I spent a glorious weekend last week in Oxford at the Oxford University Alumni Weekend, meeting friends and enjoying stimulating lectures and discussions. One of these, led in the lovely lecture theatre at St Anne’s College by Professor Peter Jeavons, Head of the Computing Science department, prompted me to rush to put virtual pen to …
Tag: global competence
Sep 16
Grappling with difference from an early age
I have a lot to thank my friends for, and – in common with most people, I would imagine – I am deeply grateful for many of them for sticking with me through thick and thin. My longest serving (I use the phrase advisedly …) friend in this respect, B, came to stay with me …
Sep 10
The welcome power of parental engagement
Over the past 3 weeks I have spent some very uplifting time with parents of school students in Asia and Europe, and I have been reminded again of the vital importance of parental engagement in the educational – and life – journeys of their children. I have spent years – decades, now, in fact – …
Sep 02
Embracing dual language as a step towards global competence
I have just been brushing up my understanding of dual language research ahead of my trip to Hong Kong this week to spend time with educators and students in the Dalton School Hong Kong. I have been a non-executive Director of the Dalton Foundation since 2015, and it has been a privilege to watch the …
Aug 26
Disruptive collage … and why schools need to be more honest about this radical art
I think I expected something different when I agreed to go to ‘400 years of collage’, an exhibition at the Scottish Modern Art Gallery Two … in fact, embarrassing though it is to admit, I know I had a vague expectation of some pretty pastels and cut up magazines. On reflection, this was not unsurprising, …
Aug 17
‘Hindsight’ can actually be a gut-wrenching thing …
The chances of you managing to see ‘Hindsight’, the play by Jill Franklin, currently being reprised in Edinburgh by the impressive Fox and Hound Theatre as part of the Festival Fringe, grow slimmer by the day, as its run ends on 24 August, but if you can still get a ticket, do! Be warned, though …
Aug 13
Malorie Blackman and the pathway to social mobility
Unsurprisingly, I really, really enjoy engaging with people who are relentlessly, strongly, determinedly optimistic, and it was therefore a joy to hear the author Malorie Blackman in conversation at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Sunday. She was talking about her latest book in the Noughts and Crosses series – Crossfire – although she ranged …
Aug 01
‘Conscious intuition’: musings on Bridget Riley
If you are in Edinburgh before 22 September 2019, do consider visiting the Bridget Riley exhibition in the Royal Scottish Academy (part of the Royal Scottish Galleries) at the foot of the Mound. Impressive, and beautifully situated across 10 rooms, her work seems to come alive in front of your eyes – a testament to …
Jul 29
Shomie Das, a history in education, and the impact of story-telling
It was an enormous privilege to meet, talk with, and then hear speak, one of the great old Headmasters of our age, Shomie Das, at the World Leading Schools Conference in Prague recently. What a life he has led! And what lessons we can learn from it! From a highly educated family, steeped in the …
Jul 22
Unleashing the power of your teaching faculty
It was a huge pleasure this past weekend to chair one of the panels at the World Leading Schools’ Association (WLSA) in Prague, and I want to say an enormous thank you to my wonderful fellow panellists: Teresa Blake (Director of Social and Emotional Learning – Positive Education at Appleby College, Canada), Michelle Quinton (School …