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Your magazine, your views

Editors Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson invite contributions on mental health and wellbeing

One of the pleasures of editing International School magazine, we have found, is not only the interaction it brings with the many authors and potential authors who make contact with ideas for contributions, and the opportunity for us to read so many accounts of the interesting and exciting things that are happening around the world in international schools (and indeed in internationally-minded schools in national systems), but also the reassurance afforded by such communications that our Comment column itself finds a readership.

That this is the case has been evident most recently from the responses received – both positive and negative – to our suggestion in the IS58 Comment column (volume 20 issue 1) that the term Third Culture Kid is outdated and in need of replacement. We have been pleased to include such responses in subsequent issues of IS, and are happy to see that the points made are still in readers’ minds: in this issue, for instance, Hedley Willsea makes reference to it in his article speculating on what the future might hold for his young (TCK) son. More recently, our invitation to comment on the term international school (IS61, volume 21 issue 1) has led to further contributions – in one case somewhat controversially in respect of the anonymity granted to our contributor to Comment (IS62). We are pleased to be able to include in this (IS63) issue two further articles on this topic, from Tristan Bunnell and Heather Meyer. Do please keep them coming!

Although we did not set out to identify a specific theme for the current issue, two articles coincidentally draw attention to a topic that is of increasing relevance and concern in systems of education nationally and also, it is now clear, in the international school sector. The issue can broadly be described as mental health and wellbeing, and the article by Andrea Higgins and Angie Wigford (the latter an experienced international school teacher now working as an educational psychologist) raises many issues with which teachers and leaders in international schools will identify. Margot Sunderland’s article on the role of senior leaders in what she describes as mentally healthy schools provides further food for thought with respect to similar concerns.

For future issues of IS magazine, we encourage contributions relating to mental health and wellbeing from those who are facing the challenges of supporting students in international schools to cope with the pressures they encounter in their formative years. While there may be little doubt that young people face growing pressures as the 21st century progresses, the issues are complex and the means of addressing them no less so. Media reports of suicide in university students, recent data showing the doubling in a decade of antidepressant prescriptions (across age groups) in England, increasing awareness of the pressures on school and university students arising from social media and the negative as well as positive uses to which it is put, all set against a backdrop of political uncertainties on a global scale, make clear that these are challenging times in which to be moving towards adulthood. Amongst the many uncertainties of today’s world, however, what is certain is that teachers in international schools will not only be increasingly aware of the growing pressures on students, but will also be developing support systems to accommodate and alleviate them. We hope to be able to share with readers of future IS issues suggestions, ideas, and examples of good practice – please do get in touch if you can help us to do so.

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

Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson Editors Jonathan Barnes Editorial Director James Rudge Production Director Alex Sharratt Managing Director

For Editorial enquiries contact Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson Email: editor@is-mag.com Website: www.is-mag.com

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