It would be a tired cliché to describe the past year in independent and international education as a “rollercoaster”. It was, of course, but this year’s experience left educators trying to think of a more extreme metaphor. Was 2021 more akin to being in a washer-dryer? Or a Gravitron spinning fairground ride with an intermittent stop-start feature? Don’t forget to sanitise your hands before boarding.
Despite the constant ups and downs, it has been a huge pleasure for schoolmanagementplus.com to be by the side of educators in the UK and across the world, bringing you all the latest insights from our brilliant contributors.
The year got off to a terrible start on January 4 when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that GCSE and A-level exams wouldn’t happen “as normal”, due to Covid disruption. It was an unhelpful expression but we soon learnt this would mean teacher-assessed grades based on multiple classroom tests. It was all hands to the pumps in schools as they set out to ensure fair grading that was beyond reproach.
Helen Pike, master of Magdalen College School in Oxford, was quick to explain how cancelling exams wasn’t necessarily a certain route to fairness, and debate continued throughout the spring. Outside of the exam years, there was also huge concern over “lost learning”, but Sarah Ford used her column to underline what students may have learnt from lockdown, and highlight the opportunity to broaden how we assess young people.
“It was all hands to the pumps in schools as they set out to ensure fair grading that was beyond reproach.”
As the dark days of virtual learning continued for many across the world, there were plenty of sunbeams to be found, even in February. Tom Arbuthnott, deputy head (partnerships) at Eton College was looking on the bright side as he emphasised the positive impact of lockdown on partnership building between independent and state schools. The imperative to use technology had actually helped to produce a hybrid model of partnership building that could be built on in the future.
And there were further signs of life – and everyday anxieties – blossoming elsewhere. In Thailand, Chris Seal, principal of Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, spoke about overseeing a major building project at his school. The swampy underpinnings of Bangkok caused “a few grey hairs” as his desk vibrated to the tune of drilling machines, he wrote. And Shrewsbury’s extension also seems like a smart move: A report from ISC Research revealed that demand for international schools was still high, despite the pandemic.
In the UK, schools returned at the start of March, with facemasks in classrooms – but Nick Pietrek at Thorpe House School stressed that making the rule completely rigid could make things worse, rather than better.
Hand-in-hand with facemask worries came the deja-vu situation of concern over assessment. Tom Arrand at Cardiff Sixth Form College condemned those “undermining the profession” by claiming that deliberate grade-inflation would take place.
Amid the Covid concerns in independent schools came a V2 rocket of scandal, in the shape of allegations of sexual harassment and assault on the Everyone’s Invited website. Students and former students had accused many schools of allowing “rape culture” to develop among pupils and it looked like some of the country’s most respected private schools were in the eye of the storm.
It later transpired that the problem of peer-on-peer sexual harassment and assault was spread throughout schools – which prompted much soul-searching among educators over what they could do to make the situation better.
“Students had accused schools of allowing ‘rape culture’ and some of the country’s most respected institutions were in the eye of the storm.”
In an extremely popular post, Helen Pike called for more in-depth and tailored education on sex and consent.
Away from outcry over sexual harassment, the thorny issue of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme was on the radar throughout the year. ISMP reported in April on plans for a strike at Stonyhurst School over a plan to leave the scheme, as many other independent schools have done.
In our print edition, an article by Richard Harman, chief executive of AGBIS, offered advice on how to deal with issues arising from changes to the TPS. It was – perhaps unsurprisingly – incredibly well-read.
On April 9, there came the news that the Duke of Edinburgh had died – prompting educators to pay tribute to the man who had launched one of the most popular youth award schemes around. In her tribute, Emma Hattersley said that the Duke of Edinburgh Award had helped young people find their “inner steel”.
Talking of inner-steel, in June, the Girls’ Schools Association asked itself, what makes girls school heads so mentally tough? A mentally tough individual, they say, “sees challenge and adversity as an opportunity and not a threat and has the confidence and positive approach to take what comes in their stride.” Useful attributes in 2021.
As the school holidays came around in July, it seemed apt to re-publish a fascinating article from the prestigious Eton Journal outlining what teachers could learn from video games. Economics and politics teacher Blair Murray Cusati explained how the development of player identity; the provision of information “on demand” and “just in time”; and the use of risk-free “sandbox” environments can create good conditions for learning.
“The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme helped young people find their ‘inner steel’.”
Of course in August, it was exam results time for many, and a constant hum of doubt hung over the grades young people had received. Countering this, Gwen Byrom outlined how the absence of exams this year had allowed students to show their “best selves” and their grades were as valid as any year.
And as teachers prepared for the start of term in many international schools, our regular writer Jess Gosling reminded heads how they need to look after international school teachers arriving in the country for the first time. In Covid times, the problems are accentuated so the more a school can make a teacher feel welcome, the better.
Back in the UK, the term started in September, and we learnt that – like several other independent schools – Haberdashers’ Aske’s Schools was seeking to sever any historic links to slavery. We reported how the Hertfordshire schools were to be called Haberdashers’ Boys’ School and Haberdashers’ Girls’ School, dropping the name of Robert Aske, who invested in the Royal African Company.
While schools were busy scrapping their names, the debate over the future of GCSE has rumbled on through the year – with some calling for them to go, and others looking for reform. In a thoughtful analysis, William Goldsmith, now acting head of Bedales School, looked at the issue in detail, calling for calm and reasoned debate rather than a fight pitting the “scrappers against the conservationists.”
“Peter Green’s piece underlined how some schools feel the odds are starting to be stacked against them on Oxbridge entry.”
Also in September, we were proud to publish our sister publication Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine for the first time.
In one piece, Neil Bunting told us how swapping school bells with birdboxes could create much-needed calm. Tom Hadcroft also examined the importance of sleep for teens, and importantly, how to bring it about.
In October, a light was shone on teacher wellbeing – with a survey revealing that three quarters of UK heads had seen staff crying in the autumn term.
Later in the month, Peter Green, executive headmaster of the Rugby Schools Group, struck a chord with a piece responding to claims from a Cambridge college chief that privately educated students should opt for universities elsewhere. Calling the comments by Dorothy Byrne “patronising, self-serving, institutional posturing” the piece underlined how some independent schools feel the odds are starting to be stacked against them on Oxbridge entry.
In November, we ran an article by Kirrili Williams from Harrow Beijing about the on-going conundrum of recruitment and retention of teachers to international schools in China. This was something that was surely at the forefront of the thoughts of Benjamin Wood, who wrote about his part in successfully setting up Wycombe Abbey, Hangzhou.
Wycombe Abbey clearly got it right, but in a provocative piece, expert Denry Machin warned that not all schools had been so lucky in their attempts to set up branches abroad. In his piece, he explained how false assumptions often threatened to derail international school start-ups.
New regulations in China, too, have caused even the best projects to flounder, and we reported on Westminster School’s decision to ditch its plans for branches in the country.
In the past twelve months, we have also sought to highlight some of the kindness and selflessness on display in schools and among children and educators.
“We are looking forward to 2022, whatever horrors and joys it is likely to bring.”
Richard Backhouse, chair of the HMC, wrote about his successful attempt to row a million metres on a rowing machine to pay for bursaries while Tom Rogerson at Cottesmore School explained how he wanted to create a team of student “Kindness Activists” to make the world a better place.
We also heard how Brumanna High School in Lebanon had raised money to support locals affected by the 2020 port explosion, and then how the school has supported teachers during the on-going financial crisis there.
We hope that in some way schoolmanagementplus.com has played a positive part in the lives of educators everywhere, and by association, the lives of students and their families. We are looking forward to 2022, whatever horrors and joys it is likely to bring. And we want to hear from you.
To write for schoolmanagementplus.com, please contact Irena Barker at editor@schoolmanagementplus.com