If we want to be the best school in the world, then we need to have the best teachers in the world.
Although I was in London primarily to attend the recruitment workshops, I also took time out on one evening to host a reception for Awty alumni. This was the second year I have done this in London, and I was delighted that we tripled our numbers from last year despite the cold weather (it was snowing). One of the participants drove 80 miles to attend because the trains had been cancelled. Held in the relaxed atmosphere of The Pipeline Bar, it was great to catch up with Awty alumni and share news
about the school’s wonderful progress in such diverse areas such as building, exam results, enrolments and so on. The affection with which our alumni continue to view their ‘old school’ on the other side of the world was inspiring, and we finished the evening enthusiastically discussing plans to triple the number of attendees again next year.
One of our two major accreditation agencies, the Council of International Schools (CIS) always holds its annual general meeting at the time of the London recruitment workshops. This is done to take advantage of the fact that most Heads of CIS
schools come to London each year to attend the event. Although the AGM itself was nothing special, the two professional development workshops for Heads of Schools that preceded it were excellent, and I would love to share some of the insights I gleaned from these with you.
The first workshop was led by Margaret Alvarez, who is Chair of the CIS Research and Development Committee as well as being Head of the International School of Singapore. Her presentation
was titled
“the theoretical underpinnings of accreditation”.
Margaret’s session was based on a paper that she had written to explore the major theory and areas of research that informed the structure and standards of a new edition of the CIS “Guide to School Evaluation and Accreditation”, the ‘bible’ of the teams who go into schools (including Awty) to conduct their appraisal visits. (Our next visit is due later this year).
The theoretical basis of the new CIS accreditation process is Jürgen Habermas’ communicative action theory (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Habermas and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Communicative_Action). At its simplest, this theory looks at how language and speech can be used to create common understandings and change thinking, recognising that in order to create these common understandings, a society (or group) needs to engage in structured dialogue that involves all people through clear rules and structures. Furthermore, these discussions need to take place in a context where people speak the truth and provide supportive evidence for their claims, and where people are open-minded enough to allow their thinking to be
transformed. Given this foundation, it is easy to see how Habermas’ theory would provide a sound base for schools’ self-study processes and subsequent reflection.
Margaret amplified these points by noting that the new CIS accreditation process (which will apply to Awty at our next follow up accreditation visit later this year) integrates three driving ideas: (a) the school should be mission driven and vision led, (b) student learning and well-being must be key priorities, and (c) internationalism must be put into practice, not just articulated.
This led to an interesting discussion among the Heads of Schools present, which was this: which of these three factors is the main driving force in each of our schools? During the discussion, it quickly emerged that what is most important to (a) students, (b) parents, (c) boards, (d) teachers and (e) Heads, seldom coincide. It was certainly an informative discussion!
I was absolutely delighted to learn that from our accreditation
agency’s viewpoint, greater emphasis will be placed in the future on the ways in which internationalism is implemented in schools. It was made very clear that schools relying on the very superficial “Five F’s” (food, fashion, field trips, festivals, flags) to express their internationalism will no longer satisfy the expectations. The Five F’s are not necessarily harmful in themselves, but a real danger arises when schools
believe they are being truly international when they are relying only on such superficial measures. Quite rightly, the Five F’s will no longer “tick the international box”.
As shown in the diagram to the left, CIS will insist that schools claiming to be international should drill down beyond the tip of the iceberg and authentically reflect internationalism as part of the DNA of the school. And again it was re-emphasised - internationalism is not nationalism or bi-nationalism or tri-nationalism, but an authentically global and multicultural approach that values the perspectives of ALL cultures.
This requirement should lead to some very profound and challenging discussions in every international school in the world. Excellent!
The second workshop was, I thought, even better than the first. Entitled
“Intercultural literacy - implications for leaders”,
it was led by Chris Mueller, Head of the International School of Bonn. In his address, Chris shared the results of his doctoral research that identified the characteristics of international schools that have been shown to promote international mindedness.
Chris set the scene for his address by exploring the fundamentally important question of what it means to be an international school. To quote from his introduction:
“It is impossible to offer a single definition of international education. As the literature suggests, international schools range from the idealistic to the pragmatic, from national to globalist, from opportunist to market-driven, and from transplanted national systems to independently internationalist. Some schools promote ideals that are essentially esoteric
in nature, such as the promotion of world peace and environmental awareness. Others approach education with a systematic response to global issues and market forces. Other schools take advantage of the label that implies a shift away from failed national systems, where their missions may or may not contain internationalist elements.
International-mindedness is an understanding that individuals can improve the state of the world through understanding of global realities, and the accompanying acceptance of
the responsibility to take action to do so. It is a mindset that generates a perspective that can transform existing identities. An internationally minded student is one who understands practices that underlie
or facilitate the bridging of social and cultural differences.”
As he then correctly proceeded to point out, international education is much more than merely having a multitude of national perspectives and national approaches. His research involved a mix of surveys to Heads of large international schools together with a wide-ranging literature review - one component of which I was delighted to learn was my 2004 published paper on best practice in international education (a copy of which can be seen HERE).
As a result of his research, Chris has identified the ten most important factors in international schools that promote international-mindedness:
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1.School philosophy and values: Every international school presents a unique, alternative set of priorities that contrasts with its surrounding environment. However, the effectiveness of any school is measured by the extent to which its philosophy and values translate into action within the school. In Awty’s case, it raised interesting and provocative questions in my mind such as whether the French section (which focuses on the national curriculum of one European country) can hope to be as internationally focussed as the International section, or whether it might be limited by its curriculum to be essentially a national interpretation (in comparison with our international section). Other questions it raised in my mind were: Does our mission statement focus on global mindedness or simply on international diversity? Does our (universally acclaimed
and wonderful!) annual international festival promote international mindedness or simply national pride? These seem important questions to consider if Awty truly aspires to develop authentic international-mindedness among its students.
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2.Governance and management practices: If an organisation is to fulfil its vision, all levels from the board down must embrace a truly international philosophy and promote widespread buy-in. Two questions that were posed to us for consideration on this issue were: (a) can internationalism be seen in both the composition and all the decisions of our board of governors?, and (b) does the board really understand internationalism as a concept in all its fullness? It led to an interesting discussion in the group, and it emerged that many schools find that the Head, the faculty and the leadership team have a passionate understanding of international-mindedness, but many boards may not have such a deep understanding as they seem to focus more on financial, legal and political matters.
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3.International curriculum perspective: In order to be effective, the curriculum in international schools needs to be constructed around outcomes that explicitly emphasise international-mindedness. Chris emphasised what all Heads of international schools already know - the IB does not necessarily ensure internationally minded outcomes; it is each school’s interpretation and implementation of the curriculum that determines whether or not such outcomes will be achieved. To state the obvious, external examinations (even the IB Diploma) can’t really measure international-mindedness. Thus, the questions we focussed on here were:
(a) Does our school’s curriculum reflect global citizenship and international mindedness throughout all subjects and grades (and in both sections in Awty’s case)?, and (b) How can we measure the action consequences of international-mindedness for our students?
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4.Ethical practice in an international context: Do we value and recognise different cultural norms and various traditions in our school’s codes of behaviour and measures of success? Do we include global perspectives and intercultural awareness as job descriptors and points of focus in faculty recruitment interviews? Is international-mindedness an important factor in teacher appraisals? Do we work actively to recruit a mix of students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, including marginalised individuals and indigenous groups, non-state students and students from regions of conflict? Do we have enough international diversity among teaching staff, or are we essentially Western-focussed? Are we less international than we think because we operate within a western-centric values base? As we concluded this section of the discussion, we were reminded of John Dewey’s words: “education is an inherently ethical concept”.
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5.Cultural composition of the school: This is important as we can’t simply rely on intercultural mixing happening as an osmosis-like process in a school, especially when young people tend to try to assimilate and fit in rather than stand out. For that reason, international schools must consciously and explicitly promote international-mindedness in their students.
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6.Third culture kids (students in transition): These are students who are neither part of their home culture nor their destination culture. TCKs (as they are known) need to be nurtured through their process of adjustment, and helped to establish their own identity. Some of the questions here included: Do we actively help students though the adjustment process via specific transition programs (including TCAs - Third Culture Adults, identity awareness, etc)? Do we assimilate local families into our distinctive international environment, overcoming the “I pay the fees, I drop the kids off” mentality? Orientation of TCKs is especially important in schools such as Awty because of the high student turnover each year.
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7.Linguistic fluency: International schools are ideally suited to promote
multi-lingualism, and language learning can be an important tool to promote international mindedness. On the other hand, language learning in many international schools is merely promoted as an element of a highly diverse curriculum, devoid of any intent to promote international-mindedness. Indeed, in many international schools, language learning is more oriented towards promoting national identity (by preserving home languages) than fulfilling its potential to develop international-mindedness. Language learning only really encourages international-mindedness when students are encouraged to learn languages that are quite different from the languages of their home or adopted regions.
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8.Service learning: International schools tend to be communities of privilege, so the needs of other communities must be explicitly promoted, and this should include those in need who are both nearby and far away. We were reminded that old-fashioned community service programs seldom promote a global perspective or specific learning outcomes; international-mindedness can only be promoted in the context of understanding the needs of others, which is where a service learning approach becomes very valuable. In other words, learning must extend far beyond the idea of just ‘doing good’.
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9.Teaching practice and professional development: To promote international-mindedness, learning and teaching must draw on a wide selection of methodologies and practices that reflect the diversity of the world, preferably in a way that embraces trans-disciplinary learning. In the same way, faculty professional development for faculty should be targeted towards making an international school school the type of place that its mission aspires - hopefully, an international learning organisation that emphasises international-mindedness in all things.
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10. Student life and leadership: This is perhaps the most obvious and practical of Mueller’s ten points; international schools must promote global leadership skills if they are to prepare leaders of the future who embrace internal-mindedness. Teachers must nurture and develop the leadership of students and empower
them. The big question that arose during this discussion was: “Do we provide opportunities for students to explore possibilities of leadership that can lead to a better world?”, understanding as we do that the world needs unselfish leaders who are not limited by ethnocentric thinking and who can see the big picture of global issues and problems.
Chris’ basic thesis was that international schools are uniquely positioned to model education that reduces ethnocentricism, increases knowledge of other cultures, and promotes a concern for global environmental issues. International-mindedness is a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility to its members. We finished his presentation with a strong consensus that every international school needs to look deeply at its culture and its practices to ensure nothing is impeding this most important and urgent imperative.