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 – …
Tag: global competence
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 …
Jul 15
Celebrating difference: people of determination
For a number of reasons, which would take too long to explain just at the moment, I have recently been researching and learning a lot more about autism in girls, and I have a number of observations. First, there really is an inequality in how autism is understood in girls when compared to how it …
Jul 09
Swimming With Men
If you have followed this blog over a number of years, then you will know that my movie-watching habits are limited to occasions when I travel on long haul flights. I cannot claim, therefore, to be anywhere approaching a seasoned critic or an aficionado, but I do usually find one or more films which make …