The future of teacher and school leader recruitment

A presentation for the COBIS Bursars and Heads of HR Conference on Thursday 4th February 2021

 

International School Recruitment in a Post-Covid-19 World - Tes Webinar

A Tes Webinar given on Wednesday 9th September 2020 looking at the likely impact of Covid-19 on International Teacher and School Leader Recruitment for 2021.

Video here

Slides here

 

How to attract teachers to work in your school - a COBIS Webinar

A COBIS webinar given on 16th April 2020 on teacher recruitment to international schools. The presentation looks at innovative ways of finding talent and ways in which schools can position themselves by building their recruitment brand.

The Video of the Webinar can be seen here
 

The PowerPoint Slides are here:

4 red flags to check for in an international school

Most international schools are highly professional, above board and are great employers – but, as with most industries, there are some cowboys out there who cut corners to make a fast buck. However, unscrupulous schools are easy to spot if teachers do their own "due diligence" and check out their potential employer. Here are my four key red flags to watch out before you sign on the dotted line…

1. 'Visa runs' 

Reputable schools will ensure that a work visa is in place before you start work – it will either be sent to you in advance or left so that it can be collected from the visa desk at airport arrivals. Sadly, this will not always be the case. Some international schools expect new staff to enter the country on a tourist visa, which they will then change to a resident work visa in due course.
A tourist visa is usually only valid for 30 or 60 days and there are per diem fines for staying beyond the allotted time. So, if the 30 or 60 days elapses before the work visa has been processed, schools expect teachers to go on "visa runs" – i.e. to leave the country and re-enter on another tourist visa. I’ve heard of cases where teachers have had to go on visa runs throughout their first year working. Although the travel costs are usually picked up by the school, there is a personal cost in time (for example, a lost weekend) and in terms of settling in and establishing a normal life (a work visa is often required to get a local bank account).
In most countries, it is illegal to work on a tourist visa and, again, there are hefty penalties for both the employer and the employee if caught. This puts the new teacher in a very vulnerable situation. One of the major reasons why schools are not able to process work visas promptly is that the school itself does not yet have all of its paperwork in place. New schools typically have to go through a long process of documentation involving several government departments before they can get the status to sponsor work visas. In their rush to meet a September opening deadline, many new schools are forced to cut corners – visa runs are a symptom.

2. Cash payments and employer shock 

The norm in international schools is for your school to pay your salary into your local bank account. However, there are times when this is not possible because you have not been able to set up a bank account because your visa paperwork is not in place. In these cases, the school has no alternative but to pay the teachers in cash, which can be hugely inconvenient for the teacher.
 In similar vein, there are many examples of it only becoming apparent at the first pay day that the de facto employer is not the school for whom you’ve been working for the past month, but some other third-party company. This happens because schools (particularly UK franchise schools) enter into partnerships with local companies who own and manage the school.

3. Accommodation anomalies 

Many international schools provide accommodation to teachers as a benefit for the first part of their term of employment. Sadly, there are many cases in which schools do not deliver the type of accommodation that was promised at interview. In some cases, flats are smaller than expected or of a lower quality; in others, they are in a totally different part of the city, necessitating a lengthy daily commute. At its worst, single staff are informed for the first time on arrival that they are required to share an apartment – or even a room.

4. Beware the scams: jobs that don’t exist 

Check that the job actually exists. There have been a number of scams in the past decade in which scammers use the names of prestigious schools to con prospective teachers. The scammers send out job offers on amazing terms but to clinch the deal, the unsuspecting candidates are required to wire a few thousand dollars to a purported travel firm so that visa papers and work permits can be processed, money which they say will be refunded once they have joined the school. Suffice to say that no reputable school requires candidates to pay costs up front in this way.

“Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted” 

Moving abroad is costly and involves making personal sacrifices (resigning a good job in the UK, relocation, etc). Because of this, most teachers are so invested in their move that they have no alternative but to play along when a bad employer moves the goalposts. In practice, when things go wrong it is very difficult for a new teacher to challenge a school over its poor practice during the first months of living abroad. The choice is binary: put up, shut up and stay – or quit. All this can be avoided if teachers do their own research before committing to a particular school.

Due diligence checklist 

Contact teachers (via LinkedIn or other social media) who are working or worked recently at the school and ask them:

1. How long did it take you to get your work visa? 
2. Did you or any of your colleagues ever have to go on a "visa run"? 
3. Did you or any of your colleagues ever get your salary paid in cash? 
4. Who is your actual employer? 
5. Who pays you each month? 
6. Did your school accommodation align with your expectations from interview? 
7. Are you planning on renewing your contract when it ends? If not, why not? 

Look for the kitemarks 

One way to identify the more established and reputable schools is to research the international organisations to which schools can belong. The international schools in the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) and the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) have extensive inspection regimes, which will ensure that a high standard of best practice is followed in the schools that bear their kitemark.

This article was published in Tes on 16/01/2019

10 questions International schools need to answer if they want to attract talent:

Before getting close to filling in an application form, international teachers want to know what their new life at your school will look like. Here are 10 questions you need to be able to answer. 
English-medium and English-bilingual schools are opening across the world in large numbers. And that means leaders are not only having to persuade increasing numbers of teachers to work abroad but to relocate to cities of which they’ve never even heard.
Most people have an idea what the major world cities like Dubai and Hong Kong are like, but most will not have idea of cities beyond the capitals. How does one sell working in Almaty in Kazakhstan? Or in Chongqing in China? Or Yangon in Myanmar?
In such a competitive marketplace, schools need to devote as much time and effort to recruiting staff as it does pupils. Here’s some questions that schools need to answer if they want to attract talent.

LIFESTYLE 

Anyone moving abroad is going to want reassurance about the quality of life they will experience living and working in new country. Schools need to address the basic questions about lifestyle by unpacking what day-to-day life might look like for the prospective teacher:
1. Where will I live? Accommodation is going to be high on the list of questions. Schools need to be clear about whether or not accommodation is provided, its location in relation to the schools and the city centre. They also need to outline what support they will provide in helping staff find their own housing and to settle into life in the new country.
2. What will I eat?
Families will want to know about the availability of western foods. Schools can allay fears in this area by providing information on what restaurants and supermarkets are like.
3. Will I be able to communicate in English or will I have to learn a local language?
One important factor living abroad is the ability to carry out day to day business in English. This varies hugely around the world. Whilst English is spoken and understood in most major cities, what often matters most on a day-to-day basis is the ability to communicate with shopkeepers and taxi drivers. Schools need to be clear about any challenges that potential recruits are likely to encounter.
4. What is the Healthcare like? 
Given that health care is free in the UK, it is perhaps not surprising that very few prospective teachers think to ask about the quality of the health provision - but they should. Most schools have excellent health insurance schemes and access to excellent (private) healthcare.
5. What’s it like living there?
One of the reasons why people want to move abroad is to have a base for travel, so schools would be well advised not only to sell the country, but also to outline the local entertainment options in the evening and at weekends. One important question is whether or not It is important also to clear up misconceptions and be transparent about local customs. For example, schools in Muslim countries should explain about expectations about dress code, or access to alcohol, which can vary even in the same country – Sharjah is dry, whereas Dubai is not.
6. How safe is it?
Often the only reason why a prospective teacher has heard of a given country is because it’s in the news because of some natural disaster or political crisis. This inevitably focuses on the hazards and dangers of living abroad and schools therefore need to allay fears about the safety of living and working overseas. Teachers (and the families they are leaving behind will need reassurance. There are typhoons at times of the year in in South East Asia, but there are effective systems in place to support and protect people during these times. The same is true of political unrest where it is very rare indeed for expats to be targeted.

SALARY 

7. What are the living costs?
Most people moving abroad see it as an opportunity, not only to have an adventure, but to experience a better standard of living. Schools not only need to be transparent about the salary and package, but also to help prospective teachers understand what that means on the ground. For example, salaries in Hong Kong are high and tax is low, but the cost of living and accommodation are very high. Conversely, salaries in Malaysia are low, but so is the cost of living.
8. How much can I save?
 Many staff, especially teaching couples, see working abroad as the opportunity to save for the future and the chance to save for a deposit on a house or to pay off a considerable portion of the mortgage. Financially savvy teachers will need the information to do the sums before committing to working abroad.

PROFESSIONAL 

9. What will the school be like?
For many, moving to an international school is a step into the unknown. In practice they are very similar on the ground to schools in the UK and schools need to get this across. There may be questions about the demographic and language background of the pupils and the staff and about the standards of discipline in the school.
10. What are the professional development opportunities?
One of the most popular questions that I am asked at interview is about the professional development opportunities available. This is understandable because talented individuals do not want their time abroad to become a step backwards. Schools who can provide internationally recognised training opportunities will have an advantage in the recruitment marketplace because it is seen both as the passport to the next promotion; or the ticket that will allow them to get a job back in the U.K.

How to do it:

The best way for schools to answer these questions is to produce a video which interviews current staff which can systematically address any concerns of potential recruits. A really good example of this is the Haileybury Almaty’s staff recruitment video which features a teacher talking openly about her initial concerns about moving as a family to Kazakhstan; and a colleague having a coffee in Starbucks and shopping in a local supermarket which is reassuringly like Waitrose.

This article was published in Tes on 09/12/2019

September recruitment pitfalls and how to avoid them

A new teacher no-show can throw an international school's staffing plans into turmoil. Here's a few thoughts on how to make sure it doesn’t happen;

It’s the start of year surprise that all international school principals and HR departments dread: that excellent young teacher who was so keen to move abroad and join the team has just phoned to say that she is now not coming. There’s a week until the pupils return, you’re a teacher down and there’s no supply agency within 3,000 miles. The post-mortem questions flood one’s mind: “Why did this happen?” “What could we have done to avoid this?” “Where were the signs that this could happen?” Soon, however, these are subsumed by the pressing concern, “What are we going to do to solve this crisis?” This was not the start of term that we wanted. 

Catastrophes and cold feet 

September nightmares broadly fall into two categories. 

First, there are changes in personal circumstances: such as the break-up of a relationship or the close relation who has an accident or is diagnosed with a terminal illness. With changes of this nature, it is quite understandable that a teacher might not want to be embarking on a new adventure thousands of miles from home. It’s just bad luck for all concerned. 

Second, there are times when the teacher simply gets cold feet and either doesn’t get on the plane or they head straight back home after a week or so in the school. These occasions should be avoidable. They are usually due to poor communication, a lack of due diligence on one side or the other or unmet expectations. 

Sometimes the school has not conducted a sufficiently rigorous interview process to check that the teacher has thought through what is entailed in moving abroad; at other times teachers can have a romanticised view of what it is to live and teach abroad. 

One common area of contention is that the standard or location of the accommodation provided by the school falls short of the teacher’s expectations. For some, this is a deal-breaker and they vote with their feet and head to the airport to go home. 

International recruitment is expensive at the best of times (adverts, visas, repatriation packages), but the cost of a no-show goes well beyond the financial. Having to find a replacement teacher at the end of the summer often means compromising on standards or the existing staff teaching over allocation. Either way, it is not good for morale and stops any beginning-of-year momentum dead in the water.

So, how can schools dodge the bullet? 

How to avoid the September nightmare 

The initial stage of moving abroad is an act of faith on both sides and there needs to be a transparent, open dialogue. Here are four ways that schools can ensure this: 

1. Don’t oversell your location There is a tendency in international education for schools and recruitment agencies to over-sell locations. We see it all the time: the pictures in overseas teaching advertisements that focus on iconic skylines, five-star hotels and sun-kissed beaches give a false impression of what it is to be an expat working in a school in a suburb. Yes, there can be beach days and it’s possible to dip into the holiday life, but the reality is that staff won’t be living in five-star accommodation and that the daily routine is far from a holiday experience. Schools would be well-advised to dispel the romantic notions at an early stage. 
2. Be transparent Schools should be as open as possible about what the job entails, how much holiday entitlement there is, the quality and location of any accommodation provided, and especially how the package works. They need to be clear about what costs are covered fully or in part by the school. It’s easy for teachers to look at a higher-than-UK tax-free salary, not realising that the cost of living in the city is much higher and that there may significant expenses that they haven’t thought through. One reason for a no-show is undoubtedly that, on reflection, the sums just don’t add up. Packages vary around the world so schools are best advised to be clear about any contribution that teachers will have to make to school fees, medical insurance and travel costs for the family. 
3. Caveat emptor Schools need to do their due diligence as part of the interview process, probing key issues such as the candidate’s motivation for working abroad. Will the candidate be able to cope with living at a significant distance from family and friends; and have they done their homework about some of the challenges that they might face? It is perhaps not surprising that things go wrong when a school appoints a teacher who has never lived abroad before or even visited the country or region. 
4. Deliver on promises One of the reasons that things go wrong is that schools move the goalposts and do not deliver on the promises made at interview. Sadly, this happens, often as not, when the owner goes over the head of the school principal to enforce cost-cutting measures to balance the books. Relocating a teacher to an apartment in a different part of town or providing smaller accommodation may be allowed within the letter of the job contract, but it can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. 

Solutions 

Schools often turn to their extended community in a crisis situation. There is sometimes a suitably qualified parent or a retired member of staff who is willing to step into the breach on a short-term basis. If all else fails, and in absolute extremis, the only solution is to draw on the considerable expertise of the senior leadership team and put them to task until a suitable replacement is found.

This article was published in Tes on 13/09/2019

Seven ways to help new staff settle at your international school

Most international schools need to recruit between 10% and 25% of their staff each year. They rely on being able to attract talented individuals to move to a new country or to move abroad for the first time. Given that the prospect of relocating can be very daunting, a school which develops a reputation for having effective structures in place to support these teachers will have an advantage in what is an increasingly competitive international recruitment market. Here’s seven ways in which international schools can build an effective induction programme to support staff moving abroad. 

1. Guiding new staff through the red tape 
   The induction process for teachers moving to work abroad usually starts months before the adventure begins. There is a certain amount of paperwork that is much easier to do whilst still in the UK, such as getting a local Police Clearance or producing attested copies of Degree and Teaching Qualification Certificates and, where relevant, Marriage Certificates. Given that most teachers haven’t even heard of ‘attestation’ let alone how to complete this complex process, it is important that schools have a strong (and patient) HR team who will put new joiners at ease by guiding them through what they need to do in a timely manner. 
2. Connect new staff through Social Media
   Teachers who are moving abroad can feel quite distant and isolated from the school community they are joining. One way to overcome this is to connect those joining the school in September via Social Media. For example, at JESS the HR Department run a ‘JESS New Starters’ Facebook group which allows the new cohort to get to know each other, to ask questions and, which, over time, has become a repository of FAQs. The group builds a sense of camaraderie so that when they all finally meet at the ‘New Staff Social’, they already know each other. 
3. Relocation Advice 
   One of the most difficult decisions for someone moving abroad is to work out what items they need to take out to the new country. The temptation is to ship too much out of a fear that it won’t be available or will be too expensive abroad. Rather than reinventing the wheel, school HR teams can help by pointing new staff to local online forums and networks (such as ExpatWoman.com). 
4. Meet and Greet 
   The most seasoned traveller will tell you that arriving in a new country knowing that this is now ‘home’ is a totally different experience to going on holiday. It can be an emotional time and a familiar face can be most welcome. It is common practice for members of the school’s senior management team to meet new staff at the airport and to ensure that they are settled into their accommodation, which is usually provided or arranged by the school in the first instance. 
5. Teacher Buddy 
   Schools often allocate new staff ‘teacher buddies’ in the summer term prior to the ‘big move’. This gives an important point of contact for the new teacher, who can help the new staff member both before their arrival and to settle into the school and the expat community.  
6. Living in Limbo 
   It usually takes a number of weeks for Visa and Residency paperwork to be in place. During this time, it can be difficult to buy a car, lease an apartment, get insurance and set up a mobile phone account. A good HR team provide support by advising new teachers on what they need to put in place for this transitional time. (In practice new teachers usually need to take the same steps that would were they to be visiting the country as a tourist.) One of the most practical things that a school can do is to help new staff with WIFI in these early days, for example by lending 4G dongles to new staff. 
7. Introduction into Local Laws and Customs 
   One of the most important parts of new staff induction in an international context is to provide some guidance on local laws and customs. It is vital that ex pat staff understand the expected norms of behaviour when in public, especially at times of key religious and national festivals. For example, there are a range of attitudes in the Middle East around dress code, which not only vary from country to country but also from context (the street, the shopping Mall, the Government building, the beach). It is much better that schools take the time to run sessions on local expectations, than their new staff learn what is and what is not acceptable the hard way. Some schools take the process of induction to the next level by providing classes in the local language to facilitate this process. 

First impressions count, and that applies as much to schools as it does to teachers; so, HR Departments are very much in the front-line when it comes to recruitment and the on-boarding of staff. In the highly competitive world of teacher recruitment, a good HR team who communicates well and puts candidates at their ease is an enormous asset that can make the difference between securing and losing the top applicant. The HR team’s work is not over once the preferred candidate has accepted the post: HR’s role in the induction process is crucial in ensuring that new staff settle and quickly find their stride in the school. This is true of all schools, but the challenges facing HR teams in International schools are even greater as they play a crucial, guiding role in helping staff and their families through the process of moving abroad and finding their feet in what is often a strange, new country.

This article was published in Tes 12/06/2019

How to make your international school appeal to candidates

As the number of English-medium International schools increases around the world, the market to recruit the limited pool of native English-speaking teachers who want to work abroad has become highly competitive. International schools no longer can rely on simply placing an advertisement in Tes to attract an employable shortlist. It is a buyers’ market and schools need to sell themselves to candidates. This article looks at eight ways beyond salary and benefits packages where schools can stand out from the crowd. 

There is something attractive about experiencing exotic cultures and seeing new places, so it is not surprising that one of the major reasons why people look to teach abroad is that they want to travel and explore the world. However, alongside this Wanderlust, there is often an underlying concern that the price of the adventure is a damaged career which will remove the option to return home, should the desire or need arise. Schools need to recognise and harness these emotional drivers in a systematic way if they are to attract top international talent. 

1. Sell your location: One of the unique features of International recruitment is that schools have to sell both the organisation and the city - clearly this is easier for some than others (Dubai v Chongqing). Schools need to paint a picture in the recruitment pack of what it is like to live in the particular region. This need not be an onerous task - local tourist guides can provide suitable copy. 
2. Promote your training and development opportunities: A common question asked by teachers moving abroad is whether or not they will have similar training opportunities to those available in the UK. Millennial teachers are particularly interested in the opportunities for professional and personal development. Most international schools provide routine INSET, but schools can set themselves apart by providing access to portable formal qualifications and training that is recognised in the UK, such as NQT support and the NPQML or NPQH. 
3. Establish the school brand within the region and around the world. Schools that have established reputations within a region or globally are likely to be more attractive to talented teachers. Effective ways of putting a school on the educational map include playing an active role in international schools’ organisations (such as HMC, COBIS and FOBISIA) and applying for (and winning!) international schools’ awards. 
4. Maintain close links with the UK It is all too easy for an international school to sit comfortably and distance itself from the issues which are driving education in the UK. This is a huge mistake. It is important for international schools to remain part of the conversation. Schools should encourage contributions to contemporary debates about educational developments in the UK on social media, by writing articles and by speaking at conferences. 
5. Promote what your staff are doing: Schools that provide opportunities for teachers to share what they are doing and to develop their professional reputation are hugely attractive to prospective candidates. For example, hosting a regional ‘Educational Summit’ can reap great benefits: talented staff have a platform to share their expertise; the school will be seen as a centre of excellence leading the debate; and it will be, in effect, a prospective staff Open Day by drawing in hundreds of teachers into the school. 
6. Develop an International Presence on Social Media Some teachers are happy working in a silo – their classroom is their castle and they are comfortable there. However, increasingly there is a generation of teachers, who have grown up in a world of social media, who want to network with like-minded colleagues and share what they are doing professionally. An effective social media strategy is a cost-effective way of promoting the school both at home and around the world, at the same time as providing an important platform where teachers can connect and gain recognition from their peers. 
7. Use your website: International school websites typically are designed to recruit pupils and to provide information to parents. Few schools consider their potential to be a shop window for recruiting staff – this is to miss a real opportunity. Consider developing a section of your website on ‘Working at Our School’ which includes sample videos of staff talking about what it is like to be part of the school community; and a blog which pulls together contributions to the regional and international educational debates. 
8. Set up a LinkedIn School Past and Present Employees Group. Any school that can establish a professional network of influential and successful past and present employees will be attractive. Such a group would provide evidence of the sort of roles former employees went on to do and shows that the school is sort of institution that is genuinely interested in developing its staff even after they have moved on to their next challenge. 

The quality of teachers determines the quality of a school. One of the most important factors that distinguishes great international schools from their competitors is the ability to recruit and retain talent. International schools would be well advised to put as much effort into building their ‘Employer Brand’ for staff recruitment as they do marketing their ‘School Brand’ to attract students.

This article was published in Tes on 12/06/2019

The State of Independence: the International Challenge

This article discusses the international challenge of educating the 263 million children in the world who are not in education and the part that both digital technologies and profit-making educational providers are likely to play in meeting this challenge. 

The International Challenge 

The past ten years have seen a rapid expansion in British curriculum education overseas. According to International Schools Consultancy (ISC Research), there are 5.15 million pupils studying at more than 9,854 English medium international schools around the world, of these more than 3,586 are British schools. In this time UK Independent schools have begun to establish overseas campuses which have focused on educating the rising middle classes. 

Despite this rapid growth, there is still a huge shortfall in the provision of schooling from a global perspective. Arguably, the greatest challenge facing education today is that there are an estimated 263 million children who are not in education (UNESCO Institute of Statistics Fact Sheet October 2016, No.39). Furthermore, the same report estimates that the world will need 3.3 million more primary school teachers and 16.7 million more secondary teachers by 2030 to meet future demand. 

Two important conclusions can be drawn from these projections. First, that the not-for-profit sector is not equipped to meet this level of demand; and, secondly, the traditional model of one teacher taking a class of 20-30 pupils is unsustainable – it is a luxury form of education which most developing societies cannot afford or achieve. 

Not-for-profit and For-profit Education 

Education in the West has traditionally been provided on a not-for-profit basis either by governments for state education; or, as in the case of most of the UK independent sector, by charitable organisations. State education provided by profit-making commercial companies is not common or popular in the West and is alien to the British psyche: a recent survey of parents by the Varkey Foundation found that UK parents are the least likely of parents surveyed in 29 countries to approve of private companies providing state-funded schools. Conversely, for-profit education is the norm in the aspirational developing world, so it is no surprise that Indian parents are the most likely to approve of private company involvement in education. 

Experience in Dubai has shown that the not-for-profit sector was not equipped to cope with the rapid increase in demand for expatriate school places as the city grew in population. Consequently, the for-profit sector stepped in, adopting a segmented approach to the Dubai market place. The larger for-profit schools’ groups offer parents a choice of price points ranging from ‘premium’ to ‘budget’ The level of provision, which equates with the fees payable, are differentiated by class size, the provision of on-site facilities, the amount of contact time, and the calibre and experience of the teachers. The Dubai for-profit sector has developed scalable models which benefit from economies of scale and from centralised administrative and training functions. 

For-profit schools’ groups, such as GEMS education, already see the developing world as a potential market and have begun to transfer the expertise gained from establishing schools in the Middle East to building and running schools on an ‘affordable model’ in India, South Asia and Africa. These firms have real potential to have a significant impact on the global demand for education over the coming years. 

Alternative Models for Schooling – Commercial Investment in Online Learning 

The sheer scale of the challenge of educating the hundreds of millions of children presently not in school, combined with the likely acute teacher shortage means that we need to find alternative models which extend the impact of a single teacher beyond the 20-30 students who are in their physical classroom. It is clear that digital technologies have the potential to play an important role to play in alleviating this pressure. 

Global education is very big business - it was a $5 trillion industry in 2014 and is growing by about $600 billion a year. It is no surprise that commercial investors are lining up to step in to offer solutions that will harness technologies to drive the education system of the mid-twenty-first century. The investment by these firms means that online learning programmes are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They promise to do tasks currently performed by teachers by offering personalised learning experiences at a fraction of the present cost. Typically, the program ‘teaches’ a topic (through online videos and interactive exercises); then uses low-stakes testing to assess the student’s knowledge and understanding, highlighting areas of strengths and weakness; before recommending which courses or units to do next. 

One of the great advantages of digital technologies over traditional industrial models is that they provide a cost-effective model for making education available on a huge scale. Once a digital lesson has been produced, the marginal cost of distributing it around the world approaches zero. 

Ten years ago, it was unthinkable that mobile phones would transform local economies in Africa , yet today it is a reality. Is it unreasonable to suggest that in ten years’ time a large proportion of those hundreds of millions of children who currently are not in school, would have access to a basic education through the internet?

This article was published in The State of Independence Eds. David James and Jane Lunnon

“What is it about your nasal cavity that you think will help you get this job?”

First impressions count in interviews, don’t they? Most people make an extra effort with how they dress, fix their hair and do their make-up. We all know that strong posture, firm (but not-too-firm) handshake and eye-contact are the order of the day. But why does this all go out of the window when it comes to interviews on Skype?
In the dozen or so interviews which I have conducted in the past fortnight, I have looked up several noses, looked down on bald patches, spoken to cut-off heads and even been introduced to a cat! Furthermore, it’s difficult to make a connection when candidates are checking out how they look on screen or look as if they are speaking to someone over my left shoulder.
 So, given that Skype interviews are becoming increasingly common - here’s a few dos and don’ts:

1. Take some time to adjust the height of the camera. Make sure that the screen and camera is at eye-level when you’re sitting down. 
2. Practise speaking into the camera. Anyone who has done media training knows that the key to coming across as authentic on camera is ‘to look through the lens’. (When I’m doing a Skype interview, I have the camera on a stand just in front of the screen so that when I’m looking at the interviewer’s eyes on screen, I am looking through camera.) 
3. Don’t sit too close to the camera. There is no reason to sit right at your desk, push back a metre or so – there is less of a sense of invading each other’s space and it makes the whole experience less intense. 
4. Invest in an Extension Microphone. A USB extension microphone is very cheap – it will improve the sound quality and will allow you to sit further away from the camera. Don’t forget to test the sound levels. 
5. Think about what’s behind you. A good background can make a positive impression, a busy or untidy one can be a distraction. 
6. Avoid backlighting. The angelic halo tends to get in the way. 
7. Never wear a headset. Do I really need to explain why? 
8. Take time to prepare for the Interview. There’s an element of ritual about face-to-face interviews that prepares candidate for the interview (getting dressed, travel to the school, checking in with Reception, waiting for the interview). Much of this can be lost when you are fitting in a quick interview between lessons or between breakfast and heading to school. Try to arrange the Skype at a time when you have the opportunity to prepare physically and mentally.
9. Don’t put Post-its around the screen – you wouldn’t have notes at a face-to-face interview, so why do people think that it’s acceptable on Skype? It’s so obvious and shows a lack of confidence.
   Oh, and finally, 
10. Make sure that you’re fully dressed! You never know what might happen during the call!

This article was published in Tes 08/02/2019 as '10 steps to acing a Skype job interview'

A Short Guide to Overseas Teaching Contracts

As more teachers consider a time working abroad, here's a simple guide to how teaching contracts work in international schools and some insights into what to look for before signing on the dotted line . . . . 

1. Fixed Term Contracts are the norm – most international schools offer an initial contract of two years which can be renewed either annually or every two years. But be aware that there is not the same job security overseas as there is the UK, although in some countries ex-pats do accrue more employment rights after a period of time (often 5 years). It is usual for there to be a number penalties if the teacher breaks contract by not completing the agreed period, such as a penalty of a month’s salary and the right to any end of service benefits. 
2. Beware the difference between “Overseas” and “Local” Contracts. “Overseas Contracts” are contracts where the teacher gets a salary and also receives a benefits package (flights, medical, housing etc. – see below); whereas teachers on a “Local Contract” will only get the salary. Local contracts are a way in which schools can save money by employing the spouse of someone who is working in the country who has a full overseas package. Teachers should make sure that they are clear about the nature of the terms of the job offer before they sign a contract.
3. How does Sponsorship work? Many countries overseas have a requirement that the employee has to be sponsored in order to get a residency or work visa. The School will usually sponsor teachers, unless they are sponsored by their spouse (as in the case of a local contract). Any teacher who has a spouse or children should check whether the school will sponsor their family or whether the teacher will be responsible for them, which can be an additional cost. 
4. Is there a Pension? What are the End of Service Benefits? Teachers working in the UK benefit from a pension scheme to which both the teacher and the school contribute - this is not the case overseas. Instead, teachers are paid a “gratuity” or lump sum on completing their contract (some countries pay this at the end of each contract, some pay it at the end of service). Typically, the gratuity is worth 3 weeks or a month’s salary for each year of service. Beware that this is usually only calculated on basic salary and not on any bonuses or other allowances.
5. What should I look for in a Benefits Package? There are five key benefits which any teacher moving overseas should consider. 
   1) Medical Insurance – Coming from a country where private medicine is a luxury, it is easy to forget that ex-pats are responsible for putting their own medical insurance in place. Schools will usually pay for this – indeed in many countries it is a requirement for employees to provide a basic level of cover. However, it is worth new teachers getting details of the insurance provision and ensuring that this is adequate. Anyone moving abroad with a family should check that the school’s medical provision for dependants is sufficient. 
   2) Accommodation Allowance – Some schools will provide school accommodation, at least for the first year of contract. Thereafter many offer an “Accommodation Allowance” - It is worth doing some research into what level of accommodation the housing allowance can afford. 
   3) School fees for Children – Unlike the UK, most educational systems overseas are fee-paying and the costs can be quite considerable. Most international schools give either a significant discount (75%+) or up to two free places for children of teachers in the school. Anyone moving abroad with a family should do the sums before they sign a contract. 
   4) Flight Allowances - It is usual for international schools to pay for the flight out at the start of the contract and the flight home at the end. Beware that, in many countries, the return flight will not be paid if the teacher breaks contract or moves to a different school in the same country. Furthermore, most schools will provide an annual flight allowance to allow the teacher to return home each summer. 
   5) Relocation allowance. Moving overseas can be very expensive. In addition to flights, some schools will provide an allowance for shipping personal items and even furniture. The old adage “time spent in reconnaissance is rarely wasted” is ever true. Although some international schools are beacons of best practice, it is a world with less regulation, and sharp practice is not uncommon. For example, some will increase bonuses and allowances in order to keep the basic salary low, in order to pay out a reduced gratuity at the end of service. 

Anyone looking to move abroad should do his/her “due diligence”: find out about the country and research the school. Teachers heading to British curriculum schools overseas would be well advised to move to schools which are in COBIS membership and have a British Schools Overseas (BSO) Inspection report.

This article was published in Tes 'What you need to know about overseas teaching contracts ' 26/01/2019

Some tips on how to get a job in a British School Overseas.

January is the time when teachers in International schools need to decide whether or not to extend their contracts and that’s the reason why this week’s Tes is flooded with advertisements for international school posts for a September start. Here's some insights into the questions that International schools will be asking themselves when shortlisting and interviewing.

1. ‘Will this candidate cope with the demands of living and working abroad?’ There is little doubt that an overseas posting has additional challenges to working in, say, a different part of the UK. There are significant relocation costs for schools in recruiting a teacher from the UK, so schools will want to be confident that the candidate will complete the (typical) initial two-year contract and not leave the school in the lurch after the first month. Candidates need to show that they are able to cope with living at a significant distance from family and friends. Interviewers undoubtedly find it reassuring when candidates have lived or worked abroad, even if it is only for a few months on a gap year. It can also be helpful if the candidate has some sort of local support network in the form of friends or family working in the same city as the international school. 
2. ‘Does the candidate know what the city/country is like?’ There is always an element of a leap of faith about moving abroad, but interviewers will want to be satisfied that candidates have done their homework and have some idea of the context to which they are applying. It is undoubtedly an advantage to have visited the city/country even on holiday. Indeed, anyone thinking of moving abroad might want to invest in their relocation project by planning holidays around visiting potential work locations. 
3. ‘Is the candidate sensitive to cultural differences?’ Anyone living and working abroad needs to be comfortable with having respect for local customs and traditions. This is particularly important in parts of the Middle East where, for example, local attitudes to dress code and to alcohol can be very different to those in the UK. Furthermore, most international schools have culturally diverse student population and teachers need to be able to sensitive to this in the classroom.
4. ‘Does the candidate have experience of teaching students for whom English is not a first language?’ Whilst teaching in English is the norm in International schools it is very common for a majority of students to be working in a second language. This brings additional challenges for teachers and, whilst schools are not looking for every teacher to be TESOL trained, schools are attracted to teachers who have experience of working with EAL students.
5. ‘How much relevant experience does the candidate have?’ There are mechanisms for supporting and ratifying Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in British schools overseas, however most international schools prefer to appoint teachers with at least 2- or 3-years relevant experience. Any NQTs applying should abroad check the level of support that their chosen international school can provide before accepting the post.

A version of this article was published by Tes on 08/01/2019 Teaching abroad: five questions you need to consider 

UK Education PLC simply cannot complete in a Global Marketplace.

Teacher recruitment is top of the agenda for the senior leadership teams in most schools in the UK, but what hasn't been recognised in the debates in the UK media is that Britain is not alone in struggling to find suitably qualified school leaders and teachers to stand in front of classes. There is a worldwide teacher recruitment crisis at every level from classroom teachers through to school Principals: middle and senior leaders are in short supply, and specialist teachers in STEM subjects are at a premium.

Despite all the chest-beating depression about the state of UK education at home, the British education system is held in the highest esteem around the world. UK education is one of the great British exports with the number of English medium K12 International schools growing from 2,584 schools in 2000, to 9,626 in 2018 (up 372% – source ISC Research, May 2018).

UK trained teachers are increasingly in demand and short supply around the world. 

The UK Government seems slow on the uptake that the teacher recruitment crisis is a global rather than a local challenge and are yet to recognise that it is not well placed to complete with the packages on offer around the world. Britain immigration policies make it difficult for talented teachers around the world to move to the UK; and the levels of taxation and the cost of living mean that teachers’ salaries in the UK mean that it is too expensive. There simply are better options out there. Let me illustrate: A UK teacher on U3 earns £40,570 in England and Wales (£48,244 in Inner London); even on U3 with a maximum TLR1 (£13,288) a teacher earns £53,858 (£61,532 in Inner London). After tax, this means that in Inner London a U3 teacher is taking home £35,997.40 per annum and a colleague on U3 + TLR1 is earning £43,704.44 p.a. In contrast, equivalent classroom teachers in Dubai can be on a package of over AED 400,000 p.a., which is over £80,000 p.a. tax free. The living costs in Dubai are comparable to that of living in London, and the lifestyle is, arguably, significantly better. The contrast is even greater in senior leadership roles. Turning further East, salaries are even better with schools in Hong Kong and mainland China are offering even better annual packages.

Teaching abroad has become much more normal as commercial school chains (such as Nord Anglia and GEMS) have spread their reach, and as UK Independent Schools have established franchise schools around the world (e.g. Dulwich International, Harrow International). Today, working overseas, far from being seen as a hardship posting, increasingly is considered a desirable career move. These factors have meant that working abroad has never been a more attractive career step for teachers. Some estimates but a figure of 15,000 on the number of teachers leaving each year to teach outside the UK. As yet, not much has been done to persuade teachers to stay. And the problem is only going to get worse. 

The rapid expansion of UK curriculum schools around the world is set to continue and this means that British curriculum international schools will be looking to recruit an estimated 180,974 more staff within the next 5 years and 428,963 staff within the next ten [ISC Research Data – May 2018]. This expansion will create even more opportunities for British teachers abroad . . . and place an even greater strain on teacher recruitment and retention in the UK.

A version of this article appeared in the Tes 13/11/2018 Double your money abroad: why the recruitment crisis is a global issue.

#FutureSchool: How technology can help us educate the 263m children in the world who currently are not in education

The Challenge 

The greatest challenge in facing global education today is that there are an estimated 263 million children who are not in education (UNESCO Institute of Statistics Fact Sheet October 2016, No.39). Furthermore, the same report estimates that the world will need 3.3 million more primary school teachers and 5.1 million more lower secondary teachers by 2030 to meet future demand. 

The traditional model of one teacher taking a class of 20-30 pupils is unsustainable. 

What is clear from these projections that the traditional model of one teacher taking a class of 20-30 pupils is unsustainable – it is a luxury form of education which most societies cannot afford. We need to look for alternatives and, if we are to be successful, technology undoubtedly will have to have a large part to play. 

How Technology can make education more widely available 

Zero Marginal Cost 

One of the great advantages of digital technologies over traditional industrial models is that as a product becomes more widely available the marginal cost of producing additional units approaches zero. Compare, if you will, the costs associated with producing and distributing a print edition of a daily newspaper and a digital edition. For both formats there are a number of fixed costs (e.g. the salaries of the journalistic staff, the cost of running their offices etc.) However, for the print edition there are many more variable costs (e.g. more rolls of paper will be required to print more newspapers) which do not exist for the digital version. For the print edition there will always be an additional marginal cost of producing an additional newspaper; but it makes next to no difference if the newspaper distributes one digital copy or one million copies. We can apply the same principle to education: once a digital lesson has been produced, the marginal cost of distributing it around the world is almost zero. 

Online Learning Platforms 

Online learning programmes are becoming increasingly sophisticated. These platforms are driven by intelligent systems which promise to offer personalised learning experiences. Typically, the program ‘teaches’ a topic (through online videos and interactive exercises); then uses low-stakes testing to assess the student’s knowledge and understanding, high-lighting areas of strengths and weakness; before recommending which courses or units to do next. These platforms are still at a formative stage but there is no doubt that they have potential to be the true disruptor of education. As with all disruptive technologies they will initially be established at the margins of the educational sector, but, in time they will become accepted into the mainstream. 

Blended Learning Programmes 

There is little doubt that most Governments around the world will be attracted by online learning platforms in order to reduce the overall cost of education and to address concerns about teacher shortages. However, it must be recognised that schools fill other important social functions: they provide significant child care, thus releasing parents to participate in the work-force; they are places of socialisation, where young people learn to interact with each other and to become good citizens; and they ensure that all children within the system reach a minimum standard of education. It is very difficult to see how an education system that is wholly online will fulfil these functions at scale.

Blended Learning Programmes combine online learning with ‘brick-and-mortar’ education where the student attends a physical school with teachers so that there is a coherent programme of study. This combination of a traditional school experience with online learning has real potential to be the best of both worlds: providing a more cost-effective form of education which is more personalised than the present model, whilst maintaining the important social functions that schools fulfil. 

Remote Teaching and Virtual Reality Teaching 

One of the great benefits of the Internet is that we are now able to connect with people around the world typically through video-conferencing apps such as Skype or FaceTime. Communication technologies may also be harnessed by schools to allow ‘Remote Teaching’ i.e. live school lessons that taught by a teacher video-conferencing into the classroom. The problem with this is that it is difficult for a remote teacher to engage the pupils. 

360 Degree Camera in French Lesson
Virtual Reality Teaching

At JESS, Dubai we are taking this idea to the next level. ‘Virtual Reality Teaching’ (VRT) has the potential to allow children in Calcutta to feel as if they are in a classroom at JESS, Dubai. Earlier this year, we conducted a “proof-of-concept” test of VRT aiming to give students an immersive experience of being in a classroom, rather than passively watching a video-conferencing screen. This involved putting a 360-degree camera in the second row of a classroom and running a live stream to a classroom next door where three students wearing VR headsets ‘participated virtually’ in the lesson. The experience was so real that the pupils found themselves putting up their hand to answer the teacher’s questions! (A video of the experiment is on the JESS Digital YouTube Channel.) We are confident that it is only a matter of time before students will be able to attend class at JESS remotely via VTC. 

Robots and Supporting Personalised Learning 

Technology is doing to have its greatest impact in personalised learning by making highly specialised support more widely available. A great example of this is the way in which robots are being used to deliver lessons in a way that promotes engagement in learners with Autism. The Robots4Autism project which has built Milo, a humanoid robot, can walk, talk and even model human facial expressions; and never gets frustrated or tired. Milo helps these learners improve their social and behavioural skills and thus to gain the confidence to succeed academically and socially. 

Final Remarks 

New technology has promised for the past thirty years that it will entirely transform education and I suspect that it will be a number of years before it delivers on that promise. However, there is huge potential here to get much closer to educating those 263m children who presently are not able to go to school.

This article was written for the Edarabia Network

Has the time come to start replacing Secondary Teachers with Para-Teachers and the Application of Technology?

Ideal World v Reality

In an ideal world we would want every secondary school child to be taught by a suitably qualified specialist teacher, however we are far from that reality. 

• On a global level according to UNESCO, there are an estimated 263 million children who are not in education and the world will need 5.1 million more lower Secondary teachers by 2030 to meet future demand. 
• On a more parochial level, the UK National Audit Office report Training New Teachers (10 Feb 2016) showed that the proportion of physics classes taught by a teacher without a post A-level physics qualification rose from 21% in 2010 to 28% in 2014; Indeed the Institute of Physics in 2010 estimated that some 500 secondary schools in the UK didn't have a qualified Physics teacher.

Given that the teacher recruitment crisis is only set to get worse, has the time come to review the role of teachers and to look for new models for our schools?

In The Future of the Professions Richard and Daniel Susskind argue there needs to be new business models for education:

‘It is widely recognised that there is insufficient funding available to run high quality schools and universities if teachers and professors operate in the traditional way.’ (p.208)

Revisiting the Role of the Teacher

Susskind and Susskind  argue that professional work should be 'decomposed', that is broken down into constituent ‘tasks’ and that a 'Process Analyst' should determine if these tasks could be carried out by a less qualified Para-Professional or indeed  by the application of technology (See previous blogpost for a summary of some of their key arguments). 

So what of teaching? Can teaching can be decomposed and the tasks either delegated to a 'Para-Teacher' or performed by the application of technology?

Teaching Decomposed

It is undoubtedly possible to break down 'Teaching' into a whole range of tasks. Indeed Governments and Trade Unions around the world have a range of views of what should be (and what should not be) the tasks that teachers do. It is difficult to find either a consensus or a list that comes without a political agenda. However, the US Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics (2015) Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is fundamentally an official careers advice site, lists ten 'duties' of a high school teacher which appear in most other lists:

Screenshot of US Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for High School Teachers (captured 17/03/2017)

Process Analysis of the 10 teacher tasks:

We then need to determine which (if any) of these tasks could be carried out by a less qualified Para-Professional or indeed  by the application of technology.

Is doing this task not getting the most out of a qualified Physics teacher?

One way to facilitate tackling this question is to imagine a school that only has one suitably qualified Physics teacher when it really needs three. The school leader might want to maximise the impact that the one Physics teacher has on the teaching of Physics across the whole school. Which of the following tasks would the school leader be able to delegate to a lesser qualified Para-professional (or non-Physics graduate qualified teacher)? Can any of the tasks be carried out by the application of technology?

1. Planning Physics lessons;
2. Assessing students to evaluate their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses in Physics;
3. Teaching students Physics in full class settings or in small groups;
4. Adapting Physics lessons to any changes in class size;
5. Grading students’ assignments and exams to monitor progress in Physics;
6. Communicating with parents about students’ progress in Physics;
7. Working with individual students to challenge them, to improve their abilities in Physics, and to work on their weaknesses;
8. Preparing students for standardized Physics tests required by the state; 
9. Developing and enforcing classroom rules and administrative policies; 
10. Supervising students outside of the classroom—for example, at lunchtime or during detention;

A Process Analysis might decide that 

1. Planning Physics lessons needs to be done by a Physics professional, However, the planning of lessons could be centralised and done by one person who ideally (but not necessarily) would be in the school.
2. Assessing students might be done in a number of ways including by professional judgment of a Physics teacher; by tests marked by the Physics teacher or by a Para-Teacher with a mark scheme; and by online adaptive testing.
3. Teaching students might be done in a number of ways including by a Physics teacher physically in front of a class or by video-conferencing; by online lectures; and through online courses.
4. Adapting Physics lessons might be done most easily by a Physics professional, but can also be done by adaptive online courses.
5. Grading students’ assignments and exams by professional judgment of a Physics teacher or by a Para-Teacher based on assessment and objective criteria; and electronically as the result of online adaptive testing.
6. Communicating with parents about students’ progress might be done through traditional means such as written subject reports or parent-teacher meetings, but might also be done through teachers have 'live' online markbooks which are available to parents.
7. Working with individual students is best done by a Physics professional.
8. Preparing students for exams might be done by revision lessons run by a Physics professional, but increasingly there are online revision resources (e.g. BBC GCSE Bitesize) and online self-testing programs.
9. Developing and enforcing classroom rules is not directly Physics related and could theoretically be carried out by a less qualified Para-Professional.
10. Supervising students outside of the classroom  could be carried out by a less qualified Para-Professional.

Decomposition and the Question of Quality of Outcomes for Student Learning

The next step is for the Process Analyst to determine the relative quality of outcomes for student learning of these teacher tasks being performed by a qualified classroom teacher following the traditional model and the alternatives: the 'Para-Teacher' or 'Application of Technology' models. 

If we accept that Assessing Students might be done by a Para-Teacher with a mark scheme or by online adaptive testing. are these alternative models better/similar/ worse for student learning  than assessments conducted by a qualified Teacher?

Whilst the qualified professional is likely to be qualitatively better at conducting many of the teacher tasks, it is quite possible that there are circumstances where the alternative models may be better, particularly when we take the matter of scale into consideration. For example, a teacher may be able to produce personalised learning plans which address individual concerns and go at an appropriate pace for each student for a small number of students, but this level of differentiation may not be possible when teaching a large number of sets and with large class sizes. Conversely, an online adaptive course with built-in assessments might be able to provide personalised learning plans and assessments for thousands of pupils at a time.

And so . . . .?

As the statistics given at the start of this post suggest, we are already facing a challenge of recruitment of specialist teachers. Many schools are already having to explore alternative models to staff lessons in 'shortage subjects'. 

We have to recognise that the traditional model of a suitably qualified specialist teacher standing in front of a class of 30 pupils is a luxury form of education which most societies can no longer afford.

Although many in the profession recoil at the thought of revisiting our traditional classroom model, it is time to abandon our idealism and find a way of delivering the best possible form of schooling that is practically possible. The 'Para-Teacher' and the 'Application of Technology' are likely to have a significant part to play in the future of secondary education.

The Future of Schooling – A view from the Middle

This article was published in The National on 20th December 2016

The Challenge 

Source: Richard F. Elmore, Harvard University,

Supporting Strong Instructional Practice Feb 2015

One of the greatest challenges for Education in the Twenty-first Century is that there is an ever-increasing divide between the demand for learning and the supply of schooling. This is seen most obviously in the global shortage of teachers, but it extends to dearth of school leaders and to the unavailability of schools themselves. According to UNESCO, there are an estimated 263 million children who are not in education and the world will need 3.3 million more primary teachers and 5.1 million more lower Secondary teachers by 2030. There is no easy solution to this problem, but I believe that lessons from how the Middle East is addressing the problem may provide a solution that will work in other parts of the world. 

You might ask, ‘Why would a solution come from the Middle East? Why not from the most developed Educational systems of Europe and North America?’ Well, I believe that the answer to that lies what Clayton M. Christensen of the Harvard University Business School, calls ‘Disruptive Innovations’ - i.e. innovations which transform the entire form of organization and management of established institutions. Christensen argues that one of the characterististics of ‘Disruptive Innovations’ is that that they ‘originate in Low-End and New-Market footholds’ (‘What is Disruptive Innovation?’ HBR December 2015). On this basis, it is more likely that a solution the Learning-Schooling problem should be found in emerging educational market of Dubai than in established settings of the the US or the UK independent sectors. 

Lessons from Dubai 

The traditional model for schooling around the world was one where education was provided by Governments or by charitable not-for-profit organisations. In the UK, the church and the independent schools, and subsequently the State provided education. No one countenanced the concept of making a money out educating children. Indeed, prior to the recent machinations by the UK Charity Commission, the provision of education was considered an inherent good for the wider benefit of society [a concept in which many of us still believe].
However, Dubai is different. Today 92% of the population are immigrants – economic migrants if you like – who can never be citizens of the UAE. In this context, the State recognizes the need for there to be good schools in order to attract workers to Dubai, but, understandably, sees no reason to provide education for the children of ex-pats free of charge. The consequence has been the growth of the Private School sector. In the early days of the UAE (the nation is only 45 years old) the first schools were founded by the companies working in the country – they were Not-For-Profit following the UK, French or US models. Today 95% of Private Schools in Dubai are For-Profit. The expansion of Dubai is so fast, that the Not-for-Profit sector is not equipped to respond – with the inevitable consequence that the For-Profit sector has filled the void. Market forces play out on the Dubai stage in a way that, I believe, will be a model around the world. So what lessons can we learn For-Profit sector in Dubai? 

The Dubai For-Profit Sector 

The For-Profit sector in Dubai, unsurprisingly is driven by the economic drivers of ‘return-on-investment’, ‘economies of scale’, scalability, differentiated markets and keeping costs down – especially of staffing. However, there are three important characteristics of the For-Profit sector that, I believe, will shape global schooling in the future: 

1. The For-Profit groups offer education at different price points: The For-Profit groups offer Premium, Mid-range and Budget in the same way that airlines offer First Class, Business and Economy seats on their planes. The differentiators between the price points are school and class size, the range of facilities available in the school, the qualifications of teachers, and the amount of teacher-pupil contact time in the week. 
2. The For-Profit Groups invest in central I.T. systems: Nord Anglia have developed the Nord Anglia University as a global CPD portal for teachers. GEMS have developed a share VLE for their schools and have introduced ‘blended learning’ programmes which have moved the process of teaching and learning away from the traditional model of a teacher standing in front of a class.
3. The For-Profit Group invest in top talent for key leadership roles: GEMS have attracted top educationalists from around the world to drive their educational and IT learning strategies.

Looking into the Crystal Ball – Five Prophecies for the Future of Schooling 

So if we apply the principles of Dubai’s For-Profit sector to the global Learning-School problem, what solutions might we see? 

1. Education For-Profit will become the norm around the world. Not-for-Profit education is not equipped to meet the global demand for education, the inevitable consequence is that the For-Profit sector will fill the void. 

2. Being taught by a specialist teacher in a classroom at Secondary level will be a luxury. Technology won’t replace teachers everywhere – but it will in many places. In the future, it will only be Premium Secondary Education that will be delivered by specialist teachers in classrooms drawing on a range of real and virtual resources. Budget Secondary Education will not have subject teachers, but will be delivered totally through online courses on learning platforms. However, for many young people around the world this will be better than the present situation of receiving no education at all. Mid-Range Secondary Education will be delivered by “super-teachers” via Virtual-Reality Conferencing. The For-Profit will invest in new technologies in order to maximise the impact of teachers. 

3. Virtual Reality Teaching will be the disruptor of Secondary education. We also already have ‘Virtual Teaching’ through video conferencing which enables pupils around the world to be taught live by a remote teacher. Furthermore, ‘Virtual Reality’ already enables pupils to travel through time and space – to experience the ancient Colosseum in Rome, life in the trenches or a World-War One dog-fight with the Red Baron. Once these two technologies are combined so that we have ‘Virtual Reality Teaching’, it will be possible for a pupil can put on a headset and ‘feel’ as if they are in a real classroom with a world-class teacher, or be taken on a virtual school visit to any place in time and space. 

“After Games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world, or consulting a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on your goggles at home.” Mark Zuckerberg

4. There will be ‘superstar teachers’ commanding very high salaries. One of the consequences of the rise of Virtual Reality Teaching is that there will be the rise of superstar teachers. The For-Profit sector has a proven record of investing in talent where it can made wider savings. It will inevitably pay to attract top talent, particularly in shortage subjects and their global educational networks will provide a platform which will enable great Virtual Reality teachers will be able to reach millions of students. These teachers will inevitably be very well paid and, given the nature of the C21, it is likely that they will be famous and become celebrities.

Humanoid 'Nao' robots Manufactured by
Aldebaran are being trialled
in S. Australia

5. Primary Teachers will be assisted by Robots. Young children at a formative stage of development need human interaction to shape their learning, thus it is highly unlikely that it will ever be possible to replace teachers in primary schools with technological solutions. One consequence of the predictions for secondary education outlined above is that primary schooling will need to teach the skills to enable young people to access non-classroom based forms of education. It is quite possible that robots will replace Teaching Assistants, performing basic instructive tasks such as teaching basic mathematics and listening to children read. 

Final Thoughts on the Future of Schooling

Prophecy is more about reading the signs of the time and working out a likely a future position from the direction of travel, rather than predicting the future receiving some dislocated revelation from on high.  Prophets are rarely popular because they are usually delivering a message that people don't want to hear. I believe that the signs for a possible future of schooling are there for all to see.
In an ideal world every child in the world would receive the quality of education that is available at Eton, or Phillips Exeter Academy (or even at Dubai College or JESS for that matter) but that isn’t going to happen. The reality is that there is inequality of educational provision in the world and that that is very unlikely to change.  
The challenge to every true educationalist is how that we can give every child the opportunity to have at least some form of basic education. Ideally, Governments supported by the Not-for-Profit sector would provide the solution because I believe that we have to be very careful about how we make money out of something as fundamental as the provision of a child’s education. Sadly, the global political will to achieve this is absent. Thus my hope is, as Diamandis and Kotler argue in Abundance, that the combination of new technologies and billionaire philanthropy will change the world. Unless that happens the approach taken by the For-Profit Sector in the UAE is likely fill the void and that stands as a warning to us all.