The PilotEd Podcast

In this final episode of the first season, I met former international school students Clara Reynolds and Xoài David, two twenty-one year olds on a mission to decolonise the curriculum in the world of international education. Their movement began as “decolonise the IB” and is now the Organisation to Decolonise International Schools. It has taken hold and empowered other international school alumni, teachers and students. In this episode they explain their aims to eradicate racism and encourage a more globally ethical outlook in teaching and learning: from learning about native histories and cultures to diversifying hiring and recruitment practices. They’re two impressive young women on a mission to do right, and I’m delighted to finish the season with their voices. As IB-educated students they have taken up a huge piece of much-needed work on accountability & amplification of diverse voices in our world of international education. They have also taken swift action in a way that should make us as educators sit up and take notice. This generation are not going to accept the glossy brochure version of international school life if diversity at schools is just paying lip-service. Students, educators and parents are beginning to ask hard questions of their leadership committees and boards. It’s an uncomfortable, pressing issue that erupted again and again this year in our news media and reminded us all of the hard truths: there are still gender, disability and racial inequalities in terms of senior international school leadership and our practices and policies. We saw conversations and public statements on Black Lives Matter and anti-racist policies posted in international school fora from the Council of International Schools and the International Association of College Admissions Counselors, and witnessed allyship groups such as the Association of International Educators and Leaders of Color and BAMEed doubling down on prejudice and inequality in international school systems, making vocal calls for change heard. What Clara and Xoài remind me is that schools are community organisations whose reach is felt long after students leave the gates. The most future-ready and respected leaders are currently putting resources into ensuring that they not only retain, but champion and listen to the diverse voices of their staff and students. If there aren’t any: then it’s some hard questions need to be asked.

ENDNOTE The first season of PilotEd has had a strong focus on educators doing thoughtful and intentional work to create happy, fulfilled students: who are ready for the complex future that awaits them, and who are mentally and emotionally equipped to deal with the slings and arrows of life. From meeting educators in Green Schools to those planning new schools, picking the brains of education futurists to meeting social innovators working to provide education to refugees, there are themes that emerged from speaking to these innovative leaders in education.
1. An academic year without exams was for many, a relief. School leaders were forced to look at other kinds of success. 2. Our learning paradigm is changing: and staff have to be ready for it. Online learning for this generation is not an adjustment: it’s a continual way of being. 3. Values- based education is more important than ever in our increasingly volatile and complex world. 4. Conversations that address all forms of diversity within your school communities are needed with urgency. 5. Listen to your students - and learn from them.In an online context, that becomes even more important: our virtual classrooms have further broken down the barriers between our “at home” and “at work” selves, and we can show up for our students differently, just as they can show up differently to school, in this new normal. Thanks for being a listener to PIlotEd’s inaugural season. If you like what you’ve heard in S1, then please like us or follow @thepilotedpodcast on social media.

Meet Hannah Wilson, an independent consultant and facilitator who specialises in leadership development and training. Hannah was one of the founding members of the Women in Education Leadership movement WomenEd in the UK. She is a DfE coach for the Women Leading in Education initiative and an advocate for flexible working. She specialises in: Diversity, Inclusion and Equality, Professional Learning, Early Career Teachers, Mental Health and Wellbeing.

I met Hannah through my work with WomenEd, but she is a twitter superstar in her own right and I had seen her posts long before I connected with her. As a vocal champion of serving under-represented voices in leadership, she leads by example, taking decisions led by strong core values and modeling what it means to be an ethical leader: coincidentally, that’s also her twitter handle. After speaking to both Lawrence and Hannah I have been struck by a strong similarity in their outlooks: We need to think about the umbrella of all the diversities, and the need for the majority to consider our individual power and privilege as well as that of the groups we identify with. We need to think about all of the "protected characteristics". These refer to the 2010 The Equality Act passed in the UK, and identify groups protected by equality legislation – age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion,sexual orientation, or civil status. Being able to understand the terminology and the fact that discrimination exists in many forms helps us all to recognise our own privileges and unexamined advantages at work and in the world at large, and it shows that the fight to eradicate discrimination is a bigger one than many of us initially think. But it also binds us in that fight in different, powerful ways.

Hannah’s conviction in what she does is absolutely rock-solid. I love her quote about leaving a job because she’d rather step aside than be compromised and then get ill. Important, system-changing work has come to her because of that sense of purpose and desire to improve things. By amplifying what you stand for, and following what you believe in, work comes and people gravitate towards you because it’s authentic. She is exactly the type of leader PilotEd seeks out: one of a breed of highly networked, disruptive leaders: COVID seems like the moment that we will see an important surge of collective agency to change school and educator cultures from toxic ones. Lines in the sand are being drawn by courageous leaders like Hannah, and finding your tribe means you don’t have to be the one person in your school, or multi-academy trust (MAT) banging your drum about change, now you can connect. 

WomenED is just one of those tribes, but there are many others, with different focal points: BAMEed, AIELOC, Daily Writing Challenge group on twitter, seeking out empowering conferences online to be part of, peer support circles and educator coaching sessions.

Further sources & notes:
https://www.hannah-wilson.co.uk //@ethical_leader
BAMEed: https://www.bameednetwork.com/team-view/allana-gay/
Rebel Ideas by Matthew Said:https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52326253-rebel-ideas
Chiltern Learning Alliance https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQjl49issw_Atd7WXH0DDhw
Values Based Education: @vbezone on twitter Rachel Thomas @math_rachel on twitter
https://leanin.org/book
Jill Berry Making the Leap https://www.leadershipmatters.org.uk/ambassadors/jill-berry/
Diana Osagi: https://www.leadershipmatters.org.uk/ambassadors/diana-osagie/
Viv Grant: https://www.leadershipmatters.org.uk/ambassadors/viv-grant/
Karen Giles:https://twitter.com/mskarengiles?lang=en
Evelyn Forde: https://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/columnists/cortez-ford/
Lana Gay: https://www.bameednetwork.com/team-view/allana-gay/
Kiran Gill: https://www.the-difference.com/media-coverage-listing/2018/1/26/kiran-gill-profile-schools-week

Kevin Simpson founded The Association of International Educators and Leaders of Color (AIELOC) - an org devoted to amplifying the work of international educators and leaders of color with a focus on advocacy, learning, and research. Kevin is an entrepreneur and educator whose work came into my frame of reference earlier this year when I was introduced to the AIELOC group by a colleague and friend. Since 2008, Simpson has been focused on education in the MENA region, assisted numerous schools with accreditation, training, development, and served as a thought partner to investors on school start-up projects. Simpson is co-founder of the UAE Learning Network, has co-authored papers on American curriculum in the MENA region with a focus on Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, social studies, the arts, and the history of American Education in the UAE.  His company, KDSL Global is an education consulting company based in the USA and in the UAE. Simpson and his team have served thousands of schools, organizations, educators, and leaders worldwide in over 20 countries.

One of the biggest takeaways from speaking to Kevin for me was his tireless commitment to the various communities he serves. Starting with the community of his 4th grade classroom, and ensuring their exposure to global reference points, and then broadening out to his AIELOC work to elevate and amplify voices of educators of colour - specifically certain groups such as female leaders of colour. AIELOC’s work is in many ways just beginning to be seen by those educators who were not already a part of the affinity group, and that is also part of the issue. If as an educator I was not taking the time to understand that this group needed to exist back in 2017, then I was also not paying attention to my own privileges. As a person of mixed heritage who “can pass” for white, has a British passport and has never been knowingly overlooked in the international school system for my ethnicity, I am aware that I have lived an entirely privileged experience within the sector. Knowing that more visible minorities experience the gamut from microagressions about well-spokeness, all the way through to blatant discrimination, I am acutely aware that those of us who don’t experience this have a duty to call it out, and support our colleagues who do have to live it. As Kevin says, it is everyone’s work to do, and it starts with the individual first.

Talking to Kevin and engaging with AIELOC has broadened my perspective and re-affirmed my commitment to the self-enquiry, learning and unlearning he spoke about. If you have been undertaking similar work, I encourage you to follow AIELOC on twitter, @globalKDSL and the AIELOC group on facebook if you identify as an educator of color. And even if you are not, then there is a fantastic list of ways in which you can lead for change in your own organisations, starting with the investigation of school or university policies, the use of mentoring and investment in professional development of staff as well as the creation of leadership pipelines

Resources: AIELOC: http://aieloc.org Black in International Schools Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/black.in.international.schools
Sign Joel LLaban’s Anti-Racism in International School Accreditation petition on Change.org: https://www.change.org/p/explicit-inclusion-of-anti-racism-in-international-accreditation-standards/u/27081824?recruiter=1113515413&utm_source=share_update&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=facebook
Decolonise the IB Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decolonise_ib/
Liberate Meditation https://liberatemeditation.com
Ayana https://www.ayanatherapy.com

This week I meet Mia Eskelund Pedersen, Co-Founder of Amala, formerly called Sky School - which has developed the first high school diploma for refugees and young persons who are displaced. In this episode, we learn about her inspiring journey to create a much-needed solution to one of the world’s problems using education as a force for unmistakeable change and opportunity.

Mia and Co-Founder Polly Akhurst conceived of Amala,  a blended learning model working to provide high school diplomas and short courses in leadership and conflict resolution to displaced persons, whilst working for the International Office of the United World Colleges in London. If you’re as yet not familiar with the mission statement of the United World Colleges, they are a global education movement that makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.

Transformational education experiences create  people who work to create change. As someone who worked within the United World Colleges movement, I seem to be drawn to changemakers who themselves have spent time within that system.  Mia is one of those people. In this episode she explains how Amala took shape and its impact on the students who have undertaken courses with the organisation, as well as paying tribute to educators and organisations who have lent their support along the way.

In Part One of this podcast we met Clare and David Price OBE, as they delivered an educator workshop on Project-Based Learning at Hilltop Road primary school in Sydney. This bonus episode follows up in a more personal conversation with Clare and David, asking them about their favourite projects, what they have learned over the years about how to encourage collaboration and engage school communities for social good - and they leave us with some key advice for educators who want to try out more inquiry-based methods.

This Episode took me to Australia, where I met and interviewed husband and wife team David And Claire Price, whose organisation, Educational Arts, works with schools globally to transform engagement in learning, for students and teachers. Through leadership of the radical ‘ Learning Futures’ project, David and Clare have developed innovative approaches to transform engagement. Building on what works in schools in the UK, USA and Australia, they offer practical ‘how-to’ training programmes for school leaders and teachers. I was lucky enough to attend one at Hilltop Road Primary, a public school in Parramatta, Sydney, at the beginning of March this year.

I met David after reading his book, Open, and became obsessed with his idea that anyone with access to technology who is community-minded can change the world. He is known as a “Learning Futurist”, and he and Clare are uniquely committed to making sure that the future of education becomes a reality now. 

Project Based Learning, when you start to talk about it , seems simple enough. It supposes that students who engage in a project that is personal to them that is shown to connect with real-world meaning, can be an immersive learning experience that builds student agency.

Audio credit: The introductory concepts of the 5 keys to Project Based Learning, was sourced from Edutopia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzCGNnU_WM&list=PL10g2YT_ln2iMSdZgmrOMkvZ6xtSh8LBa&index=2&t=0s

This Episode took me to the newest member of the Green School, the second school of a growing group guided by sustainable practices, whose first site is in Bali. Private environmentally-conscious school groups such as Green School International are growing fast. Green School New Zealand opened in February, and there are two more planned to open in 2021 in South Africa and Mexico. An average day at these schools might include developing a renewable energy system to learning water safety skills while surfing. Traditional subjects are blended with enterprise and environmental studies.

The school’s futuristic looking teaching pods, or wakas sit on a idyllic 120-acre site the west coast of the north island of New Zealand.

It was here, in a café converted from a barn, where I met Chris Edwards, CEO, and Principal, Stuart MacAlpine. This was week two of the school being open, so I started out by asking Chris and Stuart  how they’d found themselves here after several years of working together at the United World College in Singapore, and why they had chosen this particular kind of project to get stuck into.

The idea of  trying to "do childhood properly" really stuck with me after this interview. Editing this during coronavirus lockdown in Spain, it seems utterly fitting that Stuart focused in on the phrase “you don’t know you’re ill until until you’re well”. Schools are having to undergo unprecedented change as we speak right now, with online learning now a necessity, major examinations cancelled and teachers and learners in real anxious flux.

However, those schools like Green School that have an eye on the well-being of students not only seem to be thinking about preparing young people better for the changing nature of the external environment and the world of work, they are going to be able to build resilience and adaptability in their learners. After all, if your school has co-created your learning with you, you might just end up better prepared for the slings and arrows of life.

I’m Kyra Kellawan, an international careers educator who over the past 15 years has worked in schools and universities in four countries. This is the PilotEd podcast: a series about how education is currently being rebooted. 

All of the educators I meet on this podcast are “piloting” something – whether through innovation in teaching, creating new schools, assessing university applications differently, or driving technological changes in how learners and educators interact. I’ll be speaking throughout this series to trailblazers who have already shifted the concept of what education is, where it takes place, and who it is for, in their daily lives, in the hope that we can all learn a little from best practices across the sector.

For updates, please follow us on facebook or instagram @thepilotedpodcast, and get in touch with any ideas for future guests, questions or episodes that you'd like to hear. You can also reach us on twitter @thepiloted.