K12 Digest® – December 2022 – 10 Must-Watch International Schools in Africa – 2022

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Must-Watch International Schools

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Dr. Manoj Varghese, Ph.D

Managing Editor

Sarath Shyam

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Anuja Mulmule

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Naomi Wilson

in Africa

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Studying in an international school opens opportunities on a global scale. It gives the students exposure to world cultures that upgrade and improve their learning process. In Africa, international school education is experiencing huge demand. ISC Research predicts that the current figure of over 700 English-medium international schools could swell to over 1,518 international schools in Africa and teach over 625,000 students by 2025.

For instance, the growth of international schools is evident from the increase in the number of institutions offering International Baccalaureate (IB) programs in Africa. The first school in Africa to offer an IB program was in 1977 in Tanzania, and today there are 148 IB programs offered by 121 schools in 33 countries across the continent. In a statement, IB officials say that rapid economic growth across the continent coupled with a young population

Africa: A High-Fertile Land for International Schools

gives the IB a chance to establish itself as the education of choice for students looking for highquality international education. Indeed, five of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa, with Ethiopia taking the top spot, according to 2019 figures from the World Bank.

Coupled with large expatriate communities, a proliferating middle-class population looking for US or UK curricula for their children makes Africa an excellent choice for international schools to thrive. In this issue, we have identified 10 MustWatch International Schools in Africa - 2022 that have been performing exceptionally well to fulfill the new-gen African dreams. On the cover, we feature Gavin McCormack, Co-Founder of Upschool.co & Education Influence, who has led hundreds of teacher training workshops in schools across the globe, including the U.K., France, Australia, India, and Nepal. Enjoy Reading.

Sarath Shyam

Chris Wright

Former International School Principal, Former Group Project Director at a World Class Learning Group, Education Consultant - Wright Solutions, United Kingdom

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

Founder & CEO - Paths to Math Ltd, Former Mathematics Teacher and Principal, Global Teacher Prize Finalist, Finland

Zeljana Radojicic Lukic

Exceptional Educator from Serbia, Founder of Association of the Best Teachers of the Former Yugoslavia, Founder of Magical Intercultural Friendship Network, Founder of Creative Magic - Children’s International Festival, Founder of Magic Village, Serbia

Asst. Prof. Dr. Poonsri Vate-U-Lan

Assistant Professor in Education, Ph.D. Supervisor and Researcher, Thailand

Stephen Cox

Chief Education Officer, New Nordic School, Finland

Dr. Lilian Bacich

Senior Educationist, Author, Keynote Speaker, Co-founderTríade Educacional, Brazil

Servatius (Servee) Palmans

Former Director School Administration & Business Operations (Large Education Group), Chief Operating Officer - BBD Education, Netherlands & UAE

Chief

Principal,

Dr. Stuart Grant Colesky Liljana Luani

Senior Teacher‘Pashko Vasa’ school Shkodra, Exceptional Volunteer, Albania

English and Literature teacher, Owner of “The Smart Teens Studio of English” in Belgorod, Russia

Dr. Varughese K.John, PhD

Former Program Director, MS in Management Program, GSATM - AU, Thailand & India

Hatem Slimane

Founder & National President - ATAST, General director of IFEST² the international projects competition in Tunisia, General secretary of MILSET Africa, BRISECC member, Tunisia

Ralph Valenzisi

Maarit Rossi

Elena Shramkova

Rundle College, South Africa

of Digital Learning and Development, Norwalk Public Schools, Connecticut, United States

Master Teacher, Researcher, Innovator, Trainer, Philippines

Innovative Educator of Online Classroom, Pungsaeng Middle School, South Korea

Shady Elkassas

Director of Innovation

Al Ittihad National Private School-Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

Deputy Head and Dean of Faculty, Dalton Academy, Beijing, China

Former Vice President Security (Large Education Group), Former British Army Officer (Airborne Forces), Senior Advisor – Resilience and Crisis Management (Emerald Solutions Group), United Kingdom & UAE

Innovative English and ICT Teacher, Author, Japan

Distinguished Senior EFL Teacher, ISA Coordinator with the British Council, Motivational Speaker, Tunisia

EdTech Specialist, Speaker and Teacher Trainer, Innovative ICT Educator, ICT learning multimedia developer, Indonesia

Juan Manuel Pico

Co-founder & Managing Partner, Education Soul, Colombia

Revolutionary English Educator, Globally Connected English Studio - Hanoi, Vietnam

Master Teacher, Speaker and Researcher, Philippines

Technology Academy Manager, Microsoft Learning Consultant, Global Trainer, Vietnam

Dr. Manoj Varghese, Ph.D

Senior Director – Global Partnerships, Advisory & Consulting – Connecta® | Head of Advisory Board – Higher Education Digest® & K12 Digest® | Adjunct Faculty –Assumption University | Former CIO – Athena Education | Former Global Director Technology – GEMS Education

Rania Lampou

Dr. Venus M. Alboruto

Kihyun Park

Dr. Leonilo Basas Capulso

Angus Duthie

Herwin Hamid

Ian Deakin

Hidekazu

Mr. Ngô Thành Nam

Fethy Letaief

Global Teacher Prize Finalist 2019, 15 International Awards on STEM, STEM Instructor, Educator, Neuroscience Researcher, Trainer & Author, Greece

LEADER IN FOCUS

Hugh McCormick, Founder, Copperfield International School

Dr. Conrad Hughes, Campus and Secondary Principal, Geneva’s International School

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR EDTECH

Howard Lewis, Managing Director UK and International, Discovery Education

Julie Young, Managing Director, ASU Prep Digital

REIMAGINING EDUCATION

Dr. Ger Graus OBE, Global Education Adviser, Dr Ger Graus OBE Consulting Ltd

98

WHAT WE NEED TO BE TEACHING IN SCHOOLS

Itunuoluwa Isaac Bamidele, Education Officer, Teaching Service Commission

88

HOW DO YOU LEAD?

Michael Hartland, Principal, Chase Grammar School

MENTOR’S OPINION

Reimagining Education

Dr. Ger Graus OBE, Global Education Adviser, Dr Ger Graus OBE Consulting Ltd

ProfessorDrGerGrausOBEisarenownedfigureinthefieldofeducation.HewasKidZania’sfirst GlobalEducationDirectorandfoundingCEOoftheChildren’sUniversity.In2019,GerbecameaVisiting ProfessorattheNationalResearchUniversity,Moscow,Russia.HeisalsoaBoardDirectoratHelloGenius, andchairstheAdvisoryBoardsatKabuni,UK,andTwinScience,Turkey.GermovedtotheUnitedKingdom in1983wherehebeganhisteachingcareer,laterbecomingaSeniorInspector,andEducationDirector.Dr GrausisamemberofBett’sGlobalEducationCouncil;DIDACIndia’sAdvisoryBoard;JuniorAchievement’s WorldwideGlobalCouncil;chairstheBeaconhouseSchoolSystem’sAdvisoryBoard,Pakistan;advisesthe FondazioneReggioChildren,Italy,andtheInternationalSchoolsPartnership(ISP);andhasbeeninvitedto helpshapethefutureofeducationinDubaiasamemberoftheDubaiFutureCouncils.

Answering the questions that COVID-19 has asked of education, and schooling systems in particular, around the world requires building on what we know works, but also looking ahead to what we anticipate children will need.

COVID-19 upended schooling around the world. The pace was frenzied, and urgency overtook strategy as remote learning, planning how to reopen schools, and supporting children academically and emotionally took centre stage. The enormity of the challenge left little room for deeper reflection.

Yet there are possible silver linings on the horizon as education and schooling systems begin in earnest to plan for a future, well beyond COVID-19. It is important to sit back and think long and hard about a longer-term aim to create a better education for every child.

This thought-process starts with some old but key questions: What are we trying to achieve?

Who for? By when? To what standards? And why? We know that what unites successful provision everywhere is a focus on excellence and purpose for every child, regardless of socio-economic contexts, gender, ethnicity, or geography. It is this that should inform which aspects to keep in our current systems and where to innovate to create a better and more equitable provision for all.

While we should not throw out babies with bathwaters, we must also recognise that the continued COVID-19 threat is driving an urgency to implement faster new models of learning and innovate beyond the conventional four-walled classrooms. At the same time, COVID-19 has shone a light on and indeed widened many of the inequities in school systems globally, from the learning environment at home to access to devices, internet, and high-quality schooling. There is not yet any clear evidence of a concerted political will to take on the challenge of fixing long-broken delivery models and making 21st

While we should not throw out babies with bathwaters, we must also recognise that the continued COVID-19 threat is driving an urgency to implement faster new models of learning and innovate beyond the conventional fourwalled classrooms

century education better for and accessible to all – in other words, to put the money where the mouth is. This is something electorates globally will need to urgently consider.

In this article, I would like to invite educators and policy makers to consider with me a number of basic principles and ideas to start (re)building an education provision that will begin to better serve the needs of our children, our adults, our communities, societies and, yes, our economies,

and although this may seem overwhelming, the time to start reimagining the future of our children’s education is yesterday.

Get the basics right.

Every school system must get these basic components right:

▪ Core skills. Children need a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy. You can’t live as well

if you can’t read or write or be as creative if you can’t do your sums. You can’t innovate without knowledge. Provision needs to ensure that knowledge is being adopted in both remote and in-person environments and thereby the use of technology becomes a further key life-skill.

of technology in education may be inevitable, technology will never replace a great teacher. Every system must develop and support all teachers, especially as they learn new skills for remote and hybrid learning.

▪ Performance measurement. It is hard to achieve excellence without data on current performance and benchmarks to aim toward. However, data should be used primarily to inform - to direct support to the children, teachers, schools, parents - not to punish. School systems need better, broader, appropriate assessments and better tools to help them help each child succeed.

Allocate resources equitably to support every child. Globally, there are significant inequities between countries, yet funding is insufficient to close the gap to universal enrolment, let alone to universal high-quality education. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” will require a substantial increase in investment in the children most at educational risk.

▪ High-quality teaching and learning. Children learn best from people. Who the teachers and educators are must be open for debate; academic experts, project managers, extra-curricular experts, rolemodels et al. The definition needs reassessing. While greater use

Within countries, COVID-19 has laid bare the inequities of access to high-quality education. Those inequities emerge even before school attendance begins. Instead of helping low-income and disadvantaged children narrow the gap, the current funding mechanisms in many countries widen it.

Change will mean a move away from “The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different

Every system must develop and support all teachers, especially as they learn new skills for remote and hybrid learning

result”. This applies to funding, teaching, access, boundaries, ownership, leadership et al.

Rethink school structures and policies. Education systems now have an opportunity to rethink the school structures that were forged in the 18th century. Perhaps COVID-19 can be a catalyst for innovation. The list of educational innovations and possible interventions is long, but we should not just experiment with our children’s futures, yet equally, we don’t want to be held back any more by inertia or continue with failed projects.

Bold education systems can take an agile and research-based approach. Smart systems will also expand their partnership networks, collaborating with academia to bring the best of learning science, with employers to

In the digital era, educators need to expand their understanding of what it means to be literate in the 21st century: not replacing traditional learning but complementing and enhancing it

create linkages to the workplace, and with the business world to access funding. All school systems must challenge themselves to reshape their models to deliver a better education to every child.

Support children holistically.

The correlation between mindsets and academic performance has long been clear, but the shift to remote learning put it into stark relief. Children with high levels of selfmotivation, persistence, and independence have continued to thrive, while others, often from disadvantaged contexts, have struggled. Similarly, the emotional toll of COVID-19 has raised awareness of the need to address anxiety, depression, and other mental-health issues as a precondition to helping children learn. Good schools are more than a school.

In a good school “every child is everyone’s responsibility”. Good schools address the whole child, helping them develop skills and awareness that go beyond what they need simply to find work. Good schools play a critical role in helping children learn how to become effective citizens, parents, workers, and custodians of the planet. More than ever, we need to enable and empower good schools.

Harness technology to scale access.

Research tells us that just handing out devices to children doesn’t lead to improved learning. COVID-19 has reminded us that lecturing on a video call is rarely a substitute for face-toface learning. The challenge isn’t just to adopt new technologies but to incorporate them in ways that improve access and quality, for all. This needs to be built up from the individual

children and their contexts, thus enabling and then empowering them.

Move toward experience-based learning. Experience is everything. For our children to connect with the purpose of schooling and education, we need to, of course, provide knowledge and understanding. But how? And why? We need to utilise what is available to us - in terms of technology for example, but also in terms of all that says that not all classrooms have four walls, locally, nationally, and globally.

We are the facilitators enabling children to join the dots and recognise that experiences are the appliance of the science, the theory into practice, the why answers, and often the awe and wonder. We need to empower children to make sense of the world, as agents of their own change and guide them to discovering their own inspirations and aspirations. Then we need to support them in finding their roadmaps and help them to get there, from an early age.

For this to be achieved we need to become our children’s allies of empowerment. We need to make experience-based learning and partnership our modus operandus, purpose our watchword, high standards and a sense of achievement our aim, and our children’s wellbeing and preparedness for tomorrow our promise. As school systems invest in solutions for remote and hybrid learning, they can plan for a future of this blended personalised learning in and out with the classroom, utilising “the environment as the third teacher”.

“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there”.

Help children become future aware.

We must aim for children to understand that learning is a satellite navigation system to better places in life, locally, nationally and globally. Therefore, we need to introduce into education and schooling early opportunities to be aware of the world around us and the futures it may hold - let us for now call it Futures Awareness™.

Every year the world of work tells the world of education that what is being produced does not meet the necessary requirements in terms of skills and competencies. Our schooling now does not cater for the requirements of today let alone tomorrow. Our education systems are based on the requirements of the past. Every economic age has its core asset, and, in our time, this is knowledge, skills and character qualities.

In the digital era, educators need to expand their understanding of what it means to be literate in the 21st century: not replacing traditional learning but complementing and enhancing it.

COVID-19 has accelerated workplace automation as employers continue to automate tasks to reduce costs and minimise the spread of infection. School systems need to help children adapt to changes in the workplace and other impacts of rapid digitisation, from ethical standards and cybersecurity to the impact on health, forensics, and many other parts of the economy. In the digital era, educators need to expand their understanding of what it means to be literate in the 21st century: not replacing traditional learning but complementing and enhancing it. With the speed of change in the digital era, business leaders must also increasingly be critical partners in helping children develop work-ready skills and write their own narrative of the possible.

Invest in teachers and teaching. While education experts recognise the importance of great teachers, teacher preparation and development still fall short in many systems. That has to change, starting with creating more linkages between teacher training and local schools, much like the linkages between medical schools and hospitals to anchor learning in real-world practice, led by the experts, as well as by grasping the opportunity to reimagine teacher training and development more fundamentally by leveraging advanced technology. The role of the teacher requires rethinking and redefining to include facilitation, programme leadership, partnership development, and resource procurement and management skills.

School systems must free teachers to spend more time on high-value activities that require deep teaching expertise and relationships. This might also involve new roles, such as learning navigators to help children and families adapt to remote learning. Longer term, systems might consider a more radical unbundling of the role of the teacher, enabling individuals to take on more differentiated roles that play to their strengths, preferences, and areas of expertise.

What is critical to any successful educational transformation is that the place education holds in all societies needs to be given greater priority and higher status, and that the teaching professions are held in the highest possible esteem, made tangible by recognition and respect, and a remuneration commensurate with the responsibility of leading our young people into new and better futures.

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

MCCORMACK GAVIN

The word ‘Education’ is derived from the Latin word, “educare,” which means to train or to mould. For centuries we have been training or moulding our children to enter the world as workers. To show up on time, dressed in the same uniform and ready to achieve goals set by the system. The only constant in this world is change and, unfortunately, education has not been able to change as quickly as we have.

The days of teaching our children to work in factories, clock-in and clock-out, are long gone. The 21st-century world is a dynamic and flexible place with a multitude of challenges and opportunities all around, but are we preparing our children for a future we are yet to understand? We believe there is something missing. What we are failing to acknowledge is the understanding

that children have a great deal to offer in this journey we call education and if only we listened to them, gave them freedom, and allowed them to experiment, we might just see the children leaving our schools ready to face the future as confident, empathetic individuals who truly know what it means to lead.

Gavin McCormack is the Co-founder of Upschool.co and Education Influence. He is passionate about teaching and pedagogy. He has taught for over 20 years in several countries across the world. Born in England, he moved to France, Spain, Korea, and Australia, where he taught for 10 years in an Islamic school before training as a Montessori teacher where he has worked for the past 6 years.

Over his years as a teacher, Gavin has led hundreds of teacher training workshops in schools across the globe including the U.K., France, Australia, India, and Nepal. He is an advocate for innovative education practices and believes strongly in the development of essential skills in students from an early age.

He is a regular visitor to Nepal where he delivers Montessori training and programming advice. Over the past 3 years, he has trained several hundred teachers on classroom delivery techniques and lesson preparation. He currently runs 2 Montessori training centers in the country and has built 3 schools and a library in some of the most remote areas.

As a children’s author, Gavin was nominated for Australian Author of the year in 2017. He writes and distributes picture books that are designed to educate children about the important things in life; friendship, kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. Gavin was named in the top ten most influential global educators in 2019 and nominated for Australian of the year for his work in educational equality in 2018.

His favourite quote “You’ll never understand true happiness until you help someone who can never pay you back”. - Gandhi.

The pillars that underpin our approach to education are trust, voice, and choice, whilst delivering education with purpose and intention. Our children need to feel that they have a say in their educational journey, whilst allowing them to feel that the work they do has meaning and helps change the world for the better.

The education system is in crisis. Teachers are resigning left, right and centre, there’s a shortage of new and upcoming graduates to fill vacant positions, and the current crisis around literacy here in Australia, are just a number of problems that the global education sector is facing.

With these issues in mind, Upschool.co has worked tirelessly to provide teachers, parents, and children with a multitude of carefully designed

resources that assist with these very issues. Our courses, teaching resources, live lessons, teaching programs, and community webinars are high quality, purposeful, and free to everyone.

Our educational courses are all based on purpose and intention. Allowing children and teachers to feel that the work they are doing is having a positive impact on the way the world works whilst still allowing children to grow academically. Our premier courses, amongst other things, allow children to work with their community to curb the effects of climate change, write, illustrate, and publish their very own picture book and even drive change in their community in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provided by the United Nations.

Teaching is a profession where creativity and connectivity are key. Both children and teachers must be given creative license to allow them to craft a learning journey that suits them and their community and everyone needs to be connected to the work they are doing. The emotional connection of the work we do is absolutely paramount. In our latest course, ‘It Starts with You,’ all the lessons are delivered from within the Arctic Circle. Lessons on polar bears, glaciers, and even walruses are delivered only meters away from the subject matter. If we want our children to be more engaged with the topics we are teaching, we must bring the world into the classroom and that is exactly what we have done. Bringing learning to life for the students and the teachers.

Our mission is to bring the magic back into teaching again. Allowing students to ignite their passion whilst giving teachers the ability to see the essential skills of their students flourish through purposeful learning and creativity. Teaching is an art and we want to make sure that everyone plays a part in painting the picture of education.

Both children and teachers must be given creative license to allow them to craft a learning journey that suits them and their community and everyone needs to be connected to the work they are doing

As you read this, children around the world are sitting in class writing stories. It must be the most common phrase in any classroom: ‘Children, today we are going to write a story,’ and how fun it is to be given the freedom to open up your imagination and create something unique.

With this in mind, the team at Upschool have designed a course ‘Write a Book to Change the

World,’ which harnesses the power of creativity through purposeful actions. In the average classroom, children spend a long time crafting a story, drawing a picture, and editing the words and when finished, it receives a tick, a score and maybe a nice comment from the teacher. And whilst this is great, we wanted to give our children a chance to use their stories to change the world.

As a published author & co-founder of Upschool, I wanted to use my experience and expertise to bring the feeling of publishing your very own book to children all around the world. After striking a number of partnerships with amazing charities such as So They Can, Rainforest Rescue, and the Jane Goodall Institute, the team at Upschool designed a course that allows children to plan, write, illustrate, and publish their very own book for the world to read. Readers can also purchase copies of these books and some of the proceeds go to charities of the child’s choosing.

So far hundreds of books from around the world have flooded in. One particularly brilliant story was written by a 14-year-old boy from Kolkata, named Divyam. Divyam lives with his mother in one of the most polluted cities on Earth. Having heard about the course, he enrolled and during his summer holidays, he wrote a book called ‘Heaven Restored,’ a book about the hope of restoring nature. He has sold several copies of his book so far with proceeds being donated to the John Fawcett Foundation, which restores children’s eyesight in Indonesia.

To us at Upschool, this is what education is all about. Allowing the children to engage with their learning to make positive impacts on the lives of others. We believe that the emotional attachment to the work our children do has a lasting impact on how our children see the world and we want this to run like a river throughout all of our courses and resources.

First and foremost teachers need to be held in the highest regard and trusted to do the job they are trained to do. Our teachers need to be respected as professionals and experts in their field. For a very long time now we have undermined our teachers, forcing them to produce reams and reams of paperwork to prove that they can teach.

Teachers enter the profession to change the world through education. They want to teach with passion in their unique way and walk away feeling that they had some say in the way their children learned today. But as the piles and piles of paperwork pile up, the ability for teachers to think creatively and, therefore, teach dynamically, has been stifled.

The Australian curriculum is very well put together. The outcomes allow for our teachers to use their own knowledge, experience and understanding to deliver the outcomes in a way that suits them, however, the current system is designed to focus on scores, rankings, and grades and this means that standardised tests end up being the end goal. Once standardised tests are the end goal, our teachers inevitably start working towards these tests and the wonderfully open-ended curriculum is suddenly null and void. Teacher training must provide our graduates with the ability to achieve academic success without focusing on weekly spelling tests, termly exams and results.

There is more educational success than achieving a top score and once our teachers are aware that this is OK, they will feel that they can spread their educational wings and bring the magic of teaching back into their classrooms.

January 2023 will see Upschool release its highly anticipated teacher training course. A 10week teacher training course designed to assist teachers in refocusing on what matters in the world of education. The Course is entitled ‘Education for the 21st Century.’

In order to provide our children with an inspirational education, our teachers need to be inspired by the profession they have chosen, and it is this that is the root cause of the collapse of our education system. Upschool aims to bring that inspiration back.

LEADER IN FOCUS

Creating an Inspiring Characterbased Learning Environment for Students

Hugh McCormick, Founder, Copperfield International School

Hugh founded Copperfield International School and leads the teameachdayinitsmissiontoprovideaninspiringcharacter-based educationtoallthestudents.Hugh’svisionwastoopenaschoolthat putthestudentsatthecentreofeverythingitdid.

Prior to Copperfield, Hugh received a First-Class BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, followed by an MPhil and DPhil in Political Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He then worked as an investment banker at Macquarie and UBS, before embarking on a teaching career at top British schools Harrow and Sevenoaks. In 2022, he graduated with a Master’s in Educational Leadership and School Improvement, with Distinction, from the University of Cambridge.

In an exclusive interview with K12 Digest, Hugh discusses about the status of the current school education system, how Copperfield International School began its journey and conquered challenges imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the driving forces behind hispersonalsuccess,andalotmore.Followingaretheexcerptsfrom the interview.

What is the status of the current school education system? Is it preparing students to be flexible and adaptable?

This question is hard to answer because education systems are so different. This is because schools are community-centred, and each community has its own shared history and culture, which informs and guides what happens in the school. Modern educational research and practice certainly encourages flexibility and adaptability, by emphasising participatory learning: the student as an active protagonist rather than a vessel to be filled by the teacher. We believe strongly in this, hence our philosophy of having the courage to be imperfect: we encourage our students to embrace imperfection, and this is key to resilience and adaptability.

Your vision was always to open a school that put the students at the centre of everything it did. Do you think you achieved this when you opened Copperfield International School? Tell us about the establishment of the school.

I do think we’ve managed to keep students at the core of each day. This is not a stable accomplishment: it requires constant effort and vigilance. Adults bring their own priorities into every situation, and our values compass has become very strong by constantly referring to what students need us to focus on in a given discussion. The more you do this, the sharper the difference between the way we do things and the way things are done elsewhere. New colleagues joining us immediately observe that the contrast shows itself in every meeting with leadership.

Adults bring their own priorities into every situation, and our values compass has become very strong by constantly referring to what students need us to focus on in a given discussion

In World War 2, most of the world’s schools continued to operate. In COVID, almost all of them closed, synchronously, in March 2020. I founded the school on 6 April 2020 because families I knew were not having their educational needs met by the schools that were having to close. So we began in COVID, because of COVID, and our systems and approaches

How did COVID-19 impact education worldwide? How did you mitigate those challenges at Copperfield International School?

began and have continued with a flexible and creative mindset. The schools that flourished are ones where leaders and teachers embraced the opportunity to try something different and came out of the pandemic with better systems and pedagogy than before.

Having recorded experience in the education sector, how would you describe the amalgamation of technology and education?

The pandemic accelerated a trend that was already in ‘lift off’, for technology to embed itself in every classroom. Nevertheless, my instinct is that there are areas where there are good reasons for traditional methods. For example, in teaching handwriting, there is research suggesting that there is something important about pen and paper; and also we have tried handwriting apps on iPads, which were developed for and enhance the work of Learning Support. I didn’t think a screen

could replace a book until I used a Kindle. The key is to keep trying what is new and not stick to a current method just because it’s familiar.

What factors motivated you to shift from a fledging career in finance to foraying into the field of education?

At the end of my life, I want to be outlived by the impact I’ve made, and to see my fingerprints in the clay of life around me. Teaching is human architecture.

Throw some light on your recent interventions in education. What is unique about the teaching and learning approaches that make your school a cut above its contemporaries?

I believe the most significant is the most straightforward: we timetable several hours each week for staff to plan their lessons collaboratively. This is a practice that emerged in Japan in the

Teachers make friends with teachers and things that work tend to spread quickly within the community

1980s and 1990s and is known as Lesson Study or ‘jugyokenkyu’: Jugyo means teaching and learning, and ‘Kenkyu’ means study or research. A group of teachers works together to identify and then solve a teaching problem that they want to solve. This is time-intensive and is also immensely impactful. It results in faculty getting on the same page about their students and curriculum more than ever before.

the community. I also check in on a number of IB forums where school leaders share what is working.

Tell us about the network of professionals you have created. Can you shed some light on a few initiatives or techniques you are incorporating?

Teachers make friends with teachers and things that work tend to spread quickly within

To recruit teachers? We get about 10 speculative applications every week. We keep all of these and refer to them each time we have an opening. The best recruitment happens via existing faculty and we make sure that our faculty knows what roles are coming up.

How do you stay abreast of the periodic technological and industry changes in a constantly evolving world?

International School?

When I started the school, I figured it would never work, so simultaneously I began an MPhil in Education at Cambridge. Doing both at the same was challenging. And it was also incredibly fertile: I learned about Lesson Study from the MPhil. As a school, the biggest milestone was the IB Diploma license: we got these 13 months after we began the process; the fastest you can technically do it is 12

months; so doing something so challenging at speed was a huge team accomplishment. And the driving force is the desire to make a difference: two of our students will graduate and go to university next summer, and this is the first time that this has happened in our part of Switzerland – there is no other high school within 50 km, and before we opened students had to leave the region in order to continue their education. That’s impact!

As a successful business leader, what would your advice be to youngsters aspiring to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

I co-founded the school with an entrepreneur called John Porter. He passed away in November 2021, when the project was still in its infancy. I asked him this exact question in our last conversation together and he replied, ‘Never look down.’ Steve Jobs said something similar: that the right way of thinking was not to compare success against failure, but to compare the risk of doing something against the risk of not doing it. People often don’t do things because they are looking down rather than up.

What projects or goals are you working on or leading currently?

This week we had our verification visit for the IB PYP programme, which went well, and we will hear the outcome of that in a few weeks. If and when we get that license, it will complete our programme of academic licenses for ages 3-18. The logical next step is to discover how one can be accredited to offer university-level training for aspiring teachers.

What are some of the most significant milestones you have achieved so far in your professional journey?

What has been the driving force behind your success as a founder of Copperfield

MUST-WATCH

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN AFRICA 2022

Website:

Website: https://www.aisj-jhb.com/ http://www.bmis.mw/

Location: Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa

Keyperson: Dr. Jeremy, Director

About the School: Founded in 1982, American International School of Johannesburg is a pre-K to 12 American international school system with two campuses in South Africa, in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Location: Lilongwe, Malawi

Keyperson: Adrian Moody, Director

About the School: Bishop Mackenzie International School (BMIS) is an English medium private, non-profit, co-educational day school founded in 1944. It provides education to almost 700 students in primary and secondary schools (grades K12).

American International School of Johannesburg

Bishop Mackenzie International School

Braeburn Garden Estate School

Cairo American College Website: https://www.cacegypt.org/

Location: Cairo, Egypt

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Keyperson: Tim Richards, Primary Headteacher, Executive Headteacher

Website: Website:

https://gardenestate.braeburn.com/ https://dsj.co.za/

Keyperson: Dr. Jared Harris, Head of School

About the School: Braeburn Garden Estate School is a British Curriculum, fully CIS accredited IB World school that offers a truly international education to students from over 80 nationalities from ages 2 to 18.

About the School: Cairo American College is a Pre-K–12 International American School located in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt. It caters mainly to dependents of the local American embassy and other international students.

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Keyperson: Thomas Bachmeier, Headmaster

About the School: Founded in 1890, the DSJ is one of the oldest schools in the city and one of the largest German schools on the African continent.

Dover American International School Website: https://daisegy.com/

Location: Cairo, Egypt

Keyperson: Chuck Reid, Director

About the School: In partnership with the school community, DIS intents to provide eligible students, primarily from the Middle East and in the Greater Cairo area, with a rigorous and challenging American and international preparatory education.

Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg

Harare International School

Hout Bay International School

Location: Harare, Zimbabwe

Keyperson: Arden Tyoschin, Director

About the School: Founded in 1992, Harare International School (HIS) is an independent, non-profit institution, serving students in Early Childhood 1 (EC 1) to Grade 12. HIS enrolls a diverse student body of approximately 450 students representing over 60 nationalities.

https://houtbayinternational.co.za/

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Keyperson: Gavin Budd, Principal

About the School: Hout Bay International School is more than a school – it is a community of diverse individuals and families, a centre for academic excellence, for some a home away from home and yet more importantly a family for all those that are part of it.

Lincoln Community School

Website: Website: Website:

Website: https://www.harare-international-school.com/ https://www.lincoln.edu.gh/ https://www.uwcea.org/

Location: Accra, Ghana

Keyperson: Olusola Ogundimu, President

About the School: Lincoln Community School is an International Baccalaureate World school offering the Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma Programmes through the lens of U.S. curricular standards.

United World College East Africa

Location: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Keyperson: Anna Marsden, Director

About the School: Established in 1969 as International School Moshi, the school was the first in Africa to become an International Baccalaureate school, and joined the UWC movement in 2019 as UWC East Africa.

CAIRO AMERICAN COLLEGE

EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION IN A DIVERSE AND CARING COMMUNITY

The mission of Cairo American College is to ‘Learn, Explore, and Have Fun’, and this is evident in each and every aspect of the school. CAC is a very special community with a strong reputation as one of the finest American International Schools in the world. It is rich with tradition, yet agile in its ability to adapt and change within our rapidly developing world. It is a center of exceptional education

within a diverse and caring community that inspires students, cultivates the wellbeing of all involved and builds character in the global citizens of tomorrow.

Cairo American College was founded (under the name of ‘The Cairo School for American Children’) over 75 years ago in a three-story villa with just 50 students. Who could have known then that this small beginning would grow into ‘The Cairo American College’, an exceptional educational community with an outstanding reputation? Since 1945,

The only US State Department affiliated school in Cairo, Egypt, CAC offers International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme as well as American High School Diploma

CAC campus life is one of the most diverse in Cairo - making it rich, internationally minded, and engaging

its unique character, academic standards and highly effective teaching have brought thousands of students through its doors and seen its amazing development into an 11-acre campus situated in the attractive residential area of Digla, Maadi.

Today, the campus offers a 520-seat stateof-the-art theater, three sports fields, 80 classrooms and 14 science labs. There are, in

addition, extensive fitness and sports facilities, gardens and two well-equipped libraries. All of this is designed to bring the highest quality of learning and opportunity to the more than 800 students, over 100 teachers and a wide range of support staff that make up this diverse and caring non-profit community. This non-profit status means that the school is keeping all of its focus on providing the highest possible quality

of education to the students, as all the school’s revenue is reinvested in resources, research and support for the wide range of activities that the school is providing.

At the heart of what the school is, there is a strong celebration of cultural diversity that meets the very individual needs of each of its members. There are both expatriate and local students from over 50 countries, representing more than 65 multinational corporations, 10 embassies, over 25 NGOS and many of Egypt’s leading companies. Cairo American College is unique among schools in the country in providing a world-class learning environment that prepares students for a successful future in today’s rapidly changing world.

Student learning is the focus of all of its activities, and each student is challenged to reach for new possibilities in achieving their

aspirations. CAC has a strong reputation for its ability to meet the individual needs of all of the students, and in particular those with learning challenges, through personalized learning. Every student has the opportunity and support needed to succeed. Student Support Services provide differentiated and flexible support predominantly within the classroom environment and also sometimes in smaller group settings. The personalized learning approach that the school uses customizes learning for each student’s individual strengths, needs, skills and interests. When, despite broad-based in-class differentiation of learning, the regular curriculum expectations are either beyond the student’s level of ability or readiness, or when the student has already mastered or exceeded those standards, carefully considered accommodations are made to both

support and also challenge learners of different levels. Inclusion is a very carefully and thoughtfully integrated continuum of services based on individual student needs.

At CAC there is an atmosphere that cultivates diversity, equity and inclusion. It proactively encompasses openness, awareness and empathy for the whole community and is a place where all of its members learn from one another and build the kind of character needed to thrive as global citizens. All of those who are part of this feel welcome and comfortable; it is a community which is consistently focused on improving and enhancing inclusion for the good of every member.

Cairo American College provides an exceptional academic education. It is a PreK -12 grade non-profit international school accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS)

and The Middle States Association for Schools and Colleges. It is authorized to teach both the PYP and IBDP programs and has been offering the IBDP since 1993, one of the most mature programs in Egypt. It is also the only US State Department sponsored school in Cairo. It offers an American-based curriculum and students are involved in traditional subject areas including Reading and Writing, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, World Languages, Arts, and Physical Education.

Student learning is inquiry based. This curriculum has been designed to provide outstanding educational opportunities that will help every student to reach their own very individual potential. Students are able to demonstrate their learning in many ways, through tests, written assignments, oral presentations, projects, demonstrations, and

CAC after-school athletics program serves students at all grade levels, with Elementary School, Middle School, and High School teams engaging in events within CISSA (Cairo International School Sports Association), one of the Cairo international schools sports leagues with membership of 14 international schools in Cairo

discussions, amongst others. Students in grades 3-9 participate in MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing. High school students also participate in the SAT and ACT assessments as part of their college application process.

An exceptional 98% of Cairo American College graduates enter university within one year of graduation from CAC with many achieving places in some of the top highereducation establishments of Europe, the United Kingdom and America, including Harvard, Princeton, Brown and UPenn in the last five years. The support learners are offered in developing their leadership abilities, their involvement in co-curricular activities and the service-learning skills promoted in CAC all improve the chances for students to reach these selective and prestigious world-ranking universities.

The faculty and staff of the school are its greatest strength and play the greatest role in inspiring students to learn, explore and enjoy their education. The teaching staff are experienced, highly-qualified educators

CAC will seek, in line with its mission, to provide an exceptional educational experience by enrolling students from a broad range of nationalities to promote diversity, inclusion, and international-mindedness

in their respective fields, with a majority holding master’s degrees or higher levels of educational achievement. Alongside this, every teacher is engaged in continued professional development opportunities to ensure that they grow in their work. By providing a rich variety of high-quality professional development opportunities, both within the campus and beyond, the teaching community at CAC continues to develop its skills and offer the very highest level of education to the students.

The leadership of Dr. Jared Harris as Head of School brings over twenty years of highlevel experience in working with students in a wide range of capacities and settings. During his career he has given presentations at a number of universities around the world and also been published in international school newspapers. He holds a BA in Psychology and an M.Ed. in School Counseling from Western Washington University, being mentored by several of the top Cross-Cultural Psychologists

in the world. His current areas of research interest are cognitive science, learning theory, and instructional practices, and he has been the recipient of several prestigious awards during his career.

Key to the school’s success in preparing students to become active global citizens is the ability to provide the perfect balance of strong academics and enriching co-curricular activities that enhance the school’s core academic pursuits. This aspect makes the school truly stand out among other schools in Egypt. A strong emphasis on a whole-child philosophy gives as much value to co-curricular activities as it does to its strong academic standards. Learning extends beyond the classroom to

a myriad of other exciting opportunities for children to develop their skills, behaviors and interests. These include sport, music, theater, government and a whole range of exciting chances for young people to grow and explore their talents and interests both in Cairo and the wider national environment.

Cairo American College also looks beyond the city and even the country to enrich the lives of the students through participation in a wide range of international associations, events, festivals and organizations. These include sport, theater, music and involvement in the Model United Nations Conference. Through these experiences, students enhance their interpersonal and organizational skills

Professional development is an ongoing priority at CAC as it believes a school flourishes when its teachers are committed to lifelong learning

and further develop the life skills and learning attitudes that are fostered in the dayto-day life of the school. The after-school program of athletics offered at CAC is one of its strongest attributes. Students at all grade levels engage in events within the Cairo International School Sports Association, one of the Cairo international schools sports leagues. Some of the high school teams also compete in the International School Athletic Association (ISAA), with travel opportunities to ISAA tournaments hosted in Europe and the Middle East in multiple sports, as well as some invitational tournaments.

As a community, CAC is rightly proud of its partnership with parents and with its responsiveness to changing circumstances.

CAC has a long history of operating a diverse activities program that is equal to the opportunity offered at top international schools in the world

During the historic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school thoughtfully and strategically positioned itself to meet the changing needs of its community. It has been a global leader in safety protocols, consistency and the ability to remain open for face-toface learning. During the pandemic the school’s leadership reviewed and responded to parents’ priorities and student learning in a way that amply reflected its continuous close relationship with the parental community and its prioritization of student well-being.

The school places a high value on parental involvement. It believes that their involvement in the day-to-day activities of their children is crucial for a solid and well-rounded education. It maintains a continuous and regular line of

communication with parents and seeks to keep them updated on their child’s learning at every point. With close guidance, some parents provide additional assistance to teachers within the classroom and in after-school activities and the immensely valuable work of fundraising. The Cairo American College Booster Club deserves particular mention. It is a schoolwide group of parent volunteers who work at fundraising for athletics and many other activities throughout the year.

CAC is notable for being the only school in Egypt to adopt the Harkness method, which actively encourages discussion in the classroom, with every student feeling encouraged to speak.

At CAC, students use and apply a wide range of technology tools every day as they complete their projects and document their learning

In a Harkness class, learning takes place through discussions held around a circular ‘Harkness Table’. Sitting at the table, all members of the class can question, contribute, and contemplate in order to learn and succeed. This really empowers students and encourages their very active involvement in their learning – something that the school very actively targets. CAC is also unique in being the only school in the region to promote a program of financial literacy, where students learn

the basics of budgeting, saving, investment, market strategy and fintech concepts. This provides a strong foundation for adult life and certainly helps to set youngsters on a path towards success from early on.

Certainly, a unique and quite exceptional school with a fantastic academic record, a caring and fully inclusive community and a vision for its future that prepares young people very effectively for the world they are entering.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Convergence of Technology and Personalization Play a Critical Role in the Future of Education

Julie Young, Managing Director, ASU Prep Digital

Julie Young, Managing Director of ASU Prep and Vice President of ASU Educational Outreach, has been celebrated as an education disruptor for nearly three decades. She was the founding CEO and president of Florida Virtual School, the world’s first state-wide virtual school and one of the nation’s largest K-12 online education provider. When not leading international school programs, you’ll find her at the nearest beach with several golden retrievers.

Navigating a global pandemic revealed teachable moments in virtually every facet of life, but some of the greatest learning has come in the aftermath. Not only did the pandemic force new methods to emerge, but it also spurred new thinking. Along the way, the collective mindset shifted from what had to be done differently to what could be done differently.

Across nearly every sector, the pandemic forced us to rethink long-held truths and opened the gates wide for considering new approaches to conventional methods. Education is no exception. In fact, education may be the strongest example of them all. Digital learning, once an outlier shrouded in mystique, now permeates education today – from site-based classrooms to hybrid or flex options to fully online.

In the earliest days of the pandemic, missteps were rampant in schools from coast to coast — even around the world. The disruption

to traditional learning was abrupt. It thrust educators into a fully online environment with no preparation.

Given the hyper-personalized way many of us live — with ads served up to match our browsing history and custom playlists that reflect our musical taste — the pandemic revealed education as a glaring anomaly.

Historically, while many schools offered online options for acceleration and remediation, those digital options were unevenly distributed and applied. Many schools lacked a comprehensive strategy for how digital learning tools could complement and support their entire instructional plan, and, as the pandemic revealed, staff were largely underprepared to teach in a digitally supported instructional environment.

Yet ultimately, a silver lining emerged from the pandemic. Digital learning has become recognized as a viable delivery method ripe with potential. This is particularly true when it

Given the hyper-personalized way many of us live — with ads served up to match our browsing history and custom playlists that reflect our musical taste — the pandemic revealed education as a glaring anomaly

comes to answering individual students’ unique circumstances or personal needs.

Take military kids, for example. These students bounce frequently from one school system to the next — in some cases entering a new district befuddled because the material is advanced well beyond their previous experience, and in others, wasting months in boredom while

waiting for students in the new district to catch up. What’s more, with every move there’s a new set of peers to navigate. It’s disruptive, but there are alternatives.

For military families – and scores more — digital learning offers major academic and social advantages. ASU Prep Digital is a K-12 online program that fully integrates with Arizona State

University. It operates within the ASU Prep network of K-12 schools, which have become a model for offering a spectrum of digitallysupported learning options, from classroombased to fully online.

The programs have been embraced worldwide by students of virtually every imaginable background: Ambitious learners whose local school curriculum offers few challenges and a blurry path toward college. Youth with health conditions that leave them strong enough to learn but poorly suited for the rigors of a typical public school. Talented young musicians, artists and athletes whose rigorous practice and performance schedules demand greater flexibility than most districts allow. Young men and women in the war-ravaged Ukraine, who recognize education as the key to a brighter future.

New Models Gain Traction

Interest in alternative learning models has steadily grown since the pandemic emerged. Yet to be clear, the technology isn’t new. Online learning has been happening for decades. What is new is a heightened awareness that not all students learn in the same way, at the same pace, in the same environment — and that’s spurring an unprecedented level of innovation in the education sector.

The result is a steady depolarization. Students no longer have to choose strictly inperson or strictly online. The lines are blurring to accommodate students’ unique needs.

At the core of this forward thinking is a critical question: How do you want to learn? ASU Preparatory Academy offers a glimpse at how putting personalized student needs at the core can shape modalities and offerings. An accredited college preparatory school that

Online learning has been happening for decades. What is new is a heightened awareness that not all students learn in the same way, at the same pace, in the same environment — and that’s spurring an unprecedented level of innovation in the education sector

serves students in grades K-12, ASU Prep is chartered by Arizona State University. Founded in 2008 with a single live campus, by 2017 ASU Prep had expanded its in-person offering and launched ASU Prep Digital, built on the same college preparatory framework but with classes

exclusively online and available to both full- and part-time students anywhere in the world.

Today, ASU Prep’s continuum of options spans on-site immersion campuses in and around Phoenix on one end and fully flexible, any-time-anywhere programs on the other, all designed to keep students on an accelerated path toward college. In on-site classrooms, teachers embrace blended learning as they learn how to leverage digital tools to maximize personalization for each student.

Students and their families can also find a range of hybrid and microschool programs tailored to their unique learning needs and preferences. In addition to five-day in person campuses, two hybrid campuses in the Phoenix metro bring students to the classroom three days a week, leaving two days for more flexible learning.

ASU Prep Local is one of the new hybrid programs designed for online students who crave more personal interaction than a fully

virtual model allows; digital coursework is enhanced with in-person collaboration, discussion and project-based learning in small group settings. Moving further along the continuum, the ASU Prep Experience, another hybrid model, provides a single day each week for college-bound online high school students to acclimate to the college environment by attending class on the Arizona State University campus. Both programs answer the growing interest in microschools among families attracted to smaller cohorts and targeted but flexible learning opportunities.

New enrollments at the fully virtual ASU Prep Digital remain strong, although most area schools have long since resumed regular inperson schedules. However, perhaps most telling of the need for more tailored learning options is the strength of the new hybrid modalities, each of which has surpassed enrollment projections at launch and continues to expand to meet growing demand.

Looking Ahead

After the pandemic, there was a rush to “return to normal,” which for many meant a return to traditional classrooms. The challenge, though, is that students need more options — not fewer. Online or hybrid models aren’t for every student, but they may be just the ticket for the student who is not thriving in the classroom or the student whose personal circumstances dictate a need for flexibility.

The future of learning is personalized – it meets students where they are, it assesses what they know, adapts content in real time to ensure comprehension, offers up new modalities if they need to learn differently and stays with them throughout their journey.

MUST-WATCH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN AFRICA 2022

DEUTSCHE INTERNATIONALE SCHULE JOHANNESBURG

PREPARING YOUNG LEARNERS FOR THE COMPLEX CHALLENGES OF THE GLOBAL WORLD

The Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg (DSJ) is a German international school in South Africa with a bilingual educational programme. Founded in 1890, it is one of the oldest schools in Johannesburg and one of the largest German schools on the African

continent. The DSJ takes pride in offering learners co-educational teaching of the highest standards.

In 2016, the DSJ was named the ‘Best German School Outside Germany’ by a panel of judges from the Deutsche Schulpreis Award and in 2018, it was again awarded the status of an ‘Excellent German School Abroad.’

The unique offerings of the DSJ strongly convey German tradition, language and culture, which is the focus for all streams of the school

The Headmaster, Thomas Bachmeier, studied Pedagogy, Business, Economics, IT and politics at universities in Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany and Nairobi, Kenya, from 1989 to 1994 and graduated with a Master of Education. He then taught and worked at various schools in Germany. He is the Co-Founder of the first German Virtual Technical College (www.vibos.de) and worked there from 2000 to 2005 as a Content Manager and Developer of DistanceLearning Units.

From 2005 to 2007, Mr Bachmeier worked on behalf of the German government as Head of the IT Department in TVET for the Ministry of Education in Gaborone, Botswana. In 2012 he finished his part-time studies and graduated with a Master’s degree in International School Management from the Technical University Kaiserslautern. Since 2014, he has been Headmaster at the German International School Johannesburg, Chairman of the German Headmasters in Southern Africa and Arabia, facilitator at the preparation of German Headmasters and a member of the expert panel for a postgraduate diploma program for Headmasters at the Faculty of Education of the University in Pretoria.

Thomas Bachmeier, Headmaster

State-of-the-art Infrastructure & Facilities

Headquartered in Parktown, Johannesburg, the lush green campus of the DSJ consists of worldclass infrastructure and facilities. These include spacious classrooms, state-of-the-art computer labs, a modern Learning Centre (Library), biology labs, physics labs, and a huge dining hall with catering services. WiFi is also available to students throughout the school grounds.

Likewise, the DSJ has set up a support centre with a social worker, a psychologist, and an inclusion consultant at its campus. A free 11-route bus service takes students from all over the greater Johannesburg area to school in the morning and home in the afternoon. The DSJ houses a sports hall, soccer, volleyball, tennis, and basketball courts and a swimming pool for sports activities.

What Sets the DSJ Apart from Other International Schools?

The education at the DSJ is recognised for German Excellence, rooted in South African Ubuntu (humanity for others) values. Therefore, students from kindergarten to grade 12, representing

more than 38 nationalities, choose the DSJ as the favoured education destination.

“We are a German school in South Africa that always tries to incorporate the best of both, very different worlds for the benefit of our more than 1000 students,” reveals Thomas Bachmeier, Headmaster. “We are proud to be a very heterogeneous school with students and parents from all social classes and very diverse cultural backgrounds.”

Since 1989, the DSJ has accepted 25 children from disadvantaged backgrounds into grade 5 each year with a 95% tuition reduction. In addition, the institution enables all its

The DSJ aims to provide a space where all children and young people – regardless of their first language, social, geographical and cultural background, gender, religious or sexual orientation – are equally valued and prepared in the best possible way for an individually appropriate school leaving qualification

graduates to learn the German language and culture, empowering them to study or make a successful career in Germany.

Expert Team of Faculty

The faculty of the DSJ consists of highly qualified teachers with extensive teaching experience in their respective fields. This academic community not only imparts instruction through regular teaching periods but also motivates and inspires students to participate in various extra and co-curricular activities.

“We offer more than 40 in-service training for teachers every year and support them if

they want to continue their education outside of school,” reveals Mr Bachmeier. This professional development training not only enhances the faculty’s pedagogical skill sets but also ensures that they are aware of the new trends and research in the field of education.

Fostering Creativity in Students

As part of its mission, the DSJ educates students to become self-confident personalities with independent and critical thinking skills coupled

with personal and social responsibility. To achieve this, the school continuously tries to develop its methodological repertoire and offer students individual learning support.

Regarding teaching pedagogy, the DSJ has promoted cooperative and project-oriented learning for many years and increasingly promoted interdisciplinary projects over the past two years. Beyond the classroom, students are encouraged to participate in over 40 afternoon activities in theatre, choir, orchestra, robotics, and arts.

Positive Parental Involvement in the School

At the DSJ, students as young as 1-year-old are accepted into kindergarten, and parents, like their children, become a part of the school family for the next 17 years. As a result, they often develop a close, personal relationship with the teachers and the school.

“For several years, we have individual learning development meetings with parents and children in kindergarten, elementary and high school,” shares Headmaster Mr

Bachmeier. During these meetings, parents are updated on their child’s progress and the areas that need improvement. The school also has dedicated parent representatives who integrate new parents into the school and organise many social activities.

A High College Acceptance Rate

DSJ has two Career Counselors, one for Germany and one for South Africa. In addition to a general Career Day, the school hosts numerous events for study and career choices with domestic

DSJ students can choose from a wide variety of extra mural activities, where they are given the opportunity to follow their personal preference, to improve and strengthen their talents

and foreign universities and companies. Owing to this, the DSJ has maintained its 100% passing record in the NSC/IEB and the German stream for the last 20 years.

Tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic Challenges

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the DSJ was affected in more ways than one. Even though the e-learning mode was adopted by the school, the learning of students without appropriate digital devices and internet access was hampered in the initial days. During that turbulent time, the parent representatives extended their support by distributing devices and data to the students. Soon, the school switched to e-learning mode, putting all the classes and exams on track. The kindergarten children were provided with self-created videos daily, while virtual classes were conducted for higher grades. Likewise, teachers also played their part and put in a lot of effort in delivering online classes, scheduling daily homework, and planning questionnaires for upcoming exams. As a

result, the outcome of the academic term was a huge success.

“We were surprised and very proud at the same time of the high level of flexibility, motivation and resilience demonstrated by our teachers, but especially by our 11th and 12th-grade students during the pandemic,” proudly states Mr Bachmeier. “Anyone who achieves such great successes under difficult circumstances is wellprepared for all eventualities in the future.”

Implementing Strategies in the Post Pandemic World

“At DSJ, we realised above all during the pandemic that students need very different social and academic support,” mentions Mr Bachmeier. “Therefore, we are convinced that there must be greater individualisation of learning processes in the future and have already initiated three pilot projects to this end.”

Moving Ahead

The DSJ is gearing to host Schulbasar, the biggest school event in Johannesburg in May 2023 for which preparations are in full swing.

LEADER IN FOCUS

Does International Education Truly Meet International Standards

Dr. Conrad Hughes, Campus and Secondary Principal, Geneva’s International School

Conrad Hughes (PhD, EdD) is the Campus and Secondary Principal at Geneva’s International School, La Grande Boissière, the world’s oldest international school, where he also teaches philosophy.Hepossessestwodoctorates.Dr.Hughesdirectedtwo major projects with UNESCO-IBE to rethink the guiding principles for 21st-century learning and to prevent violent extremism through education. He has written three books on various aspects of 21stcentury learning. Understanding Education and Prejudice (2017) examines how schools and universities can reduce prejudice in students and instructors; Educating for the Twenty-First Century (2019) looks at how educational systems can address societal challenges such as sustainability, the rise of AI, post-truth politics, mindfulness, and future-proof knowledge. His most recent book, Education and Elitism (2021), discusses how to increase access to high-quality education.

Dr. Hughes has incorporated these ideas in his school and through open-access online lessons, positively influencing the lives of thousands of people. Dr. Hughes is an advisory board member of the University of the People, a senior fellow of UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education, and a research assistant at the University of Geneva’s department of psychology and education. He contributes regularly to the World Economic Forum’s Agenda blog and speaks at conferences around the world.

In a recent interview with K 12 Digest, Dr. Hughes discussed his viewsontechnologyandeducation,internationaleducation,traditional andmodernpedagogiesandnegligenceofstudentstowardsschool. Hereareexcerptsfromtheinterview.

Having recorded experience in the education sector, how would you describe the amalgamation of technology and education? Is there a difference between traditional and modern pedagogies in school education?

Technology has been the driver of educational reform throughout the evolution of schooling. From the development of prehistoric writing instruments to the printing press, from the advent of web-based communication to the proliferation of powerful computing devices, we have seen classrooms morph from itinerant or makeshift gatherings to students sitting at desks to hybrid, online cloud-based information sharing.

However, such changes are actually quite superficial, for the core idea of education, which is to extend your long- term memory and form your thinking, has remained fairly constant. A good education today is much like a good education yesterday: it takes students

further in their understanding of the world and the skills needed to flourish in the world.

The major shift, I would say, has been from a knowledge transmission model to a competencedevelopment model. This is linked to technology in that the automatization of information distribution has made it less important to know everything and more important to emphasise interpersonal competences, environmental custodianship, creativity, communication and problem solving. A word of caution though: knowledge is still central. No one will get very far in a state of ignorance.

What do you mean by the term “international” in the context of an international school? Do you believe international schools are becoming controversial systems that are undermining their brand?

I like that question! I think that “international” in a globalised society does not mean what it did in the 1960s, that’s for sure. It’s also important

A good education today is much like a good education yesterday: it takes students further in their understanding of the world and the skills needed to flourish in the world

to remember that any school can call itself an international school, so it’s difficult to talk about a coherent concept of international schooling although one might try to define international schooling based on the various and divergent expressions of it throughout the world. Ultimately, any good educational institution should live by its values, and if critical thinking is an important value in education, as I think it should be, then it’s a good thing for schools, including international schools, to be selfcritical, to look further than where they are to where they might be, to examine their purpose and impact. The biggest threat to an educational brand (and by the way, I can’t stand talking about schools as “brands”, that type of language borrowed from marketing misses the spiritual and social purpose of schooling as a public good, since schools are not “products”) is to become complacent and inward-looking to the point where they stagnate into mediocrity.

What critical steps should be taken to ensure that international education is relevant and comprehensive?

If you put student learning first, resolutely, you will always be relevant and comprehensive. However, to put students first, you have to take care of the people curating their learning experiences so that they can be their best selves for the students: their teachers, administrators, the technical services, cleaners, cafeteria staff, coaches, counsellors. Everyone counts. Some managers think that staff should be instrumentalised in the service of students. This creates an inhumane environment where people burn out and no one is happy. International schools, like all schools, should model the type of society we want to see in all aspects of life,

centred on happiness and human flourishing. An important part of educating students is modelling the type of behaviours we would like to see in them. This is why respect, diversity, equity and open-mindedness should prevail throughout the school ecosystem, at all levels. The person who is accountable for that is the school leader: (s) he/they have to be morally trustworthy.

In your opinion, why are students neglecting schools?

If students are not always excited about going to school and are disengaged, it could be for a whole host of reasons: unkind peer groups, uninspiring lessons, simply having a bad day. Young people are asked to sit through hours of lessons, they are not always learning content that is immediately relevant to their social circles. In many parts of the world, the language of instruction is not the child’s first

language, and this creates a supplementary barrier. Levels of disengagement vary by world region as UNESCO studies have shown. Where unemployment is high, school often seems less relevant to students, especially if it is predicated on dated, abstract, content-heavy and seemingly irrelevant syllabi. However, I believe that irrespective of the region, course of study or type of school, the most important thing for teachers and heads of school to do is to ensure -to the best of their ability – that every student has a chance to succeed in some way, to feel proud of who they are. I also think that social events like assemblies, school plays, cultural celebrations and Sports Days should be designed with care so that they are exciting, memorable, even moving. The culture of the school should be vibrant and colourful, inclusive and, of course, safe. Schools and universities can be the last places where students are given a space to dream, to

If students are not always excited about going to school and are disengaged, it could be for a whole host of reasons: unkind peer groups, uninspiring lessons, simply having a bad day

learn, to socialise outside of transactional workbound parameters; they are sacred institutions for humanity and that is how educators should view them. We are not here just doing a 9-5 job, we are serving humanity and the future.

What are some positive psychology and life coaching techniques that a school can use to help students develop self-esteem and self-efficacy?

The leadership team and, if possible, all teachers, should have some training in life coaching. This gives us the tools we need to listen carefully, to decentre ourselves and ask powerful questions so that students can find the resources within them to take reflection to the level of action. Simple questions such as “what is it you want?”, “Why is this important to you?” allow students an opportunity to think about their trajectory. This can be followed by more structured questions that allow students to ideate what fulfilment looks like (“If you got what you want, what would that look like?” “What do you see yourself doing in order to get what you want?”, “What’s the last thing you would be doing just before?”). This type of conversation is premised on positive psychology and the immense power of the mind to visualise the future and then take your whole being into that future. We really need to use coaching techniques much more in education to give young people confidence in themselves, resilience and strategies to fulfil their dreams. Of course, these conversations are pedagogic, they are not full-blown coaching sessions, they are there to open up possibilities and widen thinking.

Whenever you start a class, you should do a climate scan, read the room to see how everybody is doing, check in with the students

to ascertain their emotional state. If you see that a student is worried, approach them, talk to them. Schools should have systems and processes in place that ensure that every student has one trusted adult in the building who knows them and there should be a series of 1:1 check-ins between staff and students based on the principles of coaching. We have to believe in our students, see their potential, we have to lift them up and make them believe in themselves. When teachers are coarsely judgemental, sarcastic and dismissive, they do more damage than they know. If you do this with your students, change now and from tomorrow, be kinder, softer, more open, be generous and look for gifts, not mistakes, celebrate successes, don’t point out failures. Years of studies in industrial psychology have shown us that what motivates us is positive, not negative psychology.

How can schools widen evaluations to understand the full range of experiences and gifts that students possess?

The movement to design alternative transcripts is growing by the day. More and more schools and universities are joining the coalition to honour all learning to explore different ways of celebrating learning wherever it has happened and moving assessment from the present model (narrow, high stakes) to where it needs to be to celebrate the full gamut of human potential (inclusive, diversified, personalised). Joining the coalition is a first step schools can take. Our group has over 70 member organisations working on alternative transcripts, creative ways of celebrating whole person flourishing and university recognition.

DOVER INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

ENSURING ALL-ROUND STUDENT SUCCESS!

The path to university graduation must be full of opportunities that promise student success. This is achieved by providing state-of–the-art infrastructure and empowering skilled faculty to merge high standards with innovative teaching strategies. The outcome must be a stimulating, creative learning environment

where students can achieve success in a changing world. Dover International School (DIS), situated in Cairo, Egypt, embraces the belief that university graduation provides a doorway to promising careers and also provides the skills and knowledge necessary to nurture life-long learning. Therefore, DIS has an obligation to all students to provide focused, innovative programing that will open the doors to post-secondary education.

In partnership with the school community, Dover International School (DIS) intents to provide eligible students, primarily from the Middle East and from the Greater Cairo area, with a rigorous and challenging American and international preparatory education

Before establishing DIS in Cairo, the founders visited several schools, both public and private settings, in the United States and Canada. “It became clear that the objective was to create a learning environment that embraced community by establishing a feeling of extended family while strongly focusing on student success. DIS was built with the vision to create an international school in Cairo that would mirror the experience of what occurs in most North American schools,” shares Chuck Reid, Director of Dover International School.

The campus of DIS stands on 15,000 square meters of land in a residential area of ElShorouk City. The school’s physical facilities consist of the central administration building,

Dover International School possesses a magnificent campus located on 15,000 square meters of land in a residential area of El-Sherouk City

Pre-Kindergarten building, Elementary School building, Middle School building, and High School building. DIS has 51 classrooms, two art workshops, three science labs, three computer labs, two cafeterias, and a school library. The school includes air-conditioned and fully networked classrooms and large, well-equipped Elementary, Middle School, and High School library facilities. Two 100seat auditoriums are used for in-house theater productions, student assemblies, and award ceremonies. “DIS recognizes the importance having a well-equipped facility that will support physical and academic development of our students,” informs Mr. Reid.

The school was founded with the purpose of ‘Educating for Success in a Changing World’.

This mantra is rooted in Michael Fullan’s quote, ‘the only constant in life is change.’ “Our Direction guides DIS students to achieve success based on high academic standards through a culture that values integrity, empathy, and diversity,” reveals Mr. Reid.

Promoting Better Informed Decision-making

The ‘Purpose and Direction’ is embedded in all aspects of school life and is reviewed every five years. The monitoring of the communication and application of the Purpose and Direction is embedded in the work of a ‘Stages of Implementation Committee – Purpose and Direction.’ The committee ensures at the beginning of each academic year that staff,

students, and parents have a short review of the intent of Purpose and Direction. Discussions with the students occur each September concerning what ‘Educating for Success in a Changing World’ means to them. Mr. Reid adds, “This exercise helps focus our students on the importance of using inquiry in their learning, making connections, and why project-based learning is an important teaching/ learning activity.”

At DIS, informed decision-making is based on three factors. School decisions are guided by ensuring alignment with its purpose, direction, and guiding principles. Secondly, data must be collected from all aspects of the school community, and thirdly, research must support any proposed changes in practice.

Delving deeper into the institution’s approach to informed decision-making, data at DIS is amalgamated and organized by applying Victoria Bernhardt’s four areas for collecting data; outcome data, process data, demographic data, and perception data. This information identifies areas of need, and a plan of action is put in place. Mr. Reid elaborates on the four types of data collection to help us better understand this unique model the school has in place.

Outcome Data reflects student performance gathered from different types of formative, summative and diagnostic assessments. Examples may include, but are not limited to, educational assessments such as term testing, semester exams, project work, classroom work, homework, as well as more standardized assessments such as MAP (Measurement of Academic Process) and SAT (College Board – Scholastic Aptitude

Chuck Reid is the Director, a Board member, and one of the Founders of Dover International School in Cairo, Egypt. Mr. Reid’s credentials include BA, BEd, and MEd, and he spent most of his 40 years in education in Ontario, Canada. During this period, he held many positions ranging from teacher, educational consultant, principal, superintendent of schools, and district director. Mr. Reid has also worked for the Ontario Ministry of Education, taught on the Supervisory Officers program in Ontario, and has spoken at educational conferences in Ontario, Canada and Cairo, Egypt. He believes preparing students to be successful in an ever-changing world must be built on a foundation of shared values and mutual understanding. For Mr. Reid, learning is not a destination but a pathway to continuous growth.

Test) / ACT (Global Assessment Certificate

- American College Test) / EST (Egyptian Scholastic Test) testing.

Process Data is the task of gathering information related to the effectiveness of teaching techniques, classroom supports, and programs. This data is based on research and is validated through monitoring the practices taking place in the classroom.

Demographic Data speaks to the diversity of the students that the school serves. Examples that are considered include boys vs. girls’ performance, the effects of a second language, special needs students, and pupils from different regions of Africa and the world. This information is gathered through the school’s

RenWeb system, where various groupings can be isolated and examined.

Perception Data provides a measurement of school climate and the perceived effectiveness of the school from the various stakeholders who compose the school community. This information is gathered through surveys, group and individual discussions. Examples of this information are the results of parent, student, and staff surveys that are completed twice a year plus Stop, Start, and Continue parent telephone interviews that take place each week.

Mr. Reid adds, “For organizational goals to become embedded practice, it is also important to ensure shared ownership and accountability exists across the organization. Clear lines of

communication must also be in place. This is achieved by establishing committees that monitor the new initiatives that are taking place in the school. Each committee monitors a particular initiative using the ‘stages of implementation’ framework.

The Stages of Implementation are divided into five sections below:

Study Stage – Awareness

Study Phase – current practice is still evident Review - Gathering information and data Observing and comparing current practice vs. new proposed practice

Identifying and developing professional development plans

Planning for implementation is taking place

2. Implementation Stage - Beginning

Current practice is still the dominant model. The new practice is slowly implemented in targeted areas and reviewed

Professional learning is applied across all targeted stakeholders

Planning for partial implementation is taking place

3. Implementation Stage – Partial

The new practice is eclipsing the current practice

Further professional development is targeted based on group and individual needs

Beginning to coordinate strategies with other initiatives

Planning for full implementation is taking place

DIS students are housed in over three floors that enclose a three sided courtyard, which opens to the entrance of two football fields, a handball court, and a tennis and basketball area

4. Implementation Stage – Full

The new practice is being fully implemented in all target areas

All supplies and support materials are in place and regularly used Stakeholder conversation demonstrates a complete understanding of the practice/ initiative

5. Strengthen / Review –Consolidation

Consistent application of the initiative in all targeted areas, monitoring, and review of the

practice/initiative is taking place. “Sample templates are forwarded to individuals responsible for a particular committee. They complete the template and monitor the work as it progresses from initial/research to the consolidation stage of implementation. It must be noted that the stages of implementation may extend longer than one academic year,” explains Mr. Reid.

DIS continually strives to stand apart from its peers in this industry through targeted initiatives. One of these initiatives is the DIS partnership with Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario Canada. Faculty members from the university visit the school twice each academic year and provide professional development for staff members. In return DIS teachers receive Sir Wilfrid Laurier Faculty of Education students in its classrooms as part of their Faculty of Education Internship. This reciprocal agreement has been taking place over the past six years, and has generated research opportunities. Providing a smooth transition from high school to university is a common goal of all schools. Another groundbreaking initiative that DIS has embarked upon is university partnerships. In order to make sure that our students can achieve the greatest success possible in their first year of university, DIS has come to an agreement with the British University in Egypt (BUE) and the Universities of Canada in Egypt (UOC) to track current DIS graduates who are currently enrolled. Faculty members from these universities have met with DIS teachers of grade 11 and 12 programs in math, science and English to create an alignment of university course expectations and the DIS high school program. Students

Physical Education Program of DIS makes use of basketball courts, handball courts, football fields, dance studio and outside Elementary outdoor play areas

will continue to be tracked to see how well this alignment is impacting on their success. BUE and UOC have been selected for this partnership as 30% of DIS Graduates have selected these universities as destinations of choice. Peer coaching is also an integral part of the professional development that takes place at DIS. This professional development activity has been highlighted in Dr. Steve Sider’s publication Peer Coaching in a School in Cairo – International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education 2019, with a follow up article scheduled for 2023. The school’s music program is delivered in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music and provides the students with the opportunity to receive advanced credit in university programs. A final example of how the school applies innovative

professional initiatives is the measuring of GPA against MAP testing results to ensure the integrity of school assessments. Using a scatter-gram approach to analyzing data, this technique has been presented at two educational conferences held in Cairo.

Prioritizing its students and their success, the school ensures a balanced student-toteacher ratio of 8 to 1. Additionally, the school has created the Dover Student Development Centre (DSDC) for students whose learning needs require more concentrated support. This department focuses on serving students with special-identified needs by applying a cascade model that embraces inclusive education. Integrating students into the school’s regular program is a priority. Specialized assessments and testing are provided by the school psychologist to assist in creating a full academic and social profile of the students. In addition, these students are afforded individualized educational remedial programs, physical, cognitive behavioral, occupational, speech and language therapy. All of these interventions are delivered in rooms that are equipped to meet specific program and therapy needs. Currently, onehundred students are being serviced by the DSDC with needs ranging from mild to more severe learning challenges.

Stimulating Creativity and Innovation

‘Creative Expression’ also plays a vital role in students’ motivation to learn. Fostering innovation and creativity amongst students is another approach undertaken by DIS. In fact, the school utilizes a myriad of activities to ensure students are encouraged to be

innovative and creative in their learning. Tools like the flipped classroom and collaborative learning are regularly used in the classrooms. Two activities monitored through the Stages of Implementation include Project Based Learning across all grades and Bloom’s Taxonomy being embedded in all lessons and assessments delivered in the school.

Project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach at DIS designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world. Mr. Reid proclaims, “PBL prepares students to accept and meet challenges in the real world, mirroring what professionals do every day. Instead of short-term memorization strategies, project-based learning allows students to engage deeply with the target content, focusing on long-term retention.” The application of Bloom’s throughout all classroom lessons and assessments ensures critical thinking and making connections are natural extensions of the knowledge and skills being taught in each lesson.

Assuring a Perfectly Equipped Staff

To ensure the teachers are fully equipped to cater to every student’s needs, the Ministry of Education in Egypt has mandated that over the next three years, all teachers must have a teaching certificate. At DIS, in addition to all teachers possessing a degree in their subject area of expertise, most of the school staff have completed Ministry courses that address the new mandated teacher certifications. In conjunction with this, two-thirds of the

teaching staff are ESL-qualified. Expat teachers who possess an accredited teaching degree from their homeland, such as Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, Britain, and New Zealand are exempted from this Ministry’s expectation. For all staff, the academic year begins in the second week of August. This ensures time is devoted to curriculum planning, peer and administrative conferencing, and targeted professional development. Professional development activities focus on areas that mirror the operational and academic program needs for the academic year. Moreover, time is allotted toward professional development in each staff meeting. These scheduled sessions are openended, allowing teachers to share their chosen topics. Administration may also target a particular subject at this time. The topics identified by teachers are titled “Talk in Ten” (T N T). During these ten minutes, teachers share practices or programs they have found to be effective with their students. Mr. Reid notes “At DIS, professional development focuses on continuous improvement and takes place in many forms. We have a strong belief that professional development is most effective when aligned with school goals and individual professional needs.”

Keeping Parents in the Loop

Parents actively participate in their child’s academic journey by having access to their child’s progress through various methods of home and school contact. Regular parent communication takes place through daily postings on Renweb (info-based management system used by the school) and Google

The physical facilities of DIS consist of a main administration building, pre-kindergarten building, Elementary School building, Middle School building and High School building

Classroom. These on-line platforms provide a daily source for parents to monitor their children’s academic progress. Monthly Parent Advisory Committee meetings provide an avenue for the school to engage parents in dialogue concerning policies, procedures and school activities. Parent Information Evenings take place through the year and focus on topics related to school program, university

requirements and school events. Each of the Stages of Implementation Committees has parent representation to ensure the parent voice is heard. Regular calls using the ‘Stop, Start, Continue’ process takes place. Five parents from each division are contacted each week for the purpose of collecting perceptional data. Each week this feedback is examined by each divisional principal. At the end of every term,

a report summarizing parent perceptions is created and examined by each school division as well as the senior administrative team. In May of each year, an overall summary of responses is used to inform the annual review of the school plan.

Rising Above Crisis Situations

DIS endeavors to continually stay abreast of trends and ever-changing industry

requirements. DIS remained undeterred in the face of the Covid crisis. During the pandemic, while the education industry took a deep dive into chaos, DIS sprang into action!

The school had to very quickly establish live online support. Google classroom was expanded; weekends were devoted to Zoom teacher training that was open to parents as well. Bandwidth for WIFI was increased and teacher in-service concerning what constitutes

good online learning took place. Parents were provided with live online Zoom schedules and a hotline was established.

From September 2019 to February 2020, teachers conducted their lessons using Zoom. The delivery of these lessons was supported by subject coordinators and monitored by the supervising principals of each division. As vaccinations began to positively impact the number of people affected by the epidemic, the school moved to a hybrid teaching model from March 2020 to December 2020. During this time, students were placed on shifts and as much as could be accommodated, siblings were placed on common schedules. The hybrid model had students attending half an instructional day. This was supported using a flip-classroom approach and some online live sessions.

Mr. Reid informs, “At the end of December 2021, it became apparent that COVID-19 was continuing to decrease in the school region. The Ministry of Health for Egypt had declared that schools had permission to return to full-time school attendance. Following strict health and safety restrictions concerning hand sanitization, temperature checks, wearing masks, and social distancing, in January 2021, DIS students moved to full-time attendance. Currently, DIS is examining ways of teaching in the classroom that can be recorded on video as a resource tool to address some of these challenges.”

Standing Tall and Proud

Founded in 2010, DIS is one of the leading institutions in Cairo. DIS has been accredited through AdvancED (recently expanded and rebranded as Cognia) for the past ten years. Mr. Reid proudly reveals, “During the 2020–

21 school year, Cognia conducted more than 1,200 school engagement reviews for accreditation. During this period, DIS was acknowledged as a school of distinction along with 59 schools and 20 school systems that were recognized worldwide.”

In 2021-2022, DIS pursued a second accreditation to ensure that DIS is serving its community at the highest level. Through this academic year, the school community successfully achieved a seven-year accreditation from the Middle State Association. The focus of this review examined all academic and operational facets of the school. Through this review, the school developed and adopted an increased academic focus on reading and writing.

In 2021-2022, the school was also accredited by Pearson Edexecl, and in September 2022, a British stream for education was introduced to DIS. This was implemented as part of the school’s goal to provide more choices to its community. Expansion plans for the British School will take place over a 5-year period. The school is also expected to be accredited by Cambridge and Oxford by December 2022. Mr. Reid concludes, “Immediate plans for DIS will be the expansion of the British School. In addition, The Dover Student Development Centre (serving special needs students) is being moved into a new expand area of the building. Equipping and enhancing current special services will be a goal throughout 2022. University partnerships will be expanded, and the school is currently in discussion to examine providing our grade 12 students with online courses that will facilitate advanced placement in university.”

How do you Lead?

Michael Hartland, Principal, Chase Grammar School

Michael Hartland, Principal of Chase Grammar, is a talented educator and inspirational leader. He has spent the past 30 years in the field of education, gaining his first leadership role as Head of English at Clayesmore School, Dorset, in 1999, then moved via Head of English at Sutton HighSchool(Girls’DaySchoolTrust)toAssistantHeadTeacher at Wimbledon College, a London comprehensive school for over 1200 boys. He joined Chase Grammar in 2016 as Vice Principal and has led the School as Principal since 2018. Michael’s articles on education have been published by The TimesEducationSupplement,Eteach,IndependentEducation, InnovateMySchool,theIndependentSchoolsAssociationand Independent School Management Plus.

Whether you are a teacher, head of department / faculty (I will use the word “department” for both in this article), or in the senior leadership team, leadership is always about influence, as John Maxwell says. There are as many different ways to lead as there are leaders in this world, but I have five areas I want to explore in this article which will undoubtedly bear fruit if you choose to spend some time examining them for yourself:

picture” of that vision to those who should be following you. Whether it’s a vision of where the lesson is going, or the department, or the school, the vision has to be both grounded in reality and also stretching beyond whatever your current realities are.

1. Vision

You can’t lead anyone without your own vision of where you are going. You must then “paint a

As leaders, we all have to understand our current situation rigorously and perceptively, through data and insight, but also keep an inspiring vision ahead of how it could be better. Too much focus on the present can lead to obsession and maintenance of the status quo (I once worked in a girls’ school where the opening vision sentence was “We are here to educate girls” – it was accurate but completely unstretching so it failed on the inspiration test! Too little focus can mean that no one is going to buy into a vision which just sounds completely unachievable.

Communication is key – through all channels available! Repeat the picture you want to paint

As leaders, we all have to understand our current situation rigorously and perceptively, through data and insight, but also keep an inspiring vision ahead of how it could be better

in people’s minds so they are convinced you have credibility because you understand where they’re all at now, and they want to follow you, because they are excited about where you can help them go.

2. Values

If you are not sure what your values are, you will either be exploited by others, or you might find that pragmatic options start to erode

your ethical principles. It’s a good exercise to review your values every year, using something like the VIA Character Strengths Profile (https://www.viacharacter.org/). We need to stay in tune with our deepest “inner voice” so that we lead with consonance and integrity, true to ourselves and our ideals.

We all want children to learn, but what do we value about how they learn? Should children learn uniformly, or in a differentiated

way? Should more emphasis be given to communal learning or independent study? These are not either/or choices, but they do highlight how the world of education is a very wide world where many theories have come and gone. From your own experience, though, you know what works. You know how to engage and inspire both young people and adults.

What is it about your values that enables you to do this?

3. Team Potential

In ‘Good to Great’, Jim Collins made the point that “getting the right people on the bus” is more important than where you want the bus to go! Appreciative enquiry is an approach that focuses on people’s strengths and potential, and can allow you to dream dreams

for others, about where they might be in five years’ time with the right encouragement and guidance. And how powerful a single word or short meeting can be, for both young people and adults!

So who is on your team? How well do you know their potential? Do you trust them with real responsibility that will mean they will succeed or fail because of their choices? And do you allow them to fail safely with projects that will not bring the school down if they don’t go 100% according to plan?

Think back on your own career. How often did you learn your best lessons when you partially (or completely!) failed at something?

So trust your team, if you believe in them, and take a few well-judged risks that will allow them to grow, and you will see your team potential increase exponentially.

We need to stay in tune with our deepest “inner voice” so that we lead with consonance and integrity, true to ourselves and our ideals

4. Competence and Creativity

No school can run without clear definitions of what competences are required for learning, teaching, managing and leading. But if you only do competence and compliance you will not inspire anyone, and you will only be focused on lapses rather than successes!

We need creativity in education and in leadership! Allow yourself to be creative once a week or so – dream a bit, use a mindmap to generate lateral-thinking and divergent ideas. Some of my best changes to the school where I am Principal have started life on an A3 mindmap!

Encourage others to dream a bit, too. This is linked to developing your team’s potential. Teaching and leading is as much about inspiration as it is about instruction –“education” means “to lead out”, after all!

Of course we must be competent, but the best leaders balance a range of undoubted competencies (and often not a few weaknesses) with inspiring creativity.

5. Adapt and Intervene

Everyone can get blown off course by events, so we must always be monitoring, adapting and intervening. This is true of lessons, of managements and of leadership at senior level.

What systems do you, your department and school use to regular monitor progress and competencies?

Do they lead to interventions that are actually effective?

Do people adapt when data clearly indicates something is not working?

Do you?

How do you lead?

The best leaders are at home with being themselves; they have an inspiring vision, clear values that guide their decisions; they have a great team they have helped to grow in trust and confidence; they’ve made roles clear but also encourage creativity to surpass mere dutiful compliance; they monitor how everyone’s doing, including themselves, and adapt and intervene to make effective changes when needed.

Does that sound too good to be true?

Or could it be you?

Select Bibliography

Collins, Jim - Good to Great Maxwell, John – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Pritchard, Lori - Appreciative Enquiry

No school can run without clear definitions of what competences are required for learning, teaching, managing and leading

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Making the most of your EdTech

Howard Lewis, Managing Director UK and International, Discovery Education

Howard Lewis is Managing Director UK and International of Discovery Education, the global EdTech company and makers of award-winning digital learning services including the Discovery Education Platform, Espresso, Coding, STEM Connect, Science, Math and Social Studies Techbooks, Health and Relationships, DoodleMaths, DoodleEnglish and Pivot Interactives.

During the pandemic, schools around the world invested heavily in classroom technology. EdTech became a lifeline, enabling teachers and students to stay connected and continue learning. From hardware to connectivity, software to digital content, many schools either built an EdTech ecosystem for the first time or made significant upgrades to their EdTech infrastructure. But with most students now back in the classroom fulltime, are these investments being used to their full potential?

The challenging global economic situation means that this year, school leaders will be under increased pressure to do more while spending less. So, it’s more important than ever that schools maximise their EdTech spend. Thankfully, with the right planning and strategy, today’s EdTech resources can have a sustainable impact for many years to come. Here’s how.

Define a clear digital strategy

In order to achieve its full potential, EdTech should be used with purpose, as part of a clearly defined

digital strategy, which is driven by pedagogy in terms of outcomes. This means focusing on how educational technology will be used to enhance teaching and learning, and how this will benefit students’ development in the longer term. It also means looking closely at how teachers will use the tech, and exploring what support they might need. When considering EdTech spend, educators should ask, “What are we trying to achieve here? How does this fit with our teaching and learning strategy? Does it help us to deliver our curriculum? Can we use this across the whole school?” Singlepurpose tools that are chosen as extras, rather than as part of the school’s overall teaching and learning strategy, won’t deliver lasting value.

Choose all-in-one solutions

One of the best ways to maximise EdTech’s value is by utilising multi-tasking software that can meet a variety of teaching and learning requirements. All-in-one learning platforms – which provide high-quality resources, personalised learning, instructional support and assessment all in one

One of the best ways to maximise EdTech’s value is by utilising multitasking software that can meet a variety of teaching and learning requirements

place – are the best choice. Look for platforms that are easy to use, can be accessed anywhere and play well with your existing EdTech tools. Your chosen platform should also integrate seamlessly with the school MIS. By choosing the right all-inone solution, you’ll not only save teachers time and boost student engagement but avoid the need to invest in add-on products and resources.

Look to the future Technology is always evolving. And while it’s impossible for schools to future-proof their EdTech, they can extend its shelf-life and prevent costly upgrades. One of the easiest ways to do this is by choosing a solution that evolves alongside the educational landscape. This is especially important for digital learning platforms, which should be regularly updated with new resources and schemes of work to help schools deliver against their shifting goals. Looking at the recency of resources can be a good indicator, and platforms that deliver content linked to current events are a sound choice.

Unleash potential

From reducing teacher workload to improving student outcomes, there’s no doubt EdTech can

help schools to tackle some of their biggest challenges. But this can only happen, when tech is used in the right way, to its fullest potential.

Sometimes schools simply don’t know how to get the most out of the technology they have. In many cases, they haven’t been shown how to use it or aren’t familiar with its features. Teacher confidence can also be an issue. A recent survey by the UK Government found that nine out of ten headteachers believe that staff skills and confidence with technology are key barrier to usage. Targeted professional development which shows teachers how to use the tech in a way that works for them will pay dividends here.

Schools can also extend their tech’s potential by evaluating it regularly, against their digital strategy. By checking in with staff who are on the front line, using surveys or focus groups, school leaders can assess whether EdTech is helping the school to reach its goals and make rapid adjustments if it isn’t.

Ultimately, schools that have EdTech at the centre of their teaching and learning strategy, and embrace it as something to be nurtured and kept in clear focus, will ensure the most powerful return on their investment.

ADMIN PERSPECTIVE

What We Need to be Teaching in Schools

Itunuoluwa Isaac Bamidele, Education Officer, Teaching Service Commission

Today’s problems are the cascading effects of yesterday’s solutions, and systems thinking is the philosophy that approves that everything is connected. It should be established in the footprints of our education policy that everyone should be a system thinker.

Education is said to be the most powerful tool to change the world, yet we seem to not have harnessed this tool to our collective advantage. Over 600 million children were enrolled in secondary schools around the world in the past decades. Around 90 percent of the world’s population had completed primary education in 2020, whereas, 66 percent had attained a secondary school education, excluding tertiary-level students. This validates that more than 86 percent of the world’s population has at one point or the other passed through formal education.

Bamidele Isaac Itunu is a Professional Educator, an Education Officer, and a Social Change Enthusiast. His global exposures serve him well and have enabled his imprint on the global map of education pedagogy, instruction, and leadership. He has close to a decade of experience in education leadership, management, and policy execution. In seeking out his passion for providing access to equitable and quality education, he has reached thousands of kids in low-income communities in Nigeria. This passion has birthed the vision and mission of Giddy2School Education Initiative, where he works with diverse professionals over the world to remedy Nigeria’s out-ofschool index.

In the contemporary world today, a case study of every community of the world, 7 out of 10 young people are not interested in serving their communities, do not know what to do, how to do it, or the best practices to employ to lead positive change

The statistics above unarguably poses the power education and educational systems hold in literally changing the world, and just by incorporating systems thinking into our curriculum we stand the chance to ring systemic change, and lead Positive Change Management, so far the right curriculum was taught. If every child that passes through the four walls of the classroom was exposed to the importance, integration, and inter-connectedness of “if and then” causal relationship of the universe, we would have developed more innovations in the world that are human-centered, inclusive, sustainable, and green, solving the many problems of our world today. The school would be a solution hub and an asset to the world. Every learner would be fully ready, and all hands would be on deck to solve immediate and future problems, with resilience and brim passion towards humanity’s continued thriving rather than just survival. It is not new that the youths are the future of any nation, the school must play an integral part in this ensuring that their potential is fully maximized.

In recent times, youths have been at the forefront of electric innovations and impacting giant strides in the world of innovation. There has been a great spike in youth leadership, involvement, and action because youths are now being exposed to system-thinking approaches to solving problems, but we need to do more. In the contemporary world today, a case study of every community of the world, 7 out of 10 young people are not interested in serving their communities, do not know what to do, how to do it, or the best practices to employ to lead positive change. Many do not have the network, experience, or exposure to make real changes. Hence, the need to start teaching systems thinking in schools.

Systems Thinking is a holistic approach to problem-solving that focuses on the way that whole-body parts interrelate and work together over time and within the context of an intended larger result. In nature, systems thinking ensures that elements such as water, soil, sun, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish.

For instance, SDG-4 is the code acronym for Quality Education. Aside from the fact that SDG-4 advocates for everyone everywhere to have access to equitable and quality education irrespective of race, religion, or socio-economic background, quality education remains an anchor to all 16 SDGs if we must achieve a full understanding of the SDGs and have optimum results. There has to be a sound engagement of quality teaching or education. Also, SDG-1 - NO POVERTY, is another good example of how parts make a whole. The cause-and-effect relationship between poverty and hunger is like 5&6. Why? This is because poverty is connected with low or no purchasing power, and economic and financial inadequacy, which in turn lead to a state of perpetual hunger.

It is also the big concept behind the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 SDGs are so fascinating to explore in that they, with different themes, and different focuses are extremely interconnected, and dependent on one another and must be understood as such.

The human body is a biological concept that explains this concept even better, and in a way that a layman can understand. The organization of life in Biology has four divisions; Cell, Tissue, Organ, and System. Please note, that the fourth level of organization is our end goal, because it is the functionality of the systems thinking here. But the system can never be achieved without the aggregation of similar cells which makes tissues, the aggregation of similar tissues which makes organs, and the aggregation of similar organs which makes a system. At this stage, let us imagine the human body without the organ of sight – the eyes, without the organ of reasoning – the brain, the respiratory organ - the lung, the liver, and finally the heart. I am certain that everyone is quite aware this type of system cannot be called a human system anymore but a cadaver.

This is what a system is. And how every sector in our society is made, from governance to production, to entrepreneurship, transport,

The best leaders are typically systems thinkers, and we must onboard our formal and nonformal education to equip both the young and even the older generation on systems thinking approach in community engagements and problem-solving

businesses, economy, technology, education, community, health, and so on. Teaching systems thinking in schools will affect optimum awareness and efficiency in our values propositions, and consumption, of how to approach our various systems towards national and global development. The best leaders are typically systems thinkers, and we must onboard our formal and nonformal education to equip both the young and even the older generation on systems thinking approach in community engagements and problem-solving.

Incorporating Systems thinking in schools will benefit us in a lot of ways, first of all, it does the work of thinking overhaul and mind revamps which is necessary both in school, life, and in our respective communities. The benefits include young people; seeking to understand the bigger picture rather than seeking shortcuts to problem-solving, understanding patterns and trends in system knits, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, piloting and testing hypotheses, gathering and analyzing intended/unintended consequences, and providing sustainable solutions. This helps

to designate individual responsibility and transit into collective actions.

People everywhere are a product of systems, either thriving or faulty systems, and in turn, make them garbage-in garbage-out the result of what they are exposed to. The world can be made a better place with the inclusion of design and systems thinking into the education system. Young people are an asset and can do so much, they just need to be trained right. To achieve this, there has to be a vibrant synergy between the sectors of Education policy, Education Leadership, the community, and the Government. This is a call to action, a call to collective responsibility, in Africa majorly, we need these interventions, we need more hands on deck, and more heart committed to our every development. We need to start teaching youth leadership, innovation, and problem-solving skills because our problems will not solve themselves. And because the school is where the introduction of this high-need curriculum is accessible to all young people, the school is where we must start.

If every child that passes through the four walls of the classroom was exposed to the importance, integration, and inter-connectedness of “if and then” causal relationship of the universe, we would have developed more innovations in the world that are humancentered, inclusive, sustainable, and green, solving the many problems of our world today