MY+PROFESSIONAL+CREDO

I believe that teaching is an art and a craft, and a “reflective practice” in which the teacher is always in the process of discovery, with his students and colleagues, of good and bad ways of teaching. Teaching does have a purpose, but there are many paths to its realization. Formulaic methods of teaching, developed for instance through the precise specification of what the teacher should do in class, and prescribing recipes for good teaching as if there were one right way, are boring and anti-educational.

I believe good teachers are enthusiastic and capable of conveying their enthusiasm to students; constantly look for ways of improving their teaching and trying to keep abreast of developments in their subjects; and are sufficiently mindful and self-aware to be able to laugh at themselves. As a teacher, I believe I have stimulated many of my more able students, but I do regard my weaker students as having priority of attention. I believe the most demanding test of a teacher is what he can do for the weakest in his class. I do expect to give up my personal time, whenever possible, to help my students when they ask for help. At the same time, I expect my students to take responsibility for their own learning. I believe it is my professional duty to do all I can to help them succeed at learning, but I do not (with some exceptions) expect to spoon-feed my students, or chase the unwilling.

I believe that rather than equip them with rapidly obsolescent knowledge, a better way of preparing students for the world that they are likely to face in future is to prepare them to be thoughtful, compassionate actors in a world of change, complexity, and uncertainty. Therefore schools will need to change their structures of interaction with learners from being designed for obedience to factory disciplines using stable and authoritative knowledge, to learning communities valuing collaboration and inquiry, and the progressive testing of one's understanding. This means that the curriculum needs to focus more on developing meta-cognitive and collaborative abilities, and assessment needs to change towards performance that demonstrates understanding. In this way, learners are able to make meaningful and significant connections with their world, and are hence able to contribute to improving it. I believe schools in future will be replaced by structures that Jay Cross (among many others) [|calls] //**learnscapes**//, and teachers will need to reconceptualize their profession as //**learnscape designers**//.

I regard good schools as places where students can acquire the capacity to think and act with the heart, and develop self-knowledge, including knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses. Bad schools are places where students learn to value the destructive use of power and privilege. I regard the classroom as only one of the sites where students learn, and the teacher as a friend, guide and critic in this learning.

As a member of a school, I am uncomfortable with authority that does not justify itself through competence. I look upon administrators as teachers who have a special role to help their colleagues to do their jobs better, and to stimulate their personal and professional growth. I prefer teams to hierarchies, and a democratic and consultative style to an authoritarian one. I enjoy working with colleagues who are open to new ideas, and are not afraid of experimentation and occasional failure.

I believe that, for various reasons, the International Baccalaureate, with its suite of three programmes, is the best curricular option for international schools, especially since it has accumulated years of experience over its recent rivals, some of which have paid it the compliment of imitation. The IB, however, appears to be facing problems of growth, and it may need to change its systems in order to maintain the same quality and rigour in the face of growing numbers. Also, despite its best intentions, and inevitably for structural reasons, the IB arguably remains a socially elitist programme in its present form. For me, this elitism is problematic, since it contradicts what I regard as the fundamental values of solidarity, pluralism and inclusiveness in education. However, recent developments in the IB programmes that allow for greater access provide enormous opportunities to make a global and high quality education much more widely available to the socially and economically disadvantaged.

One of my dreams is to exploit these opportunities to create //**learnscapes**//, where learners will **S**elf-**O**rganize to **C**ollaborate for **I**nter**A**ctive **L**earning ( in a structure that I call the SOCIAL model), under the guidance of enthusiastic and resourceful //**learnscape designers**//.