Latest / IB Unplugged / Building Community Through Professional Learning w/ Elizabeth Imende

Transcript

Building Community Through Professional Learning w/ Elizabeth Imende · IB Unplugged

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Welcome to IB Unplugged, a Kognity podcast for IBDP educators,
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that tackles your submitted questions and challenges by connecting you with
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experts and peers who share their ideas and stories from real classrooms.
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Hi everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of IB Unplugged, where John and I are
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coming from Johannesburg, South Africa, attending the African Education Festival.
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So John and I have been super excited about this festival where we've been able
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to see some fantastic plenary sessions, some great workshops,
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really learn from the community here, get a lot of new ideas for other topics
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that we want to be doing in the future, and hopefully meeting some future guests
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that we'll see later.
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But we've also been able to meet
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with some incredible people here, one of which is Elizabeth Imende.
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Elizabeth is the executive director
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of the Association of International Schools in Africa,
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and we got to meet her
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and really had so many ideas to talk about, like how associations
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can work with schools and teachers and really involved with professional
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learning and really all of the great work that she's been able to do here.
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And we said, let's do an episode.
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Yeah.
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So we want to talk about, you know,
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what's the value of associations and why is it good when schools
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join associations, learn a little bit more and essentially build as a community
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to tackle different problems that are, you know, in their context, specific areas
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or even just look for ways to develop professionally that might not,
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you know, include
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just moving up the hierarchy at your school,
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but ways that you can impact other schools as well.
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So everything from, you know, what's important
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about being in an association to the professional learning
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opportunities, the leadership that comes from this.
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So we've got all sorts of things we wanted to talk about with Elizabeth.
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And we really hope you enjoy this episode where we talk about associations,
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why that's a useful thing for IB schools to be a part of.
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Yeah. So let's get started. Let's bring in Elizabeth.
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Well, Elizabeth, welcome to IB Unplugged.
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We're so excited that you joined this.
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And, are willing to talk to us a little bit
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about how we can build community
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through professional learning and of course,
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professional learning communities and that sort of thing.
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So we're super excited that you're here.
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Thank you. It's wonderful to be here. Yeah.
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Awesome. Well, we always like to kind of warm up a little bit.
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And we know that you've worked across
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so many different regions, lots of different systems.
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We were interested
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what's taught you about the power of learning from others?
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Well, thank you for the question.
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Yeah.
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I think one advantage to working across, because I've been in the
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US public school system, the international school system,
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I taught IB in Germany early in my career,
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public schools in the US, and then I'm a product of African
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international schools and wonderfully got to come full circle with that.
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And I think what's been consistent
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is that, you know, education is
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wonderfully complex.
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And because of that, there is no way to sort of go alone.
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There’s no silver bullet.
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There's no curriculum that's going to work
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surefire every time.
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It's so complex that it has to be approached systemically.
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And there's no way to go about it except collaboratively.
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You need all the best minds, all minds on deck, all hearts on deck.
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There are professions where you actually can go solo
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because you're in there.
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But education is not one of them.
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And so it's been, I think, wonderful in every community
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I've been a part of,
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seeing how the community views the task ahead, understands how important
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it is to get these students, you know, to where we want them to be,
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and then commit to working together, to working through the challenges.
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And we're going to, you know, we're all going to,
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align ourselves around this mission that's bigger than all of us
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and better than all of us.
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And how that brings out the best in people.
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I love this.
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I honestly, I'm all about it because education isn't in isolation.
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No, it can't be.
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It has to involve all of us.
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And I love that you said, you know, not just minds, but hearts.
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Yeah.
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I love that.
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The mission alignment I think is so core.
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And I think that one piece of that is also
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at which level you think about your education community.
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And I was wondering if we could talk about for you personally, what does
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a community really mean for you in education?
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I love that question,
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because community is a word we all throw around.
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Don't throw around, actually. That we understand is
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what we're joining, what we want to be a part of. I think,
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personally community has to start with,
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you know, starts outside of school with the people that you realize
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you need to,
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who you can be vulnerable with, maybe even outside of the professional setting
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and who you kind of intentionally stay in touch
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with as part of your own self-care, especially, you know, at all levels.
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I think we're all leaders, whether you're head of school
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or a teacher, we're leading lessons, so that's part of self-care.
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But then also and always realizing that there's to a commitment
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when you're talking about community. So what am I gaining,
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and, very intentionally and gratefully from this community, and what am I giving
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very intentionally and generously to the community?
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And then the school community. School communities are interesting
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because they are,
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you know, you've got,
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you're there to get a, I don't want to say product or service,
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you're there to get an education.
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And parents and, depending on the school, you're tuition paying or you're not,
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but you're there for that, but you realize you have to work together,
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and in ways that are respectful and open and honest in order for
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that to happen, to create the environment for learning to happen.
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So, you know, I think, you know, any time people are together
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and they know that there's a common purpose or something
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they're trying to make happen, and what are they willing to give up
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and give in order to do that functionally and sustainably.
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Yeah.
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That shared responsibility that comes in to that to them.
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Yes. Yeah. Yes. Nice.
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All right. Well I guess
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then our final sort of warm up question before we get to the meat of this,
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I wonder if there's a moment or a story you remember where collaborating
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with some other educators really changed or shifted your thinking?
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Oh my goodness. Like, every day, but,
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well, I'll go back to,
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I think, recent history when Covid hit
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all of us in schools and there was no blueprint,
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you know, and a lot of other challenges, it's like, oh, let's go to so-and-so,
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there’s a thought leader on, you know, assessment our curriculums,
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you know, student support.
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We suddenly all had no script.
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And so it was, you know, we were creating it.
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Everyone was understanding it live.
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And so in that setting, I remember valuing my
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school leadership team more than ever because I was like,
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wow, this is you know, it takes courage, to keep showing up and going
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no one is here to do it for us. It's us, you know?
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And so bringing our best thinking
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and this combination of, you know, commitment, humility.
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But, you know, yes,
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we don't know what the landscape is, but we have to show up
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and make decisions and do things with some level of certainty in order to,
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you know, serve the community.
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So my immediate school leadership team, but also that it was amazing
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what that did for the global education community.
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People were so generous, you know, and other times
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there might have been a sense of
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competition or, you know, we're keeping our trade secrets.
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But suddenly it was like everyone was like, look, we just did this, you know?
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You want it. How can we make it better?
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It was really, actually a really beautiful time
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within the international global education community.
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It's so nice to have some of you describe Covid as a beautiful time.
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Yes, yes.
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So often we talk about, oh, it was just this massive disruption and it was.
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But you know, if I think the things you've said so far
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that responsibility, that humility, I'm also bringing something to the table.
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It's this shared endeavor that said, here's a collective problem
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where we've got some experiences that will allow us to deal with this,
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but we don't,
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we haven't experienced this before.
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And so we've got to value what everybody else bringing to the table.
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I think that cuts right to the heart of what we want to talk about.
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Great. Yeah.
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All right. So for our first
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segment we really want to talk about the power of associations in education.
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And I know that at AISA you guys have done so much work
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for really building the community, like we were talking about before
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and really being able to learn from each other.
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And so as a general intro question about this, could you describe
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what role associations like AISA play in supporting schools and educators?
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Well, let me go back.
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So when your initial question made me think of a African proverb,
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this might really not be the only time that comes to mind.
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But there's a proverb that says
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a bundle of sticks is not easily broken.
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So, you know, you can break one stick, but put together a bundle, it's much harder.
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And so that to me maybe is the best analogy
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of visual for associations came into existence initially
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because, I'll speak about Africa, such a vast continent.
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And, you know, you had these schools that came into being
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to serve the international community and to serve the local community.
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But they were, you know, you might have one school
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and the next school was two days drive away.
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And the next thing you know, unlike
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when I was back in the US and you had schools next door.
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Yes. So, that idea of, they came into existence
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just to connect the international school community because inevitably
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we will go through things that could threaten
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to break us, geopolitical instability or currency changes or,
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you know, things that are, you know, on the outside and then internally
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within our own communities and so just this idea that
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if we're together and we're a bundle in association
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and you're sharing those things and none of us is walking alone,
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then we're less likely to be broken by whatever challenges, you know, and,
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you know, broken literally in the sense of enrollment dipping
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and our school existential threats, but also just mental and emotional and,
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you know, things that weather a community.
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And if you have a place where you can share those,
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and association that understands them because we're all in the same context and,
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you know, it's an investment in your own sustainability.
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Yeah.
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So I would say that the associations, that's one mean.
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I'm sure we'll get into more about, in terms
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of continuous improvement and the actual school stuff.
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Well, yeah, that's I mean,
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because I very much appreciate the kind of resiliency aspect of it,
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you know, like, here's another school and they're going through the same thing.
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And we can kind of empathize together and tell me more.
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I think there's more with that.
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Like association from like what happens within schools and teachers
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and how they can get better by having that professional community.
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Right? Absolutely.
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So again, all our schools are quite complex systems.
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And so, one of the things AISA does is think, okay,
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how can we support a school by supporting every level of the system?
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So we look at,
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you know, obviously the teaching and learning,
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which is the core, the business of the business.
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And how do we support teachers, so that they
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can do what they do at the level of excellence they do it
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and feel sustained and nourished professionally.
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So that is where we, you know, the start.
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That's the core.
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And how do we do that?
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We bring, you know, we acknowledge the complexity of teaching and
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try to bring resources
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and capacity building, that acknowledges the complexity of the practice.
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And, you know, how do we resource teachers?
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So that's one thing.
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And we do that by, you know, bringing in,
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you know, thought leaders from our own profession and
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written resources, but also connecting teachers to one another.
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That's a huge role that we play.
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And I'll just get practical here.
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We have practice groups in AISA, so you can
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join, you know, a practice group of elementary school principals.
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You can join a practice group of counselors, student support,
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personnel, business managers.
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Yes. Yeah.
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And so that way, you have each other, you know, in between
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we do a lot of events throughout the year because the in-person interactions
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are really powerful.
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So we have, you know, maybe eight events during the year, including our flagship
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annual conference.
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So our time for our community to come together and learn in person.
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But in between that the practice groups are who I can call on
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a Wednesday afternoon if I'm dealing with something that I'm like, I have no idea,
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and you've got someone, you know, that you've met,
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that's in your region, that you have a relationship with and not just one person,
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but a group of people who understand, help you think through that issue.
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You can see how powerful that can be, especially
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if you are like the only teacher of that subject at your school.
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Right?
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You know, like, oh, we have, I don't know, psychology, but I'm the only one here.
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And for example,
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when it comes to,
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I don't know, IAs or something like this, I really love somebody else
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to moderate with me.
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And, you know, so you can see where
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that professional community then makes a massive difference.
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Absolutely. Yes. Exactly.
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How do you think that being part of these associations
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and being these groups can differ from the more traditional
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professional development and professional learning programs
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that you could do as an individual or an individual school?
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Yeah.
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So I think I mean, I'm going back to my
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experience as a teacher where I was always, you know,
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voracious, you know, learner and consumer of professional learning.
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And I worked in schools that were
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very generous with professional learning about it.
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So I was always, you know, it's like, oh, I can go to this conference,
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I can take this online course and I can, but each of those, you know,
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and they were excellent, you know, in terms of content.
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But I was doing it with a different group every time.
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And so it was about the content
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and not necessarily the group because they were temporary.
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It was like, so I was kind of on my own and building my own
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capacity and understanding. But,
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yeah, on that kind of solo path
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with the content, associations, I think the power of them is that
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our community knows one another and they're going to meet each other.
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So we have virtual workshops that run all year long,
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and they see each other in the virtual workshops,
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and then they see each other at the tech summit,
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and they see each other at a conference. Then they're in the same practice group.
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So suddenly, you know, the people are as much, I mean, are
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as rich, a source of professional learning as any content will ever provide.
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Right?
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And to me, there's a
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dynamism in what, because you're consuming a professional learning,
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then you're applying it in your context
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and there's a
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learning that comes from that, that's almost like richer.
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And then you're then sharing it with your colleagues.
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So, a case study that like, oh yeah, this happened here.
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And here's how. Yeah.
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So that's the power of the same community and that you're consuming,
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that you're feeding it back.
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And that just makes the whole region and all of us so much stronger.
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Yes. Yeah.
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That's so and I, because I think there's something that
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there's been so much study on the idea with professional learning.
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If you go and do one session
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and then you go back to your classroom like, that's not enough,
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you really need to be in this kind of, it takes a certain amount of time
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and a certain amount of revisiting of professional learning for it to stick,
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but like you said, that just puts it in
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isolation of you as the teacher and consuming
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the professional development.
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But how much power there is and I'm sure there's so much impact
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in revisiting professional learning with the same other people,
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because if you go to an IB conference or something like that, you'll meet
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amazing people in workshops and learn from everyone there.
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But then there isn't the follow up on that piece, too.
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And yeah, that's the part I haven't thought about that.
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I think that's really interesting.
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Which then I guess leads to the idea that I think schools have to be adaptable.
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They have to change with the times and things have to adjust.
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And so I'm wondering, you know, what sort of role then do associations
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play or with, how are they kind of uniquely positioned,
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I guess, to help drive change across multiple schools
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so that we can adapt to things like Covid, like you were talking about before or
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right now,
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AI and some of the things that are challenging almost all of us?
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What's that sort of unique position of the association that helps to drive that?
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You know, one of the things is we then have this history, right?
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I mean, AISA has been around for 60 years.
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And again, schools have been a part of this,
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you know, party association, many of them, for decades.
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And so what that,
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you know, and so we've seen, we've weathered a lot of storms.
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So you have that history.
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So when something new comes along, its like, well,
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we know what we do when, you know, we're not disabled.
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We have a history of things happening that are difficult
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and we're devastating and we pull together as a community.
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And we learn and we support each other and we,
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you know, we stay committed to our own learning and growth into one another.
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And so that I think, even with this AI thing again, this is a good example
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where we know it's a good positive thing and it has potential, but it,
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you know, there's a lot of, uncertainty and fear in it, too.
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And so I think but we have this habit of
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that we've built together of showing up, you know, with,
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you know, commitment to our own learning, with openness, with integrity, with
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a desire to understand what we're facing and then our community
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and how do we integrate it, or grow into it in a way that,
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you know, that best serves our community.
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So I think you just developed this habit of being and responding to change together
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that enables you to do it well,
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you know, no matter what comes.
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Showing up professionally, giving your best.
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Willing to learn what's happening and then,
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you know, working together on that.
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And that's actually been a really inspiring thing
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I think to watch is again the relationship piece.
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You know, in our practice groups, there's something about, you know, when you see,
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you know, you could be pretty awesome as a school and doing well,
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but then you show up to this group of schools and you see how
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their commitment and how they are processing
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the professional learning, being,
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you know, being committed to taking that learning, applying it, coming back
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the next time you talk to me like this is how it went.
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Somehow it just raises the bar.
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So you all, you know this from teaching.
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It's like if you create this culture in your classroom
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that a new student comes in, they could be for a whole another,
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and they're like, oh, I guess this is how it's done around here, right?
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Yeah. So that's one of the things that that's true in the association.
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It's like new teachers come from other, or new school joins
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and they're just like, whoa,
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like clearly this is just, there's a standard.
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We're not even talking about it, but it's just how we show up
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and how we do things that inspires other people to, yeah, be better.
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Yeah. No, I love that.
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And I think that that makes so much sense
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because it's the same thing with within teachers in a school.
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And it's such a big
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reading the room when you're a new teacher in a school.
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Like how do people do things?
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Yeah.
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You want to match what's happening there, either for good, hopefully, or for bad.
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But, a bit more,
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I want to dive more into this kind of community piece.
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And I think these practice groups are a fantastic example of it.
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But for you, what are some of the best ways
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that you see collaboration amongst the different schools?
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Sure.
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Well, so, one of the things that
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we've tried to address as an association and say one of the ways you stabilize
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schools and communities is making sure things are codified
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that are excellent and, so that they're accessible
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when people come and go, there's something.
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So one of the things happening right now, actually, is that
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AISA created the child protection handbook that's used globally.
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And, we created for our region
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association, but it's now used globally and so this is the 10th year.
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And so there's been a 10th year edition.
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Let's revisit.
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There's probably new, you know, there's definitely new research and new things.
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So we thought it would just be kind of a easy little upgrade.
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And now it has more than 30 new chapters, because in ten years there's,
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you know, all this learning
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that people are so excited to contribute and, so that'll come out.
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There's a student, there's a group of educators from across our region.
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There's so much good happening in terms of enhancing student support
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in our schools.
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And it's something our schools are all really committed to.
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But the how has been challenging.
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And, schools that are at different levels of implementing,
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more robust supports for neurodiverse students.
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So there's a group of educators in our region that are like,
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well, let's collect that because we're all talking about it.
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And all these events and virtual workshops, but
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let's collect that in a student support handbook that can be used regionally.
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There's a small schools guide coming out for small schools because they have unique
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needs where they're where, you know, they wear so many hats and
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different things that make them sometimes
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a little more susceptible to change or difficulties.
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And so a group of small school heads have helped us,
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and it's been a two year project,
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come up with this small schools guide that now new heads in the region
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that are new to headship or new to small schools aren't starting from scratch.
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So I think that's one of the more powerful,
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examples of
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schools in our association saying like, let's get this down in a way
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that outlives us and outlives, you know, and that helps
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whoever comes next,
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won't have it as hard, they won't be figuring out from scratch,
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so that they can start from a higher place and, you know, make it better.
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Yeah.
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So that's I think one of the more powerful.
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Well, it's massive, powerful.
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You can see how that then engages everybody in the community.
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And it kind of brings these voices in,
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brings in the research that you might have been doing.
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The different case studies that people might have to help contribute to that.
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And you can see where that really kind of moves beyond,
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like you have the flagship event that you're talking about.
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There's kind of
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a networking opportunity there, but then it kind of moves from there
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into like the genuine, more impactful relationships themselves.
20:45
Is that something that is mainly happening through the association you feel,
20:48
or is that kind of facilitated more in the association
20:50
that schools and teachers can then be a part of,
20:53
and then have more of that impactful practice?
20:55
Yeah, I think so, because again,
20:57
you know, any individual teacher in a school,
21:01
they can be doing wonderful,
21:03
awesome things for their students or for their school.
21:05
Suddenly these teachers and leaders think, you know,
21:09
I can contribute to something, a handbook or a course or module
21:13
that will have impact across the continent.
21:15
It's just about this
21:17
taking who you are and what you have and investing it,
21:20
you know, in a place in a way that's going to have even broader and longer
21:22
lasting impact, and the associations can provide that, you know,
21:25
you can give in a way that will impact a teacher
21:28
and students that you'll never meet, you know?
21:29
So that's, I think, a unique thing,
21:33
you know, unique advantage that we have and that we can offer.
21:37
And that they can see, I think the professionalization of,
21:40
you know, of education where you're not just
21:43
you're impactful in the classroom, but you're also impactful,
21:47
you know, there are teachers who are like, I love teaching.
21:49
I don't want to be a teacher, principal, middle..
21:52
You know, that's not how they see
21:55
success or growth, but they love, you know,
21:57
the association then offers them a way to contribute beyond their classroom
22:00
or school in a different way than just being an administrator.
22:03
It's, Yeah.
22:04
So it's, I think something that teachers appreciate that we offer them.
22:10
I keep coming back to that analogy at the start, that sort of one stick
22:13
and then multiple sticks together and you see how that then
22:16
builds that stronger community.
22:18
And then almost as a community, we're moving forward as a whole community.
22:22
It's not everybody's kind of jetting off in all these different directions,
22:24
and we're going to try to pull it together here.
22:26
It's rather, let's collectively move on child protection or on inclusion
22:31
or whatever thing is impactful for our learners right now.
22:35
Yeah, I love it. That's great.
22:37
Yeah.
22:37
I think these handbooks and these guides are really profound.
22:41
Like you said, we are going to help the schools afterwards.
22:44
I love that idea of like, let's make it easier for the one.
22:46
So not everybody has to work as hard as I did to be able to get to this stage.
22:51
I really like that.
22:52
Are there any kind of changes that you've seen specifically
22:56
at any schools that you feel like have been this direct consequence
23:00
of the kind of different groups, organizations, handbooks that you've seen,
23:06
that you've all produced in the association?
23:08
Yeah.
23:08
I think, when I speak to, because I meet with heads also separately
23:13
in monthly, and we have heads come new into the region.
23:17
And some heads, it's their first headship order,
23:20
so they're very honest and open in these monthly
23:22
calls that we have about challenges they're facing.
23:24
And then sometimes I meet with them one on one.
23:26
And I think they're very, you know, the help that they get with
23:30
how to, the skill that it takes to interact with and
23:35
manage sometimes their boards, they've talked about how,
23:39
wow, if I had had to learn that on the job, I don't think
23:41
by the time I learned it, I'm not sure
23:43
I would have had a job anymore because you don't want it.
23:45
It's like, you know, you don't always want to learn on your own, you know?
23:49
So they have so appreciated,
23:50
oh my goodness,
23:51
you know, having both the community of heads there,
23:53
but also resources where they can learn and apply it immediately.
23:58
I mean, I love I did my, graduate work in adult development and this and I think
24:03
I loved focusing there because adults have this very,
24:07
you know, urgent, concrete need for the learning they're getting.
24:09
It's like, I need to apply this now, both to be effective
24:13
at what I do and also probably, you know, and also to make sure that I'm
24:17
competent and people have confidence in me.
24:19
So you feel that, we feel that all the time.
24:22
People's real need and gratitude for a while.
24:25
I needed this like now to be able to do this well.
24:28
Yeah.
24:29
And this spans everything from governance to,
24:34
you know, your parents are, in our case, they’re tuition paying,
24:39
they expect, you know, we're not experimenting on their child
24:41
to see how to do this right.
24:42
They expect us to, it's high stakes in that regard.
24:44
They only go through fourth grade once.
24:47
So it's like, we really need you to know how to do this.
24:49
Well, you know, and so even, you know, we have schools
24:52
that span who've been here for 60 years at schools that are five years old.
24:54
And so the ability of the five year old school to have a six
24:58
year old schools,
24:59
learning and here's how you know, they just
25:02
it just quantum leap in terms of your ability to do things well.
25:06
You kind of punch
25:07
above your grade or whatever, because you have the benefit of colleagues
25:11
and resources that show you help, you know, how to do it better.
25:14
Of course, you always have to contextualize it, and it's your community.
25:16
But yeah, you're not guessing it. Oh, I hope this is right.
25:19
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:21
This works. Yeah.
25:24
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25:26
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26:02
Now back to the show.
26:05
But that brings us really nicely to our next part,
26:07
because I know, you know, associations have a lot of power within education
26:10
in terms of what we can do.
26:11
And of course, you're building strong community,
26:12
but there's also the professional learning piece of that too,
26:15
you know, that that individuals can actually learn really well in terms
26:18
of how they can do their job better in their specific context.
26:22
So let's talk about like, why that locally grounded
26:25
professional learning is so important and how, you know,
26:29
yes, we're we're kind of working as a community.
26:31
But I guess it's more of that piece of
26:33
like now that I bring that into my context here.
26:36
How do I make the most out of it?
26:38
Yeah.
26:40
That's also why I love being part of an association
26:42
that the fact that we are regional is very important.
26:46
Because often our schools are members of other associations,
26:50
like they'll be for example, we'll have a British school
26:52
that's a member of say Kobus, which is council
26:56
British international schools globally. Right? So they'll go to that.
26:59
But they will say the difference
27:00
because people say, well, why are you members of both?
27:02
Like isn't that redundant?
27:03
And they'll say, well, no, we're members of AISA because..
27:05
Kobus it’s,
27:06
you know, our British colleagues are on the world, but there are
27:11
our colleagues who are in Africa, even if they're not a British school,
27:14
but they know the realities of building a school
27:17
that has global excellence with the local realities.
27:21
They know, you know, there's a link, you'll start a sentence in other heads,
27:24
like, oh, my God, I know exactly like we've gone through that.
27:27
This is how we handled it.
27:29
And you hear that all the time on our calls.
27:30
And people are, you know, and these are issues
27:33
that would not just,
27:34
don't happen in other regions, but you've got those colleagues who
27:39
understand the local context and you can talk about when you can get
27:43
the best professional learning in the world, the best teacher training.
27:46
But really, the rubber meets the road, you know, when you're thinking about,
27:49
okay, how does this work at my local context?
27:51
And that's what the associations enable,
27:54
are those conversations.
27:55
Yeah.
27:55
I think that the context has such a big element there.
27:59
And I think for AISA, it's
28:01
got to be one of the largest associations geographically.
28:06
I mean, we say a local context but then it's also like a regional context.
28:11
How do you balance an entire continent while also keeping a relevant
28:17
context for kind of each individual school in different countries?
28:20
That's a difficult balance to maintain with such a wide geographic.
28:25
Yeah. And it is. And it's so diverse. You're right.
28:27
That whole thing, that there's more diversity
28:28
within groups than across groups sometimes in Africa.
28:31
I appreciate you just reminding us.
28:33
We don't paint it with a broad brush.
28:35
There's so much diversity, even within a country and across countries
28:39
and then regions.
28:41
So, one of the things we try to do is,
28:44
you know, even starting with our board composition,
28:46
being attentive to that balance, are we balancing our small schools
28:49
with our large schools? Do we have representation?
28:51
Do we have, you know, what's unique to our West
28:52
African as opposed to our sub-Saharan and our, you know, East African?
28:56
I, as doctor, consume more news
29:00
about what's happening in Africa.
29:02
So you know, the reality, the geopolitical reality,
29:04
different heads are facing so that something's happening
29:07
in the country that erupts a water shortage or a political tension.
29:10
I'm calling them. I don't have the answers.
29:12
But like, I know this is going on in your country.
29:14
How's it impacting? The school how’s impacting.
29:16
So just,
29:18
you know, being there and actually our heads are amazing at doing this
29:21
for one another.
29:22
I often get, you know, an email that goes, you know, just so you know, this school,
29:26
you know, because sometimes I don't know, even
29:27
within a country, within that county, something that's happening.
29:30
But they're always get it going.
29:32
They reach out to their colleague and they reach out to me.
29:34
So, you know, and so then I can reach out and I let others know because they,
29:37
you know, other head might have been through,
29:39
they might not be in your county, in your country,
29:40
but they've been through something quite similar.
29:42
So just heads up anyone.
29:44
So yeah, it allows us to be there for one another,
29:48
even while we acknowledge that diversity.
29:51
Yeah, you can see them why
29:53
people in those regions would have very contextually
29:55
like specific space where they're trying to develop
29:57
and they're trying to learn and grow as their own educator and apply
30:00
what's happening in their region.
30:03
And I guess,
30:05
when I think about workshops, I'm an IB workshop leader as well,
30:08
and so you kind of go to these things, this is sort of one off bet.
30:11
And this person comes in and is a part of it.
30:13
And you mentioned the practice and that sort of thing that
30:17
the members get to kind of work through together through all that.
30:21
How do we kind of encourage those individual educators
30:24
to take a lot more ownership over their professional development,
30:27
be involved with the different communities,
30:28
essentially reaching out to
30:30
to grasp all these beautiful things that you've been talking about with regard
30:33
to the association?
30:34
Yeah, that whole like you can lead
30:35
the horse to the water, but you can't be like how, you know..
30:38
One of the things we,
30:42
and I am trying to
30:44
really help educators in our region understand, is that you also are,
30:48
it's kind of that responsibility also to the community you have.
30:51
You are not just a consumer of learning like we need to know what happened
30:55
when you took the learning,
30:56
it went through your system, your practice,
30:58
your experience, your classroom and what comes up the other end.
31:00
We want that, you know, that's gold.
31:02
And so, we're trying to create ways to help educators
31:07
who have that, who have incredible
31:09
practical experience and insight to have the courage
31:13
and confidence to see themselves as someone who can, you know,
31:18
support the professional learning of others and create ways,
31:21
we're creating ways now that if you think you have something to share and,
31:25
just come to us, we'll help you with the whole,
31:28
you know, some of the pieces about adult development and adult training
31:31
that are different from teaching students,
31:33
will help, you know, and we have formal ways
31:35
that we can help you and give you feedback even before you go to our conference.
31:39
But our conferences have shifted where, you know, they may be where
31:42
80% external experts, 20% local to 50.
31:45
Now it's, you know, 50:50 and shifting in the other direction because, you know,
31:51
they're the most powerful, they've taken in,
31:53
and at this point, you know, people have had really high quality,
31:57
you know, professional learning from people we consider kind of
31:59
the global standards in different areas, whether it's, you know,
32:03
tiered learning or
32:06
standards based grading, or,
32:07
you know, good governance practices.
32:09
We've brought in the best. So people have had that.
32:11
Now we're like,
32:12
so now show us what that looks like when you applied it and you are now,
32:16
you know, see yourself as someone who's now in a position
32:19
to teach and train those coming along.
32:21
And I think that motivates people also,
32:23
because then they're not just like, oh, okay, I go and I consume.
32:26
Yeah. Just tells me more of what I should be doing now.
32:29
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:30
And you know, those voices, because I sit in on these sessions and I'm
32:35
so blown away.
32:36
I do think,
32:36
you know, that when practitioners step into that space it's powerful.
32:40
Yeah. You know?
32:42
And empowering people to feel like
32:44
it doesn't take 20, 30 years
32:47
of teaching experience to have a voice that's worth sharing in the workshop.
32:52
I mean, when I think about my professional development
32:54
that I've done, some of my very favorite workshops have been ones
32:57
where the leader comes with so much humility of like,
33:03
I've been doing this only for X amount of years,
33:06
and I just went through this really hard thing,
33:09
and I'm just here to share what I did and also learn what you've done,
33:15
because I think there's also the dynamic shifts with the people who attend,
33:19
because it also means that there isn't such a power
33:22
imbalance between the leader and the people at the table.
33:25
Suddenly they're like,
33:27
it's not just empowering the voice of the workshop leader.
33:29
It's empowering the voices
33:31
of everybody else in the room, too, because it's not just you're the sage
33:35
and the person with all the wisdom that's imparting it on us.
33:38
It's creating such a more balanced power structure between everybody in the room.
33:44
That I always think those are some of the best workshops.
33:47
Yes, I agree 100%.
33:49
And lends itself right back to what you said
33:51
earlier about we're all leaders, right? Regardless of what level you're at.
33:54
So why not grow your leadership right until your abilities there?
33:57
Together.
33:58
And yeah, that to me is one of the most exciting things about being,
34:02
in my role and in the
34:03
association is, wow, like, it's the richness of
34:07
learning and the potential we have to contribute back to the field of education.
34:11
You know, I just think our research knowledge base education, just like
34:15
any other industry, is constantly growing.
34:18
And it's fed, though, by two sources.
34:20
One is like research, you know, people who are off in the
34:22
education IB towers and are doing actually controlled
34:26
research studies,
34:28
but also practitioner experiences,
34:30
you know, and those two are, and actually often it is
34:33
someone out there doing research and then they ask a teacher school
34:36
if they can come use their school case study to test out their fear.
34:39
And then they, you know, they test out that
34:42
and then they put a name on it or call it, okay,
34:43
this is differentiation or these are manipulatives.
34:45
But I always remind practitioners, they didn't do that and
34:49
they got that from watching some incredible educator doing this.
34:53
That was like, sure, you can watch me, I'm just trying to do this all.
34:55
And they're like, it's brilliant. We'll, we'll call this this.
34:57
But so, all our research knowledge base comes from practitioners.
35:01
And so it's whenever you have teachers and practitioners and leaders,
35:04
you've got this rich,
35:05
you know, resource of understanding and insight to improve the profession.
35:09
So it's up to us, I think, as associations to capture that
35:13
and create channels for that to come out and serve the broader community.
35:20
Okay.
35:20
So we've spoken a lot about like, what associations can actually be do
35:24
and how regardless of what role
35:25
you're playing at your school, you can contribute to the community.
35:28
You can contribute your ideas and your research, that sort of stuff,
35:31
and make it really good.
35:32
And at the same time, leaders have a very important position
35:35
in their schools, they have an important role
35:37
to really cultivate that idea of like, this is shared community.
35:40
This is shared understanding.
35:41
We can all get better.
35:42
So I'm wondering, what role do you see leaders playing in fostering
35:47
that culture of collaboration, that culture of learning together?
35:51
Yeah. Wonderful question.
35:53
Because I think, when you think of education training and our, you know,
35:58
principal training and head of school training, often it is focused on,
36:03
you know, the concrete elements of a school enrollment management and,
36:07
you know, hiring and recruiting and all those elements.
36:11
And I'm not sure being a steward and builder of culture
36:14
as named as explicitly as just as important
36:16
as all those other kind of technical elements
36:18
as we know, that is critical.
36:20
You know, it's kind of, you know, you are as the leader, responsible
36:24
for creating this culture that you can't, you know, you can't maybe touch and see,
36:29
but it's so real. And it's how is this,
36:33
you know, your modeling and also
36:36
asking people to step up to a way in which we interact that honors expertise
36:40
and each of us, and that acknowledges that this work is too important
36:43
and complex for anyone not to show up 100%.
36:46
We need 100% of you. That's why we hired you.
36:48
We get 100% of you.
36:49
You're not, you know..
36:51
And as a leader, there's that quote about like, a leader is
36:55
measured by how they cultivate and bring out,
36:59
you know, the leaders and others
37:00
or how many leaders they create, that kind of thing.
37:03
Or about the best leaders
37:05
the people say we did it ourselves, that whole thing.
37:07
So I think that I happen to be wearing this,
37:11
but, you know, my job
37:14
is to make sure all of the leadership in
37:17
you is not wasted, or is not unseen or on activated, because we need it.
37:23
And I think that whole I'm here all the time culture eats
37:25
strategy for breakfast.
37:27
And I think that's such an important
37:29
thing to come back to because a leader thinks of themselves as board hired me,
37:33
the school has a strategy,
37:34
I'm moving us towards that, whether it's fiscal or curricular.
37:38
But being inattentive to how people are doing, how they're feeling,
37:43
how power they feel, how hurt they feel is,
37:46
you know, we'll sabotage, whatever else you try to do.
37:49
Right?
37:49
So we have School Heads Summit every year.
37:52
It's coming up actually in May.
37:54
And we rotate which region are so in Zimbabwe this year.
37:59
And one of the things I'm really excited about,
38:00
we have a head in our association who's coming to talk about this idea
38:03
of relational vigilance as a critical leadership,
38:06
being vigilant and attentive to the quality
38:11
of the relationships that you're having with your leadership team, for sure.
38:14
But with the whole school,
38:16
and measuring your success by the health of your relationships.
38:19
How comfortable do people feel
38:22
talking to you?
38:22
How much do they believe that when they're talking to you, you're really listening
38:25
and that you can be influenced and changed by what you're listening to?
38:29
You know, all those ways that, just like the students, we say students,
38:34
they have that, what do we call like, the BS radar.
38:37
You know, you can, you know,
38:38
this can be coming out of your mouth, but they're watching for incongruence
38:41
between what you're saying and who you are.
38:43
Yeah, yeah.
38:44
And so that becomes exact same principle on a leadership level.
38:48
You know, your faculty or staff, they're watching.
38:50
You can have
38:51
you know, it's not a political role where you're just saying the things
38:55
how you are, who you are, what you're modeling is really, where the truth sets.
38:59
So it's really important. Yeah. Yeah.
39:02
Nice.
39:03
And I think that's such a great perspective on it.
39:06
And I think that that's coming from the head and the head is thinking about
39:10
what are the ways like
39:12
that's going to then lead to empowerment of other people
39:15
if they feel like they can speak up and they can create change,
39:19
then it's worth thinking about
39:23
your own development or the development of your school a lot more,
39:26
if you feel like something could come of it.
39:30
Yeah, yeah.
39:31
And I think that's one element.
39:33
What else do you think is kind of core for creating a culture in a school where
39:39
the teachers
39:42
want to grow professionally and really want to be taking
39:46
that active role in shaping the strategy that the school is created?
39:51
Well, I think as leaders here.
39:53
Well, when you recruit these people, they bring something unique
39:56
that your school needed.
39:57
And so not forgetting that once they're in the door, it's like, you know,
40:01
going back and looking for
40:05
ways in which that person can lead
40:07
and some of their school needs and finding their voice.
40:10
It's not just faculty, as usual, saying you know, head saying something, assistant,
40:15
it's like, well, this week, you know, we're going to hear from,
40:17
so making their expertise visible in a very structured, intentional way.
40:22
So that they're presenting they're teaching us in some way.
40:25
We're learning from them.
40:27
Also inviting them. Hey, there's an upcoming,
40:29
so for example, AISA has all these events
40:30
and there's some heads that are really good.
40:31
They'll call me back.
40:32
I have teachers that I want
40:34
presenting this like I know they might not have a thing,
40:36
you know, they need this push, but they can do it.
40:37
So then we'll be like, thank you for telling us.
40:39
Like they're good.
40:40
So then we'll follow up and go, hey, your head said,
40:44
you know, your expertise got, you know, spotlighted there.
40:48
And what that does when they, you know, feel seen in that way
40:51
and that, wow, my head recommended me to you and said that I had something
40:55
that the whole, you know, broader community can hear from.
40:57
So I think back to your question, inviting them both in just schoolwide
41:03
events and
41:04
meetings to lead, but also then bringing them on to the broader stage
41:10
of our educational community and saying, hey, you know,
41:12
you have something to offer, offer it.
41:14
And then also,
41:16
maybe creating a culture also where faculty are able to highlight,
41:20
you know,
41:20
wow, this person in a conversation, or I set on their class
41:24
and it unlocked something for me professionally, helped me serve
41:27
my students better, creating a culture where that's done and talked about,
41:31
and shared, I think is really powerful to say you're not just here to teacher,
41:35
you know, for students, you're here
41:36
to teach your peers and creating ways for people to talk about
41:40
when and how that's happening.
41:42
Elizabeth, this was so, so good.
41:44
You know, you can tell how important it is to be part of these associations
41:48
and to really build that community more, because it's not just
41:52
the resilience aspect that we spoke about at the beginning here,
41:55
where, you know, schools can kind of weather
41:56
the storms better together, but there's also these
41:58
professional development opportunities and ways
42:00
that really people can become better all together.
42:04
You know, I'm reminded of why we are talking right now
42:07
is because we're at this conference that's focused on ubuntu.
42:09
And this idea of, like, community really
42:11
brings us together and allows us to be better.
42:13
Education is not an isolated thing,
42:14
like we said at the start.
42:17
And so you can really see all the ways that you're talking
42:20
about this from the leadership part, from building community, from
42:24
working together as associations that really
42:27
you end up creating the best things possible for students in the classroom.
42:31
And then that's our goal, right?
42:33
We're able to really get better as educators
42:35
and then we can bring more powerful things to our students.
42:38
Absolutely.
42:39
You know, I'm so proud of our profession.
42:40
I'm so grateful for you all,
42:43
for even creating space for this conversation,
42:45
because these are things, you know, I carry around in me.
42:47
But then to get a chance to say them again, just I'm leaving
42:51
even filled with more gratitude and pride.
42:54
And just, you know, and humility
42:58
to think about all that we have the privilege of doing
43:01
and making happen and the responsibility we have to kind of create the condition
43:04
so that it's not wasted and that actually happens.
43:08
Your remark, just reminded me of this poem, because it's one of my favorites.
43:12
If you want to go fast, go alone.
43:13
If you want to go far, go together.
43:15
And we say that all the time within AISA.
43:17
But it's not just, it really is why we
43:21
there are things that might take more time,
43:24
because collaborating takes more time.
43:27
But what you get is so much,
43:30
so much better than what you would have had if you try to go
43:33
it alone as a school, try to go it alone as an educator or as a leader.
43:37
So I just, yeah.
43:39
That togetherness, I think it's such a predictor of
43:43
how we can do this sustainably and for the long term.
43:45
Elizabeth. You're awesome.
43:46
Yeah. Thank you so much.
43:48
Oh my goodness.
43:49
What a great opportunity.
43:51
Thank you both.
43:52
Thank you.
43:54
IB Unplugged is a Kognity podcast, hosted by John Patton
43:57
and Courtney Marline and produced by Katilina Gaffney.
44:00
Be sure to subscribe or follow and share with your fellow IB educators.
44:04
If you'd like to submit a topic, request, or question, please do so
44:07
on kognity.com/ibunplugged.
44:10
Let's keep the conversation going
44:12
and support each other in teaching with confidence, creativity, and joy.
44:15
See you next time.