Exploring Learning

Even as far back as 1988, Elise Boulding stated that to point of global education is to “create a peaceful, interdependent world which would be a good place for people to live”. Idealistically, this is what we all want - however, having worked in five different international schools, and having experienced global education in four different countries, the “tensions between the national and the global, as well as between unity and diversity, remain highly relevant in today’s increasingly globalized world” (Ho, 2009). Finding this balance, of retaining identity and culture whilst at the same time promoting tolerance and peace, is exactly the point, to me, of what a global education means, echoed by Global Education for Canadians (2017), which recognises that “relationships with emerging countries are becoming increasingly important” for a successful future. If the global workforce is increasingly dependent on technology (Adams, 2002; Karkouti, 2016) and the point of education is to ready...

Lesson Study as a research concept is a new idea to me - however, the elements of what comprises it are not. I am an advocate of peer observations and feedback as an invaluable tool in improving teaching and learning. However, in the 12 years I have been teaching, I have found that the majority of teachers do not want to engage in this kind of professional learning. I think there are a number of reasons for this but the main one being trust. I have found, in international schools, where your position is never tenured and you are always a guest in a country meaning your status often feels unstable, there is an underlying feeling of mistrust around observations. Rarely are they seen as tools for improvement but instead are viewed as ways to ‘catch you out’ and make you lose your job. It often doesn’t matter if you are an excellent teacher either, meaning even effective and experienced educators are not immune. It was with a refreshing air then that I read the article by Gebert and Gins...

flatconnections.com Working internationally for the past seven years has allowed me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. This has helped me to be open to new ideas, beliefs and cultures, as well as ways of thinking, seeing, and perceiving the world. Studying my MEd online with a global cohort has also opened my eyes to the fact that many countries are still very insular about their approach to education in terms of pedagogy as well as content. We simply cannot afford to be this way if, as many schools nowadays suggest, we are offering our learners a 'top class education'. On today's digital planet, a world class education means we must prepare learners for what the world is now, for  life both off and online - that means we must expose them to a daily routine that requires skills in managing devices, accounts and netiquette. If we do not provide learners with the opportunity to organise themselves effectively and appropriately using technolog...

White Sand Beach, Coral Island nr  Tioman Island Since last July, I have had the privilege not only to have lived in Singapore but to have visited Thailand twice - Phuket last summer and Hua Hin for Christmas - Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Qatar and the beautiful Tioman Island in Malaysia three times! In fact, my family and I just spent the last three weeks on Tioman after a very stressful few weeks of job hunting (see Testing Times ) and packing up to leave Singapore. Upon our return from Tioman, we spent a lovely busy four days in Singapore visiting and saying goodbyes to all the wonderful friends we had made, before finally flying out to a new adventure in Qatar, where we arrived two days ago. In the middle of all this, I have been offered the opportunity to Project Manage one of Julie Lindsay's Flat Connection projects, Global Youth Debate (formerly Eracism). This exciting project joins schools across the globe and provides essential skills of research, collabora...

The end of term is always fraught, but we just received news that our new positions have fallen through. This is stressful to say the least; not having a place to live, move to, job, school for my kids - it's hard. However, I am hoping that, and believing in, the adage that everything happens for a reason. I am also hoping for some good news and something positive to come out of this incredibly difficult twelve months. As if to foreshadow this, on the same say I receive this devastating news, I am also nominated for teacher of the month . Is this the edge of a silver lining? It smacked of irony - but at the same time, did help a little.

I am currently working on the culmination of my Flat Classroom Teacher Certification course, which is a collaborative Global Project Design. I have worked with a colleague from Wisconsin, USA to modify and develop my ' Dare to be Yourself ' unit, designed for my Year 8 and 9 learners this term. Originally written to address the problem of intolerance and lack of kindness, the 'Dare to be Yourself' unit, using the novel Stargirl , has been utilised to become a Global Project that can be delivered across the world and allow learners to connect and observe the similarities that exist in our world, with the hope of building individual, social and global conscience. In preparation, the following feedback has been received from one of the course facilitators:- Stargirl  by Jerry Spinelli from Goodreads "AMAZING!!!! Seriously, this is one of the most thoroughly and thoughtfully planned out projects I have seen. You have chosen a timely and timeless topic tha...