For at least 2,500 years, courage has been seen as a virtue. Aristotle, viewed courage as the marker of moral excellence, noting that it was the virtue which moderates our instincts toward recklessness on one hand and cowardice on the other. He believed that a courageous person fears only those things that are worthy of fear. In other words, courage means discerning and thus knowing what to fear, and then responding appropriately to it.
The brilliant British TV comedy series “Yes Minister” took a different, much more pragmatic and cynical view of courage. When Sir Humphrey Appleby thought his minister was about to make a big error, he would raise one eyebrow and say “that would be a courageous decision, minister”. In Sir Humphrey’s world, courage was not a virtue; it was a severe risk.
It seems that courage may be going out of fashion in international education. At face value, schools seemed far more innovative and open to courageous experimentation in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. These days the general rule seems to be to play safe, achieving the often-mediocre outcomes set by external bureaucrats which are measured by standardised testing and dreary, excessively quantitative questionnaires whose principal justification is so-called “accountability”.
“Courage may be going out of fashion in international education.”
At its best, international school accreditation has the potential to encourage creativity, and yet according to many school leaders with whom I work, it more commonly seems to direct schools towards risk-averse conservative compliance that is more directed to please lawyers than parents, students, and teachers.
Of course, courage should not be reckless; it needs to be based on sound research and experience. One of my heroes in education is the brilliant German educator, Kurt Hahn, who was instrumental in establishing the United World Colleges, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Outward Bound, Round Square, Gordonstoun School in Scotland, Schule Schloss Salem in Germany (in partnership with Prince Max von Baden) and, indirectly, the International Baccalaureate (IB).
In a speech in 1965, Kurt Hahn spoke about achieving the right balance between sound experience and experimentation.
One of Kurt Hahn’s (many) enduring legacies is the global network of 18 United World Colleges (UWCs), regarded by many as the gold standard of international education today. The UWC movement was established in 1962 with the opening of Atlantic College in Wales, initially to build peace at the height of the Cold War by bringing together 16 to 18-year-olds from around the world (and from both sides of the Iron Curtain) into boarding schools to study together and to build bridges of understanding.
“Accreditation seems to direct schools towards risk-averse conservative compliance.”
The concept was arguably more than courageous – it was audacious. The selection of students was (and still is) conducted on the basis of merit, with the vast majority receiving either full or partial scholarships raised through National Committees worldwide.
It is difficult to find examples of the type of courage that established the UWCs at work today – the courage to build a world-wide network of schools based on a set of philosophical ideals, independent of students’ ability to pay.
There are rare exceptions, and their rarity makes them notable. For example, a remarkable multicultural school where I serve as board chair, Djarragun College in Australia, was established more recently according to an altruistic philosophy not unlike that of the UWCs.
Seeking to overcome discrimination, lack of opportunity, disempowerment, unemployment and erosion of culture, the school provides subsidised education for disadvantaged Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from some 55 different First Nations. Many of these students have no alternative access to education because of their remote location, poverty, family situations, violence or, quite commonly, a combination of several (or all) of these factors.
“It is now difficult to find examples of the type of courage that established the United World Colleges.”
It’s disappointing that these are such rare exceptions in today’s educational world. They are role models for what international education should be – visionary, courage-based, beacons of hope and opportunity that transform young lives and their communities.
Literature suggests that courage is required of soldiers, athletes, corporate leaders, and (notwithstanding Sir Humphrey Appleby’s machinations) a few rare politicians. However, courage is rarely mentioned as a positive attribute of school leaders or their governing boards. This seems to be an absurd omission. It is hard to imagine any school leader or board getting through a month, let alone a year, without having to make decisions that demand courage.
More often than not, however, such decision-making requires the courage to make important but necessary decisions that will distress some constituents. In some extreme cases (which are increasing in frequency in some places), it may include the courage to deal with physical violence, verbal attacks, character assassination, social media rumour-mongering, or direct challenges to the school’s essential mission, purpose or identity.
In the context of the host societies in which international schools operate, courage for school leaders and boards may also include standing up to societal pressures when these conflict with the school’s firm values position or mission.
It also takes immense courage to be humble, especially in multicultural environments where values and practices may conflict. This is especially so for those who lead international schools as they must find the courage to admit that they are not always right.
“Courage may also include standing up to societal pressures that conflict with the school’s values.”
Similarly, it takes courage for school board members to admit that they can’t always anticipate every possibility, solve every problem, control every variable, always be congenial, and that they will make mistakes. It takes courage to admit these things to others, and even more courage to admit them to yourself.
In a 2020 article for Harvard Business School, Matt Gavin wrote that good leaders with “a deep and abiding sense of courage” can “influence their peers to act with bravery and drive organisational success”.
This highlights the importance of school leaders and boards working effectively in close, creative, courageous partnership.
Ambitious, out-of-the ordinary projects aside, how then should a school leader (and the board) exercise courage as they guide the everyday operations of a typical international school? Some suggestions are as follows:
- Lead passionately by example
Leaders are people that others follow. People follow leaders they respect, and respect flows from “walking the talk”. In other words, staff and students respect those who show servant leadership by only asking others to do what they would be prepared to do themselves. Leading by example also requires passion if the leadership is to be effective.
- Think strategically
Every action taken in a school – courageous or not – should be strategically coherent in enhancing the school’s mission (enduring purpose), vision (strategic priorities) and values (ethical position). A mission-driven strategic plan provides an excellent foundation for coherent, focussed, courageous decision-making.
- Take “acceptable” risks
The word “acceptable” is not intended to be a weasel word here. Different school communities, school leaders and school boards vary in their risk appetites, whether the risk is financial, strategic, operational or philosophical. Courage means taking well-considered actions right up to the limit of risk acceptability, but not beyond.
Living on the other side of fear
I love a quote by the US writer, Elaine Welteroth, in her 2019 book More than Enough: “I realised that if we aren’t vigilant, we can move through our entire lives feeling smaller than we actually are – by playing it safe, by unconsciously giving away our power, by dimming our radiance, by not recognising there is always so much more waiting for us on the other side of fear”.
Those words – living on the other side of fear – would be a great motto for international school leaders and their boards as they work together to chart an exciting strategically-focused future for their school.
This is an edited version of an article published in the latest Spring 2024 edition of International School Magazine, out now.