{"id":8877,"date":"2022-09-18T07:10:54","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T07:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=8877"},"modified":"2025-07-16T07:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T07:25:30","slug":"back-to-school-initiatives-and-new-demands-welcoming-or-stressful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/back-to-school-initiatives-and-new-demands-welcoming-or-stressful\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to School Initiatives and New Demands: Welcoming or Stressful?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every school year, a school always goes through some new changes or simply experiences new things that the staff is now required to do or complete. The changes could be related to the school’s curriculum, some new professional development based on new initiatives, new building procedures (like fire drills), new mandatory training (like child protection), etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For many things (like ones actually dictated by the host country), they are mandatory and the admin simply just needs to fit those required things into their yearly meeting schedule.  Combine those required things with the other things and initiatives that a school wants to do, it can make for a sometimes stressful school year for the staff (and admin!). Furthermore, balancing these new things with your normal planning work and actually teaching students can prove to be very challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what are some of these new initiatives that international schools are focusing on in recent years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of international schools are having their staff work with the Managebac program. There are 97+ comments<\/a> related to Managebac on our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also fairly certain that your school is now or will very soon be going through an accreditation. ISC has 525+ total comments<\/a> related to school accreditation on 351 international schools at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With regards to curriculum, it appears that a number of schools are doing training with the Common Core curriculum. There are 45 comments<\/a> that are about the different schools taking on this in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also 49 comments<\/a> on IB training.  200 comments on different workshops<\/a> going on in 149+ international schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the list goes on…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a possible plan then for balancing all of these newly added things so that staff and admin don’t get too overwhelmed?  As one ISC member wrote about working at United Nations International School (Vietnam)<\/a>, “the [needs to be a] conscious adoption of a “less is more” ethos.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"155595-linebreak\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, International School Community has a comment topic on our school profile pages related to this topic of new things added at a school. Our members can share what current international schools are doing in this topic. There are a total of 1007 comments<\/strong> (Sept. 2022) that have been submitted by our veteran international school teachers in one of the 68 comment topics called – “Recent things that the school has taken on (i.e. new curriculum, specific professional development, etc.).”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few of those submitted comments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The use of Kagan cooperative structures is the focus for this year. The entire faculty had 2 days of training before the commencement of the school year with another session upcoming later in the year. The goal being student engagement. Most of the faculty have been receptive and are already using the structures in their classrooms…” – Seoul Foreign School<\/a> (Seoul, South Korea) – 231 Total Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The school just finished a multi-year curriculum initiative designed to put the entire Pre-K through 12th-grade curriculum documents onto Rubicon Atlas. The school seems to focus most on literacy in the Lower School, innovation and design in the Middle School, and IB\/AP in the Upper School. School-wide, there is a focus on Differentiated Instruction, but this takes different forms in different divisions. There is a new Head of School coming in for the 2018-2019 school year…” – American School of Paris<\/a> (Paris, France) – 68 Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The administration said they care more about kids learning English and Maths rather than any other subjects. What makes the school unique, seems independent of what they are pursuing; bring more local students no matter what their academic level is…” – Changchun American International School<\/a> (Changchun, China) – 168 Total Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Professional development this year has included IBDP two-day Category 3 in-school workshops on the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge. All staff also completed a Stewards of Children online course and a one-day first aid and CPR course…” – Tsukuba International School<\/a> (Tsukuba, Japan) – 58 Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The school has offered, over the past two years, very little in terms of professional development. There has been talk of a curriculum change to the Cambridge Primary Curriculum for September 2018…” – Cambridge School Doha<\/a> (Doha, Qatar) – 85 Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The school is just setting up a Professional Learning Centre to improve instruction and practice at the school first. The school has designated professional learning time on Friday afternoons and encourages professional development…” –  YK Pao School<\/a> (Shanghai, China) – 61 Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every school year, a school always goes through some new changes or simply experiences new things that the staff is now required to do or complete. The changes could be related to the school’s curriculum, some new professional development based on new initiatives, new building procedures (like fire drills), new mandatory training (like child protection), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2161],"tags":[2585,30,187,184,33,748,2561,832,2584,60],"class_list":["post-8877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comment-topic-highlight","tag-busy-work-life","tag-international-school-community","tag-international-school-educator","tag-international-school-teachers","tag-international-teaching","tag-new-teacher-orientation","tag-new-teachers","tag-realistic-expectations","tag-recent-things","tag-teaching-abroad"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/startup-594090_640.jpeg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-2jb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11423,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/back-to-school-initiatives-part-2-navigating-the-ever-growing-list-of-new-demands-in-international-schools\/","url_meta":{"origin":8877,"position":0},"title":"Back to School Initiatives Part 2: Navigating the Ever-Growing List of New Demands in International Schools","author":"ISCommunity","date":"July 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"As another school year begins, international educators find themselves preparing not only for teaching and planning but also for a host of new initiatives and requirements. From evolving curriculum frameworks to mandatory training and accreditation cycles, the list seems to grow longer each year. 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Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum. Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comparing the Schools and Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Comparing the Schools and Comments","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7526,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/is-it-stressful-working-at-your-international-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":8877,"position":2},"title":"Is it stressful working at your international school?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"You probably had a wonderful, relaxing summer vacation. Weeks of hanging out with your best friends and other seasoned international school teachers around the world can truly be most stressless time of the year. It is exciting and fun to get back to school though and catch up with your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discussion Topics"","block_context":{"text":"Discussion Topics","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/discussion-topics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/stress-2902537_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/stress-2902537_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/stress-2902537_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/stress-2902537_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/stress-2902537_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8706,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/current-state-of-finding-an-international-school-teaching-position-in-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":8877,"position":3},"title":"The State of the Job Market for International Schools in 2022","author":"ISCommunity","date":"April 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In this article, ISC would like to highlight some of your recent thoughts and experiences getting jobs at international schools in 2022. It is April, so we are getting closer to the end of the hiring season. If you don't have a position secured, you might be feeling a bit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discussion Topics"","block_context":{"text":"Discussion Topics","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/discussion-topics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-anna-shvets-4226140.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-anna-shvets-4226140.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-anna-shvets-4226140.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-anna-shvets-4226140.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-anna-shvets-4226140.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1343,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/comments-and-information-about-hiring-policies-on-international-school-community-6-saigon-south-intl-school-amer-school-of-the-hague-changchun-amer-intl-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":8877,"position":4},"title":"Comments and information about hiring policies on International School Community #6: Saigon South Int\u2019l School, Amer. 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Int’l School","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Comments and information about hiring policies on\u00a0International School Community: Every week members are leaving information and comments about the hiring policies at international schools around the world.\u00a0 Which ones go to the Search Associates Recruitment Fairs?\u00a0 Which ones hold interviews over Skype?\u00a0 Which ones have hiring restrictions imposed on them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Policies at Int\u2019l Schools"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Policies at Int\u2019l Schools","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/hiring-policies-at-intl-schools\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/images.jpeg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9076,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments-working-in-myanmar\/","url_meta":{"origin":8877,"position":5},"title":"Comparing the Schools and Comments: Working in Myanmar","author":"ISCommunity","date":"March 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Around the world, there are countries (like Myanmar) that have more than one international school. 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