ecis global insights: november 2015, issue 1
DESCRIPTION
Fresh insights on issues of importance to international school leadership.TRANSCRIPT
01
INTRODUCING ECIS GLOBAL INSIGHTS
SETTING NEW HORIZONS
GLOBAL INSIGHTSISSUE 1 FRESH INSIGHTS ON ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE TO INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
IN THIS ISSUE:
Headship Transitions / Schools as Complex Organisations / Thought Leader Interview
AUTUMN 2015
SPRING 2015
02
for International EducatorsECIS Academy
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GLOBAL INSIGHTS 01
CONTENTS
HEADSHIP TRANSITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS AND US INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
Pearl Rock Kane Justin Barbaro
03
SCHOOLS AS COMPLEXORGANISATIONS
Philip Stiles
07
THOUGHT LEADER INTERVIEW:DR SIVA KUMARI
Kevin J Ruth
09
HALLMARKS OFGREAT SCHOOLLEADERSHIP
Paul Strebel
10
AUDIT INNOVATION
Katie Cannell
11
DESIGNING SCHOOLBUILDINGS FOR CHANGE
Stefan Jakobek
12
WHERE WILL THE NEXTGENERATION OF WORLD CLASS TEACHERSCOME FROM?
Kenneth Cushner
13
HOW IS TECHNOLOGYCHANGING THE FACEOF EDUCATION?
Volker Hirsch
14
WELCOME TO THEFIRST ISSUE OF GLOBAL INSIGHTS
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Justin BarbaroKenneth CushnerPearl Rock KaneVolker HirschSiva KumariKevin J RuthPhilip StilesPaul Strebel
CONTRIBUTORS ABOUT GLOBAL INSIGHTS
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WELCOME TO GLOBAL INSIGHTS
Kevin J Ruth
02
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 02
KEVIN J RUTHECIS
Our new periodical offers fresh and unique insights on issues of import, helping owners, trustees, heads, and senior leaders in international schools consider what to think about.
Here you will find topics such as brand, strategy, innovation, organisational behaviour, and timely research on the international school sector, among others.
Our authors are experts in their respective fields, providing you with informed and trusted perspectives. ECIS Global Insights not only meets the needs of international schools, it identifies and underscores emerging needs and trends. I am certain that it will become a staple in your reading list.
Speaking of emerging needs and trends, I invite you to visit our new corporate website (www.ecis.org) and explore Our Vision in order to learn about the five challenges that we see for international schools. In a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world, we at ECIS are directing our efforts towards the areas of human capital, organisational capital, information and intelligence, safeguarding, and transitions. Learn how we can help you navigate, anticipate, and thrive in a dynamic world.
Our new digital platform, ECIS Connect (www.ecisconnect.org), is now available, not just to ECIS members but to professionals across the world with an interest in international education, from owners and governors to teaching assistants to companies that provide products and services to international schools.
Connect is a one-stop platform that enables you to create a profile for your school and yourself, form an interest group for like-minded individuals, access our curated resources, or identify professional development opportunities for you or your community, offered by a slate of partners around the world.
Join now to grow your network and knowledge! We are excited to share our new publication with you, and we look forward to learning how these global insights will be helping you and your school(s).
Toward better things, always,
Kevin J Ruth, PhD, is executive director of ECIS
a j
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 03
HEADSHIPTRANSITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS AND US INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
Pearl Rock Kane, EdD, Klingenstein Family Chair Professor and Director, Teachers College, Columbia University
Justin Barbaro, PhD, Assistant Director, Teachers College, Columbia University
First year international school head:
I arrived and just at that time it looked like the U.S. was going to be dropping bombs in (Middle Eastern country). And then the question was, Well how is the (country’s) response going to be to bombs dropping in (country) and particularly how is Hezbollah going to respond to Westerners? So I’m in this brand new role, I’m also trying to be the voice of calm and reason for the new hires who are scared to death about what’s about to happen. And I knew nothing. I was looking for the-- where’s the book that tells me what I’m supposed to do here? Who am I supposed to call? And I had a little help from some people in school, but I had no connections with the embassy at that time. I had no connections with security people and now I’m not feeling very confident about all these things. That was real trial by fire to get in here. I’m an experienced school head and all of a sudden I know nothing. How am I going to be helpful to anybody?
First year U.S. independent school head:
We’re in a major--in a sort of crisis here...There was evidence before ‘08 that current families were not re-enrolling. Our attrition went up to 18%, then 19% before the crash, and of course that didn’t improve through the crash. So we were in free fall a little bit. We’re doing much better now, and we’re back to 9%... It’s a nose-dive. You’re pulling on the wheel and you’re making great effects, but the ground’s still there.
These descriptions were voiced by two recently appointed heads in response to the question, “What is the greatest challenge you are confronting in your job?” Both school heads participated in our study of headship transitions in international schools U.S. independent schools. Our investigation was designed to find out how headship transitions can be planned and executed to enhance the school and contribute to the success of an incoming head. The study was prompted by an impending frequency of leadership transitions in international and U.S. independent schools. The purpose of this study was to collect and analyse the perspectives of international and U.S. independent school heads currently in the midst of transitioning in order to better understand the understand the factors affecting these transitions and to glean insights into effective ways to plan and manage these high stakes organisational events.
As defined here, international schools represent independent for- and non-profit community based schools, offered to children of internationally mobile professionals and an increasing number of
host national children, and where English is the primary language of instruction. Both high rates of international headship turnover and the development of new schools provides unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The Journal of Research on International Education (JRIE) estimates the average headship tenure in international schools at 3.7 years (Benson, 2011) and current projections of accelerating change estimate the number of international schools will increase almost 450% from 2,584 in 2000 to over 12,000 by 2024 (Benson, 2011; ICEF Monitor, 2014). The short period of headship persistence, nationally and internationally, coupled with the increasing number of international schools worldwide suggest that headship transitions represent frequent organisational occurrences requiring concerted attention.
Regarding U.S. independent schools, 68 percent of sitting U.S. independent school heads responded that they planned to retire or change jobs by 2019 (NAIS Leadership and Governance Report, 2009). We are in the midst of that transition and the numbers may accelerate as the population of baby boomers who delayed retirement in response to the financial crisis leave their jobs. Job persistence rates also remain lower than in previous years. The average headship tenure has dipped slightly, with current heads serving an average of 12.6 years while their predecessors held the headship role for an average of 13.1 years (NAIS Leadership and Governance Report, 2009). These numbers contrast with the situation encountered in international schools, where a constant churn in headship jobs and increasing opportunities in new schools may have implications for U.S. independent schools.
A comparative study of international and U.S. independent school transitions offers several advantages. The exponential growth of international schools has implications for U.S. independent schools and U.S. educators. Teachers and administrators are being aggressively recruited to fill a growing need for school personnel. The findings of sector differences should be illuminating to those contemplating such moves. As boundaries between the two sectors become more fluid, enthusiasm for potential advantages of fostering globalism may be diminished by potential losses of talent. And while we did not set out to study the implications of short tenure on international schools the findings may be instructive as job persistence in the U.S. headship declines. On the micro level, transitions are major events affecting every school constituent - teachers, administrators, students, parents and the wider school community. A poor match can undermine morale, destabilise a school community and put a strain on finances for severance pay and search firm fees. For a school head, an unsuccessful transition that results in dismissal may thwart a career in school leadership. Despite the potential impact, there is minimal empirical research concerning how schools and heads plan for and execute smooth transitions.
Methodology
Our research study utilised data collected from forty-four interviews (n=44) with transitioning heads of school in their first or second years on the job, including twenty-eight (n=28) international school heads and sixteen (n=16) independent school heads. We interviewed more international school heads than independent school heads because there was more variance in responses from international school heads rather than independent school heads. Therefore, it took longer to find central tendencies emergent from the international school data than from the U.S. independent school data.
Additionally, we purposefully selected heads for inclusion in our study based on a diversity of personal factors (gender, nationality, professional experiences, etc.) and school characteristics (location, size of school, state of school, etc.) in order to increase the generalisation of findings to the larger population of school heads. International school heads came from all inhabited continents outside North America, with 12 from Europe, 10 from Asia, 3 from Africa, 2 from Central/South America, and 1 from Oceania. Transitioning heads were selected from lists generously provided to us by ECIS in the United Kingdom and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the United States.
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 04
We interviewed each transitioning head either in person or via Skype using a nineteen prompt interview protocol, and each interview lasted between forty-five and seventy-five minutes. In addition, we also interviewed seven (7) board chairs and eight (8) search consultants to gain their perspectives on the transition process. Our analysis involved an open coding of each verbatim interview transcript in order to generate initial themes. We then authored narratives synthesising each case of transitioning followed by conducted a cross-case analysis of narratives.
Findings:
International and U.S. independent commonalities
Phases of transition
Several key findings emerged after more than 50 hours of interviews with transitioning school heads, governance board chairs and headship search consultants. The first major commonality between transitions in both contexts involves the discovery that the transition period occurs in distinct phases over a much longer period of time than suggested by the abundance of popular books and articles marking the transition period as the first 90 days on the job (Watkins, 2003). In addition, we found that there exist four distinct phases during the 1.5-2+ year headship transition in both contexts: pre-entry, arrival, the first 90 days, and the second 90 days.
The pre-entry phase extends from the moment of hire (signing a contract) until the arrival on campus. This phase, lasting approximately five to six months in U.S. independent schools and eight to nine months in international schools, characteristically involves the newly hired head in communication and one or two direct meetings with key
administrators, board members, and stakeholders while still retaining responsibilities at the school of current employment. All of the heads in the study were fully employed as school heads or administrators at the time of hire. These interactions provide opportunities for the incoming head to gather information concerning the school’s recent history, identify key issues, and learn about traditions. Often one or two administrative positions need to be filled during this time as the incoming head has a stake in building a team of his/her preference.
The second phase, which we call arrival, spans the time between relocation to the new community and the opening of school to students, often lasting between one and two months. During the arrival phase, the transitioning head and any accompanying family members adjust to the community, locating essentials such as housing, appropriate medical care and extracurricular needs of children. Not surprisingly, we found that school heads transitioning to a school in an international culture
cited the importance of adjustment during the arrival phase more often than U.S. independent school heads.
The third phase encompasses the first 90 days on the job, roughly equivalent to the first school semester in the headship. While the board usually provides directives for the year, the school head must first get to know administrators and faculty, establish a relationship with the board chair and key board members and learn about how the school functions. In the process heads discover realities about the school, some which had not been previously disclosed to them. In the case of the heads we interviewed these undisclosed realities sometimes included financial challenges that were more dire than described and challenging personnel problems. The intent of most heads during the first 90 days is to build credibility and achieve small wins but some of these challenges required their immediate attention, diverting them from accomplishing their goals.
The fourth and final phase of transition, the second 90 days, lasts approximately the length of the second semester, during which time the head of school works to achieve first year goals set by the board.
In most cases, the completion of this phase corresponds with the end of the school year ends and the board’s first formal evaluation of the head’s work.
Minimal transition assistance
That transitioning heads received minimal transition assistance in both contexts represented the second major shared finding of our research. However, we did identify differences regarding why international school heads versus U.S. independent school heads did not receive high levels of support during the four phases of transition. For international school
heads, over half (15 of 28) noted that they had previous headship experience either internationally or in the U.S., suggesting that these leaders already had strong conceptualisations of the responsibilities concerning total operational oversight and therefore required less support in their new role. Additionally, all but two (26 of 28) international school heads held managerial jobs in schools prior to assuming their current headship position, with many expressing the need to complete the previous managerial job prior to entering the headship at their current school. One international head noted:
I had been an international educator for some time…I feel like I have some similar experiences that had given me the confidence to deal with what I was getting into… If they did a more substantive job, a more thorough, more time involved orientation I probably would have backed out of it because I had a full on job in my headship at (former school). I just didn’t have the time to dedicate to a substantive kind of transition process.
Pre-entry Arrival First 90 days Second 90 days
Signedcontract
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Family arrives
1st workday on site
1st day of school
1stsemesterends
2nd semesterbegins
2ndsemesterends
1stformalevaluation
Nov 2014 Jan 2015 Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan 2016 Mar May
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GLOBAL INSIGHTS 05
U.S. independent school heads, on average, had far less headship experience than the international school heads who participated in our study. Less than one-third (5 of 16) held previous headship experience. Unlike their international school counterparts, U.S. independent school heads expressed a strong desire for transition assistance despite its absence. One first time U.S. independent school head who described having a difficult first year in his new job noted:
“It’s interesting…I think that we probably didn’t do as much of that as we could have, just sort of jointly. I probably didn’t ask for a lot of help and probably didn’t ask for as much help as I should have.”
This disclosure illuminates both how U.S. independent schools provided minimal transition assistance to new heads while demonstrating that many first time heads may have trouble knowing what questions to ask and what information to glean during their first transition experiences.
Success may not transfer
Both international and U.S. independent school heads described situations in which success in a previous role or headship did not always transfer to success in a new headship. Many international school heads in the study identified challenges adjusting to life in a new country during the first 90 and second 90 days in the role. In addition, U.S. independent school heads who were successful in previous non-headship administrative roles expressed that in their previous positions they experienced great success in building interpersonal relationships and being hands-on with staff. However, when they became a head of school they learned that in order to be successful they would have to let go and allow other administrators to take care of matters that may not need their attention.
Factors affecting international school headship transitions
High levels of transience
Most of the international school heads we spoke with described the schools they entered as exhibiting high levels of transience, or frequent movement by constituencies in and out of their schools. These levels of transience included student and students’ families, staff, former heads, and board members. One international school head noted that, “The board chair who hired me was not the same one waiting for me when I arrived, and it’s not the same one I have this year”. This high level of transience requires strategic transition management by the school to ensure that the incoming head will be supported regardless of who enters or exists the organisation during the first year or two of his or her tenure.
Ministry of Education challenges
Several international school heads identified unforeseen issues arising with the Ministry of Education in the country of arrival that seriously impacted their first 90 day and second 90 day phases. These challenges often served as an impediment to heads enacting their desired changes following their formal entry into the role. One head shared that she was spending up to 25 hours of a 60 hour work-week managing Ministry of Education issues for the school, but that during the next year she resolved, “to spend more time in classrooms with kids and at student events, and that will reduce the time I am spending with (the ministry of education)”.
Heads as experienced challenge-seekers
Unlike U.S. independent school heads in our study, most international school heads have extensive managerial experience in education environments. One first time international school head, who previously served in multiple U.S. independent school headships described his rationale for going overseas:
I needed a fresh vision. I needed a fresh challenge in order to really continue to love the job the way I always have…I needed to learn a new language, and hiring and recruitment is very different. I never had to work with a Ministry of Education before. Certainly, the governance has been a challenge. So, I’ve definitely been able to expand my repertoire.
This sentiment of veteran school leader desiring challenge and change was common throughout the transition descriptions of many international school heads. These individuals, most of whom were moving abroad for their new roles, expressed an understanding of the challenges in leading a school and the changes required of them during international adjustment.
Factors affecting U.S. independent school headship transitions
Human resource stability
U.S. independent school heads described their schools of transition as far more stable with regard to school constituents than how transitioning international school heads depicted their current school contexts. The response of one U.S. independent school head that resounded across others was that:
We had a retention rate this past year of 91%. That was pretty strong. In terms of the faculty-- A year and a half in the position - this is my second year--Before my joining, there were a handful of probably half a dozen faculties, that had been here for 20 plus years, that were retiring… We have currently still some faculty members who are at that 20 plus year tenure, and those in between maybe an average of about 11 years at the school.
This stability provides the opportunity for independent school heads to organise concerted transition strategies across all four distinct phases of transition for new heads, actions that might prove more difficult to orchestrate in international school contexts.
“Most of the international school heads we spoke with described the schools they entered as exhibiting high levels of transience, or frequent movement by constituencies in and out of their schools.”
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 06
Financial challenges
However, many U.S. independent school heads disclosed that their schools were experiencing serious financial challenges despite historically operating as a stable learning environments. One first time head shared that:
We basically had to cut almost a half a million dollars out of the budget in my first year in the job. I mean, as a new head, that’s a very challenging thing to do because you have to cut personnel. There is no way of doing that without cutting personnel”
Having to make such difficult decisions during the first and second ninety day phases hold the potential of jeopardising the long-term success of a new head.
First time heads
Complications with school finances appeared to be compounded by the fact that most (11 of 16) of the U.S. independent school heads who participated in the study were serving in their first headship, and few held formal experience in managing school finances. One first time head who reported transitioning into a school facing serious financial challenges described the experience of trying to turn around the school finances around without experience or know-how:
I think I just learned recently that Dutch is the hardest language in the world to learn. And I feel like it literally is like being in a room with people speaking Dutch, because in the investment committee meetings, 15 to 20 minutes can go by where I can’t actually decipher a single sentence.
In short, lack of financial knowledge during a time in which many U.S. independent schools face tough financial decisions can affect how first-time heads transition into their new headship roles.
Recommendations
Planning for headship transition in both international and U.S. independent schools requires similar tactics despite the unique nature of each context. First, and most importantly, heads need to be offered supports in transition. Most of the forty-four (44) heads we spoke with identified receiving minimal transition supports from their school boards and school communities. Limited support is not always problematic; many veteran heads in both contexts expressed confidence that their prior experience would help them transition into their new role without significant supports from school constituents. However, schools and boards still need to offer supports to the new head both prior to and following entry to ensure that the he or she continuously meets the needs of the transition.
The findings also demonstrate that the uniqueness of each context necessitates the need for schools to also provide context-specific supports. For example, transition supports in international schools may require less attention during the pre-entry phase if heads already possess headship experience, while transition supports in U.S. independent schools might place increased emphasis on providing opportunities for the incoming first-time heads to review school financial documents during the pre-entry phase.
In closing, both schools and school heads need to plan for transitions, mindful of the distinct phases of transition, including pre-entry, arrival, the first 90 days, and the second 90 days. Each phase of the transition process requires different forms of support that can be provided by different people within and outside of the school. Most notably, that support can be provided with minimal financial expense and the task can be shared so that in is manageable. Absent in most schools studied is a strategy to ensure that the needs of the transitioning head will be met so that conditions for advancing the school are optimal.
We are indebted to the school heads, board chairs and search consultants who gave us their time and shared their wisdom with us. We appreciate the support of NAIS and ECIS in conducting this research.
References
Benson, J. (2011) An investigation of chief administrator in international schools. Journal of Research in
International Education, 10(1), 87-103
ICEF Monitor. (18 March 2014). New data on international schools suggests continued strong growth.
Retrieved from http://monitor.icef.com/2014/03/new-data-on-internationalschools-suggests-continued-
strong-growth-2/
National Association of Independent Schools. (2010). The state of independent school leadership 2009:
Report of survey research among school heads and administrators. Washington, DC.
Watkins, M. (2003). The first 90 days: Critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press.
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GLOBAL INSIGHTS 07
SCHOOLS AS COMPLEXORGANISATIONS
Philip Stiles, University Senior Lecturer in Corporate Governance, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Schools are complex organisations. Schools have high demands for performance from a diverse set of stakeholders, with accompanying levels of measurement and scrutiny. I was a governor at a school in Cambridgeshire, and I was amazed at the sheer number of activities facing the Head and his team, and the different constituencies to which they were accountable. In my work, I have researched and advised business leaders in a wide range of sectors, and many of the pressures faced by heads and senior teams in schools and those of corporations are the same. For the school, just like IBM, UNICEF or Manchester United, the key questions are: how can we make this the best organisation we can be? What might improve our performance? How can we attract the best staff possible and motivate them to produce their best? What is the best form of leadership to take? These questions are among the many that are found in the territory of Organisational Behaviour. OB is essentially about two things – the behaviour of organisations in their environment, and the behaviour of people within the organisation. It covers areas with imposing labels – culture, leadership, structure, the motivation of people – and all organisations, from oil companies to NGOs, from schools to sports clubs, have to manage these issues. For those that get these things right, high performance ensues. But getting it right is easier said than done. Let’s look at the business world and ask: which companies are the most admired? Depending on which survey you read, the answers differ but only slightly – the usual suspects are Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Intel, Pixar – technology companies mainly. What do they have in common? The answer is a clear purpose and strategy, the ability to attract and retain excellent people, inspirational leaders, a flat hierarchy and a culture which is highly flexible. Even if your choice would not be these companies, but ones in more traditional industries – like BMW, or McKinsey, or Glaxo Smithkline, the same would largely be true. And this highlights important features about OB, which we can boil down to three core elements or `capitals’: (i) human capital – the stocks of leadership and talent in the organisation; (ii) social capital – the quality of relationships within and outside the organisation and (iii) organisational capital – the culture and process aspects of the organisation. Let’s take each one in turn. At the heart of human capital is the leadership of the organisation. Leadership is a highly researched field with many theories and a vast empirical research base, but the current dominant view is distributed leadership – the inculcating of leadership skills and responsibilities at all levels. This has the effect of using all the talent in the organisation and reduces the risk of relying on an elite cadre of leaders to make all decisions. Distributed leadership stands in contrast to more transactional or authoritarian leadership styles, which of course exist in many organisations, but typically induce less commitment, fewer ideas, and greater possibility of lock-in to traditional ways of working. Leadership provides the purpose and strategy of the organisation. For Heads and senior teams, there is a need to convey power and authority but there must also be the courage to devolve leadership responsibility.
The second aspect is social capital – how do people interact in the workplace, within the school? What is needed is for staff to have good working relationships with each other because it is clear that if this is the case, engagement rises, and so too does commitment. Other valuable issues such as trust and accountability also rise when there are good relationships. Social capital also promotes collaboration, and so best practice can be shared quickly among the organisation’s members. A further important aspect of social capital is the need to build relationships with people external to the organisation. Such ties with people who have different backgrounds and experiences to us can facilitate fresh ideas and concepts, and so create the grounds for innovation. In schools, encouraging reaching out, both between departments and also to other schools, leads to the refreshing of the organisation. Looking at the communication flows, shared events and meetings, and even the layout of the buildings to encourage informal contacts would be also important.
The third aspect is culture. Culture is essentially concerned with the “way we do things around here,” and is a vital component in organisational effectiveness, yet is difficult to manage. For a culture to work well, three elements have to be in alignment: first, the symbols of the organisation - the buildings, layout, the name, logo, uniforms, playing fields etc.; second, the values and claims made by the organisation (e.g. `we are an equal opportunities employer,” “we are dedicated to high performance,” “we respect and value the individual,” etc.); and third, the underlying assumptions of the staff within the organisation - in other words, regardless of what is espoused by the organisation, what do staff really believe? The aim is to have the three levels aligned so that there can be no possibility of mixed messages, or even at the worst case, cynicism (staff not believing what the values or statements say). Within a school, there will be a range of cultures, with the key issue being whether these subcultures all align behind the overarching values and purpose of the school.
Ideally, an organisation should align the capitals - leadership and people, relationships and culture, but, though the need for alignment is important, it is only part of the battle. The organisation must remain flexible too, so that it can change in light of shifting requirements and conditions. In other words, there is a tension between `fit’ and `flexibility’. In some examples, it is clear that some organisations have become too wedded to the fit and been left behind as times change. For example, in the corporate world, Tesco is in danger of this, and Blackberry and Nokia have suffered too. This takes us back to leadership. Ultimately it is the leadership of the organisation, of the school, that ensures that the right purpose is emphasised and the strategy is decided effectively, and that the tone for relationships and culture are set.
Selected readings:Amabile, T. and Kramer, S.J. (2011) “The power of small wins.” Harvard Business Review, May, 71-89.
Battilana, J. and Casciaro, T (2013) “The network secrets of great change agents” Harvard Business Review,
July-August, 63-68.
Goffee, R., and Jones, G. (2013) “Creating the best workplace in the world” Harvard Business Review, May,
98-106.
Halvorson, H.K. and Higgins, E.Tory (2013) “Know what really motivates you.” Harvard Business Review,
March, 117-120.
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GLOBAL INSIGHTS 09
THOUGHT LEADERINTERVIEW:
Siva Kumari, EdD, Director General of the International Baccalaureate (IB)
Given the tremendous growth in international schools over the past ten years, as well as the projected strong growth over the next ten years, what are your thoughts on human capital issues associated with that kind of growth in our sector?
In terms of answering, let’s start by making a distinction between schools that are local, meaning adopting an international curriculum and run for local students by predominantly national leadership, and those that are non-local, meaning offering an international curriculum for (mostly) non-locals and run by predominantly international staff. The distinction is important because there is growth in both kinds of schools. If we start with the second kind, in which the staff are predominantly non-local, the challenge is how to get the teachers to think differently about what they teach, as well as how to retain them. Often there is a rotating door for international teachers. How does one find the right teacher, in light of that transience? About 75% of it isn’t about getting the right person to join your school; rather, it’s about your school culture – about creating a strong school culture.
It will become increasingly the case—for both kinds of schools—that we are recruiting new pools of teachers not previously in international education, and for the second kind of school, often from another country outside of the usual recruitment epicentres. Understanding this, it then becomes more a question about getting a teacher to adopt the culture and curriculum of a school, of getting them to think laterally with peers. ‘Planning with others’ is often stated as a goal or even a practice, but little of it seems in evidence. We must consider how to influence the microcosm of the classroom, whether that means moving more toward a facilitation model, for instance.
This is a challenging time for recruitment in particular. If you’re teaching mostly in a national setting (a growing trend we’re seeing already), there is a lower cost-point for this approach, with implications: namely, the hiring of local teachers only. Does the country (national system) have a good teaching pool? Are the teachers trained to standards that make it easy for a national system to adopt the standards? We must look at those national systems for training, and determine whether they can accommodate the type of teaching needed for something like the IB (International Baccalaureate). Is the system diverse enough to create a pool of teaching capital to accommodate this kind of teaching, preparing students for non-national tests?
The question becomes whether local schools can recruit locally, or whether they have to go for 10-hour plan rides to recruit teachers. Schools are becoming savvier about reducing recruitment costs and even accelerating the process through video conferencing, then using the face-to-face opportunity at a fair to study the potential chemistry of the relationship (the ‘fit’). The modality of recruitment, I think, will be far different, by need and design, as we move forward. Agencies will have to devise different processes that take advantage of a growing pool of non-traditional international teachers, for certain. But let’s look at the board level as well. At the board level, you’ll want to establish the highest level of culture possible – to the point that you’re recruiting for cultural affinity just as much as (if not more than) teaching expertise. How will you ensure that what you’re doing at your school is different, in terms of mission, values, and purpose? In this sense, brand identity will become more important than ever, and that will require preparation on a number of fronts.
What do you see as being essential for teaching and learning in our contemporary world, and why?
For me, it’s a question of going beyond everyday competence. There is a basic level of qualifications and competence, and most teachers have this. It’s more about intentionality. The teacher needs to care for her students in an intentional way; she needs to believe that all students can learn, and in different ways. That’s the mindset I would look for in a teacher. The only thing that differentiates ‘content acquisition’ is the classroom itself – can a teacher actually structure learning in a way that is motivating and connected to the real world? Can he use formative assessment as a conditioning tool, rather than just to show parents what the child is learning, in order to keep the end goal in mind? If so, this will relax the student and the teacher. It’s like running a long race; it’s about pace. The mindset needed has to do with pace, and not content dissemination. Equally important, can we get children to ask good questions? It’s really hard to find people who can ask really good questions, questions that are not obvious, questions that cut to the chase. In this day, when kids can get any information on Google, the challenge is not to go with the obvious algorithm, but to create a question that will require a new algorithm. Only a human can set the conditions for really good questions (enabling it).
To your mind, what should new leaders be thinking about?
For a person who has just transitioned into headship, this kind of transition cannot be underestimated; it’s a markedly different job. Prepare yourself mentally, and so on, but be mindful that you need help and shouldn’t hesitate to ask. Find mentors in the new network who can assist you in what you’re looking to do. Also, are you asking the right questions of your school? Is the right curriculum in place? The culture? How do I sustain (or change) this?
The bigger challenge for anyone in such a transition, irrespective of whether for the first time or transitioning laterally, is how to get others to co-lead with you. That’s a fun challenge for all of us who lead. Set goals, communicate them, be visible, be aware of your match with the school as well as what was seen in you when you interviewed, but be mindful of how to sway others to co-lead with you. That is deeply important.
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 10
HALLMARKS OFGREAT SCHOOLLEADERSHIP
Paul Strebel, Professor Emeritus, Board Director and Advisor, IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.
Good leaders mobilise their people; great leaders mobilise them in the right direction. Good leaders use their intuition to drive their egos; great leaders develop self-awareness to harness their egos. Good leaders get people to do what has to be done; great leaders get them to go beyond what they thought they could do.
Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years learning how to manage himself psychologically and emotionally so that, when he came out of prison, he would not hate every white person in sight. He put himself in the shoes of his oppressors, read the history of South Africa in Afrikaans, the language of the white government, so that he could understand where they were coming from, how to outmanoeuvre them in negotiation, and how to connect with the white population. He and his fellow prisoners developed the inclusive vision of the rainbow nation to appeal to all South Africans, to get them to avoid a race war, which many thought was inevitable.
Mandela’s approach provides one of the most vivid examples of the key ingredients of leadership: the development of a shared vision, energising people in pursuit of that vision, mobilising the resources and organisation needed to get there. Great leaders practice self-management to prevent their egos from getting in the way. They work with a governing body to shape direction and keep things on track.
Compared to other kinds of leadership, school leadership is an especially delicate task, because the education of children and teenagers is a highly organic process that takes place through the interaction between students, their parents, teachers, and peers. High-value education goes beyond the rote learning of received wisdom to develop enquiring and productive graduates. The role of the school heads, boards, and owners is to provide the infrastructure, context, and stimulus in which the most productive learning can take place. Alignment and focus on this goal is key. For-profit owners in particular have the challenge of not sacrificing great education on the altar of higher returns on investment.
Great school leadership depends on the head and the board understanding how their roles overlap and how they are distinct. The school board is responsible for developing the shared school vision together with the head after consulting all the stakeholders. Great boards not only create an aspirational vision to produce a step-jump in their students’ development, they help the head to create a strategic plan to make that vision happen, supported by key performance indicators to track implementation and which allow adaptation to changing circumstances, the whole plan outlining a clear division of responsibilities. Whereas the board usually is responsible for raising financing, infrastructure development, and monitoring overall performance, the school head is the orchestrator of the learning process.
Great school heads and principals are above all very people-orientated with high emotional intelligence, capable of energising students, teachers, and parents in the pursuit of high quality learning, but also effective at attracting great teachers and organising the curriculum, processes, and resources. The head and school leadership team shape and develop the school’s culture.
Great leadership teams provide not only the framework and freedom for learning, they insist on rules of the game that keep everyone focused on developing well-rounded graduates who can find their place in and contribute to the world around them.
High emotional intelligence is the key to great school leadership, not only on the part of the head and his/her team, but also on the part of board members. It can be difficult for board members to play a constructive role, because most have little experience as educators, not to mention quite different personal education and professional careers that can result in very different ways of processing information and making decisions. Moreover, most have very short tenures, yet are heavily invested emotionally as owners, parents, and possibly public officials, with different personal board objectives. Intensive on-boarding and openness to the views of others are essential, together with a great board chair who can harness the talent of the board members in support of the leadership team and the vision of the school, whilst shaping a common approach to decision-making.
In a world of instant access to information, the school leadership challenge is to educate students to make sense of information and put it to productive use. In a world of networking at a distance, the school leadership challenge is to educate students to manage themselves and develop the social skills of interacting face-to-face. This tack requires a step change towards integrated learning across traditional subjects and the blending of technology-assisted and face-to-face interactive learning. The litmus test of great school leadership will be the ability to stimulate the whole community to make this step change.
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 11
AUDIT INNOVATION:
AN OPEN CULTURE OF INNOVATION IN A LONG-STANDING BUSINESSKatie Canell, Director of Audit Innovation, Deloitte (London)
The standard response to using the term “Audit Innovation” is one of confusion. To many - particularly outside of the profession - the term is a misnomer. How can a professional service function which traditionally focuses on the assurance of historical financial data be innovative? However this is far from reality and innovation is becoming as critical a part of an audit firm strategy as it is with any successful business that wishes to adapt and succeed. And the result has far-reaching consequences on the way we do business, the value we can bring to clients, and the experience and skillsets developed in our people.
But what is innovation? As we have developed our innovation strategy at Deloitte, this is an area that we have debated in considering the balance of our innovation portfolio. On the one hand, innovation can be game-changing, blue-sky thinking, which fundamentally disrupts a business approach or market. At the other end of the spectrum, innovation can be relatively small tweaks to the way in which we operate or the services we provide to our clients. And there is a whole spectrum in between. Whether doing new things or doing existing things in new ways, the balance of the portfolio is key.
The advancements in technological areas such as robotics and automation give rise both to potential threats to the traditional core business model, but also significant opportunities. Over the course of the next five years, professional services firms are likely to see their existing audit delivery model change towards a model driven by technology. This will not only drive efficiencies in audit approach, but, in using these new technologies, we are moving closer to a model where time intensive, low judgement tasks are automated and the role of advisor in assessing key judgements and identifying business relevant insights from analytical outputs moves centre stage. In addition, the focus is likely to shift to other areas of assurance that have not formed part of an audit to-date. Assurance over the narrative of an annual report, non-financial data, business processes, and governance are just a few examples of how the dial may shift.
But can large professional services firms really be innovative? Do they have the skillsets and business structure to identify and incubate ideas, and recognise those disrupters of the future? There are definitely challenges in developing an agile and nimble innovation culture within a traditional long standing business. Existing structures and governance may hinder speed of response, the existing culture may be so engrained that a “dare to try” attitude may need careful cultivation, just as it may in schools. In order to stay relevant to our clients and our people, we need to work hard at rebutting that “fear of failure” and cultivate an environment in which every individual in the business feels empowered to share and develop ideas that contribute to our strategy.
Professional service firms are not new to solving complex problems. This is where we are able to bring to bear our 100 years of business experience. There is no doubt that fresh thinking, new approaches, and cutting-edge technology are crucial in enabling a firm to succeed, but we want to do so in a way that supplements our heritage of trust, experience, and quality.
At Deloitte, we are a people business. Individuals join our audit practice to get a strong grounding in business, and the skillset we look for in our new joiners incorporates the entrepreneurial, inquiring mind-set, and increasingly advanced analytics skills required of our professionals in today’s market. Over time, it is likely that the skillset of the auditor of tomorrow will continue to evolve, but with strong core technology and analytics capabilities, combined with a problem solving attitude, willingness to “think outside the box” and a commitment to building long lasting relationships always being key.
Therefore, if the capabilities and intelligence of the thousands of professionals who join the firm each year are harnessed appropriately, our ability to adapt and stay relevant remains within grasp. Undoubtedly there will be times where a particular skillset or product is best developed in partnership with a third party, and we are excited to be working with a number of innovative partners around automation and technology. However, we should not underestimate the strength of ambition and innovative thinking that exists within our network. At Deloitte, this combination is something we are actively seeking to harness and embed, and the ideas coming from our professionals are truly exciting.
If professional services firms continue to impose a traditional approach to the way they operate and conduct audits, and fail to recognise and develop the broad, valuable skillsets of their people in their fullest sense, then there is a risk that we will not embrace innovation in its fullest sense. It is only if we fully embrace the “dare to try” culture that we will be able to grasp the opportunities that innovation and disruption can bring us and our people can develop engaging and stimulating careers in a fast paced environment.
No business is immune from market disruption, including audit. Innovation is at the heart of our future success and the value we can bring to our clients and all of our professionals have an important role to play in contributing to our audit innovation strategy. Audit Innovation – a misnomer? I think not.
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 12
DESIGNINGSCHOOL BUILDINGSFOR CHANGE
Stefan Jakobek, Vice President, Head of Education, HOK
UK school design has been at the forefront of new approaches for many years. Recent conventional thinking has placed huge emphasis on user consultation, with school leaders, teachers, and pupils alike at the core of new school design. As a result, new schools have been crafted to suit the needs of a particular pedagogy and the concerns of dynamic and innovative leaders.
This approach can work exceptionally well at the beginning, but, when the leadership moves on and pedagogy evolves, the building, if designed such for a singular approach, can become an obstacle rather than a support to the teaching and learning experience. When we factor in the high churn rates that we see in the international school sector and big changes in age profile from year to year, this crafted individualistic approach can create real problems for effective school operation.
A conventional approach to this design dilemma is to create simplistic areas and layouts with rows of undifferentiated spaces laid out along long corridors. Low utilisation creates opportunities for flexibility, but it is an approach that creates soulless environments that are not particularly cost effective to operate. Is there a design approach that can create responsive learning environments that are also capable of radical adaptation from year to year?
The speculative office is an example of a resilient building type that it is almost always built with no immediate end user in place. The designer will know that the building will contain desk-based workers but the nature of their organisation, group sizes, and specialist facilities will be unknown. Uses will change as companies evolve, expand, and contract (or move out) and are replaced by others. Typically, an office is arranged around simple floorplates with fixed, highly serviced elements concentrated in a central core. Floorplates are arranged by grids that are capable of subdivision into different spaces, logically related to the activities that take place within them. Tenants will pay by the square metre (m2) and will expect space use to be highly efficient.
True, offices can be a dull experience, but the best can be stimulating, highly supportive work environments. The best workplace design will provide users with variety of work settings tailored to the activities taking space within them. The ‘Activity Based Working’ design approach supports work activities optimally, rather than drawing boundaries around personal spaces. This approach typically provides a mix of team desks with quiet concentration rooms, telephone booths and meeting rooms. More sophisticated examples may also offer stand-up meeting tables, a creative area, multimedia rooms, lounge areas and stand up workstations. Companies are prepared to invest in these environments because they use space efficiently and reduce premises’ costs. Simultaneously, they improve productivity, enable effective collaboration, attract the best staff and drive better outcomes – aspirations that could be equally applied to a school. Significantly, these environments can be created inside simple shells and reconfigured quickly as uses and users change.
We see similar concerns with academic buildings for scientific research. In today’s joined up world, research is rarely isolated and depends
on highly collaborative environments to foster interaction between disciplines to drive innovation. ‘Soft’ researchers in economics and social studies will share a building with more technically demanding ‘hard’ disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, and big data analysis. These buildings must be highly adaptable. As the nature of projects ebb and flow, buildings are needed that are capable of simple, economic reconfiguration. A space may be a laboratory for a few years, refitted as a collaborative team room, then rearranged for a quite different, as yet unknown, purpose in the future.
School buildings are nowhere near as technically demanding, but they do contain a variety of spaces requiring differing degrees of technical support. If school buildings have been conceived to provide areas that can function as classrooms for several years, that can then be converted to science labs, and then again reconfigured to provide a series of smaller seminar rooms or large project room, all without major disruption, they will be highly effective in supporting their ever-evolving needs.
I believe that this is the future for school design, particularly in the international school sector with its higher churn of pupils and unpredictability of demand. If we factor in the never-ending debate between the needs of traditional teaching styles and the freer environments for more pupil-centred learning, it is clear to me that change is the only constant.
What is needed are much simpler buildings, conceived around plain floorplates that logically subdivide into the family of spaces that schools require, typically 15-30m2 group and seminar rooms, 60 m2 classrooms, 90 -120 m2 labs. Larger areas for project based learning can be quickly configured as well as the variety of ‘in-between’ spaces so invaluable in a rich learning environment. Proper consideration at the beginning will have ensured that infrastructure has been placed in logical core positions. This will enable specialist spaces to be fitted out and further adapted as technologies change, all without major disruption to the operational life of the school.
The office analogy is not complete as school buildings have very different patterns of use. This is particularly true when we consider the safe arrival and departure of large numbers of young people, the physical differences between 11 year olds and 16 year olds, the need for large gatherings and the requirements of recreation and sport. The principles are still very valid - keep it simple and plan for continual change.
Author Stefan Jakobek is Vice President and senior architect for education at HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering and planning practice. For further information or design advice on building schools, please contact [email protected]
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 13
WHERE WILL THE NEXT GENERATION OF WORLD CLASS TEACHERS COME FROM?
Kenneth J Cushner, Professor Emeritus of Multicultural and International Education, Kent State University, Ohio, USA.
Introducing the ECIS Teacher Training Initiative
As the number of international schools continues to grow, the number of teachers that will be needed to staff these schools is expected to follow suit, increasing from roughly 362,000 today to more than 700,000 by the year 2025. Addressing this dramatic growth demands teachers who are not only skilled at their craft, but who are knowledgeable about the global context, interculturally competent, and experienced working in the international school context. This growth begs the question, “From where will these teachers come?”
Institutions that prepare teachers are increasingly under pressure to produce educators who have acquired an intercultural perspective and can demonstrate global competence. Additionally, there is a dramatic rise in the number of universities that provide avenues for teachers to obtain IB authorisation, either through additional coursework, or increasingly integrated across their teacher education curriculum (as is the case of my own university, Kent State University) so that all graduates are fully authorised to teach in any IB World School.
Teachers and administrators throughout the international school network have demonstrated success at living and teaching internationally, and can – and should – play a significant role in preparing the next generation of internationally minded and interculturally competent teachers. ECIS member schools can be global leaders and key contributors in the efforts to internationalise teacher education by joining with those entities that prepare teachers whilst simultaneously providing a steady stream of globally competent and internationally experienced teachers for the increasing number of international schools.
The ECIS Teacher Training Initiative is designed to provide international schools with the ability to nurture and develop new teachers who then are prepared to work in the international school network. Some of the benefits to your school include: being compensated for your service; having extensive knowledge and exposure to future teachers whom you help develop with the qualities and experiences you deem essential, who may also become prospective teachers in your school; exposure to an expanding network of participating universities that may serve as a potential source of professional development for your teachers and staff; and providing your students with daily exposure to young university students and potential universities for your graduates.
These student teachers from leading internationally-focused universities and teacher training institutions will: be academically strong and nominated by their university for participation; be carefully vetted and interviewed before being sent to you for approval and selection; participate in orientation and preparation that addresses country, culture and school-specific content developed with your input well in advance of their arrival; as well as gain awareness of issues of cross-cultural adjustment and communication, intercultural sensitivity, and the development of intercultural competence; and maintain regular, focused communication and reflection with programme administrators through the experience.
Here is a partnership waiting to happen! Please join in this effort by expressing your willingness to open your school to student teaching interns – the next generation of teachers preparing to serve 21st century learners in the international school network.
Directing the Teacher Training Initiative is Dr. Kenneth Cushner, author/editor of several books and articles in the field of international and intercultural education, including: Human Diversity in Education: An Intercultural Approach (8th ed., 2015) and Intercultural Student Teaching: A Bridge to Global Competence (2007). He has taught in schools in Switzerland, Australia, and the United States, and has travelled with young people and teachers on all seven continents. A former East-West Centre scholar, Dr. Cushner is a Founding Fellow and Past-President of the International Academy for Intercultural Research; was a Fulbright Scholar to Sweden; coordinated Semester at Sea’s Teachers at Sea program (2010 and 2011); and twice served as director of COST – the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching.
For additional information on the initiative, or to express your willingness to host student teachers, please contact Ken at: [email protected]
GLOBAL INSIGHTS 14
Education is the third largest industry in the world, behind only health and defence. It is the single most effective lever we have to improve the lives of the bottom billion and to drive progress globally. Yet only 3% of education is online, being shared, collaborated on, and improved at scale. Emerge Education exists to funnel capital and expertise into new education technologies, thereby encouraging innovation in education on a global scale.
Emerge Education run a three-month programme twice a year in London in which they select eight of the most exciting founders and businesses in educational technology. They accelerate these start-ups’ growth by providing them with access to the top educational institutions, expertise, and investors in Europe. Over the past two years, they have so far supported 25 companies from 19 countries.
Emerge Education is looking for young, innovative businesses with a capable team who feel acutely a specific problem in education. Based on having looked at hundreds of start-ups over the last two years, below are five trends that they find interesting, along with examples of companies in those areas that were exceedingly impactful.
1. Personalised content
Adaptive learning uses computers to deliver personalised content according to the unique needs of each learner. At its best, it assesses not only what a student already knows, but also what activities, delivered in what sequence and format, should most significantly increase that student’s academic success. This approach is challenging for one teacher to implement, yet technology empowers teachers to deliver personalised content to a class of 30 students. Currently, most adaptive learning solutions are maths-based, as the binary nature of maths answers lends itself well to creating learning paths that are self-adapting. Interestingly, Knewton are now piloting a platform that goes beyond maths to provide adaptive learning solutions across all subjects and year levels.
Emerge Education Start-up: DoodleMaths is an adaptive maths app that assesses each child’s skill, maps his/her learning pathway, and provides that child with exactly the right content to progress to the next level of understanding.
2. Content delivery
The Internet is a vast and largely unstructured repository of knowledge. The problem learners face is not lack of useful content, but the curation of it. Teachers and learners do not have time to research where to go and what to digest first. Time is spent inefficiently, and the best and most relevant resources are not being discovered.
Emerge Education Start-up: Bibblio smartly tags online, high quality, free educational content and matches it with the curriculum. That content is then up-voted and further curated by the teachers and students consuming it.
3. A more relevant education
There is a skills gap, and it is growing. A 2014 study by PwC highlighted that 63% of CEOs are concerned about finding people with the necessary
key skills to fill vacancies. In the US, although 11 million workers are unemployed, 4 million jobs, predominately STEM-related, go unfilled. As we move further into a digital age, we need to provide the next generation with the skills required to control and create it. Emerge looks for any interesting solutions that encourage girls to engage in STEM subjects at scale, or that provides STEM education and resources to areas of the world where access to such resources is usually difficult. Fun and useful tools that help learners to get to grips easily with hardware, coding languages, or the logic behind programming without the need of an expert, are also highly sought.
Emerge Education start-ups: Pi-Top and Primo both provide children (and tinkering adults!) with the skills needed to shape the digital world.
4. Assessment
The all-or-nothing, high stakes testing that is so pervasive across most education systems receives much negative press. It is argued that they only serve to test a subset of skills required in the real world, that they encourage cram learning, and do little to cultivate curiosity. As evidenced by the removal of levels in the UK and the growing trend of US parents opting their students out of standardised tests, such assessments are rapidly taking a backseat to alternative measurements.
Emerge Education start-up: Diagnostic Questions are riding the wave of formative assessments. It is a platform on which diagnostic questions are crowd sourced, quality filtered and disseminated to thousands of teachers across the UK. In this way they help teachers identify, understand and resolve the misconceptions of their students.
5. Tech in emerging markets
Emerge has a particular interest in the impact that technology can have on the delivery of education in emerging countries. Mobile penetration now stands at over 50% across Africa, driven by the young “mobile-first” generation, and children are becoming digitally literate at a very early age. Given the sheer scale of the problem, it is not too difficult to imagine the traditional model of education, involving brick and mortar schools, a teacher and a blackboard, not providing the most effective route for Africa to deliver a quality education to the millions of young people across the continent. Africa has the potential to leapfrog that infrastructure-intensive education model, just as it skipped fixed landlines and went straight to mobile.
The power of Emerge is based entirely on the strength of its community. They work closely with hundreds of educational institutions, which provide beta testers, insight, and expertise as products and ideas develop. ECIS is one such a forward thinking institution. Their collaboration with BRCK to bring robust, reliable routers to schools across Kenya is a brilliant example of how start-ups and educational organisations can work together to make education more relevant, at a lower cost, and more accessible.
If you’re interested in technology and how it can improve learning outcomes, or, if you completely disagree with what has been laid out above, then Emerge would love to hear from you. Please navigate to www.emerge.education to tell us about yourself and for more information on how to get involved.
HOW IS TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE FACE OF EDUCATION?
Volker Hirsch, Venture Partner, Emerge Education
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