It has been great to engage with colleagues across the world over the past week in particular, since my latest book, The Globally Competent School: a manual, was published. Thank you so much for your energising words, and – as ever – for your commitment to the education, development and growth of young people in …
Tag: global competence
Dec 11
My new book! The Globally Competent School: a manual
My new book has been published! Hot off the press, it is now on Amazon as both a paperback and a Kindle version – and my fervent hope is that it will inspire teachers and school leaders to place global competence at the heart of their schools. I wrote the book as a follow on …
Nov 25
Learning to connect with those around us: a Macedonian learning adventure in the Scottish Borders
Courtesy of some poor systems and staffing planning by Trans-Pennine Express trains last week, I found myself on a rail replacement bus meandering across the Scottish Borders towards Carlisle, in order to get on another train that would finally take me to my destination. I can now report that there is a distinct limit to …
Nov 18
Globally competent thinking
Every time I visit Hong Kong, I leave feeling impressed and humbled by the city and the region. Geographically, it must be one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world, and the feats of human engineering which have situated almost unfeasibly high buildings on hillsides, created high octane container terminals and developed a …
Nov 13
Daring to think differently about children and their behaviour
The biggest frustration I confess I have with Facebook is that it has an uncanny knack of hiding interesting information which I have seen once, and want to revisit, but can’t, because somehow it has disappeared from my feed. It may be my settings, or it may be the algorithm, but the upshot is the …
Nov 04
The art of chairing
One thing I have learned in my several roles, past and present, as a non-executive Chair is that there is no such thing as a perfect meeting, merely meetings that are imperfect to a lesser or greater degree. Nor is there a perfect relationship to be built with the CEO/Executive Director or equivalent, but rather …
Oct 28
Random acts of kindness
The petals on the flower in this photo may be curling and fading slightly now, as it gradually wilts in a vase in our hallway, but every time I see it, I smile. For this flower was given to me in a random act of kindness by a stranger as I crossed Dean Bridge in …
Oct 22
Inspiring Learning – lessons in assessment
A hugely enjoyable day on Saturday at the Huili Institute of Learning ‘Inspiring Learning’ Forum in Shanghai – thank you to Wellington College in China for organising it! Bringing together teachers and leaders from across Shanghai, the rest of China, and further afield too – Abu Dhabi and the U.K., to name but two – …
Oct 08
Amazing student experience: lessons from the independent sector
It was a huge, huge pleasure last night to announce the awards to schools at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards in London, in my capacity as the chair of the judging panel. And what a lovely evening it was, courtesy of Independent School Parent magazine, who so generously supported the awards and who …
Sep 30
Bathing in the energy of the Early Years staffroom
Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of listening to and talking with Early Years teachers in 4 different schools, spread across 3 different countries, on 2 different continents, and the experience has been absolutely energising. Long gone should be the days when Early Years is seen as a nice cosy little …