Nine Reasons How International Schools Create a High Morale Amongst its Staff (Part 2)

“Morale and attitude are fundamentals to success.”
― Bud Wilkinson

A school can be a complicated place. There aren’t many jobs where you surround yourself with hundreds of children every day!

But like any other place of “business”, a school needs to think about how they will keep their staff feeling good about where they work and how they are doing their job.  We all know that teaching can, at times, be quite stressful for the teachers.

When you are feeling good about your workplace and job performance, everyone benefits; namely the students, but also your colleagues and bosses. But when teachers are stressed out and with low morale about working at their school, typically nobody benefits.

Image by Steve Cliff from Pixabay

You can, of course, be in high spirits on your own doing. But it is important to feel valued by the whole school community as that plays a factor as well. Feeling like you are part of a team can help you stay optimistic at your school.

What, then, do international schools do to make sure their staff is feeling valued?

International School Community is full of thousands of useful and informative comments…48609 (11 September 2023) to be exact. We scoured our database of comments, and we found nine that stood out to us as being some of the coolest ways to show appreciation and boost staff morale.

9.  International School of Ulaanbaatar (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) – 37 Total Comments

“We have events committees that all teachers are required to be part of. Some of these committees host whole school parties and events. We have our annual Winter Party and Tsagaan Sar (Mongolia’s traditional White Moon celebration usually in February). This past year the Athletic Director held a staff vs. student volleyball match after school which was a huge boost to our community…”

8. Singapore American School (Singapore) – 370 Total Comments

“The incredible WOW (Work on Wellness) team is constantly arranging outings, workshops, sessions, and activities to bring the community together and provide enriching experiences for staff (and often their family members too!) From Film Festivals to Art workshops to nature tours, meditation retreats, and nature excursions, there’s always something on offer. Most are free, some have a small charge…”

Image by Alfred Derks from Pixabay

7. American School of Madrid (Madrid, Spain) – 106 Total Comments 

“ASM offers staff the use of the school gym when students are not using it. There are also several offerings of events organized and advertised by staff members. These can be sewing classes, wine tastings, horseback riding days, attending a concert, etc. There are also whole school community builder afternoons once a month…”

6. Raffles American School (Johor, Malaysia) – 37 Total Comments

“Firstly, each teacher has their classroom. We have a pantry and teachers’ lounge with a fridge, microwave oven, coffee, couch, board games, books, etc. for teachers to unwind and relax during their prep time or at the end of the day. In Secondary school, we have the Raptors award (along with a complimentary coffee voucher in Parents Lounge Cafe) given by the principal to an outstanding teacher of the week, then passed on from the winning teacher to another outstanding teacher of the week. We have a Social Club committee that will discuss, plan, and execute fun activities for teachers and staff. We also have Community Sports every Thursday run by either a Faculty member or a parent and participated by all – students, teachers, staff, and parents…”

5. NIST International School (Bangkok, Thailand) – 330 Total Comments

“In the secondary school there are “Friday Snacks” catered by the cafeteria every Friday morning during the break. (Sometimes subject departments also contribute to the “snack fest.”) Some teachers grab their snacks and run, but many take the opportunity to socialize with colleagues at the end of the week and take a quick pause in the day. At our Tuesday “nuts and bolts” meeting, there is always coffee and pastries for faculty. There are also coffee stations around the school with free coffee/sugar/milk/tea. I also think it’s a nice touch that fridges around campus are always stocked with milk so that if you do make your coffee, you don’t have to bring your own…”

4. QSI International School of Tbilisi (Tbilisi, Georgia) – 58 Total Comments

“We have two staff parties a year, often at fancy restaurants in the city. There is a social committee that supports the staff by giving new parents baby items and raising money in case there is a death in the family. New teachers are paired with old teachers as mentors. New teachers are treated to a tour of Georgia as part of new teacher orientation…”

3. BASIS International School Guangzhou (Guangzhou, China) – 22 Total Comments

“The school goes way and beyond to create a harmonious environment for teachers. They have happy hour every Friday afternoon, with a beer fridge in the teachers\’ lounge. This is locked for most of the week, except for Friday afternoons. The school regularly organizes social activities. Every Thanksgiving, the school organizes a retreat to some resort for a night and has a banquet, giving away high-value prizes. They throw a similar banquet for the lunar new year and give away many prizes…”

Image by alfbel from Pixabay

2. International School Luxembourg (Luxembourg) – 57 Total Comments

“There is wellbeing committee, a Ministry of Fun, social events around the holidays, new hire gatherings, and training for things like peer mentorship and mental health…”

1. American International School of Lagos (Lagos, Nigeria) – 52 Total Comments

“Every Friday during our WeLearn2 professional development meetings, there is coffee and cookies. Sectional meetings are occasionally used for writing report cards. The elementary principal sometimes passes out treats after a long day of work. The school hosts staff parties before the winter break and end of school, recognizing teachers who have worked at the school for several years…”

If you would like to share what your school does to create a high staff morale, log in to International School Community and submit your comments. For every 10 submitted comments, you will get one month of free premium membership added to your account!

Making an International Move with Pets

Embarking on an international move to teach abroad, whether for the first time or when seeking a new location, is always filled with excitement and unknowns. Making an international move with pets can compound unknowns, and add anxiety. However, with some leg work and a good amount of patience, taking your pets when you move abroad is possible.

Researching the laws for the import of pets for the countries you are interested in is essential. You may find that the pet import rules are less stringent than you thought. On the other hand, the country you were interested in may make it extremely expensive, difficult, or, more rarely, even impossible to bring in your pet. For example, a few countries place strong restrictions on dogs coming in from other countries with a high risk of rabies, and a several-month quarantine may be necessary. For other countries, a rabies titer test may be required, and the whole process from vaccination to blood draw to test results could take months. With prior research, you can focus your time and energy on seeking jobs in countries where bringing your pet will be feasible. 

Additionally, it is necessary to learn about the housing options available to you. If you will be living in school-provided housing, do they allow pets? If not, will the school provide you with a housing stipend to seek out your own? If finding your own housing, reach out to your future colleagues or join local Facebook groups for the city you will be moving to for insights into daily life with pets there. Often, these groups can be sources for information such as which neighborhoods might be more dog-friendly, what cultural considerations to keep in mind, and recommendations for veterinarians, pet sitters and boarding facilities, etc. If you have a dog, also think about housing aspects. For example, is a single-family home or townhome with a garden a possibility? If you are in a high-rise apartment complex, will you be able to get your dog outside easily for walks or bathroom breaks?

The most nerve-wracking part of the international move process may be actually transporting your pet to a new location. Some airlines allow small dogs and cats to be carried onto the plane if they meet the weight and carrier dimension restrictions. Other airlines will not allow pets in-cabin due to cultural reasons or customs restrictions. Either way, if you have a larger pet, the pet will most likely need to travel in the hold as excess baggage or cargo. Typically, traveling on the same flight with your pet as excess baggage will be much more cost-effective than shipping your pet separately from you as cargo. You can make your pet more comfortable in its crate by gradually getting them used to spending longer periods of time inside it. Usually, it is necessary to book the pet ahead of time, as there are limits on the number of pets in the cabin and/or in the baggage hold each flight. Often you will need to make your flight reservation and then call airline customer service to actually book your pet onto your ticket/reservation. 

Moving with your pets can add a layer of complexity to an international move. However, with prior research and a great deal of flexibility, you can help ensure that your pet can join you on your next adventure abroad.

Getting ready to check in at the airline desk.
Long dog walks on the beach in Morocco.
A garden for the dogs at home in Vietnam.

This article was submitted by ISC member, Stephanie Shiers. She has over 10 years of experience teaching English as an Additional Language and Social Sciences in the USA, Morocco, and Vietnam. Currently, she is working as a High School Social Studies teacher at St. Paul American School Hanoi in Vietnam. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Education.

Ten Commandments of Relocating Overseas #7: Try to understand the host country’s perspective.

Try to understand the host country’s perspective.

It would be quite the task to encapsulate an entire country’s significant culture, or even try to boil it down to a few key points. The thing is when you try to define nationality, you resort to simply creating a stereotypical object, which might embrace everything, but really fails to bring out anything significant. It’s the illusion that we can create anything objectively.

But maybe it’s an ancient romantic hope that globalization hasn’t completely devoured us all, and then spit us out as these uniformed clones that all march to the same beat. But when you scratch beneath the surface, and look beyond the fact that we’re all listening to Adele, going to the movies and seeing Transformers #1001, or buying our clothes at H&M, maybe there’s this thing I call “country habitus”?

Habitus can be described as some kind of objective consciousness; how we react, how we think, or how we experience. It’s the significant! It is what describes and sets us apart, it’s our lifestyle somehow put into a template. Habitus is derived from French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and is usually used to summarize people into certain groups based on symbolic capital, which again is how we act based on our status and prestige in society. Can the same be transferred to a country?

To each other, international school teachers often talk about certain common traits in the various countries they have lived in or traveled to.  Albeit very generalizing and objectively, there might be truth to what we say sometimes. You often hear that Scandinavians are very happy people, that Germans are very pragmatic and industrious, or that Americans are much more hospitable than Europeans in general. These are of course very favorable traits, but maybe the traits change depending on who you are, maybe some think that the Scandinavians are very somber and dark, that the Germans are very stubborn and unwavering, and the Americans are ignorant and too self-absorbed. The thing is that you want to paint a good picture of yourself and showcase the best and most favorable traits, while still maintaining something significant. Your own country’s habitus.

We always somehow reflect ourselves in what we think we are, and what we definitely think we aren’t. We belong to a certain kind of culture, maybe only for a short period of time, and then move on. But in that culture we can reflect, feel we fit in, and feel a kind of cohesion, both as an individual and also as a people of a country. We bring our habitus with us wherever we go.

“Try to understand the host country perspective”. When we arrive at our next international school post, we all come with our own perspective, our own upbringing, and our own culture. It’s very easy to dismiss others as being brought up the wrong way or having a culture that we don’t really understand at all, and thereby find useless or unnecessary. There’s a certain prestige in being elitist or being charitable, and having the sense that you contain and understand all traits. Bob Dylan once wrote: “Don’t criticize what you can’t understand.” Back in the 1960’s we assumed people were more open-minded and free-spirited, since then a lot has changed. This world has been through a lot, and maybe the distance between us has grown both smaller and wider. There is a huge difference between everyday life in South Africa and Scandinavia, maybe we all make status updates on Facebook and poke our friends virtually, but how we live, and how we are raised are still very different.

It may take some time for international school teachers to observe the host country.  To find and then understand the multiple perspectives of the host country is a challenging task.  After a two-year posting at an international school, you are bound to know more than when you first arrived there.

So objectivity or an Archimedean point may not completely exist. If we sat down with an entire country’s people and asked them to come up with one significant trait of themselves, it would probably be impossible.  And why even try to minimize an entire nation’s rich culture, just to make it more accessible? International school teachers encounter new perspectives every day, and what is the easiest way to deal with these? Emphatically!

This article was submitted anonymously by an ISC member. Check out the rest of the 10 Commandments of Relocated Overseas here.

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