Thoughts on International Education

Relationships are the oil that makes the machinery of schools run smoothly. In schools, to put it very crudely, our input is human (little people), almost all processing is human (the various permutations of teacher / student interactions) and the outcome is human (graduates). It is the most human of endeavors: this makes relationships paramount.

To paraphrase educational change guru Michael Fullan (who has the extremely rare distinction of being an internationally renowned intellectual and Canadian at the same time!), any change initiative within schools that does not improve relationships will not be successful in the long term. I have also read recently that researchers have found a correlation between the health / quality of professional relationships on staff and student learning. If true—and I must admit these two statements seem pretty obvious when you think about it—our schools should do everything possible to support the development of high quality professional relationships. International schools bring unique challenges in this regard as it is not uncommon to have over a dozen different nationalities of teachers on staff: all with their own unique experiences, styles and paradigms. Making relationships work in this context can be hard work; but it is essential.

Which brings me around to another reflection on the topic of relationships: email and blogging. Email is a great tool, but my experience has been that as a work tool it is generally relationship neutral (at best). Rarely do I see email interactions within a school improving relationships. Normally they just maintain them. However, I have seen a quite a few occasions where misinterpretation of an email damages relationships. Face-to-face communication on the other hand is often the best way I know of to improve relationships. And if the improvement of relationships is a goal unto itself, then we should be always looking for ways to improve relationships and getting away from our computer screens more often may be a partial answer.

But then there is blogging. I have been impressed to see that some people have actually been reading my blog. I have also received some very nice and interesting comments from people from around the world. This demonstrates first hand the power of Web 2.0 technologies. Through this technology I have been able to do something I could not have done before—connect with other interested professionals around the world and develop a relationship of sorts. This is very ‘cool’ and shows me a very new type of oil.

Last week our IT Director, Brian Lockwood, communicated his desire to see all of the senior leadership at our school ‘blogging’. My immediate response to this request was, essentially, ‘why?’. After all, with an already busy schedule that never seems to get below 60 hours per week, if something is to added then there needs to be proper justification. But after hearing Brian’s arguments and knowing the passion behind rationale, I thought I would give it go. And here we are.

But perhaps ‘we’ is an overstatement. I would be flattered to think than of more than one person read my blog (I of course include myself in this count). As such, I guess I will follow CS Lewis’s lead who purportedly wrote the Chronicles of Narnia because the stories were ones he wished he could have read as a child.  Please don’t expect any profound or wise insights!

Which brings me to topic #1. ‘Why’ is the quality of schooling important? This week I was reading a summary of research into the affects of the quality of schooling and—get this—there is conflicting research in this area. But various researchers have ‘answers’. So how much of an effect does can a ‘high quality’ school have on student achievement? Here are some of the results:

10% (Coleman, 1966)
10% (Jencks, 1972)
23% (Rosenthal, 1991)

I have two concurrent reactions when I read these numbers. The first is to laugh. We really like our numbers don’t we! This reminds me Douglas Adams reporting in a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that the meaning of life is “42”. The influence of a school can be, depending upon the research, between 10-23%. I guess it’s your call.

The second thought is one of admiration for the research. While any exact metric—especially when grappling with a concept like quality—must be impossible to ascertain given the complex sociological soup which contextualizes schools, the research question itself and the chosen methodology have great importance to educators. As we move into the 21^st, it’s generally accepted that schools will need to seriously evolve to meet the needs of today’s (and tomorrow’s) learners. There is probably no better time to look at the quality of schooling and attempt to inch closer to a fuller understanding of influence that school organizations have children and learning. Learning more about how we can influence student development should then translate into ensuring the focus of the schooling processes maximizes its positive influence.