Dear Parents,
Professional learning is a critical component of a high quality school and a high performing team. At ISHCMC we deeply value opportunities for professional learning and we uphold our commitment to advancing education quality through carefully designed professional learning avenues. By fostering a culture of continual learning, the school shapes students' academic trajectories and the collective future of education. Professional learning for our educators offers opportunities to our team for professional growth through working with expert consultants, workshops, training, and collaborative activities. Educators engage in pedagogical discussions, explore new teaching methodologies, exchange ideas, and gain valuable insights to improve their instructional practices, ultimately benefiting student learning outcomes.
Research shows us that the process of adult learning follows a pattern or cycle comprising of four stages experiencing, reflecting, conceptualising and planning next steps (Kolb, 1984). The idea is that while adults are more likely to remember things if they involve real experience, experience on its own won’t get us very far. We also need to reflect on our experiences, make ‘generalisations’ (conceptualise) about them and then plan how we’d do things next time.
Therefore for professional learning to be effective it is important we create opportunities for learning that are planned to occur on multiple occasions over the course of the school year to allow for ongoing experience and reflection. At ISHCMC our students complete 180 school days. In addition to our student days our faculty and staff engage in 14 professional learning days. This is our commitment to our community to ensure that our teachers are growing, remaining up to date with instructional practice and ensuring that your children are continuing to receive a high quality education.
This week we are excited to be hosting our annual Cognita Conference (CogCon) at ISHCMC. This professional learning conference brings educators and operations staff from our three Cognita Schools in Vietnam together for a day of collaboration with each other and our seven (7) other Cognita Schools in Asia.
In addition to creating professional learning opportunities at ISHCMC we also encourage our team to attend external professional learning opportunities and to share and showcase our innovative practice through a variety of global conferences. Last week Dr. Tosca Killoran, Deputy Head of School and I were delighted to be able to share the work that our teachers have been doing to develop their leadership efficacy at the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) Conference. It was a pleasure to be able to share with our colleagues from the 214 member schools (with 180,000 students) in East Asia our commitment to innovation and educational excellence at ISHCMC.
We know from our Voice of Parent survey that our community would like to know and understand more about the learning that our educators undertake during our professional learning days. Therefore you will be able to find updates from CogCon and our future professional learning days on the Rhino Hub.
Whilst our educators and staff are learning and growing we wish you a wonderful upcoming long weekend.
In kindness
Kim Green, Head of School
Comments