EARCOS ET Journal Winter Issue 2025

The EARCOS Triannual JOURNAL

Featured in this Issue

Research

An Empirical Evaluation of Adolescent Anxiety and Depression in International Schools: Findings and Implications

Board Roles

Board & Member Roles & Responsibilities

Action Research

Engaging Host Country National Teachers

Green & Sustainable

Regenerative Education: Teaching and Learning that Heals and Restores

THE EARCOS JOURNAL

The ET Journal is a triannual publication of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS), a nonprofit 501(C)3, incorporated in the state of Delaware, USA, with a regional office in Manila, Philippines. Membership in EARCOS is open to elementary and secondary schools in East Asia which offer an educational program using English as the primary language of instruction, and to other organizations, institutions, and individuals.

OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES

* To promote intercultural understanding and international friendship through the activities of member schools.

* To broaden the dimensions of education of all schools involved in the Council in the interest of a total program of education.

* To advance the professional growth and welfare of individuals belonging to the educational staff of member schools.

* To facilitate communication and cooperative action between and among all associated schools.

* To cooperate with other organizations and individuals pursuing the same objectives as the Council.

EARCOS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Catriona Moran (Saigon South International School), President

James Dalziel (NIST International School), Vice President

Jim Gerhard (Seoul International School), Secretary

Rami Madani (International School of Kuala Lumpur), Treasurer

Gregory Hedger (The International School Yangon), WASC Representative

Karrie Dietz (Australian International School Singapore)

Matthew Parr (Nagoya International School)

Marta Medved Krajnovic (Western Academy of Beijing)

Maya Nelson (Jakarta Intercultural School)

Kevin Baker (American International School Guangzhou), Past President

Margaret Alvarez (WASC), Ex-Officio

Andrew Hoover (Office of Overseas Schools, REO, East Asia Pacific)

EARCOS STAFF

Edward E. Greene, Executive Director

Bill Oldread, Assistant Director

Kristine De Castro, Assistant to the Executive Director

Maica Cruz, Events Coordinator

Ver Castro, Membership & I.T. Coordinator

Edzel Drilo, Professional Learning Weekend, Sponsorship & Advertising Coordinator, Webmaster

RJ Macalalad, Accounting Staff

Rod Catubig Jr., Office Staff

East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS)

Brentville Subdivision, Barangay Mamplasan, Binan, Laguna, 4024 Philippines

Phone: +63 (02) 8779-5147 Mobile: +63 917 127 6460

Global Citizenship Award Curious Kids: Igniting Passion for Lifelong STEM Learning in China By Suah Lee Elevating Your Persuasion: A Debate Workshop By Hayoon Jeong (Julie) H.E.R (Health. Equity. Respect) By JiaJia Khwanchanok Paka-Akaralerdkul

Executive Director’s Message

A very warm welcome the winter issue of the EARCOS Tri-annual Journal. All of us at EARCOS send you our very best wishes for a happy and healthy start to 2025.

In this issue you will find a rich collection of articles that embrace so many of the topics that concern all of us in international education today. From the power of service learning to the growing and uncertain impact of AI, to inclusion and neurodiversity, to the never-to-beunder-estimated importance of good governance, there is so much to consider in this issue of ET. And, as is always the case, the articles in this issue underscore the rich talents and diversity that define the educators in the EARCOS region. I thank each of them for their contributions to this issue.

I would like to direct your attention to the lead article in this issue, An Empirical Evaluation of Adolescent Anxiety and Depression in International Schools by James Rosow, Karly Knopf and Sean Truman.

For the past five years, our region has enjoyed a special partnership with the Truman Group, clinical psychologists who have led extensive, confidential conversations with small groups of school leaders and cohorts of counselors across this region. Launched in the early days of the pandemic, the Truman Cohorts have been among the most important initiatives EARCOS has ever undertaken. We are especially grateful for the grants and logistical support we have received each year from the Office of Overseas Schools to make the program thrive.

In addition to supporting cohorts of counselors and school leaders, the Truman Group has also shared numerous dynamic presentations at our conferences. Furthermore, the insights and partnership they provided at the Heads’ Institute in Luang Prabang several years ago continues to impact many of our schools. And now, in this issue of the EARCOS Journal, you will find a white paper from the Truman Group on the study they conducted on student social and emotional well-being in a selection of EARCOS schools. It merits your careful attention.

The Truman Group research team used the word ‘alarming’ to describe their findings. This was due to the surprisingly large and unexpected number of international school students who reported serious levels of isolation, stress, anxiety and depression. We must all heed the warnings within the study. Clearly, based on their findings (and so many instances many of you have reported in the past several years), international educators need to re-think what we do and don’t do to ensure that all students are seen and given the support they need to live balanced, happy and emotionally healthy lives. This is of course, far easier said than done.

There is a diverse and unsavory cocktail of forces impacting the mental and emotional health of international students in grades 9-12 today. Much of what the Truman study found mirrors other recent reports on adolescent mental health. A 2023 US government report from the

Surgeon General noted that more than half of teen girls felt ‘persistently sad or hopeless.’ It is no minor observation that television watching has supplanted conversation in homes everywhere—often family members watch television in separate rooms. Isolation and loneliness, even within the family setting, has become far too common. And, there is good reason for the increasing number of schools that have established policies to reduce the use of cell phones during the school day. These omnipresent devices have contributed significantly to the isolation young people experience, as Derek Thompson explained in a recent Atlantic cover article.

The typical person is awake for about 900 minutes a day. …[T]eenagers spend, on average, about 270 minutes on weekdays and 380 minutes on weekends gazing into their screens. By this account, screens occupy more than 30 percent of their waking life. (Thompson, D. The Anti-Social Century. The Atlantic, February 2025: 30).

Screentime is not really a social occasion, no matter the term social media. There are other issues as well, not the least of which is an on-line ‘bullying culture’ which is a separate and disturbing topic in and of itself.

There are no magical programs that you can just take off the shelf to resolve the social and emotional issues confronting students today. There are, however, directions to be considered, several of which are suggested in the Truman paper. These include the need to provide supplemental clinical training for school counselors and other key staff members. The study also makes clear that students must be provided with more opportunities to exercise and play and—yes--to sleep. Again, easier said than done as these suggestions fly in the face of the status quo of what school days are ‘expected’ to offer.

It is our hope in sharing this research with you that it will spark thoughtful conversations across our schools about the changing realities and rising challenges in emotional well-being that all young people entrusted to our care face today. What is your school doing—or considering doing—to help students counter the complexities of growing up in today’s hyper-paced, overscheduled, device filled world?

Please consider this your invitation to share your thoughts and initiatives on this vital topic in the next issue of ET. Manuscripts should be submitted by April 1, 2025.

With all best wishes,

Edward E. Greene, Ph.D. Executive Director

STRANDS

Physical Education/Wellness/Health

Visual Arts

Film

Design Technology

Robotics

Performing Arts: - Choral Music - Dance - Drama - Strings - Band Technology

General Education Topics

PRECONFERENCES

TieCare Congratulates the Purple Community Fund for winning the 2023 Krajczar Humanitarian Award.

Mark Tomaszewski, President of TieCare International, gave the below comments at the EARCOS Fall Leadership Conference in Bangkok in October in recognition of the Purple Community Fund receiving the 2024 Richard T. Krajczar Humanitarian Award 2023.

The EARCOS Conference is like entering the home of Dr. Krajczar and his wife, Sherry, and his children, Josh and Morgan.

Open doors, open minds, open bar.

Familiar faces, friends, free food. Some people say that EARCOS isn’t the same since Dr. K. left us to fend for ourselves in 2019. We don’ t see him walking the exhibit floor, ringing his bell to get people inside the conference and breakout rooms. Shaking hands with everyone and somehow being able to recall everyone’s name.

But one thing hasn’t changed at EARCOS: the belief espoused by Dr. K to care for others.

The underserved, the underprivileged, the underdogs.

Dick was the epitome of the underdog. The scrawny American high school football player who left Pennsylvania for Wyoming for the only college who wanted him to play on their team.

Fast forward to many years of teaching and leadership in international education with assignments in Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan, Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines, and his many years with AAIE and EARCOS. The back of Dick’s proverbial baseball card was quite impressive.

tiecare.com | info@tiecare.com

As a leading provider of employee benefits for international educators, TieCare was fortunate to have a long-time association with Dick. We weren’t just an EARCOS exhibitor; we were his insurance company for many years, including at the end. We were his customer, finding the best sponsorship opportunities for the mutual benefit of both EARCOS and TieCare. In return, Dick was always our friend and supporter. When the chance to sponsor an award in Dick’s honor became available, the boss of TieCare couldn’t say “yes” fast enough. That boss, of course, was me.

While Dr. K is no longer with us, the TieCare team is thrilled to help keep his memory alive.

So, to honor the legacy of Dr. K, we are proud and honored to present the 2024 Richard Krajczar Humanitarian Award to Ruth McLellan and Amy Lucas on behalf of Purple Community Fund in collaboration with St. Joesph’s Institution International.

Mark Tomaszewski President, TieCare International

Ruth McLellan and Amy Lucas of the Purple Community Fund accept the Krajczar Humanitarian Award from Mark Tomaszewski and Dr. Edward Greene, Executive Director of EARCOS.

Josh Krajczar, Dick’s son, and Mrs. Sherry Krajczar joined the presentation of the Humanitarian Award at the EARCOS Fall Leadership Conference in Bangkok.

Click here to read the full article about this year’s Humanitarian Award winner. Learn more about the Purple Community Fund at www.p-c-f.org

An Empirical Evaluation of Adolescent Anxiety and Depression in International Schools: Findings and Implications

By James Rosow, PhD, LP, Karly Knopf, BS, Susan Bernstein, MBA, & Sean Truman, PhD, LP

Contents

• Background

• Research Objectives

• Research Design

• Key Findings

o Anxiety & Depression

o Suicidal Ideation

o Gender Differences

o School Stress & Support

o Sleep & Exercise

• Research Implications

• Future Research

• Limitations

• References

• Appendix

Background

Over the past fifteen years, a wide range of studies have found that the number of young people suffering from impaired anxiety and depression is increasing at an alarming rate. This pattern of findings has emerged from both nationally representative data in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024) as well as from international studies. Racine et al. (2021) conducted a meta-analysis of 136 studies from around the world and found that 20 to 25% of young people report impaired symptoms of anxiety and/or depression.

Recent clinical and anecdotal evidence also supports these findings. The demand for mental health care is high, and insurance claims for mental health care are significant drivers of healthcare costs. A report from a large provider of health insurance for international schools conveyed that the cost of mental health claims has tripled since 2019 (GBG, personal communication, October 2023). This demand has stretched community-based support worldwide. At the Truman Group, we have seen a steady rise in young people with anxiety disorders and depression referred to our practice for treatment.

In addition to providing clinical care, our group also consults with school counselors around the world. Over the last six years we have run a program that provides consultation groups to international school counselors. Last year nearly 200 counselors participated in these consult groups, and they, too, reported increasing numbers of students impaired by anxiety and mood dysregulation. Parents and educators have also been affected by this change and they are uncertain about how to respond to the mental health needs of young people in their communities.

In the fall of 2023, in partnership with seven international schools, we undertook a research initiative with two broad aims: to better understand the exceptionally high levels of anxiety and depression we have been seeing among international school students, and to help determine what we, as clinicians, educators, and parents, can do to help young people feel better and function more effectively. To date, there has been little empirical research that has focused on these issues in the international school community, and this study is an initial effort to address this gap in knowledge.

Research Design

Between September and December 2023, the Truman Group fielded a web-based survey to students in grades 9-12 across seven international schools in Southeast Asia (see appendix for list of partner schools). Participants were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to measure symptoms of depression and anxiety. These two instruments are well-established, reliable and valid measures that have been used for decades in clinical applications and research. In addition to completing the two inventories, participants were asked to provide demographic information and information about:

• Number of schools attended

• Years lived in their current location

• Lifetime number of moves

• Hours slept the previous night

• How many times they looked at their phone after going to bed

• Amount of exercise they engaged in over the last week

• Number of friends in person and online

• Number of hours spent on social media per day

• School stress

Research Findings

Anxiety & Depression

Respondent ratings on both the BDI and the STAI were elevated. On the BDI, 8% of students scored in the Severe range, and 21% scored in the Moderate range, both of which signify depressive symptoms that are of clinical concern (see Figure 1). Anxiety scores were even more notable, with 61% of students reporting High Anxiety, a rate that is entirely unexpected in a normal school population (see Figure 2). In short, large numbers of students in the international school community appear to be managing clinically impairing symptoms on a daily basis.

While the depression scores among our sample were high, they reflect similar rates of depression found in other studies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). The level of anxiety reported by our sample, however, was alarming, with more than half of students scoring in the highest category of risk for anxiety on the STAI. The magnitude of this finding is striking and suggests that we have not fully appreciated the level of anxiety students chronically experience.

Suicidal Ideation

Two items on the BDI solicit information about thoughts of death and suicidal ideation, and given the importance of these items, we looked at them individually (see Table 1). Students reported thoughts of death and suicidal ideation at very high levels, with nearly a third of the student sample indicating thoughts about death and/or suicide. That rate is unexpected and very high. Estimates in the general population for the lifetime prevalence of suicidal thoughts is 15% (Strashny et al., 2023). More concerning is that 5% of students reported that they either wanted to kill themselves, or that they would kill themselves if they had the chance. These findings point toward the urgent need to define and develop a different approach into how we talk with and work with young people, in general, and regarding mental health specifically.

Gender Differences

Several gender differences emerged from the analyses (see Table 2). Girls had higher BDI scores than boys, and gender-nonconforming students reported the highest levels of anxiety, depression and school stress of all groups. Gender nonconforming students also described feeling the lowest level of support at school. These findings are consistent with a range of other studies that show girls to be at higher risk for depression, and gender nonconforming students to be at a very high risk for a range of emotional problems.

Table 2

Mean Anxiety, Depression, Support and School Stress by Gender

School Stress & Support

School stress was positively correlated with both anxiety and depression measures, where students who perceived higher levels of school stress scored higher on the BDI and STAI. Notably, student ratings of school support were negatively correlated with anxiety and depression, which indicates that, as the perception of school support goes up, anxiety and depression ratings go down. These findings highlight the centrality of students’ experience at school as it affects their emotional state.

Table 3

Student Correlational Analyses with STAI and BDI Scores

Sleep & Exercise

Another important finding concerns sleep and exercise. Getting more sleep and exercise were both related to lower ratings of anxiety and depression. This fact indicates the importance of these activities as mitigating factors for mental health and overall well-being. Stated simply, the more that young people sleep and move their bodies, the better they feel emotionally.

Table 4

Student Correlational Analyses with STAI and BDI Scores

Social Support

Historically we have believed that people who have more friends benefit from the social support that moderates difficult life circumstances. However, in our study there was no significant relation between the number of in-person friends students report having and anxiety and depression scores. Moreover, students who reported having more online friends reported having higher levels of anxiety. This finding suggests two possible interpretations – that managing online friendships can be stress-inducing for young people, and/or that young people today are less equipped to benefit from in-person interpersonal relationships.

Table 5

Student Correlational Analyses with STAI and BDI Scores

Number of Schools

Finally, students who attended more schools had higher ratings of depression on the BDI. This finding isn’t surprising, as multiple disruptions in a school setting would be expected to be disruptive to mood.

Table 5

Student Correlational Analyses with STAI and BDI Scores

It is worth noting that we expected to see several variables affect each other that did not emerge in our analyses. The number of times students reported looking at their phones after going to bed, and the number of hours they reported using social media per day were not related to either BDI or STAI ratings. This finding (or lack thereof) suggests that the relationship between technology and the use of social media is more complex than many believe, and that the drivers of emotional vulnerability are likely multifactorial.

Research Implications

The levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation reported by the students who participated in this study are concerning and point to several implications for schools. First, an effort should be made to identify students struggling with disrupted mood and evaluate them for risk. We recommend that school counseling staff stratify students into one of three risk categories (Low, Medium and High), follow up with higher-risk individuals consistently and, when appropriate, refer them for outside care. A subset of the highest-risk group may not be able to safely remain in school, potentially requiring more intensive clinical intervention and an incremental return to school once they are well enough to return to campus.

Second, given the limited mental health resources available in many international communities, we recommend supplemental clinical training for school counselors and other key staff members to help fill in the care gap. School counselors need to be able distinguish between students who are profoundly disrupted and those who can manage themselves within a school environment. In addition, maintaining clear lines of responsibility, consistent record-keeping and effective communication are critical to supporting students effectively.

We suggest that schools develop a dedicated response team

composed of counseling staff and a senior administrator to manage the needs of highly distressed and emotionally disrupted students.

Third, a number of controllable factors help mitigate symptomatology. Students who get more sleep, who exercise more and who experience higher levels of support at school report feeling less depressed and anxious. This provides guidance for ways that schools can globally encourage students to care for themselves more effectively.

Another simple, but compelling finding that schools can use to good effect is that when students sleep more, they experience greater levels of support at school. It appears that being sleep “nourished” leads to a more clear-headed interpretation of what is helpful and supportive to students.

Fourth, school support is central to the ways in which students experience their time at school. School support (and students’ ability to use it effectively) is a means of reducing impairing anxiety and depression in students. More work is required to define what types of support are active in this process, so that schools can better design interventions that will effectively bolster student function.

Finally, while a subset of students will likely always struggle with high anxiety, the fact that 61% of our sample scored at the highest level of risk on the STAI is remarkable. We are of the mind that students are increasingly sensitive to their emotional states, so much so that normative experiences that should not cause an anxiety response (but could make a young person worried, sad, angry, disappointed

or frustrated) are misattributed as anxiety. When individuals think of their experience as pathological, the misattribution becomes self-limiting, reduces resilience, and perpetuates itself over time. Distinguishing between students who are oversensitive to changes in emotional state and students who have diagnosable disorders that require care is increasingly important, and schools will need help developing systems that distinguish between the two.

Future Research

Subsequent studies with larger samples across more schools will improve the reliability of our findings and help develop new lines of investigation. We plan to extend this work and hope to partner with more international school communities to broaden our data collection. Additional research is required to investigate what components of school support are most active and powerful, so that schools can strategically and proactively develop programming that will support students effectively.

More investigation is also needed to understand how and why inperson friendships did not appear to affect ratings of anxiety or depression. Equally important is the finding that online friends were related to increased anxiety, which suggests that the kinds of relationships young people characterize as friendships appear to convey emotional risks instead of benefits. Understanding how young people derive benefit from friendship is central to understanding these issues. It is unclear if these findings are the result of experiences that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether they are technology or social media-driven, or if there are other factors at play. All these issues should be investigated further.

Limitations

We acknowledge the limitations of this study and its findings. Primarily, because participation was voluntary, sample bias may skew our findings. Second, while we were pleased that seven schools participated in the student, a larger sample size would make the data more reliable. We consider this study to be a starting point and would like to continue to work to investigate how living internationally affects young people.

References

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, July 12). Household Pulse Survey. National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved on July 18, 2024, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mentalhealth.htm

Racine, N., McArthur, B., Cooke, J., Eirich, R., Zhu, J., & Madigan, S. (2021). Global prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19. A meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr, 175(11), 1142-1150. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2482

Strashny, A., Cairns, C., Ashman, J. J., (2023) Emergency department visits with suicidal ideation: United States, 2016–2020. NCHS Data Brief, (463). https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:125704

Appendix

Partner Schools

• American International School Guangzhou

• Canggu Community School

• International School of Myanmar

• International School of Phnom Penh

• Seoul International School

• The International School Yangon

• Vientiane International School

Advancing Excellence in Global Education

Comprehensive Support

We work in partnership with schools through personalized support and by providing resources, training and access to networks that lead to successful accreditation outcomes

Worldwide Recognition

Graduates from WASCaccredited schools are welcomed by universities worldwide, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, as well as Cambridge, Oxford, NUS, and the University of Melbourne.

Proven Excellence

WASC accreditation signals a commitment to delivering high-quality education, empowering schools to stand out and provide an exceptional learning experience

The Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC), is a globally recognized accrediting body dedicated to advancing and validating the quality of education in schools worldwide

Join the thousands of schools worldwide that trust ACS WASC to elevate their standards, unlock global opportunities, and prepare students for a boundless future Take the next step in putting your school on the world map of education

Three-Part Series (Part 2)

Board & Member Roles & Responsibilities

By Kristi Williams

Building on the foundational understanding of governance from our first article, it is now essential to break down the board’s specific roles and responsibilities. The board is not just a governing body, but a strategic entity that ensures a school’s future stability and growth. In this article, we will dive into the key responsibilities of a school board—setting direction, managing fiduciary risks, and overseeing management— to highlight how these tasks align with the board’s ultimate goal: ensuring that the school can continue to fulfill its mission in an ever-changing global landscape.

Board’s Role

The fundamental role of a board is to safeguard the mission and vision of the school and to secure its future.

The board as a whole is the decision-making body that sets strategy and oversees management. The board is tasked with actively shaping the strategic direction, ensuring financial sustainability, and supporting the effective management of the school.

• 90% of the board’s focus is on the future and ensuring the sustainability and success of the school in 3+ years.

• 10% of the board’s focus is supporting, collaborating and nurturing the Head of School to be effective and successful for the students and school today and for the next 2-3 years.

Board Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the board can be categorized into three primary areas:

1. Setting the direction

2. Managing fiduciary risk

3. Overseeing management

1. Setting the Direction

Setting the strategic direction of the school is one of the most critical responsibilities of the board and answers two key questions: 1) Are we doing what we promised? 2) Where should we go?

In setting the direction of the school the board has two responsibilities:

A. Develop, support and represent the mission and vision of the school: What are we promising our community and are we delivering on our promise?

B. Develop long-term strategic targets: Where should we go?

What are we promising?

The mission and vision of a school are fundamental guiding principles that define the school’s purpose, goals, and aspirations. A vision statement is the bigger objective that the school aspires to achieve. It is meant to be aspirational and inspirational. A mission statement is a promise to your students, families and community. It’s a statement of what the school provides students.

The board is responsible for reviewing and monitoring the mission to ensure that the school is delivering on its promise..

For example, using the following generic school mission, the board needs to look at what the school is promising and how to measure progress.

“To provide a transformative and inclusive educational experience that fosters academic excellence, cultural understanding, and global citizenship. We strive to equip students with the skills and values needed to thrive in an interconnected world.”

This mission is promises to:

• foster academic excellence, cultural understanding and global citizenship

• equip students with skills and values needed to thrive.

Boards should be asking:

i. How do we know the school fosters academic excellence, cultural understanding and global citizenship? What is the school offering/ doing to make this happen? How do we measure the growth of cultural understanding?

ii. What skills are we equipping our students with? What skills are needed to thrive?

Highly effective boards act as the custodian of the school’s mission and vision. At independent international schools, Boards don’t represent parents or the association but represent the mission and the vision of the school, protecting and preserving the core values and principles that the school stands for. Boards do this by ensuring that all decisions and actions are consistent with these foundational elements and are moving the school forward toward long-term strategic targets.

Where should we go?

Highly effective boards also devote their time to continuously engaging in long-term, strategic thinking and discussions that explore new opportunities and anticipate future challenges.

In setting direction, the board’s role is to:

• Develop Strategic Targets: In collaboration with leadership, the board develops long-term strategic targets. Targets are typically longer-term, spanning three to five+ years. The board works to identify key areas for growth and improvement, and what the school can be in 5-10 years.

• Ensure Mission and Vision Alignment: The board ensures that the strategic targets align with the school’s mission and vision.

• Provide Resource Allocation: The board manages financial oversight to ensure funding for the strategic targets. This involves multiyear financial and budget planning and potentially looking at additional resource generation.

• Monitor Progress: The board monitors the implementation of a strategic plan through regular reviews and assessments. This involves tracking progress against defined metrics, evaluating the effectiveness of initiatives, and ensuring that the school stays on track to achieve its strategic goals.

2. Managing Fiduciary Risk

Effective governance includes comprehensive fiduciary strategies that ensure the school will exist for 5, 10 and 20 years. The fiduciary role of the board is a key responsibility that involves acting in the best interest of the school, ensuring its financial, legal, ethical, and reputational health, and safeguarding its assets.

The fiduciary responsibilities of the board include

• Developing comprehensive governance policies, board accountability and ensuring comprehensive school policies and procedures are in place.

• Providing sound financial oversight for long-term stability including responsible budget building, diversifying revenue streams, managing financial reserves and capital funds and safeguarding assets.

• Managing Reputational & Ethical Risk, includes maintaining high operational and academic standards, ensuring there is a crisis management plan in place and ensuring clear and transparent communication channels between the school and all stakeholders.

• Managing Legal Risk, this includes ensuring the leadership and school have adequate legal representation for local, regional, and international guidance.

3. Overseeing Management

It is the board’s responsibility to ensure that the school has the right people, structures, policies, and processes in place to fulfill the mission and to reach strategic targets.

Management oversight involves a few key activities:

• Hiring and if necessary firing the Head of School/Director

The board is responsible for hiring a qualified Head of School/ Director who aligns with the school’s mission and vision and moves the school forward.

• Performance Assessment

The board conducts an annual assessment of the Head of School/ Director’s performance. This involves collaboratively setting clear performance expectations toward policy implementation, reaching strategic targets and living the mission.

• Supporting Head of School/Director

The board must provide ongoing support to the Head of School/ Director, including overseeing the well-being of the Head/Director and his/her family, professional development opportunities other resources he/she needs to succeed and continued public support.

• Giving Space

The board needs to provide space for the Head/Director to lead the school and manage operations, allowing the Head/Director to get the right people, structures and policies in place to move the school forward.

Board Member Role and Responsibilities

The board as a whole has the authority and responsibility to set strategies, make decisions and perform oversight. The board speaks with one voice, and no individual board member has any authority. While the board sets the strategic direction and makes overarching decisions for the school, board members play a vital role in supporting these efforts through their specific duties and contributions.

A board member’s role is to research, discuss, debate, bring their own perspectives and make recommendations that will serve the school’s longevity and sustainability. Board members serve through participating on committees and serving as board officer.

Board committees are where the work of the board should be happening. Board committees bring recommendations to the full board as a whole to make decisions, approve, or adopt.

Highly effective Board members:

• Commit to the Role of Board Board members need to fully understand and commit to the role of the board – which is to ensure the long-term stability of the school. The board’s focus is a minimum of 3 years in the future and the goal is to ensure/grow/build a school for students in 3+ years. The focus of the board is not about “fixing” the school for current students and individual board members need to understand this and fully commit to this understanding.

• Contribute to Committee Work

The work of the board is done in committees. Committees are typically focused on areas such as finance, governance, strategic planning, development, and Head of School/Director search.

• Become a Board Officer

Volunteering more time and focus as a Board Officer. Board Officers take the lead to facilitate board operations, decision-making, accountability and team building.

• Advocate and Represent

Board members function as ambassadors for the school within the community and beyond, promoting the school’s mission and vision, building relationships with stakeholders, and advocating for the school’s interests.

In conclusion, the role of an international school board is multifaceted, extending far beyond the operational oversight to include the strategic guidance that ensures the school’s long-term sustainability. By effectively setting strategic direction, managing fiduciary risks, and providing oversight of school management, boards lay the groundwork for sustained success. However, this success depends not just on the work of the board as a whole, but on the commitment of each individual member to fulfill their responsibilities with integrity and accountability.

In the next article, we will delve into strategies to grow and sustain the board and how to remain accountable.

About the Author

Kristi Williams is a recognized leader in partnering with international and independent schools and non-profit organizations to empower boards, leaders, and teams.

Kristi specializes in empowering boards to optimize governance, shape policy, and develop board members’ capacities to make an impact. Her experience in strategic planning ensures boards and schools are equipped for success and stability in today’s dynamic environment. Kristi is a Board Governance Trainer authorized by the US State Department Office of Overseas Schools and a CIS Affiliated Consultant

Email: Williams.kristi@gmail.com | LinkedIn

International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) Level 1

Presented by: Debbie Downes

Tuesday, January 17, 22, & 31 2025

The Coaching Mindset: Working Better Together

Presented by: Kim Cofino

Saturday, January 25, 2025

>> Reserve your slot now. click here

Explore comprehensive ISS services for the dynamic transformation of international education

• Learn with professional development

• Recruit school leaders and teachers

• Start and manage a school

• Supply a school

• Streamline accounting and finance

• Cultivate diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging

Plus, visit ISS.edu/events to save your place at job fairs, register for PD courses, and stay current on key topics affecting educators like AI and ed tech.

Get started at ISS.edu #ISSedu

When the Mission Wanders: How to Bring Your School Back on Track (Again)

By Lianne Dominguez

Post-accreditation visits always leave me reflecting. This time, I’ve been turning over a big question: How do schools stay true to their mission, and what happens when they lose sight of it? Missiondriven leadership and school development are at the heart of what I do, and it got me thinking—what do you do when your mission feels more like a decorative plaque than a driving force?

Interestingly, this isn’t just my reflection. Many educators and leaders I’ve met have shared the same concern. Let’s be honest: running a school is chaotic. Between the meetings, lesson plans, extracurricular activities, emails (so. many. emails.), and never-ending to-do lists, it’s easy for the big picture—your school’s mission—to slip into the background. Maybe it’s gathering dust on a wall, or maybe it’s being tossed around in staff meetings like a motivational soundbite. But is it alive in the everyday decisions, actions, and culture of your school?

If you’re nodding along because your school’s mission feels more like a distant memory than a living, breathing force, don’t worry.You’re not alone, and all is not lost. No matter how far you’ve drifted, there are practical steps you can take to realign your school with its mission and regain that sense of purpose.

Here’s my take and lessons I've learned from all the "greats" out there on how to move forward when your school seems to have lost its way—and how to do it without drowning in fear or overwhelm.

1. Take a Hard, Honest Look

Before you can course-correct, you need to admit that you’re off course. Gather your leadership team and reflect:

• Is our mission clear to us?

• Are we living it in our decisions, programs, and culture?

• Does it show up in how we communicate, teach, and interact with our community?

This can be a tough pill to swallow, especially if the answer is “not really.” But acknowledging the gap between your mission and reality is the first—and most important—step. And hey, admitting it is way better than pretending everything’s fine while the ship sinks.

2. Bring Your Team on Board

Your school’s mission isn’t something you, as a leader, can fix alone. It’s a collective effort that requires buy-in from staff, students, and families. Start with your team:

• Host a candid meeting (or series of meetings) to talk about the mission. Be real about where you are versus where you want to be.

• Ask for input—how do staff see the mission? What’s working? What feels out of sync?

• Remind everyone why they’re here. Chances are, most educators chose this profession because they care deeply about making a difference. Connecting back to that “why” can be a powerful motivator.

Be prepared for some grumbles. Change is hard, and admitting you’re off track can feel uncomfortable. But vulnerability is key to moving forward.

3. Break the Mission Down into Actions

One of the reasons missions end up on the walls instead of in the work is that they feel huge and abstract. Take yours and translate it into clear, actionable goals. For example:

• Mission: “To nurture every student’s potential.”

• Actionable Goals: Regularly review how students are supported academically, emotionally, and socially. Create more opportunities for student voice.

By breaking it down into practical steps, you make it easier for your staff to weave the mission into their daily work.

4. Involve Your Students and Families

Your school’s mission doesn’t just belong to the leadership team—it belongs to the whole community. Open the conversation to students and families:

• Host forums or focus groups to hear their perspectives on the mission.

• Share your goals for realignment and invite feedback.

• Give students ownership of the mission by connecting it to their learning and leadership opportunities.

You’ll be surprised how insightful and inspiring their contributions can be. Plus, it builds trust and a sense of shared responsibility.

5. Celebrate Small Wins

Reconnecting with your mission isn’t a one-and-done project—it’s a journey. To keep your team energized, celebrate progress along the way:

• A staff member who leads a great initiative that embodies the mission? Highlight it.

• A student project that reflects your values? Showcase it.

• A new tradition that aligns with your mission? Make it a big deal.

These moments remind everyone that the mission is more than just words—it’s alive and evolving.

6. Don’t

Be Afraid to Rewrite the Mission

Sometimes, the problem isn’t that you’ve strayed from your mission—it’s that your mission doesn’t fully fit who you are anymore. Schools grow, change, and evolve, and it’s okay for your mission to do the same.

• Revisit your mission with your leadership team and community. Does it still reflect your school’s identity and aspirations?

• If not, refine it. Make it meaningful, relevant, and achievable.

• Once you’ve refreshed it, make it a focal point in your school’s culture.

7. Lead with Vulnerability and Humor

As a leader, you set the tone for how your school approaches this process. If you’re overwhelmed or defensive, your team will pick up on it. Instead, be vulnerable. Say things like:

• “I know we’ve drifted, but we’re going to bring it back, step by step.”

• “No school is perfect, but we have the heart and the talent to realign.”

• “Let’s face it—this mission has been more wall art than action plan lately, but we’re fixing that!”

Humor and humility can go a long way in keeping morale up and getting everyone on board.

Hope is Not Lost

Losing sight of your school’s mission isn’t the end—it’s an opportunity to pause, reflect, and rebuild. Every great school has moments of doubt or drift, but the best ones don’t give up. They face the challenge head-on, leaning into their community, their purpose, and their potential.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure about how to bring your school back in alignment with its mission, don’t lose hope. There’s a path forward. It won’t be perfect, it won’t be fast, but it will be worth it. And when you get there, your school will be stronger, more focused, and more authentic than ever.

If you’ve made it this far, you care deeply about your school and the people in it. And that’s the most important ingredient in making your mission a reality. You’ve got this.

About the Author

Lianne Dominguez is the SS Deputy Head at Haileybury Astana Kazakhstan. A Thought Leader in Human-centered School Leadership, Student Well-being,Teaching and Learning, and Education Innovation

Teaching Students to Think Like Historians

National History Day program honors Matt Elms from Singapore American School

By Suzie Boss

Matt Elms, a middle school social studies teacher at Singapore American School, has been named Teacher of the Year by National History Day (NHD), recognizing his longtime efforts to promote the nonprofit program among international schools. NHD sponsors an annual competition that engages as many as half a million students from grades 6-12 to take on the role of historian and have their work judged by professionals.

Elms presented a popular session at the EARCOS Teachers Conference in March, where he shared strategies for engaging students in the research, analysis, and writing that goes into successful projects. I also had a chance to talk with him about his efforts to promote the program internationally. Here are the highlights of our conversation.

Photo credit: Matt Elms, https://nhd.org/en/

How did you get started with National History Day?

I started in 1995 when I was teaching in Washington State. My kids needed a challenge—something to give them a reason to invest in academics. Later, when I came to Singapore American School, I started NHD as an after-school program. Now it’s a class. Students can choose to take NHD or more traditional social studies in 8th grade.

How has the program grown internationally?

Growth takes time and requires teacher experience with the program. With colleagues at other international schools, we started an affiliate program that has become NHD International. [Matt is the coordinator.] We’ve had students enter from South Africa, Finland, Canada, Turkey, across Southeast Asia—really, from all around the world. We’re seeing teachers across the region who can support students to produce quality projects.

What do students learn through the program?

It’s about the reading, the writing, and the research that goes into a project. This is structured academic writing—whether students decide to produce a paper, exhibit, website, documentary, or performance. They have to pick a topic that relates to the annual contest theme. They have to cite and annotate their sources. They understand the difference between a statement of fact and analysis. They learn to revise and improve their work with feedback. They learn how to connect with mentors and experts.

What are some of your teaching strategies?

My job is to make sure their arguments, thesis statements, evidence, and layout of their project are in alignment. I teach students document analysis and have them use old-school notebooks. Even though they all have computers, the act of writing things down physically

EARCOS UPCOMING EVENTS

The Imperfect Leader: On Becoming & Belonging

Presented by: Liz Cho

Saturday, February 8, 2025

helps them use previous lessons as a resource. I offer mini-lessons on specific topics when I see a few students struggling.

What has helped you improve your craft?

Summer workshops at Columbia University changed the ballgame for me as a writing teacher and project manager. And I’ve learned lessons from experience—sometimes hard lessons, when projects didn’t go so well. Working with colleagues and instructional coaches at my school, and listening to other National History Day teachers, have guided my thinking when creating lessons.

What advice can you offer other schools?

International schools use different models. NHD can be offered as an after-school program, but it’s hard to provide students with the support they need when it’s an activity. The advantage of offering NHD as a class is time—time to teach document analysis, time to write and revise essays, time and space for kids to think. NHD is not just about the projects; it’s about the learning process.

You need to have others in your school on board. I work with the English teachers so we know what each other is doing. I keep the curriculum department informed so they can bring ideas to me. The librarian provides books that students need and offers quiet space for students to conduct videoconferences with experts. My administration supports me throughout the process. The SAS Foundation has provided funding. Success takes a whole community.

How about parents?

You have to have open communication with parents. They need to know that NHD is hard, very hard! They also need to know that not all kids will win, even if they put all their effort into their project. Those experiences are important in life.

Registration for NHD International opens in January for the 2025 NHD with virtual judging for international schools starting in late February. Students who reach the finals will compete in College Park, Maryland, in June. The NHD Theme for 2025 is Rights and Responsibilities in History. More information, including extensive resources for teachers, is available from NHD.org.

Session IV: Common misconceptions, mistakes and pitfalls in implementation

Presented by: Dr. Ying Chu

Thursday, February 13, 2025

>> Reserve your slot now. click here

Recess for All: Creating an Inclusive Playground Experience

By Logan Grove Marketing Specialist

Concordia International School Hanoi

At our school, we believe that recess is more than just a break from classes; it’s a crucial part of how our students grow and learn. That’s why we started our “Recess for All” initiative, which aims to make sure every student can join in on the fun, feeling comfortable and included.

We want every child to have the chance to participate in activities they enjoy, whether that’s a competitive game of soccer or an exciting round of hide-and-go-seek. Our playground is filled with options that cater to all interests and abilities. Whether students prefer team sports or solo play, we encourage them to explore what makes them happy. We also mix things up with some structured activities led by teachers, while still allowing plenty of time for unstructured play. Inclusivity is at the heart of our approach. We often remind our students that everyone is included and that saying “You can’t play” is simply not allowed. Instead, we invite everyone to join in whatever game they choose.

Taking care of our shared resources is another important lesson we teach. We encourage students to borrow toys and games, take care of them, and return them in good condition. Our motto is simple:

“We borrow it. We take care of it. We return it.” This helps instill a sense of responsibility and respect for the playground.

“The addition of new toys has encouraged students to play together, fostering stronger connections and friendships while developing essential social skills like sharing, cooperation, teamwork, and problem-solving. The wider variety of toys has made students more active and engaged.

The selection caters to diverse interests—some students enjoy physical play with bikes and scooters, while others prefer calmer, creative activities like drawing with sidewalk chalk or using sand toys. Additionally, students can use their imagination to invent their own games with the equipment. This diverse range of toys ensures that all students can enjoy recess, regardless of their interests or abilities.”

- Ms. Louise Graham, Reception Teacher

We provide a range of toys in our play spaces to appeal to different tastes.

Fair play is also essential in our recess philosophy. We emphasize respect for one another, taking turns, and playing safely. Following the rules not only makes games more enjoyable but also helps everyone feel valued and included. If something goes missing, we teach students to tell an adult right away so we can find it together.

So why is recess so important? It turns out that taking a break to play outside can actually improve learning! Studies show that recess enhances classroom engagement, reduces disruptive behavior, lowers stress levels, and boosts memory and concentration. Plus, it helps students discover physical activities they enjoy, which can lead to lifelong habits of staying active.

development by giving kids opportunities to practice self-awareness and relationship skills while making responsible decisions. The playground truly becomes a space where social-emotional learning happens naturally.

“Our elementary school uses a conscious discipline approach that lends itself to students and teachers using common, respectful language for problem-solving during playtimes. Students are learning to communicate in a way that fosters self-confidence and respect for others, even when they have differing ideas and opinions. The result is a playground culture that encourages communication, self-regulation, and empathy, empowering students to navigate challenges with kindness and understanding.” - Mrs. Emily Turner-Williams, Reception Teacher

Over the past couple of years, we’ve made some exciting changes to enhance our recess experience even further. We’ve added more toys and games, especially for our indoor play spaces. This year, we’ve introduced new tricycles and even set up a little gas station for imaginative play! In the spirit of giving back to our community, we donated old equipment while bringing in fresh new items for everyone to enjoy.

Recess is vital for teaching kids not just about physical activity but also about social skills and responsibility. By creating an inclusive environment where every child feels welcome to participate, we’re helping our students develop into well-rounded individuals ready for whatever comes next. Let’s keep promoting active play and inclusivity on our playgrounds!

Recess should be inclusive, and we encourage children to play together and work together Recess also supports social-emotional

Engaging Host Country National Teachers

By Robert Preston Williams, PhD & Jayson W. Richardson, PhD

Little research has been done on host country national teachers who work in international schools. Instead, existing research has primarily focused on expatriates (Bunnell & Poole, 2023). Our previous investigations revealed stratification between host country nationals and expatriates (see Williams & Richardson, 2023). As such, we talked with 12 Vietnamese host country national teachers across three international schools in Vietnam to better understand their lived experiences. The themes from those interviews are explored below.

Challenges of Being a Host Country National in an International School

The host country nationals reported feeling less valued than expatriates, which created teaching challenges. According to participants, the emphasis of their international school’s curriculum was English-based subjects taught by expatriate teachers. As host country nationals taught host country studies in the local language, this did not align with parents’ motivations for sending their children to an international school. Additionally, administrators, who were also expatriates, did not understand the local language and rarely visited host country nationals’ classrooms. As a result, host country nationals felt disrespected by parents and ignored by administrators.

One participant said, “You’re less important than foreigners,” which has upset her since she

began her career in international schools. She went on to say, “Oh my God, I would cry many times” because of how students’ parents treated her. Another participant gave reasons why parents preferred expatriates to host country nationals:

The parents like people with white skin and yellow hair. Parents admire people from developed countries. They have white skin and yellow hair, and they’re big and tall.

Parents perceived host country studies as a necessary annoyance. According to one participant, the parents in her international school “don’t really want their kids to speak Vietnamese and to learn Vietnamese,” but Vietnamese language instruction is required due to government mandates. Parents requested that their children transfer out of host country studies in favor of “more popular” subjects. Because students with foreign passports were not required to take host country studies, they had time to take other subjects, which caused frustration among parents, a frustration which they directed toward host country national teachers.

Participants brought up parent-teacher conferences as a prime example of when they felt disrespected by parents. One participant recounted the disappointed looks on parents’ faces when they discovered their child’s homeroom teacher was a host country national. An-

other participant described teaching the same students for over five years, only to be ignored by parents during parent-teacher conferences year after year.

Participants also reported feeling ignored by their administrators. They discussed feeling like administrators did not care what was happening in their classroom.There was little oversight and no feedback from administrators because they did not speak the language of instruction. When asked about administrators’ support, one participant said it is “a very sad thing because they don’t care.” Participants also spoke of receiving less instructional time than other subjects, and they struggled to meet the mandated government curriculum when given the bare minimum teaching time.

Host Country Nationals’ Interactions with Expatriates

Discussions with host country nationals revealed that interactions with expatriates happen in formal settings, such as collaboration time and pre-arranged meetings. For participants, these interactions felt transactional rather than relational. Participants described how interactions only focused on work where expatriates put no effort into learning about host country nationals’ personal lives. Since English was the de facto language of formal meetings, participants felt disadvantaged when sharing ideas. Host country nationals discussed how they remained silent in meetings rather

than deal with the struggles of speaking English. “We just don’t talk because we are afraid that people will laugh at us,” said one participant. While there were minimal interactions outside of formal settings, the participants recognized the value expatriates placed on their personal relationships in international schools.

Due to limited informal interactions, host country nationals felt disadvantaged in comparison to expatriates when trying to build strong relationships with administrators. One participant reflected on the principal’s interactions with expatriate teachers.

Whenever they see each other, they talk a lot, they spend a lot of time talking. But for me, when I see the leadership, when I say hello to her, she just passes by.

Participants believed strong relationships were a factor in expatriates receiving promotions over host country nationals.

Because expatriates were transient, participants avoided building relationships with them. Host country nationals had long tenures in their international schools and spent time building relationships with each other. On the other hand, expatriate teachers worked for a few years and then moved on. In the past, one participant tried building relationships with expatriates but no longer tries because:

We’ll build memorable experiences together and then goodbye. Then I feel a big loss, like people die because they never see each other again.

Feelings about Split Benefits Structure

We found mixed feelings about the differences in benefits between host country nationals and expatriates. Participants understood why expatriates receive better benefits than host country nationals. As one participant said, expatriates “have to work far from their home; they have to move to another country to work.” Participants recognized hardships associated with moving overseas and understood that expatriates received higher salaries due to their limited supply.

Participants did not understand why the gap between benefits was so large and cited that the gap has grown more prominent over time. One participant said, “I do not understand why the gap is so huge. We teach in the same school, share the same responsibilities, and do the same tasks.” When describing the gap, participants used words such as “sadness,” “disappointed,” “depressed,” “angry,” “frustrated,” and “unfair.”

For example, participants were confused about why host country nationals received fewer sick days than expatriate teachers. They also did not understand why their children were not allowed to attend the international school for free when expatriates received this benefit. When participants reported these concerns to human resources, they were told that host country nationals have a degree from the host country which is considered less valuable, and teachers are paid according to their passport.

Moving Forward

In our discussions with host country nationals, suggestions for improving their working conditions emerged. Leaders of international schools can address many of the issues discussed by participants in this study.

• Teaching and learning. Participants expressed frustration with having little to no access to teaching assistants in their classrooms. Because expatriates use teaching assistants for translation, administrators might assume that host country national teachers can do this independently. However, host country nationals stressed that they are still language teachers and need support with differentiated instruction.

• Curriculum development. Host country nationals had little support from their curriculum coordinator, who only focused on English-based subjects. One participant said teaching her subject was challenging because she could not see the curriculum “vertically and horizontally across the grade level.”

• Leadership opportunities. Participants reiterated that they did not get proper feedback on their teaching practice and would like to receive feedback from a department leader who is a host country national. Participants also called for leadership to be shared among expatriates and host country nationals so the latter could help the former understand the local culture and maintain the host country’s heritage. Participants’ motivation for leadership positions was not higher salaries or power but rather representation.

• Opportunities for collaboration. School leaders might create opportunities for interactions with host country national nationals and expatriates. Leaders can model this behavior by directly engaging more deeply with host country nationals to build strong relationships. Given the long tenure of host country nationals, there is likely institutional knowledge that leadership can tap into. Given the recent trend of more students from the

local population attending international schools (Bunnell, 2019), host country nationals could act as a bridge between these students and expatriate teachers.

• ‘Equalize’ benefits. Participants recognized why expatriate teachers receive higher salaries than host country nationals but were more upset about their benefits package being dramatically less. Changes may need to happen externally via accreditation bodies such as the Council of International Schools to ensure equity among host country nationals and expatriates. As more international schools commit to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ), it would behoove school leaders to include host country nationals.

References

Bunnell, T. (2019). International school and education in the new era: Emerging issues. Emerald.

Bunnell, T., &Poole, A. (2023). International schools in China and teacher turnover: The need for a more nuanced approach towards precarity reflecting agency. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 43(2),463-478. doi: https://doi.org /10.1080/02188791.2021.1940840

Williams, R. P., & Richardson J. W. (2023). Using social network analysis to compare Vietnamese and expatriate teachers’ interactions within Vietnam’s growing international schools. Vietnam Journal of Education, 7(3), 276-287. https://doi. org/10.52296/vje.2023.302

About the Authors

Robert Preston Williams, PhD has been teaching in international schools for over 12 years in China, Costa Rica, South Korea, and Vietnam. He joined YK Pao School in 2024 and teaches in the IB Diploma Program. His research focuses on international teachers, international school growth, educational leadership, and social network analysis.

Jayson W. Richardson, PhD is a professor of educational leadership at William & Mary in the United States. He teaches research methods, educational leadership, foundations of educational leadership, and technology leadership. His research focuses on digital technologies and their impact on school leadership, transformation, innovation, and the student experience. His primary interest is exploring how school administrators lead deeper learning, innovative schools that prepare future-ready students.

UWCSEA’s Path to a More Streamlined and Personalised Admissions Enquiry Experience

By Lucie Snape, Head of Marketing & Communications, United World College South East Asia and Maryanne Lechleiter, Principal Consultant at the Maryanne Lechleiter Consulting Group

The Opportunity

U

nited World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) is a leading international school in Singapore. It became the second global member of the UWC Movement in 1971 when it was opened by Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, as Singapore International School (SIS). In 1975, SIS was renamed United World College of South East Asia, and it has since grown into a K–12 international school with close to 6,000 students and more than 1,200 staff across two campuses.

Throughout the school year, UWCSEA Admissions engages prospective families through various channels, including inquiry management, campus tours, overseas visits, online webinars, and in-person Open Day events. The team processes thousands of applications each year, with the College community welcoming hundreds of new families every August and a smaller number in January.

With the prospective family experience central to operations, an opportunity arose to enhance the current processes and systems to improve the family experience while increasing back-end efficiencies through both technology and better data management. A key focus was to maintain “the human connection”, identified as essential to any proposed solution.

The Approach

The UWCSEA Marketing and Communications team and Maryanne Lechleiter, engaged and collaborated with key stakeholders across the college to develop a long-term strategy for streamlining Admissions inquiries. In simple terms, the project involved three key steps:

1. Identify pain points.

2. Address “low-hanging fruit.”

3. Plan and build for longevity and scale.

These steps corresponded to the three phases of the project:

• Phase 1: Enquiry Management Automation

• Phase 2: API Development and Implementation

• Phase 3: Enrolment and Communication Management Strategy This article focuses on Phase 1: Enquiry Management Automation,

which addressed a “low-hanging fruit pain point” for both Admissions and families.

The Execution

We began by holding discussions that helped us create a comprehensive wish list of criteria, categorised by stakeholder groups. We defined our success by determining what each group should know, think, and feel throughout their interactions and job functions.

We put ourselves in the family’s shoes, asking what we would want to experience from the college if making an inquiry. What would make us feel “seen”? What barriers might exist? We analysed Admissions survey data and compiled our understanding of the prospective parent experience.

We then considered the challenge from the College’s perspective, focusing on what our Admissions Officers (AOs) need to perform their roles effectively, and what the MarComms team needs to nurture families through the admissions pipeline.

We spent many hours discussing the current enquiry management process, identifying challenges, auditing existing content, and defining how we wanted to segment our audiences.

Key challenges identified included manual responses, a lack of personalisation, and difficulty tracking inquiries. The team also recognised content gaps and the need for better audience segmentation.

The outcome was a strategy to revamp the inquiry management process by removing manual responses at the first touchpoint and creating an automated, multi-level framework of emails with personalised content designed to:

• Provide families with an immediate response to their queries.

• Create a trackable contact record in the CRM system.

• Encourage families to share more about themselves, allowing for greater relevance and connection as they progress through their admissions journey.

To achieve our goals, we began by changing how families can make an admissions enquiry at the college. We removed the linked email address and updated the admissions inquiry form on the website to include specific questions, enabling immediate audience segmentation.

The team utilized the “thank you” page to delve deeper into the family’s preferences, particularly their interests, by asking them questions about their interests. While this step is optional, we found that 66% of families completed the form immediately, and 38% of those who did not complete it initially did so after receiving an automated email reminder.

One of the most significant changes we made was to the format of the inquiry response email. We crafted personalised, visually appealing emails that organised information in an easy-to-consume format, allowing recipients to either skim the content or explore topics of interest in more detail.

The email response configurations are prioritised and categorised by the order in which they are delivered, with four levels available to families, ranging from general inquiries to specific interests and learning needs.

In total, there are 31 different email response configurations. A family may receive several emails depending on their choices, and the team determined that it would be a better experience to receive multiple, topic-specific emails rather than one lengthy message.

All the information provided in these emails is available on the College website, however, this approach delivers the relevant information quickly and directly to the user’s inbox, saving them time and effort.

The entire process is managed via workflows set up in Hubspot and triggered by responses on the inquiry forms, which then branch accordingly. Setting up these workflows was complex and required extensive testing and iteration. Together, the MarComms and Admissions teams conducted rigorous testing, running different scenarios and combinations of responses to ensure the accuracy of the workflows before launch.

The final step before launching was to train the AO’s on the new process and its impact on their work. By integrating the enquiry form data with the Admissions system, we began to form a more complete picture of the prospective family and student’s interests, allowing AO’s to share more relevant information about the College with their assigned families. This speaks to the human connection that is central to the UWCSEA Admissions experience.

The Results (so far)

Since launching earlier this year, we have measured results based on two key factors: families’ engagement with the Admissions inquiry content, and the increased efficiency of the Admissions Team in managing the inquiry process.

The data is favourable and supports our first KPI; families are interacting with the forms and engaging with the content. In just under five months, 2,509 inquiries were submitted and initially managed by our automated process, with an email open rate of 82%. Our 13 workflows were deployed over 16,000 times, as families could be enrolled in multiple workflows depending on their form submissions.

Phase One is just the beginning of this three-phase project and we will continue to refine our strategy and explore new ways to engage prospective families while tracking the success of our efforts. We look forward to sharing more on this exciting project with you.

AI IN EDUCATION: A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL

By Dr. Rolly Alfonso-Maiquez Director of Educational Technology & Innovation and Data Protection Officer

VERSO International School, Bangkok, Thailand

Transformative AI Applications in Education

During a recent summer holiday, I ventured outside of traditional routine tourism by creating my own "expert tourist guide GPT" using OpenAI's technology. Through careful and iterative nuanced prompting and fact-checking, I developed AI-curated walking tours that led me to discover hidden gems such as Melk in Austria, Esztergom and Kiskunfélegyháza in Hungary and Trenčín in Slovakia. These AI-guided adventures revealed cultural narratives I might have missed had I chosen to follow the usual touristy routes. This experience inspired me to think differently about AI's possibilities in the world of education.

While myriad online discussions and webinars often center on AI's obvious applications such as automated assessments and adaptive learning, my travel experiences highlighted its potential to uncover deeper, transformative possibilities. Following are eight key areas where I believe AI is positioned to revolutionize education:

1. Evolution of Creativity

At VERSO International School, our "IM-PERMANENCE" art exhibition demonstrated AI's impact on creativity. In the project, our high school students collaborated with AI to create mixed media artworks exploring philosophical concepts through descriptive phenomenological deep dives. This unconventional project challenged traditional notions of creativity, showing how AI can serve as both a tool and a creative partner. Students learned to navigate a new creative landscape where human imagination and machine capabilities intertwined, leading to innovative expressions that may not have been possible through traditional media alone.

2. Enhancing Student Success

AI is revolutionizing student support through comprehensive monitoring and intervention systems that catch struggling students before they fall through the cracks. These systems identify patterns in academic performance, attendance and engagement that might signal various challenges - from learning difficulties and neurodiversity to social-emotional needs. Unlike traditional support systems that rely on formal diagnosis, AI may be designed to detect subtle indicators across multiple domains, track changes in writing patterns that might indicate emotional stress, analyze social interactions that suggest developing anxiety, or identify specific learning challenges. This proactive approach enables targeted support before issues develop further, creating a more inclusive environment for all students.

3. Redefining Academic Integrity

As AI writing tools become more sophisticated, the line between assistance and cheating gets blurry.This evolution requires shifting from content memorization to critical thinking and practical knowledge application. Schools should develop new frameworks for academic integrity that acknowledge AI's role while maintaining high standards for original thinking, teaching students to use AI responsibly and understanding the difference between enhancement and dependence.

“As we navigate these transformative areas, we will need to be attentive and present in guiding AI integration thoughtfully and ethically, keeping learner well-being on high focus”

4. Classroom Transformation

AI-powered feedback systems are reshaping student-teacher relationships. Imagine classrooms where AI teaching assistants facilitate small group discussions while teachers provide targeted individual attention. These AI co-teachers enable global classroom connections, allowing students from different continents to collaborate with real-time translation and cultural context support, creating personalized learning experiences while maintaining meaningful human interactions.

5. Cultural Bridge-Building

AI translation and cultural adaptation tools break down barriers in global education by providing real-time cultural context and mediating cross-cultural misunderstandings. AI systems explain cultural nuances, historical context and social customs, making international collaboration meaningful and effective.This enables truly global classroom experiences where geographical and cultural distances become opportunities for deeper learning.

6. Managing AI Dependency

As AI integration deepens, schools will need to implement strategies to prevent over-reliance through robust policies and literacy programs. Approaches may include "AI-free zones" and regular "AI detox" periods where students engage in traditional problem-solving exercises. Alternating between AI-assisted and independent work helps develop stronger critical thinking skills and maintains effectiveness with or without technological support.

7. Revolutionizing School Accreditation

Current accreditation bodies such as ACS-WASC, CIS and NEASC typically evaluate schools through periodic visits and extensive preparation cycles. AI presents an opportunity to transform this into a continuous, real-time process through constant data monitoring. Schools can maintain permanent connections with accreditation standards through live data feeds, automatically tracking progress toward educational goals and compliance requirements. This provides immediate feedback on areas needing improvement, allowing rapid adjustments rather than waiting years for formal reviews.

8. Dynamic Curriculum Design

AI-driven curriculum design enables real-time adaptation to emerging trends and market demands. By analyzing educational datasets, employment trends and technological developments, AI can help create relevant, future-focused curricula while ensuring the development of core competencies. These systems identify skills gaps between current offerings and market needs, suggesting adjustments that prepare students for emerging opportunities. However, maintaining human values and ethical considerations remains essential, requiring careful oversight from experienced educators. These insights were developed from reflecting on my use of AI in my holiday travels. Through my use of AI in my day-to-day work, I've learned that AI works best as a collaborative tool that amplifies rather than replaces human capabilities. As we navigate these transformative areas, we will need to be attentive and present in guiding AI integration thoughtfully and ethically, keeping learner well-being on high focus. Success requires moving beyond implementing AI merely for innovation's sake, focusing instead on creating meaningful educational experiences that prepare students for a future where human creativity and AI capabilities work hand in hand.

About the Author

Dr. Rolly Alfonso-Maiquez is Director of Educational Technology & Innovation and DPO at VERSO International School in Greater Bangkok, Thailand. An Apple Distinguished Educator with a Doctorate in Education, he champions robotics and artificial intelligence integration in learning — leveraging AI to enhance leadership effectiveness and streamline school accreditation processes.

Rapid Results: Targeted Interventions for Middle School Growth Using MAP

By Sok Wee Kho, Raffles American School and Gisou Ravanbaksh, Beijing City International School

A Case of Rapid Results

When sixth-grader Ellie looked at her math homework, frustration often took over and tears followed. She had fallen behind during the pandemic when her ADHD made learning math online almost impossible. When in-person school resumed, Ellie’s classmates had moved ahead, leaving her math foundation with significant gaps. Despite her parents’ nightly help and tutoring, Ellie’s MAP math scores remained in the 38th percentile at the start of sixth grade.

Recognizing that the issue couldn’t wait, Ellie’s parents and her school devised a bold plan: an immediate math intervention based on her Fall MAP scores. The intervention ran for four months in the second semester, and Ellie was excused from her regular math and foreign language lessons to attend one-on-one math tutoring in the school library. With lessons tailored to her needs, Ellie tackled foundational concepts she had missed in earlier years. The personalized pace and focused attention helped her rebuild her confidence in math and strengthen her foundational skills.

A month later, when the Spring MAP test scores came out, Ellie’s results were astounding! Ellie had jumped from performing below grade level, in the 38th percentile, to performing above grade level, in the 61st percentile! But the real surprise came the following fall, at the beginning of seventh grade, when Ellie’s scores indicated that she was in the 79th percentile in math, with a percentile growth in the 99th percentile!

The Role of Data

Ellie’s rapid improvement in math skills is an anomaly, but it offers real hope for many struggling students who have come to believe that they just aren’t good at math. Rapid improvement of this degree could be more common, but it isn’t; this is because most schools don’t review individual students’ MAP data. Thus, they cannot plan immediate interventions when a student is falling below grade level. If teachers are not reviewing individual MAP scores for their students, what purpose does the data serve?

Many schools look at their MAP data to draw conclusions about their own institutional performance.They prefer reviewing aggregate data because it helps school leaders determine how their student population compares to students around the world. While aggregate data serves institutional purposes, it often fails to address the needs of struggling students. In fact, it can sometimes present an overly optimistic view that obscures underlying challenges. With enough highflyers in the mix, struggling students’ data only minimally reduces the average, making it appear that all is well.

If individual student MAP data is not unpacked by their teachers, struggling students will simply continue to struggle, with no end in sight. Unless someone took the time to review Ellie’s individual MAP report and design an immediate intervention, her score would simply be used as a data point when calculating the class, cohort or school averages. It would not be used to quickly respond to her learning needs within the same school year.

Unfortunately, many schools have dropped the ball on effectively using MAP data to inform instruction and use it primarily as data that’s

fed into skills-drilling educational sites such as IXL or Khan Academy. These sites provide practice opportunities but are no substitute for interventions designed by educators who know and understand students’ needs. In many cases, the only human eyes that see the student’s MAP report are parents, who may not even fully understand how to read the report or realize that their child is in need of an intervention.

Designing Targeted Interventions from Fall MAP Data

Imagine stepping into a new school, in a foreign environment, receiving all instruction in an unfamiliar language and having to learn to read with an alphabet vastly different from that of your mother tongue. This was Aisha’s reality when she entered Grade 5. The following year, her Grade 6 Fall MAP reading score placed her in the 6th percentile—a stark reminder of the challenges ahead.

Among the Grade 6 cohort, those below the 30th percentile for reading were selected for a targeted intervention program. This intervention focused on equipping students with the essential literacy skills required to transition from “learning to read” in elementary school to “reading to learn” in high school. Aisha was one of them.

While Aisha continued attending her English Language Learner (ELL) class, the school introduced a new Reading class that she was able to attend in place of her World Language class in the second half of the year. Instead of continuing with her World Language class, Aisha and six other students who had low reading scores on their Fall MAP tests participated in a specialized program led by the school librarian, who was also a literacy specialist. The focus? Strengthening foundational reading skills, building confidence, and accelerating progress.

The results were nothing short of inspiring. By the end of the academic year, Aisha’s MAP reading score soared to the 26th percentile—a leap that reflected the program’s impact. What’s even more extraordinary is her sustained growth. She still has a long way to go before reaching grade-level proficiency, but her growth mindset, activated by experiencing rapid growth through the reading intervention, has her on track for future success. Even after the intervention ended, Aisha continued to maintain her gains, demonstrating that early, focused support can create lasting change.

Aisha was not alone in reaping the benefits of the reading intervention; her classmate Layla did as well. Layla had shown no growth during the previous school year due to the absence of interventions. However, after just one semester of the reading intervention, Layla’s MAP Growth Report indicated that her rate of growth that school year surpassed that of 92% of her peers worldwide!

No doubt, the intimate nature of the class, with just seven students, allowed for more one-on-one support than any of them could have received in their ELL class. Aisha’s and Layla’s stories underscore the transformative potential of strategic literacy interventions in middle school. The goal is not solely to improve scores; it’s about believing that struggling students are capable of a brighter academic future.

The Importance of Middle School Interventions

Addressing academic gaps in middle school is crucial because this stage serves as a bridge between elementary and high school. If gaps

in core areas persist into middle school, they can compound over time, making it increasingly difficult for students to engage with high school-level material. Middle school provides a critical opportunity to address math and literacy deficiencies before students fall so far behind that they become discouraged.

One study by researchers at UC Davis and Stanford University found that low performance on standardized tests in eighth grade is strongly correlated with student's ability to meet high school benchmarks. Furthermore, the same study found that struggles in middle school are a strong predictor of higher dropout rates in high school. Based on their findings, the authors of the study made educational policy recommendations emphasizing early interventions targeted at underperforming middle school students (Kurlaender, Reardon, and Jackson, 2008).

In another study, six California high schools were identified as “beating the odds” on high school graduation, having remarkably higher graduation rates than their counterparts. The study found certain commonalities among these highly successful schools, one of which was their commitment to interventions based on individual student data. Some of the high schools even began reviewing data of struggling students while they were in eighth grade, so that they could design interventions and have them ready to implement as soon as the student entered ninth grade (Socias et al., 2007). It is clear that data-driven interventions are essential for long-term academic success, and yet, they are often underutilized by international schools.

A Call to Action

Without timely interventions, Ellie, Aisha, and Layla might have had vastly different trajectories. Their middle school years could have been marked by persistent struggles, eroding their confidence and widening the gap in their academic performance.The sense of defeat might have carried over into high school, impacting not only their academic potential but also their self-esteem and social development.

However, timely interventions altered their stories. Schools must prioritize this by training teachers on how to interpret individual student MAP reports, and allocating time for teams to analyze the reports and design targeted interventions. Furthermore, they must establish intervention cycles, and respond to students’ needs after every testing window. These efforts go beyond academic outcomes; they aim to cultivate confident, resilient individuals prepared for future challenges.

While their names were changed for anonymity, Ellie, Aisha, and Layla are real students whose cases give us a glimpse of what is possible when we use Fall MAP results and act fast. Today, these students are not just keeping up—they’re thriving. The boost in confidence from overcoming their challenges and experiencing the fruits of their labors—not after years of hard work, but after just one semester of a targeted and bold intervention—has translated into better performance across subjects. Interventions such as these don’t just change scores—they change lives.

References:

Reardon, S. F., & Kurlaender, M. (2009). Effects of the California High School Exit Exam on student persistence, achievement, and graduation (Policy Brief No. 09-3). Stanford University. Retrieved from https:// files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED510168.pdf

Socias, M., Dunn, L., Parrish, T., Muraki, M., & Woods, L. (2007). California schools that are beating the odds: An analysis of school-level data and case studies of schools that perform better than expected on the Academic Performance Index. California Department of Education. Retrieved from https://search.issuelab.org/resources/8546/8546.pdf

About the Authors

Gisou Ravanbaksh has over 20 years of experience in secondary school teaching, curriculum design, pastoral care initiatives and teacher training. She holds an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Massachusetts and a Certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership from Harvard University. She has expertise in student-welling, student-centered pedagogies, and personalized education. To learn more about her various initiatives, follow or connect via her LinkedIn account.

Sok Wee Kho holds an M.Ed. in Teaching Multilingual Learners, driven by his passion to support non-native English speakers in international schools. He is committed to embedding life skills and resilience into education, empowering students to succeed beyond academics. He can be reached at sokweekho@gmail.com or www.linkedin.com/ in/sokweekho

EARCOS UPCOMING EVENTS

Excavating for Equity: Racial Literacy Development through An Archaeology of Self™ Approach

Presented by: Dr. Yolanda Sealey Ruiz

Friday, January 31, 2025

Session III: Leadership Competencies for DL/Bilingual Education

Presented by: Dr. Ying Chu

Thursday, February 6, 2025

>> Reserve your slot now. click here

Service Learning in Action

By Ms. Sandy Sheppard, Elementary School Principal

The International School Yangon

Students at The International School Yangon (ISY) have been instrumental in addressing critical healthcare needs in their community by organizing initiatives such as vaccination projects and mobile health clinics. These projects, which provide much-needed medical care, were started after conducting a thorough needs assessment and recognizing a gap in healthcare access. Students then collaborated with medical professionals to bring healthcare directly to those in need. These initiatives have benefitted many children in a large number of villages on the outskirts of Yangon, along with the children at the Care for the Least Center (CLC), which is a key partner in the school’s service-learning efforts.

This hands-on involvement not only allowed students to see the immediate impact of their efforts—improving the health and well-being of many children—but also provided valuable insights into the challenges and rewards of service learning, along with the importance of long-term solutions. As a result, ISY students developed a deeper understanding of their role in the broader community, learning that they are not merely passive observers but active contributors capable of driving positive change. This aspect of service learning is crucial, as it goes beyond the act of volunteering; it instills in students a sense of ownership and responsibility for the outcomes of their work while also engaging as partners with those they serve.

Service learning is one of the school’s strategic themes and has been embraced by the community. At ISY, Service Learning follows a thoughtful, integrated process that goes beyond simple volunteer work. Students at ISY can be seen using the 5 Stages of Service Learning, which supports identifying authentic needs and a process that leads toward real solutions. The students engage in investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and, finally, a demonstration of the impact of their efforts. These five stages help students identify authentic needs and prepare for an action that addresses these needs in an impactful way. Reflection is at the core because it supports the whole process every step of the way. In this way, if a student comes across an authentic need in their course of study, they have a pathway that allows them to turn unsatisfactory into a challenge and an opportunity for learning and growing.

To identify authentic needs, students need to investigate. The investigation stage is about uncovering the truths that can be found through effective research; we use the MISO method at ISY. MISO stands for Media, Interviews, Surveys, and Observations. Often, this research will connect directly with one or more of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are another signpost that helps students know when they’re on the right track toward Service Learning. This approach ensures that their work is meaningful and sustainable, allowing them to connect what they learn in the classroom with realworld issues.

ISY supports three service organizations, all of which have Service Learning student support clubs associated with them. Each year, ISY raises money for the Chinthe Fund, which is then equally distributed to our three partners. These funds support both the operational expenses of these partner organizations, as well as funding specific needs like the mobile clinics. By supporting these organizations, the students are developing a growing sense of responsibility and global perspective, which underscores the importance of service learning in shaping future leaders who understand the impact they can have on the world around them.

ISY students engaging with students at CLC - forming relationships plays a big part in ensuring positive interactions.

ISY students arriving to support vaccinations for village children.

Students serving food at CLC.

Threads of Hope: Ejaad-The Afghan Project Completes as a Giant Community Textile

By Suzuko Hyuga, Grade 10 and Art and Jennifer Henbest de Calvillo, Service Leader Osaka, Japan Senri-Osaka International School

The Peace Textile, recently completed at Senri-Osaka International School in Osaka, Japan, is a large collaborative textile composed of over 300 pieces of felt. Each piece is embroidered and collaged with participants’ personal art representations of peace. The scroll features purple squares that read in Japanese “Heiwa,” meaning “Peace,”. It includes contributions from not only our community and all the PYP Elementary art classes, but also 65 Afghan women, thanks to the efforts of the EJAAD club. You might know us because students at Senri -Osaka International School of Kwansei Gakuin and Ejaad received the 2022 Richard Krajczar Humanitarian Award from EARCOS. Our club collaborates with Afghan women by selling their handmade embroideries and organizing various fundraising activities. The proceeds from these efforts help improve the lives of Afghan girls who are unable to attend school in the increasingly difficult situation in Afghanistan. This giant art and crafts project not only raises awareness about their struggles but also embodies the hope for equity and global peace.

The Peace Textile was a collaborative effort involving parents, students, teachers, as well as other local community members from both our school in Japan and Afghan women at our learning center in Kabul. We gathered small felt pieces and scrap materials, dedicating time after school to sew them onto the wall scroll. Each square on the scroll represents an individual artist’s interpretation of peace, reflecting contributions from a diverse range of ages, from kindergarten students to the elderly. This collective effort underscores the universal and personal significance of peace, and is a testimony of collaborative art and awareness building.

This Peace textile was displayed in our school lobby and locally at Minoh Maple Hall in Osaka Japan. This public exhibition also aims to raise awareness about the importance of world peace and to spotlight our service group, EJAAD. In Dari, “EJAAD” means “Creativity” or “Innovation.” Students made posters to take to Minoh Hall about service work and initiatives from our school, as well. Today, innovation is crucial for finding new and effective ways for young people to advocate for issues they care about. Through this exhibition, we also seek to foster collaboration across different cultures, ages, languages, and religions; highlighting the value of working together to address global challenges.

We are reaching out to student leaders who may be interested in collaborating with our club, which focuses on community service and arts and crafts. Our initiatives include:

• Education for Girls: Establishment of a discreet learning center for girls

• Humanitarian Support: We continue to assist families in Kabul and Logar provinces through vital humanitarian aid and Medical Aid.

• Supporting Village Schools: funding teacher salaries to ensure children in rural villages have access to education.

• Promoting Pashto Embroidery: We sell embroidery created by women, helping them gain financial independence.

If you would like to connect or collaborate with us, please contact our club leaders in Japan. Together, we can make a lasting impact.

Regenerative Education: Teaching and Learning that Heals and Restores

By Kenny Peavy

In a rapidly changing world where traditional education models struggle to keep up with societal and environmental shifts, a new approach is emerging: Regenerative Education This vision for learning aligns with principles of sustainability, resilience, and holistic development. For educators and parents preparing students for a future filled with challenges and opportunities, understanding regenerative education is crucial.

What is Regenerative Education?

Regenerative education goes beyond the typical focus on academic achievement to embrace student well-being, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. It draws on regenerative design principles emphasizing systems that restore, renew, and revitalize their surroundings. The goal is to create learning environments where students grow harmoniously with nature and society.

As discussed in Education is Connection and Relationship, I imagine an ecosystem of practices emphasizing deeper understanding, connection, and relationship with oneself, others (community), and our surroundings (nature). While many schools and teachers already incorporate these ideas, they’re often taught in isolation. Students need to see, feel, and experience these connections to internalize their value and truly learn.

The Core Principles of Regenerative Education

Regenerative education centers on three core principles: connection to Self, connection with Others, and connection to Nature. Each princi-

ple is key to creating a balanced and integrated learning experience.

1. Connection to Self

True learning begins with self-awareness. When students connect with themselves, they better understand their strengths, values, and passions—critical for personal growth and resilience.

• Emotional Intelligence: Regenerative education prioritizes emotional intelligence. When students learn to recognize and manage their emotions, they build healthier relationships and approach challenges with balance.

• Mindfulness and Reflection: Mindfulness practices and reflection activities—like journaling, meditation, and quiet contemplation—help students clarify their goals and values.

• Growth Mindset: Encouraging a growth mindset reinforces self-awareness and confidence, helping students see their abilities as expandable through effort and learning.

2. Connection to Others

Building meaningful relationships and fostering a sense of community is central to regenerative education, emphasizing the interconnectedness of individuals within social environments.

• Collaborative Learning: Group projects and cooperative learning activities teach students the value of teamwork and diverse perspectives, building empathy and communication skills.

• Social Responsibility: Community service and civic engagement teach students to contribute positively to society, deepening their sense of responsibility and connection to the broader world.

• Cultural Awareness: Exposure to different cultures and experiences broadens students’ understanding of global issues and promotes inclusivity, fostering an equitable learning environment.

3. Connection to Nature

A core tenet of regenerative education is recognizing that humans are not separate from nature but are deeply embedded within it.

We are a part of the natural world, and this understanding is crucial for fostering a sense of responsibility and stewardship. Regenerative education emphasizes place-based learning with all life—human and non-human—at the center. By deepening our awareness of our interconnectedness, students can better grasp the importance of caring for the ecosystems we all rely on.

• Place-Based Education: Grounding education in the local environment helps students form meaningful relationships with the land, water, plants, and animals in their surroundings. Learning through direct interaction with local ecosystems highlights our interdependence with all living beings.

• Experiential Learning: Hands-on experiences like outdoor education, nature walks, and ecological projects allow students to connect personally with the natural world. These immersive activities encourage a deep, sensory appreciation of our shared environment.

• Environmental Awareness: Teaching about ecological systems, sustainability, and the role humans play within them nurtures a sense of stewardship. Understanding that we are part of nature empowers students to make decisions that support the well-being of all life.

•

•

• Systems Thinking: Encouraging students to view nature as an interconnected web—where every action has ripple effects—helps them understand their impact. This perspective promotes balance, respect, and a holistic approach to living in harmony with the planet.

How Educators Can Implement Regenerative Education

Educators and parents can facilitate this through intentional discussions and activities that focus on making these connections visible.

Integrating regenerative education requires intentional strategies:

• Curriculum Design & Delivery: Develop interdisciplinary curricula that connect academic subjects with real-world issues. For example, a project on sustainable agriculture can integrate science, math, and social studies. The key is making connections explicit instead of teaching these subjects in isolation.

• Experiential Learning: Provide hands-on experiences that connect classroom learning to real-life contexts—field trips, community service projects, and school gardens are great examples.

• Facilitate Critical Conversations: Create spaces for students to discuss global and local issues, encouraging them to explore diverse perspectives and think critically about solutions.

• Foster a Growth Mindset: Emphasize resilience and adaptability, encouraging students to see challenges as opportunities for learning.

How Parents Can Support Regenerative Education

Parents play a crucial role in reinforcing regenerative education principles:

• Model Sustainable Practices: Demonstrate environmentally friendly habits and community involvement—kids learn by watching what we do.

• Encourage Curiosity: Support your child’s interests in topics related to sustainability and social justice with books, documentaries, and discussions.

• Get Involved in School Activities: Participate in school initiatives that promote regenerative principles, strengthening the connection between home and school learning.

• Discuss Values: Talk with your child about caring for the environment and contributing to the community, helping them see how their actions make a difference.

Regenerative education offers a pathway for preparing students to thrive in a complex, interconnected world. By embracing holistic development, systems thinking, sustainability, and community engagement, we can create learning environments that equip students with the knowledge and skills while inspiring them to be proactive, compassionate Global Citizens. As we face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, regenerative education gives us a framework for nurturing a more resilient and equitable future.

Follow Kenny on Medium & Linkedin for more articles and ideas:

https://medium.com/@kennywpeavy https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenny-peavy/

For free activities ideas & inspiration join The Box People Sustainable Solutions community on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/boxpeopleunboxed

Greenhouses In Mongolia

By Greer Gallagher and Irene Ninjbadrakh International School Ulaanbaatar (ISU)

Mongolia is unique when it comes to production because of its harsh weather. Produce sold in supermarkets is usually imported from different countries and is of poor quality due to the time it takes between harvest and arrival in Mongolia. Furthermore, the root vegetables grown in Mongolia are usually harvested during the warmer months and then placed in storage for extended periods of time. These are just some of the limitations to buying vegetables in Mongolia, which is why food wastage is an issue due to the lower quality and shortened shelf life. A 2021 United Nations article states that our capital’s food waste is nearly 40% of Mongolia’s waste. Our project, Greenhouses In Mongolia (GIM) is a sustainable solution that lowers food wastage as communities will be provided with a variety of fresh vegetables, thus overall minimizing food wastage.

GIM is a solution that creates a more sustainable practice for producing fresh fruits and vegetables for local communities for 3 seasons that is able to withstand Mongolia's weather conditions for many years.

The GIM project started last year when we began speaking to our selected project recipients, World Vision and The National Cancer Council of Mongolia, about our ideas. Throughout 2023 we worked hard fundraising, and marketing our project so that we could raise its profile within our community. To install our first greenhouse we had to meet a target of 15,500,000 mnt (approximately $4,500 USD). We were able to fundraise around 12 million MNT ($3,500 USD) and we were fortunate to receive a small amount of funding from the Global Youth Action Fund. Along with the greenhouse we also aimed to purchase seeds, soil and soil nutrients.

The goal of our project is to build two greenhouses for communities in need. Our first greenhouse was installed in May 2024 in the Ger District. The Ger District is a large residential area in Ulaanbaatar where residents face many challenges such as poverty, access to clean water, air pollution and low income. With the help of our collaborating partner World Vision, we were able to identify a greenhouse recipient who is skilled in gardening and passionate about making a difference in her community. From our first greenhouse build, our recipient has already grown many cucumbers, bell peppers and more.

In a recent World Vision article, interviewing our project recipient, the article says (translated from Mongolian) “Erdenetsetseg, who is implementing a greenhouse project, devotes all her attention to growing her "beloved" cucumbers and tomatoes by taking care and watering on time. She happily said "...my life is on the way" which touched our hearts.””(World Vision Mongolia). We will continue to grow our project by building our second greenhouse during spring 2025. Our second three-season 8x10 meter greenhouse will be lo-

cated at the Mongolian National Cancer Council’s children's rehabilitation camp. We are currently working on fundraising to gather funds for this greenhouse.

By building greenhouses to support communities in Mongolia, we hope to encourage sustainability in our community and beyond. Our project Greenhouses In Mongolia hopes to make future impacts in the Ger District where our first greenhouse was built through the education of sustainable fruit and vegetable production. The greenhouse we built will be used as a tool to share information along with fresh produce, thus encouraging sustainability. We also hope to make a large impact in support for the Cancer Council Camp greenhouse and the people staying there, to enable the camp to grow and cook with fresh produce whilst encouraging sustainability. Our project has also made a large impact within our community. We have been advocating for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for sustainable consumption and production through fundraisers, speaking at assemblies and hanging posters around our school. By constructing greenhouses for communities in need, we aim to shape a sustainable Mongolia, both now and in the future.

World Vision Mongolia. "МОНГОЛЧУУД

["The Mongols to Mongols"]. World Vision Monthly Newsletter, July 2024. World Vision. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.

From Isolated Activities To A Connected Ecosystem

Transforming the Physical Education Learning Experience

By Aaron Beighle, Ph.D. & Kevin Bartlett

As the moon peeks through the clouds, a Great Potoo perched on a rain-soaked branch, breaks the silence with a low guttural “song” as it looks to feast on insects and beetles. Simultaneously, half a world away in Africa, Ilay, a seven-year-old student in physical education, giggles under the bright sun as she works with her peers to evaluate their progress in creating a multicultural rhythmic routine. Two ecosystems, one in an Amazon forest canopy and one on a Kenyan physical education field.

Natural ecosystems and physical education, where’s the connection? While seemingly unrelated concepts or topics, we contend that to optimize education and transform schools fully, the idea of ecosystems should be leveraged and operationalized. First, why ecosystems? In nature, we think of ecosystems as a community of plants, animals, and other organisms along with other environmental factors co-existing symbiotically in a specific area or region. The various cycles and flows within these systems do not exist in silos. Their sustained interactions are necessary for the system to thrive and maintain life.

If we examine sustained symbiosis in nature through an educational lens, it’s not an illogical leap to see similarities to schools. A learning ecosystem is a complex system of people, culture, technology, norms, and practices interacting to create a network of relationships, all with an eye on optimizing learning and helping learners thrive. Just as in ‘natural’ ecosystems, if one system feature is not optimized, the entire system is impacted and must adapt. To this end, in a learning ecosystem, all facets of the system must exist synergistically to maximize its impact. This concept referred to as moving from silos to systems, holds great potential for simplifying and refocusing what has become a disconnected, overregulated, complex effort to educate youth (Bartlett and Low, 2023). In the evolving landscape of physical education, learning ecosystems are promising for transforming gymnasiums and fields into vibrant hubs of holistic development.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of one approach to support physical educators in developing a learning ecosystem within their program. We will apply the Learning Ecosystem of the Common Ground Collaborative (CGC) to the field of physical education, guiding teachers through a series of questions to help develop their own learning ecosystem. The questions are organized using the ‘5 Ds’ identified by the CGC: Define, Design, Diversity, Deliver, and Demonstrate. The remainder of this article will be organized accordingly, focusing on five questions to help physical educators create a learning ecosystem.

Define: What is learning?

While a seemingly simple question, it is often overlooked or taken for granted. In physical education, psychomotor skills like throwing and skipping are often thought of when asked “What is learning in physical education?”. The CGC defines learning more broadly and deeply, with ‘three C’s’, as follows: “Learning is the process of consolidating and extending conceptual understanding, competency, and character.” It’s important to recognize that this is a definition of the learning process, with each of the 3 C’s being supported by a separate pedagogy. It’s worth recalling here the no-nonsense clarity of this observation by W. Edwards Deming, the father of Total Quality Management, ‘If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing’.

The CGC’s take on learning fits well with the oft-offered definition of physical education: "providing students with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be active for a lifetime” (Beighle and Pangrazi 2024). With this perspective on learning, the field has pushed beyond a limited view (i.e. only physical skills) with various standards such as the SHAPEAmerica Physical Education Standards and the National Curriculum in England Aims (Department of Education, 2013, SHAPEAmerica, 2024). To mesh current thinking in physical education and CGC, learning in physical education could be defined as “acquiring the requisite conceptual understandings, psychomotor skills, personal values and learning dispositions to engage in meaningful physical activity.” This definition opens the door for more questions such as “What is requisite?” “How skilled do students need to be?” “How can we help students become more skilled while still making the activity meaningful to them?” “How do we help students connect seemingly unrelated concepts?” “How do we teach social and personal responsibility within physical education?” “How do we help students find the activities that are meaningful to them?”

The beauty here lies in the opportunity to build a progression towards student agency, but only if we embrace the ‘active for a lifetime’ element of our earlier definition. To do anything ‘for a lifetime’ necessitates high levels of adult choice. We choose to eat well, move regularly, play a team sport, etc. Traditionally, in physical education, when considering our desired outcomes, we use an arbitrary expectation of a specific technique or skill level needed to play as a highly skilled athlete.This is typically set by the teacher. We argue that students should be encouraged to consider a variety of activities and reflect on what activities they enjoy and why they enjoy them. By defining learning in physical education, we provide a foundation for guiding our practice with an eye toward student learning.

Design: What is worth learning?

We have defined learning in relatively broad terms (e.g. concepts, competencies, character), which still begs the questions: “What concepts & competencies? “What behaviors?” What specifically is worth learning in physical education? Physical education standards do move us towards a view of what is worth learning; however, they tend to be somewhat overwhelming for teachers as they include every motor skill, concept, value, attitude, and competencies associated with human movement. Our count suggests there are 85 competencies associated with the SHAPEAmerica National Standards. One approach to resolve this overwhelm is to first describe a student who graduates from our physical education learning ecosystem. While some refer to this as a physically literate person, in the realm of learning ecosystems, we suggest a more holistic approach. A prom-

ising starting point is the CGC’s “The Portrait of a Learner”, the aspirational end-in-mind of the ecosystem. This Portrait identifies 6 Human Commonalities that can be summed up as becoming a well-rounded human being who is a balanced, respectful, relationship builder, who rationally solves problems with innovative solutions, and who is a compelling communicator and a contributing citizen (Bartlett and Low, 2020).

As physical educators, our role is to use our content area and movement to prepare learners with these qualities. Your school may value other qualities in graduates. The point is that when we determine what is worth learning and how to teach towards those capacities, we must create a learning ecosystem specifically designed for these outcomes.

Building on the portrait of a learner, physical educators must determine what is worth learning that meets our purpose of physical education. This involves digging deeper into learning in physical education to design a curriculum. Curriculum development is a complex and ongoing process initiated by determining what learning experiences best meet the expectations of the program. Typically, these learning experiences are organized by activity type; however, a more progressive approach might be to examine the portrait of a learner and determine what learning experiences, both curricular and cocurricular, provide opportunities for students to develop the human capacities we have identified. For example, rather than selecting basketball because it allows students to learn specific basketball-related skills and teamwork, teachers may select “patterns and principles” focusing on recurring patterns and enduring principles that help us make sense of the world. To this end, learning experiences involving collaboration, honesty, and advocacy to create games for each other could be developed. The Learning Playbook (Bartlett & Low, 2020) outlines an in-depth approach to using the portrait of a learner to generate learning modules for physical education.

Diversify: How does everyone access learning?

Physical education has made great strides in recent decades in fostering an inclusive environment, specifically as it relates to youth with special needs. Diversifying learning certainly pertains to including students with unique needs and extends beyond to make learning accessible for everyone. It involves embracing inclusion and creating systems to build capacity that embraces inclusion. Physical education must develop a capacity to celebrate individuality, diversity, and various abilities. For example, allowing students from various backgrounds to teach games from their home country lets them know you see them, value them, and include their heritage, as does creating policies that generate accommodations for students who fast for long periods for religious reasons. Pedagogical practices like inquiry-based and models-based instruction can also differentiate learning and make learning environments inclusive and equitable. Teachers learn about their students' cultures, languages, interests, and preferences about individual instruction, making learning meaningful. To truly diversify learning means creating policies, designing learning experiences, and aligning practices that create a system that includes, recognizes, and inspires all students.

Deliver: How do we build learning cultures?

In physical education, the learning environment or culture is often overlooked or seen as naturally occurring depending on the sport or activity being taught. At their core, cultures have common lan-

guages, beliefs, values, expectations, celebrations, traditions, and principles. For delivering learning, the CGC emphasizes the importance of the foundation of a culture. The principles are then transformed into learner practices thereby deliberately identifying learner impacts rather than teacher input. Genuinely creating a learning culture involves establishing norms for your teaching space. It consists in focusing on establishing practices that allow teachers to support students. For instance, in physical education, what strategies are used for grouping students to foster inclusiveness and diverse perspectives? The traditional “students pick teams” yields someone always being selected last. How does that impact the student's attitude toward physical education and physical activity? Numbering students off to create teams takes time, time that could be used to engage in movement. How is equipment utilized to foster student agency and choice? Does every student have to use the same ball? Are practices for providing instruction thoughtful and inclusive? Beyond these practices, norms for giving feedback to peers and conduct during physical education are also needed. One strategy is to allow students to work in small groups to discuss “What does it feel like, sound like, and look like to be a productive member of our physical education class.” Students then report out generating their class norms and expectations. This co-creation of norms between students and teachers is one approach to establishing a common language and expectations that form a culture.

Demonstrate: How do we provide evidence of our learning? So far so good. We know what learning is, we know what is essential, we are inclusive, and we have a system to deliver learning. But does it work? Are students learning? For this, we must assess. In collaboration with Jay McTighe, co-founder of the Understanding by Design (UbD) movement, the CGC has designed The Balanced Assessment System (BAS). BAS is guided by 5 Assessment Principles. The first of these, The Purpose Principle, states that ‘assessment should serve learning’. More specifically, it suggests that ‘the primary purpose of assessment is to provide feedback to learners to improve their learning and feedback to teachers to inform their practice’. This focus on feedback for formative purposes is as essential in PE as it is in other learning fields. A further necessity in PE is that assessments must be efficient. Given our limited time, assessments that are 20 minutes of students not engaging in learning experiences are not practicing. This might look like students taking a multiple-choice test over netball rules. It is essential to consider that assessment protocols could take more than 20 minutes; however, when students are engaged in learning experiences while assessing, that is feasible. This might look like Ilay’s group in the opening of the article. Students are creating a rhythmic activity based on specific criteria they developed. As the students work on the activity, they assess their progress toward the goal using a rubric, video, or other modality.

When determining assessments several other principles should be considered. The outcome being assessed should be aligned with the desired learning. Using the 3C’s definition above, the outcomes or learning goals being assessed should naturally be related to identified concepts, competencies, or character traits. If we want to demonstrate learning, aligning assessments with our definition of learning makes sense. An interesting way to think about this is to consider whether learners are becoming better able to read the activity (conceptual learning), play the activity (competency), or learn from the activity (character). Assessments should also be multi-faceted in physical education. As discussed earlier, we typically think of assess-

ment in PE as being associated with psychomotor skills (e.g. baskets made, serves in). Expanding our view of learning suggests we also expand our view of evidence. Evidence can entail traditional checklists, peer assessments, student reflections, self-assessments, videos, etc. Specifically in physical education, we encourage teachers to consider criteria around performance (the point arrived at), progress (the distance traveled), and process (those internal and external factors that may have impacted performance and progress). These ‘3 P’s’ are suggested by Guskey (2020) and are particularly applicable in PE. For example, we can see a learner's performance in activities ranging from in-class dance creation to competitive football. We can easily track progress through assessment data, observations, and student's voice via reflections on performance and progress (Bartlett and Lowe, 2023; Guskey, 2020; Pangrazi and Beighle, 2024).

The article is built on the premise that to optimize physical education; we must adopt an ecosystem approach modeled on the ways in which natural ecosystems function synergistically. By applying the Common Ground Collaborative Learning Ecosystem (CGCLE) Framework, educators can transform physical education into a holistic learning experience. The framework is structured around the 5 Ds: Define, Design, Diversify, Deliver, and Demonstrate, guiding teachers to create inclusive and dynamic learning environments. Defining learning, identifying what is worth learning, ensuring accessibility for all, building supportive cultures, and providing evidence of learning are key aspects. This method emphasizes student agency, diverse learning experiences, and comprehensive assessment to foster meaningful physical activity and development. As we work together to transform the learning experience for today’s learners this systemic approach holds great promise.

References

Bartlett, K, and Low, D. (2020). The Learning Playbook. The Common Ground Collaborative. Panama City, Panama.

Beighle, A., and Pangrazi, R. P. (2024). Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.

Department of Education, (2013). The national curriculum of England: Physical education programmes of study. Available at National curriculum in England: PE programmes of study - GOV.UK

Guskey, T. R. (2020). Breaking up the Grade. Education Leadership 78(1), 40-46. Available at http://www.ascd.org/pulbications/educational-leadership/sept20/vol78/num01/Breaking-Up-the-Grade.aspx

SHAPEAmerica (2024). National Physical Education Standards. Available at New National Physical Education Standards

About the Authors

Aaron Beighle, Ph.D., is a Professor at the University of Kentucky and serves as the Corresponding Author (beighle@uky.edu). Kevin Bartlett is the Founding Director of The Common Ground Collaborative.

EARCOS Middle Leadership

Sprints have a 90-min virtual live session every 2 weeks. This helps to:

Build momentum Strengthen connections

Chinese Teachers - Elementary (Chinese)

Early Childhood Education - Practices and Pedagogy

Enrichment/ECA Leaders

Foreign Language Teachers (Secondary)

Literacy Coaches and Coordinators (Elementary)

Lower Elementary Teachers (G1-3) - Practices and Pedagogy

Non-Teaching Staff - New to International School Leadership (CN)

Performing Arts (Elementary & Early Years)

Performing Arts - Developing your Practice (Secondary)

Upper Elementary Teachers (G4-6) - Practices and Pedagogy

Sarah Tortolano Michael Iannini

Hosts

Iris Ngai Sze Chan Michael Iannini

The Power of Inclusive Education: How Including Neurodivergent and Disabled Students Benefits Everyone

By Lori Boll Executive Director SENIA International

When I began teaching internationally in the 1990s, one of my 4th-grade students was asked to leave the school due to reading and writing two grade levels below her peers. Coming from a country where federal law mandated education for all students, this administrative decision was deeply troubling to me.

For decades, most international schools were inherently exclusive in their admissions practices, often prioritizing academic performance over inclusion. However, the landscape is now shifting towards great er inclusivity. This evolution, while necessary and beneficial, often en counters resistance from various community members. Board mem bers, parents, administrators, and some faculty may express concerns about maintaining academic standards or resource allocation.

At SENIA, we are often asked for research that shows that when neurodivergent and disabled students are included in the general education classroom, it is beneficial for everyone. In recent years, educational research has consistently shown that inclusive educa tion isn't just beneficial for students with diverse learning profiles; it creates positive outcomes for all students in the school community.

What the Research Tells Us

lation (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2020). This finding aligns with earlier research by Szumski and colleagues (2017), who found that students without disabilities actually performed better academically in inclusive settings.

The case for inclusive education has grown stronger with each passing year. A groundbreaking 2020 meta-analysis by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education revealed that inclusive classrooms improve academic outcomes across the entire student popu-

Beyond Academic Achievement

While academic success is crucial, the benefits of inclusive education extend far beyond test scores and grades. Multiple studies have documented significant improvements in:

• Critical thinking and problem-solving abilities

• Empathy and emotional intelligence

• Communication and leadership skills

• Conflict resolution abilities

As noted by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (2021), students in inclusive settings demonstrate markedly higher levels of tolerance and understanding of individual differences—skills that prove invaluable in our increasingly diverse world.

Long-term Impact on Career and Community

Perhaps most significantly, the positive effects of inclusive education extend well into adulthood. Students from inclusive schools enter the workforce better prepared to work effectively in diverse environments, collaborate with colleagues of varying abilities, and adapt their communication styles to different situations.

Research by Cole et al. (2004) found that students without disabilities made significantly more progress in reading and math when taught in inclusive settings. This academic advantage, combined with enhanced social skills, creates a powerful foundation for future success.

Common Concerns: What the Evidence Shows

Many educators and parents initially expressed concerns about inclusive education and how it brings down the test scores of neurotypical peers, that standards are lowered, that there are more behavior issues, and that teachers spend too much time working with the neurodiverse students. However, research consistently demonstrates that:

• Academic standards remain high—and often improve—in inclusive classrooms (Szumski et al., 2017)

• Teacher attention is effectively distributed among all students (Hehir & Katzman, 2012)

• Behavioral issues do not increase (Kalambouka et al., 2007)

• Social dynamics improve rather than deteriorate (Kefallinou et al., 2020)

Keys to Successful Implementation

Based on comprehensive research, including a revealing study by Kalambouka et al. (2007), successful inclusive education requires:

• Comprehensive professional development

• Adequate support staff

• Regular collaboration time for teachers

• Ongoing assessment and adaptation of practices

• Strong home-school partnerships

• Implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles

• Utilizing the Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS)

Conclusion

The evidence supporting inclusive education presents a clear picture: when implemented thoughtfully and with proper support,

inclusion creates stronger educational communities that benefit everyone involved. These benefits ripple far beyond the classroom walls, preparing students for success in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. While the journey to creating truly inclusive schools requires dedication, resources, and ongoing commitment by all members of a school community, the research demonstrates that it's an investment worth making. As we continue to build more inclusive educational environments, we're not just supporting students with diverse learning profiles—we're creating better learning opportunities for all students and fostering a more understanding, capable, and compassionate next generation.

For more information about how SENIA International (a non-profit organization) can help support your school’s journey toward inclusive practices, go to www.seniainternational.org or contact me at lori@seniainternational.org.

References

Avramidis, E., & Norwich, B. (2002). Teachers' attitudes towards integration/inclusion: A review of the literature. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 17(2), 129-147.

Cole, C. M., Waldron, N., & Majd, M. (2004). Academic progress of students across inclusive and traditional settings. *Mental Retardation*, 42(2), 136-144.

European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education. (2020). *Evidence of the link between inclusive education and social inclusion*. Odense, Denmark: European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education.

Fisher, M., & Meyer, L. H. (2002). Development and social competence after two years for students enrolled in inclusive and selfcontained educational programs. *Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities*, 27(3), 165-174.

Hehir, T., & Katzman, L. I. (2012). Effective inclusive schools: Designing successful schoolwide programs. Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley.

Kalambouka, A., Farrell, P., Dyson, A., & Kaplan, I. (2007). The impact of placing pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools on the achievement of their peers. *Educational Research*, 49(4), 365-382.

Kefallinou, A., Symeonidou, S., & Meijer, C. J. W. (2020). Understanding the value of inclusive education and its implementation: A review of the literature. Prospects, 49(3), 135-152.

National Center for Learning Disabilities. (2021). *The State of Learning Disabilities: Understanding the 1 in 5*. New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Szumski, G., Smogorzewska, J., & Karwowski, M. (2017). Academic achievement of students without special educational needs in inclusive classrooms: A meta-analysis. *Educational Research Review*, 21, 33-54.

A Coffee & Conversation with Philip Bowman

Ed Greene, with Philip Bowman

Ifirst met Philip Bowman in early 2020, when he was a full-time learning support teacher at International School Bangkok. At the same time, he was developing the MARIO Framework, a professional development initiative focused on empowering educators with professional development and tools to create classes centered around meaningful, one-to-one learning conversations. Even in those early days, I knew Philip was creating something special. I wanted to do whatever we could to support him, providing the opportunity to facilitate several sessions and workshops at EARCOS events.

Fast forward to today, and MARIO Framework has evolved into MARIO Education, a global organization that provides schools with innovative software and professional development to support whole-school systems improving both advisory/pastoral care programs and learning support programs. Philip now runs MARIO Education full-time, and it is being used by thousands of educators and impacts tens of thousands of students worldwide.

Over coffee recently, I asked Philip a question that had been on my mind for years: “Why did you start MARIO?” His response was deeply personal and inspiring. As bullying becomes increasingly invisible and amplified by social media, and postCOVID depression is widespread, Philip’s story and mission feel even more relevant in today’s world. Here is Philip’s story, in his own words, and why he is on a mission to ensure every student is seen, safe, and thriving.

"Looking back, I think this all started when I was a high school student myself…

I had just moved from a small private school, where I was one of 50 students in my class, to a large public high school with over 2,000 students. I was overwhelmed. One of my first memories of that time was being duct-taped to a pole by a group of students. They kicked me, spat on me, and called me names. No teachers intervened, but a fellow student, the future class valedictorian, cut me free and got me off the pole.

The bullying didn’t stop there. I was tied up and thrown into a dumpster, locked in tuba lockers, and regularly beaten. Most of the injuries were hidden under my clothes, but when they weren’t, I came up with excuses. The worst incident was when a group of students trapped me in a movable soccer goal, pressed it against a wall, and beat me while they laughed and made jokes.

For two years, I mostly ate lunch alone. I sat with a notebook, writing down what the “cool kids” wore, how they acted, and what they said. At the start of my third year, I tried to reinvent myself. I dressed like them, talked like them, and acted like them. It worked, to a point. I was accepted into a new group, and a few

of those people became genuinely kind and supportive friends. But I still felt like I didn’t belong.

I remember being invited to a party and some people thinking it would be funny if they locked me in a dog cage. I’m not sure how long I was in the cage, but it is still a painful and embarrassing memory. I didn’t fight it, though. Instead, I decided to lean into the role and become the class clown. It was better than being beaten up, and I felt like I had some sort of control over how people perceived me. Making people laugh felt safer than being invisible or a target. I also felt a sense of belonging. It doesn’t matter how dysfunctional that belonging was; I felt like I belonged.

What’s perhaps most surprising wasn’t the bullying—it was the silence from adults. No teacher ever had a one-to-one conversation with me. Not once. I got good grades and stayed quiet, so I flew under the radar. I didn’t have a trusted adult I could turn to, and I was not brave enough to walk down the hall to the counselor and knock on their door. My parents didn’t know because I hid everything from them. I felt tremendous shame that this was happening. What did it say about me as a person?”

A Life-Saving Conversation

“When I got to university, I thought I’d left it all behind. But I hadn’t. The trauma caught up with me, and I became deeply depressed. I stopped going to class for weeks at a time.

Then, someone knocked on my dorm room

door. It was one of my professors. She looked at me with genuine concern and asked, “Are you okay?”

That question and the following conversation saved my life.

I wasn’t okay, but her caring about me gave me the courage to open up. We kept having conversations over the years, even when I wasn’t in her class, and I started seeing a counselor. Having someone who cared made all the difference. I went from nearly failing out of school my first semester to making the dean’s honor roll every semester afterward.”

Finding and Leaning Into My Purpose

“As I was finishing University, I was diagnosed as twice exceptional (2E)—profoundly gifted with ADHD.The diagnosis helped me understand myself, but it also ignited a purpose: I wanted to make sure no student felt as invisible as I once had.

I became a special educator and spent 18 years in classrooms helping students find their voices and build trusting relationships with adults. At International School Bangkok, I developed a structured approach to one-to-one learning conversations. These weren’t long sessions—just five to seven minutes—but they were intentional, focused, and built on the best pedagogical practices as informed by research.

Students who had regular, meaningful conversations with a trusted adult thrived. Dr. Katie Novak co-authored a six-year retro-

spective study, published in NASEN’s Support for Learning journal, that found these conversations had an effect size of .91 Cohen’s Coefficient—the equivalent of two years of academic growth for every one year students had regular MARIO conversations with their teachers.”

Building MARIO Education

“I founded MARIO Education to bring this approach to more schools. We started with professional development, but soon realized that scalable, sustainable systems were the key to creating real change. That’s where the MARIO for Me software came in.

MARIO Education now provides schools with data and analysis-rich software to ensure no student falls through the cracks and every student feels like they are at a school designed for them. The work isn’t done, but I’m proud to say that MARIO has already saved lives and improved the quality of life for countless other students and teachers.

I believe every student deserves to be seen, heard, and supported. That’s what MARIO is all about.”

If your school is looking to strengthen student-teacher relationships, prevent harm, build a culture of trust and safety, and empower students to better understand themselves, MARIO Education can help. Learn more here or schedule a conversation with Philip Bowman here.

Grade 2 Student’s Painting Exhibited in the Louvre

By Mercia de Souza

Dominican International School Kaohsiung

Dominican International School in Kaohsiung is delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievement of Renee Lei, a talented Grade 2 student, who had her painting exhibited at the prestigious Louvre International Contemporary Art Fair 2024 in Paris, France.

Not only was Renee’s artwork displayed at this world-renowned event, but she also received a coveted Gold Award, placing her among the top 10% of young artists showcased.

The exhibition, held at the iconic Carrousel du Louvre beneath the famous Inverted Pyramid, is one of the most respected art exhibitions globally, featuring works from over 2,000 artists. Renee’s vibrant painting was selected as part of the special children’s art exhibition, which highlighted young talent from across the globe, including entries from China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Renee’s Gold Award recognizes her outstanding creativity and artistic excellence. She also received a prestigious Exhibition Certificate from internationally acclaimed institutions such as the Casa Museo Picasso and the Institut Barcelonès d’Art.

This extraordinary accomplishment reflects Renee’s imagination, and passion for art. Dominican International School is committed to fostering creativity and global-mindedness in its students. The school is incredibly proud of Renee for representing Taiwan on such a venerated international stage.

Our Commitment to Equal Opportunities and Lifelong Learning

At Steelcase Learning, we believe equal opportunities are the foundation of a brighter future. Through initiatives like Girls in STEMM, we welcome students from local schools into our spaces, introducing them to the diverse and exciting careers that shape our world.

Students described the experience as “inspiring, progressive, and full of humanistic care,” sharing their excitement about how it encouraged them to explore new directions for their education and careers. By connecting young minds to hands-on learning and inspiring role models, we help build confidence, curiosity, and possibility.

Lifelong learning is at the heart of everything we do. By designing spaces that inspire collaboration and creativity, we empower individuals to thrive in classrooms, libraries, and beyond. Together, we can shape brighter futures and a world that works better for everyone.

‘Teacher

TAwareness: Teacher Well-being

By Viorica Barbu

well-being’ at ETC

he purpose of the session Awareness: Teacher Well-being which I held at the 2024 EARCOS Teachers’ Conference (ETC) was to bring educators together to explore areas of personal wellbeing that influence their work lives and identify resources that could support them. This goal was broken down into three parts: bringing awareness to personal beliefs about well-being and selfcare, exploring areas of our lives that influence our well-being, and designing one small self-care step that participants could put into practice in order to improve their well-being.

Some of the resources we used in our explorations were the Designing Your Life framework created by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans from Stanford University, which involves looking at four aspects of one’s life–work, love, play, and health (Burnett & Evans, 2018), and the Wheel of Life model from Peopleconnexion (Jean Kilner, 2019). However, it became apparent that, even when teachers are deeply aware of their own needs and try their best to take good care of themselves, they might still not be at their optimal level of well-being.

Sharing our struggles and insights was, perhaps, the most important part of the session, highlighting our common humanity. Many of the questions asked were about workload and trying to fit it all in and about finding ways to have a better work-life balance. Some participants wondered whether it was actually possible to do that.

Workload and work-life balance

These two aspects, workload and work-life balance, are also included in Well-being for Schoolteachers (Taylor et al., 2024), the research report that the International Baccalaureate (IB) released soon after the ETC conference, in April 2024. According to their findings, “teachers report one of the highest levels of occupational stress and burnout on the job, compared with other professions” and “Workload is one of the most prominent factors leading teachers to leave the profession.” This shows how relevant these conversations are to teachers and school communities around the world that want to create a culture of well-being and increase staff retention.

Workload and workplace recognition

There were some important questions that were posted in our presession group chat on the Whova conference app. They touched on two aspects that were covered in the IB teacher well-being framework (Taylor et al., 2024), namely workload and workplace recognition, and unveiled beliefs teachers might have about self-care that might negatively affect their well-being.Three of those questions were:

• “Often, we give too much and fail to receive because we think this is our role as educators. How can we be kind to ourselves without feeling selfish or guilty?”

• “How do teachers effectively but politely tell Admin ‘no' to additional work that would hurt teachers' well-being?”

• “How can teachers who are too busy working also promote themselves, their efforts, and the value they add in the workplace?”

The first question reveals a common thread amongst many educators: the feeling of guilt and selfishness when it comes to taking care of themselves and a predisposition for giving it their all even when their own cup is empty. It might be helpful to ask oneself these questions: ‘What does self-care mean to me?’ and ‘What are my beliefs around self-care?’ This can shed light on unhealthy beliefs that are impacting one’s well-being and help bring awareness to the ways in which we can take care of ourselves while also caring for our students and doing a good job at work. This process can help us update our beliefs so that they can serve us better. We can challenge what we think.

For instance, if I believe that well-being means having a good worklife balance and involves keeping these two areas of my life separate, I might try to bring the two together and make space for well-being into my workday. ‘How would my life look if I brought self-care and well-being into my work life?’ Reflecting on our views about self-care and well-being can help reframe or replace those personal beliefs that no longer serve us so that we can take better care of ourselves both at home and at work.

The second question involves having hard conversations when it comes to issues that affect our well-being at work. Jennifer Abrams held a session on this topic at the 2024 ETC and her book, Having Hard Conversations, is a useful resource that provides support when we need to have those conversations with a colleague or with the school administration.

Lastly, the third question touches on the importance of workplace recognition and how having a high workload can sometimes leave teachers feeling that their hard work goes unnoticed. This might also be in need of a ‘hard conversation’, either with oneself or with a member of the administration team.

However, making these investigations into one’s personal beliefs and having hard conversations at work takes energy and courage and is not always easy to do on our own. Some external support might be needed, either from a family member, a friend, a colleague, a mentor or a coach, someone who can listen actively and ask the right questions in order to help us uncover our hidden beliefs, our real needs, and our courage.

Next steps in well-being

When faced with burnout, stress, or overwhelm, we might think that we are the only ones struggling. We might be afraid of being judged or we might think others would not understand or be able to help us. Peer coaching could be one way of supporting schools and teachers on their path to well-being. By learning the skills of active listening, mindful presence, and asking powerful questions which are used in life coaching, educators could help each other navigate the complexities of their work lives, have those difficult conversations, and create their own well-being roadmaps.

About the author

Viorica is an English Teacher and trained Mindfulness Life Coach who believes in the importance of well-being, compassion, and self-care. She has taught in various school settings in Romania, England, China, and Thailand and she has also worked as a Teacher Trainer. She can be reached at vioricabarbu.ro@gmail.com.

References: Abrams, J. (2009). Having Hard Conversations Corwin.

Burnett, W., & Evans, D. J. (2018). Designing Your life: Build a Life That Works for You. Vintage Books.

Jean Kilner. (2019, January 1). Wheel of Life Exercise. Peopleconnexion. https://www.peopleconnexion.com/training-activities-wheel-of-lifeexercise/

Taylor, L. et al. (2024). Wellbeing for Schoolteachers (Report No. 2). International Baccalaureate Organization. https://www.ibo.org/ globalassets/new-structure/research/pdfs/wellbeing-for-schoolteachers-final-report.pdf

Curious Kids: Igniting Passion for Lifelong STEM Learning in China

By Suah Lee

Inequality is sensitive, especially in regards to education. Often, disparities in education hinder beneath the surface of explicit societal issues, yet they have a profound and lasting impact on children's lives, both during their academic journeys and beyond. To combat these inequalities -born from a complex mix of factors- sometimes all students need is a single spark to unlock their potential. Once that flame of curiosity and passion is ignited, it becomes an unstoppable force. There, Curious Kids sprouted from a hope and belief that passion is the strongest motivation for lifelong learning.

Kids

The aim of Curious Kids is to provide an equitable and inquirybased STEM education to children in Dalian, with a particular focus on those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Our mission is to foster a true passion for STEM in young students while addressing educational inequality in our community.

Curious Kids Board Games ASA at DAIS.

Initially, Curious Kids focused on imparting STEM knowledge through offline classes. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the program was temporarily dormant, the team took the opportunity to closely research the Chinese education system. After visiting local elementary schools and interviewing science teachers, we discovered their strong emphasis on memorization and content-based learning. Students were introduced to STEM subjects primarily through textbooks and experiment videos. Therefore, when revitalizing Curious Kids in 2021, we redesigned the curriculum to focus on a more interactive learning approach,

structured around three key stages: Board Games, In-Home Science, and Coding.

Children Making Oobleck together. Through these hands-on activities, students engage with STEM concepts in real-life scenarios. For example, making Oobleck and discovering how it exhibits properties of both solids and liquids is a completely different experience from simply learning about non-Newtonian fluids and memorizing the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases. Expanding on this, non-Newtonian fluids present in daily lives as common items like toothpaste, honey, and ketchup. Instead of just reading about these concepts in textbooks, students now see them come to life and interact with them. Most importantly, students are having fun while learning STEM.

Over the past 3 years, Curious Kids have impacted more than 150 children in our community through various initiatives. Currently, we conduct weekly offline classes at Jinman Community Center and DAIS, and meet students from Gongxi Primary school through online. Additionally, we regularly hold one day Makey-Makey and Coding sessions open to all students in our community. As of partnerships, for Pfizer at Dalian, we educate adult employee volunteers and share resources to assist them in teaching successful Curious Kids classes.

In further expanding our reach, the EARCOS Global Citizenship Community Service Grant will play a pivotal role, and we are deeply grateful for this opportunity. With this funding, Curious Kids aims to connect with a broader audience and provide access to quality STEM education. One of our key initiatives will be the resumption of our computer donation program, equipping students with the necessary tools for STEM learning and helping to bridge the digital divide. Additionally, this grant will allow us to enhance our existing initiatives by providing more board games and materials for science experiments.

Even if just one student discovers a passion for STEM through a single experiment or project at Curious Kids, that alone represents our success and the purpose of our existence. This is the heart of what we do- fostering curiosity, inspiring future innovators, and creating opportunities for lifelong learning.

Curious

In-Home Science Class at Jinman Community Center.

Elevating Your Persuasion: A Debate Workshop

By Hayoon Jeong (Julie)

Proposed in 2023, Elevating Your Persuasion: A Debate Workshop is an event, planned to be held on 5th of October, 2024. The project mainly aims to positively affect government school students based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 16 students each from 3 different schools will gather at IGB International School to partake in the debate workshop free of charge. Through this event, I aim to share the idea that language is seldom a barrier to effective communication. Even though English may not be the first language for most participants, my goal is to teach them the essential skills to speak convincingly and confidently, emphasizing that persuasive communication transcends linguistic boundaries.

Elevating Your Persuasion: A Debate Workshop will consist of four distinct sessions, each focusing on different aspects of debating. In addition to these discussions, the workshop will also emphasize the importance of body language, as the effects of spoken words alone are often futile without appropriate manners and decorum. The workshop will conclude with a full-length debate session, during which students from our school will serve as adjudicators. Participants will also receive certificates of participation upon completion. Furthermore, all materials used throughout the workshop will be made available to them indefinitely, providing a lasting resource for their future.

This event initially began as a small debate club, held every Monday after school. It attracted secondary students from grades 7 to 11. Each session typically commenced with a lecture on a specific topic, followed by the introduction of the debate motion and a brief debate session. Every week, I prepared new case studies and materials, covering subjects ranging from current political affairs to specific debating skills and activities. This club has continued for a year, during which I collaborated with another student to manage its operations. While the club was running, I received an email from the World Scholar’s Cup team announcing that they would be hosting a com-

petition round in Malaysia. I saw this as an opportunity to introduce the debate club students to formal debate competitions and immerse them in the competitive and assertive atmosphere of structured debating. I managed to invite a guest speaker from the World Scholar’s Cup organization and spread the word that I was looking for a team to join the competition. Ultimately, I gathered 12 students, including myself, to participate in the regional round of the Cup.

We encountered numerous students from across the country, spanning both West and East Malaysia. While engaging with the curriculum was an enriching experience in itself, it also brought to light the reality that not everyone has the resources to participate in such events. This realization became the driving force behind my decision to apply for the grant, of which I could use to create events that could benefit those who are not able to partake in these opportunities.

With the $500 grant, I was able to cover both catering and transportation expenses. My initial objective was to ensure that this event would be as cost-effective as possible, with no intention of making a profit. Thanks to the grant, this goal was realized, enabling students from the three selected government schools to participate in the workshop free of charge.

My hope is that by organizing this event, it will serve as a catalyst for an annual workshop that my juniors can carry forward, ensuring the continuation of this legacy. I envision this initiative expanding its reach, impacting even more individuals and communities, and thereby amplifying the positive influence of this event for years to come.

H.E.R (Health. Equity. Respect)

By JiaJia Khwanchanok Paka-Akaralerdkul

Khwanchanok Paka-Akaralerdkul (JiaJia), the founder of the ThaiChinese International School Chapter of H.E.R (Health. Equity. Respect), a youth-led organization aiming to increase menstrual hygiene accessibility through sustainable period products, hygiene education, and employment to underserved women and girls.

Despite over 2 billion people worldwide who menstruate every month, menstrual health remains a stigma, often overlooked and misunderstood. Growing up in conservative communities, discussions and education about periods were rare, leaving young girls to navigate through this experience with little guidance. Misinformation and misconceptions were common, fostering a negative mindset about menstruation. Having gone through this herself, JiaJia realized that the negative perception of periods stems primarily from the lack of education. By confronting these misconceptions, we not only educate ourselves to have a better quality of life but also grow to foster an accepting community. With a passion for creating positive change in her community by supporting women and advocating healthcare as a fundamental human right, JiaJia took action and founded the TCIS H.E.R. Chapter in March 2023.

During our early establishment, we had a team of three people; our goal was simple yet feasible: to enhance menstrual health by fostering a supportive and inspiring environment while offering practical solutions. New to this field, our early projects were collaborations with other chapters of H.E.R., from being a panelist at the H.E.R. Advocacy Panel to organizing a Family Periods Learning Workshop. Learning from diverse perspectives and networking with advocates and business owners in the menstrual industry, this opportunity significantly broadened our views of what we hope to achieve in our future years as the leaders of H.E.R. We came back inspired to create a lasting impact on overall society and encourage people to become changemakers. The following year, our team expanded to 24 people, and with that, we pursued our journey of being menstrual health advocates and changemakers.

Every journey has its challenges, and ours was no exception. Introducing a menstrual-related organization in a conventional environment was already bold, and we often worried about how this project would pan out. Fortunately, we received unwavering support from the school’s students and staff. Early on, I realized the importance of a strong founda-

tion of proper hygiene knowledge and practice from a young age to understand menstrual hygiene in the future better, thus, our organization expanded and adapted to surrounding communities, focusing on general hygiene for younger audiences. This expansion taught me an important lesson: taking risks is a part of growth. It demands courage and determination, but ultimately, you either gain the rewards or learn valuable lessons from the experience.

2024 was a transformative year for us, marked by our significant growth and clear vision. We collaborated with TCIS Thai Red Cross and Rotary Club to create a Hygiene Education and Donation Program. Acknowledging that education is not a “one-size-fits-all”, we employed diverse teaching methods, from lectures and scavenger hunts to discussions. Given JiaJia’s background as a youth advocate for gender equity in STEM education, where she worked with UNICEF Young People’s Action Team, a youth panelist at the UN 67th Commission on Status of Women and the UNFPA Launch of Equity 2030 Alliance, she has seen the importance of youth advocacy and how their perspectives can shape the world we live in. To encourage youth to share their perspectives, we hosted a panel featuring chapter leads, entrepreneurs, and activists, creating a safe space for discussion and learning. Similarly, in honor of International Women’s Day, we hosted a seminar for middle school students, highlighting women’s contributions through various fields throughout history, inspiring young minds through relatable female role models, and dismantling gender bias step by step.

Our impact in local and international communities and our determination to improve menstrual health for women worldwide has earned us the $500 EARCOS Global Citizenship Community Service Grant, which we aim to expand our impact further. In Thailand, period products are subjected to a 7% VAT tax to increase accessibility to period products and address female needs; we are currently implementing a pad system through female bathrooms at TCIS. Fur-

thermore, we look forward to initiating a menstrual hygiene education program at Rajvithi Home for Girls to host a seminar on menstrual health and donate menstrual pads and other life necessities.

What began as a small team has grown into a movement, inspiring young girls and improving females' quality of life. The TCIS H.E.R. Chapter has experienced significant growth, and as it continues to expand, its vision remains clear: to be a movement that enhances menstrual health and advocates for gender equity, while also empowering youth to become leaders and changemakers.

Productive teams are developed, not born. Come learn how to develop collaborative and productive teams in order to have the most positive impact on student learning and wellbeing

San Diego, California at the Wyndham San Diego Bayshore Hotel July 14-17, 2025 from 9:00AM to 4:00PM

“Why THIS workshop?”

It’s highly interactive and fun, with modeling, scenarios, group dialogue, and a variety of learning strategies and protocols that will be immediately transferrable to your context. The Adaptive Schools Learning Guide is included, as well as an Adaptive Schools Foundation Seminar Certificate of Completion. Come see what all the buzz is about and why people say this is one of the best professional development experiences they have attended.

Who should attend?

This special offering is for teachers, leaders, aides, administrators and anyone who works in schools wanting to become more effective when meeting, collaborating, and leading. Or perhaps you are a recent hire that missed out on the Adaptive SchoolsSM training prior to your hiring, now is the opportunity to participate.

Registration: go to www.sierra-training.com/shop to register.

Tuition: $1,000 per participant

Facilitated by

Kendall Zoller & Kelly Armitage

What an opportunity to participate in 4 days of impactful training while spending the evenings in beautiful San Diego along the Pacific shore

Creativity and Benevolence: Teaching for Artistic Behavior Studio Experience

By Clyde Gaw

“We draw and draw and draw until we feel totally satisfied about what we have been thinking. We use ink, paint and pencil to create what we have expressed within ourselves.” Scott 9, New Palestine Elementary 2006

“Art should be…like the whole school.” Frank 9, New Palestine Elementary School, 2009

Arevolution is taking place in K12 art education today. Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB), a grassroots art education movement based on the concept that dynamic learning experience can be generated when children have opportunity to express personal art ideas, is impacting primary and secondary art programs across the World.

In 1974, Massachusetts art teacher Katherine Douglas began utilizing studio learning-centers as a regular feature of her art curriculum. Instead of managing a teacher-directed project-based program, she diversified the curriculum by offering activity choices including the possibility to develop one’s own art idea. Students could lead their own art learning from studio centers, materials and tools she provid-

Dr. George Szekely with Katherine Douglas, Pauline Joseph, Clyde Gaw, Dr. John Crowe, Diane Jaquith and Clark Fralick in Boston at the National Art Education Association Conference in 2005.

ed. Douglas’ investigations into curriculum differentiation attracted collaborators John Crowe, Pauline Joseph and Diane Jaquith. This quartet formed the nucleus of the Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) professional development cadre. Their action research led to the discovery that curricula centered upon children’s art, developed in the context of personal ideas could be scaled up where multimodal forms of art instruction, materials and aesthetic inspiration are available everyday.

In 2009, Douglas and Jaquith published the first edition of their book, “Engaging Learners Through Artmaking: Choice Based Art Education in the Classroom.” This book catalyzed a reconceptualization of K12 art education. Today, the TAB professional development cadre includes a multitude of veteran practitioners who support newcomers and devotees across the United States and beyond. Mentoring takes place in online discussions, informal gatherings and professional development conferences. At last count, Teaching for Artistic Behavior art education programs exist in 35 countries around the World.

Creativity In Abundance

After corresponding with Douglas in 2003, my colleague Clark Fralick and I became interested in TAB and choice-based art education. Our background as K12 art educators included research with electronic portfolios. We conducted investigations into motivation and creativity after receiving grants from the Indiana Department of Education. A meeting with the TAB Founders a few months later convinced us to marry our portfolio program to TAB studio experience. The creative fireworks began soon after.

A few weeks after adjusting our learning environments, elementary students ceased asking us at the beginning of class, “What are we doing today?” They understood they could now make activity choices, including implementation of their own idea. Conceptualizing art ideas became an important activity. Teachers observed students discussing art plans during recess and lunchtime. Parents remarked how much their children were talking about art class at home. During playtime and sleepovers, some children played a game called “art class.” One parent confided to me, “I don’t know what you did to our kids, but we got art supplies and pieces of cardboard all over the house!”

A rapid accumulation of anecdotal events suggesting TAB was a dynamic curriculum model became evident to us. One such event in 2004 involved an eleven year old boy.

Alex and his classmates regularly engaged in conversations about monsters and fantasy. Their discussions morphed into a drawing competition to see who could draw the most powerful creature. Alex asked me to mount a large sheet of paper on the wall. He used a medium brush and black tempera paint to sketch the head of a dragon. The drawing continued to expand until a massive eleven by six foot wall sized image emerged. We showed the dragon mural and several other student-directed works at MassArt’s Arnheim Gallery.This showcase of children’s self-directed art from around the U.S. coincided with the 2005 National Art Education Association Conference in Boston. There, Clark and I presented our findings as educators running a choice-based/TAB studio.

Our findings included the observation that TAB and choice-based art education learning models optimized creative experience for

children in K12 settings. We shared video and images of children in action inspired by materials from the drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, textile and puppet centers. Artistic behaviors initiated by students was evidence to us that within heterogeneous classroom groups, a TAB curriculum model could facilitate pathways to personally meaningful learning experience. At any time in the school day for example, it was not uncommon for a class of twenty four children to have twenty four unique works of art in progress.

Our presentation was focused on observations of children's creative behaviors: gathering materials, artmaking investigations, editing and reflecting upon creative work (Douglas, Jaquith 2009). One cognitive function that was of critical importance to us but invisible to the naked eye was conceptualization. We knew it was occuring because children were telling us through artist statements.

What we overlooked and did not consider were the developmental benefits internalized by students. After we refocused observations on children’s artist statements detailing benefits besides artistic growth, it was clear that developmental enhancing experiences were a major outgrowth of the activities occurring in our classes.

Alex works on his dragon mural in September of 2004.

One writing sample from eight year old Jocelyn really caught my eye.

“Art is a part of being creative. Your [sic] always doing art. When your creative your doing better than you are when your not.” Jocelyn 8 (New Palestine Elementary School, 2010).

Jocelyn’s statement was of particular interest. She’d been attending school since she was five years old. Her statement, “When your [sic] creative your doing better than you are when your not,” was an indication the art room offered her a place where she experienced well being as opposed to the rest of school. What was going on in the art room that was causing her to “do better?” After much discussion and research, it became apparent to us that stimulating the psychogenic realm through empowered choice-making, where the development of individual uniqueness could take place was critical to making art class a special experience.

The Benevolent Curriculum

Art is a unique subject whereby children can create images and forms that symbolize personal interests or important aspects of their lives. Acts of visual representation through artmaking require executive functioning. It is here, reflexive thinking naturally occurs. Reflexivity is a way of reflecting on one’s emergent actions and using new knowledge acquired from those actions to obtain new outcomes. This process is emergent and is where intellectual breakthroughs occur. Because artmaking is a dynamic psychogenic process, memories and emotions are integrated into the creative event.

Within the realm of reflexive thinking, new discoveries are made, not just about art but insights into self-realization. For individuals afflicted by trauma, the world becomes manageable when insight is obtained. Noah writes: “There is always something there. A voice in my head that says I’m not good enough, but I don’t listen to that voice. I keep on going. I fight through the demons. These are my pictures of my past. Art has been a way for me to cope and a way to release my anger and emotion.” 2022.

We have read thousands of statements from children since our implementation of TAB. In 2014, I moved my TAB program to the district’s high school. Artist statements from children in upper grades continue to reflect a generative effect from self-directed artmaking

experience. Haley wrote, “I found inspiration in my thoughts and feelings. My pieces were somehow better on my worst days. I could vent through a pencil or paintbrush without anyone hearing my screaming. Art was my beautiful solitude. I found bliss in a place I didn’t even recognize.”

TAB curriculum theory is centered on three premises. The child is the artist, the room is the child’s studio and learning activity is centered on the question, “What do artists do?” If we think about those premises and the cognitive diversity that exists in school, possibilities for facilitating children’s well-being through abundant artmaking choices are limitless every time TAB studio experience is available. Directing one’s own artistic activity, with one’s own mind, on one’s own terms, offers a myriad of creative, intellectual and developmental benefits.

author with Alex’s

2005.

About the Author

Clyde Gaw is the studio manager of the TAB Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He teaches at New Palestine High School near Indianapolis and is the advocacy advisor for the Art Education Association of Indiana.

References

Douglas, K. & Jaquith, D. (2009). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based art education in the classroom (TAB) (1st ed.) New York, NY: Teachers College Press

Gaw, C. & Fralick, C. (2020) I Got an Idea: Inside Communities of Studio Practice, Art Education, 73:6, 30-36

Greenspan, S. & Benderly, B. (1997) The growth of the mind and the endangered origins of intelligence, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley Publishers

Narayan AJ, Merrick JS, Lane AS, Larson MD. A multisystem, dimensional interplay of assets versus adversities: Revised benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) in the context of childhood maltreatment, threat, and deprivation. Development and Psychopathology. 2023;35(5):24442463. doi:10.1017/S0954579423000536

The

dragon at MassArt’s Arnhem Gallery in March of

lead inclusion.

all students are OUR students.

inclusive leadership program

LEADING FOR EQUITY IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

P R O G R A M O V E R V I E W

E v e r y c l a s s r o o m i s f i l l e d w i t h a m a z i n g y o u n g p e o p l e

w h o v a r y w i l d l y a n d w o n d e r f u l l y i n w h o t h e y a r e a s

p e o p l e . O u r s t r e n g t h i s i n o u r d i v e r s i t y ! B u t m e e t i n g

t h e n e e d s o f a b r o a d p r o f i l e o f l e a r n e r s i s n o t

w i t h o u t c h a l l e n g e . I m m e r s e y o u r s e l f i n a

t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l p r o g r a m d e s i g n e d t o i g n i t e y o u r

a d v o c a c y f o r i n c l u s i o n a n d e q u i p y o u w i t h t h e s k i l l s

t o d r i v e r e a l c h a n g e . W e ’ l l p u s h t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f

i n s t r u c t io n a l d e s i g n , b u i l d t i e r e d s u p p o r t s ,

i m p l e m e n t U n i v e r s a l D e s i g n , d e s i g n e v i d e n c e - b a s e d

i n t e r v e n t i o n , m e a s u r e p r o g r e s s , i n t e g r a t e s o c i a l -

e m o t i o n a l l e a r n i n g , a n d c o a c h o t h e r e d u c a t o r s i n

t h e j o u r n e y . Y o u ’ l l e m e r g e a s a c h a n g e a g e n t , r e a d y

t o s h a p e a f u t u r e w h e r e t h e r e i s n o q u e s t i o n

w h e t h e r t h e s c h o o l c a n m e e t t h e n e e d s o f e v e r y

l e a r n e r A r e y o u r e a d y t o l e a d t h e c h a r g e ?

Y O U R P R O G R A M , Y O U R W A Y

J o i n p u r e l y f o r p r o f e s s i o n a l l e a r n i n g , a n d c o m p l e t e

a l l c o u r s e s i n t h e p r o g r a m f o r a c e r t i f i c a t e o f

I n c l u s i v e L e a d e r s h i p f r o m L e a d I n c l u s i o n . O r a p p l y

t o t a k e c o u r s e s f o r a M a s t e r o f A r t s i n T e a c h e r

L e a d e r s h i p a t S a n D i e g o S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y . M a s t e r ' s

s t u d e n t s t a k e a n a d d i t i o n a l 6 ( a s y n c h r o n o u s ) c r e d i t s

o n l i n e , a n d d e v e l o p a c a p s t o n e p o r t f o l i o ( i n l i e u o f

a t h e s i s ) .

M E E T I N G S

C o u r s e s i n c l u d e 6 Z o o m m e e t i n g s o n T h u r s d a y s ,

6 : 0 0 - 8 : 0 0 P M H o n g K o n g T i m e .

T U I T I O N

C o u r s e s a r e $ 7 5 0 A n a d d i t i o n a l f e e i s p a i d t o

S D S U f o r t h o s e w a n t i n g t h e m a s t e r ’ s d e g r e e

C O U R S E S C H E D U L E

R e a d a b o u t e a c h c o u r s e h e r e .

C O U R S E 1 : S E E N , H E A R D , & V A L U E D

( I n c l u s i v e C u l t u r e & U D L )

F e b 2 0 - A p r i l 3 , 2 0 2 5

C O U R S E 2 : C O M P A S S I O N A T E

C L A S S R O O M S ( E m o t i o n a l R e g u l a t i o n )

A p r i l 1 7 - M a y 2 2 , 2 0 2 5

C O U R S E 3 : M U L T I - T I E R E D S U P P O R T &

S E R V I C E D E L I V E R Y

A u g u s t 1 4 - S e p t e m b e r 1 8 , 2 0 2 5

C O U R S E 4 : F R O M G O A L S T O G R O W T H

( I n t e r v e n t i o n & M e a s u r i n g P r o g r e s s )

S e p t e m b e r 2 5 - O c t o b e r 3 0 , 2 0 2 5

C O U R S E 5 : C O A C H I N G F O R

I N C L U S I O N

N o v e m b e r 6 - D e c e m b e r 1 8 , 2 0 2 5

C O U R S E 6 : A S S E S S M E N T & G R A D I N G

J a n u a r y 8 - F e b r u a r y 1 2 , 2 0 2 6

C O U R S E 7 : L E A D I N G I N C L U S I V E

C H A N G E

F e b r u a r y 1 9 - M a r c h 2 6 , 2 0 2 6

C O U R S E 8 : F A M I L Y C O N N E C T I O N S

A p r i l 1 6 - M a y 2 1 , 2 0 2 6

S i g n u p t o

r e g i s t e r o r s t a y

i n f o r m e d h e r e :

f o r m s . g l e / 9 D E y J

h A 2 L q 3 U E F A s 7

Q u e s t i o n s ? C o n t a c t u s a t l e a d i n c l u s i o n . o r g / c o n t a c t

Middle School Art Gallery

Brent International School Baguio, Philippines

Nathalie Jeong, Grade 6 (Top Left) Endangered Animal Acrylic, Oil, and Clay on Paper, 9x12 inches

Chloe Mishael Capistrano , Grade 8 (Top Center) Portrait, Acrylic on Canvas, 12 x 14 inches

Phoebe Gabriella del Mundo, Grade 8 (Top Right) Still-Life, Charcoal on Canvas, 12 x 14 inches

Julian Marcus Benjamin Tan, Grade 7 (Left) Self-Portrait, Pencil on Paper, 8x8 inches

Concordia International School Hanoi

Mixed Media Low-relief Sculpture (left) Diep Ngoc Pham, Akari Kikuchi, Noa Ngai and Phu hung Vuong, Grade 7.

Mixed Media Low-relief Sculpture (center) Hinako Ono, Yubin Jang, Gia Linh Trinh, and Tzu-Yun Tang, Grade 8

Marker (right) Yubin Jang, Grade 8

Middle School

Art Gallery

Concordia International School Hanoi

Pen and Ink

Jun Ohama, Grade 7

International School Ulaanbaatar (ISU)

(Left)

Anir Bayar, Grade 7

Oil Pastels on Paper

(Right)

Badmaarag-Erdene Baatarsuren, Grade 7

My Friend Ilkin Oil Pastels on Paper

(Left)

Mandarvaa Soronzonbaatar, Grade 7

Self Portrait Oil Pastels on Paper

(Right)

Khantulga Zolbayar, Grade 7, Galbadrakh Oil Pastels on Paper