A great resource for all things educational, especially international education.
This website has great information and article entries that are directly related the professionals in the international school community. Make sure to check out what happened to the International School of Stavanger and their recent experience with internet pirates. You do indeed need to be careful where you find vacancies for jobs at international schools.
Highlighted articles:
The John Catt Guide to International Schools 2011/12 NOW PUBLISHED!
“Editor Caroline Ellwood turns her focus on creativity in the classroom, as she notes in her comment piece at the start of the issue.
‘The power of creativity in learning has become increasingly recognised in education. Its impact has been explored by teachers in many different schools across the world. It is considered good teaching practice, especially in schools that invest in training and where faculty have strong admistrative support and encouragement. Being creative means taking risks and that needs to be shared out, so administrators, teachers, students and, to some extent, parents need to be convinced. No, not just convinced: they need to be enthusiastic.’
Contributors to the magazine include curriculum heads at the International Baccalaureate; teachers at The American School of Budapest, The International School of Azerbaijan; the International School, Dhaka; Pre Vert International School, Cairo; and the Yokohama International School in Japan.”
An international school’s encounter with internet pirates
“Over the past several months, the International School of Stavanger has been challenged with a new and unpleasant phenomenon – being taken ‘virtual hostage’ by internet pirates.
In February, 2011 we started getting some emails from candidates applying for non-existent ESL and English teaching jobs. They referred to having seeing ads on various ESL employment websites.
When I went onto one of these websites, sure enough there was a posting for an ESL job at our school starting in May 2011. The job would pay benefits including 1800 Euro per month and the advert suggested applicants write to an individual (who really does work here), referring to her as the ‘Recruitment Manager.’
Of course, the job was pure fiction. Probably the silliest part is the idea that we would be paying a Euro-based salary. The Norwegian Kroner is the only currency we use for salary payments. (However, that last piece of information is also what has led the police to believe that this mischief had been accomplished not by a disgruntled individual with a possible connection to the school, but was probably was a ‘phishing’ expedition.)”
Internationalizing Schools, by Steven Carber, published today!
“Dr Carber goes on to state his belief that the book has as much to offer educators in national education systems as those in international schools. He notes in the preface:
‘It is my wish that the best practices of these international schools will help and inspire public education systems and all schools that wish to internationalize their offerings. To draw from Kevin Bartlett’s words in the concluding chapter, it is a shared wish that national schools, including those in developing countries, do not merely exist to be the grateful beneficiaries of our laudable service learning programmes, but that they become beneficiaries of what we know about learning. We have created exemplary schools and practices; now the challenge is to refine and replicate the model.’ ”
