International Schools Blog

All senior teachers started off as classroom teachers. But where some teachers love classroom teaching, and can’t imagine giving up their time with the students, others become intrigued by the challenge of managing a department or even a school, which requires a whole other skillset.

My previous blog post went slightly off topic in terms of the physical delivery of the BTEC and peaked beyond the boundaries of a specification in order to highlight the opportunities available to schools and colleges outside of the classroom. As it turned out, the responses and reaction to that took me pleasantly by surprise as it clearly helped educators to start to think about the bigger picture and the potential of the esports offer to any curriculum. But this article sees a return to the teaching and the beast that is Unit 2!

Known as sets in the UK, and streaming in the US, the practice of separating children and young adults into different groups based on ability or previous exam performance during their education is common. This is often called ability grouping, but, following the lead of EFF, we will use the term attainment grouping instead. It’s a more accurate description, as sets are usually based on students’ academic performance, which is easier to assess than their innate ability.

Anxiety rates among children and teenagers have reached record levels across the world. Last year, a metastudy analysed data from over 80,000 children and teenagers across North America, Europe and Asia. It found that rates of anxiety and depression had almost doubled in the last couple of years, with a prevalence of 23.8% and 19% respectively.

In an educational setting the mere utter of the phrase ‘esports’ often results in two polar opposite reactions: the first, one of excitement and the second, one of fear. Both exist at whatever level in the hierarchy the respondent sits.

In January 2022, we held a webinar to share advice from our authors, Tony Staneff and Josh Lury, about how to use Power Maths flexibly in response to lost learning created by the pandemic. Many children are not going into each new unit at the usual, expected starting point, and the volume of missed learning is variable. Please watch the webinar if you have time (it’s 1 hour). Otherwise, this blog is designed to sum up some key points.

The sports industry continues to grow and diversify, reaching a value of nearly $488.5bn in 2018, with an expected growth to nearly $614.1bn by 2022*. Not only is there growth in the value, but most importantly there is growth in the diversity of opportunity within the sector, with the rising availability and consumption of sports content available through a broadening of the availability of the internet. Evidencing this change, the sports audience for Indian TV increased by 7% during 2017, creating 46 billion online impressions in 2018**.

Making the move from school to university is a big transition for lots of teenagers. First year students will be studying new university subjects, where they’ll be expected to attend lectures, contribute to seminars, manage essay deadlines and do their own independent reading and research. As if that weren’t overwhelming enough, many of them will be living away from home, taking responsibility for their own finances and learning how to look after themselves for the first time.

If you’re teaching secondary school students, then exam season is looming. It’s a busy time of year where students are trying to complete projects, teachers are making their way through the last of the material covered in the exams, and everyone is flagging after a long winter term.

In the last few years, there has been a growing awareness of the gender spectrum, the genders which exist beyond the binary, and a shift in the language we use to talk about gender. In many cases, students are adapting to these changes in language more readily than some teachers. So, how can we talk about gender and pronouns with our students in an informed, sensitive and inclusive way – and why is it important?