Eteach’s Gerry Hillier-Manolas attended the latest event hosted by the Council of British International Schools, for the launch of Quality Standards and voluntary inspection for British Schools Overseas. Here she reflects on lessons learned about successfully launching a new product or service.

On Thursday 15^th September I had the pleasure of being the guest of my CEO Paul Howells as we attended the latest event to be hosted by the Council of British International Schools (COBIS). It was here I learnt the recipe for ensuring the instant success and support for the launch of a new service or product. All credit goes to Executive Director Colin Bell, the COBIS Committee and their team. Their reception to mark the successful launch of Quality Standards and voluntary inspection for British Schools Overseas was definitely ‘Gold Standard’ and worth the equivalent of a Michelin Star.

Michael Gove

I realised you must start with launching your product or service at a venue that is highly exclusive, well known and full of prestige. In our case it was the Attlee Room in the House of Lords.

To ensure a full complement and punctuality from your guests, choose a weekday and an early evening start. Attendees will be delighted to have the excuse leave their offices a little early in order arrive on

time.

Line up as many well-known speakers as possible, but only give them a couple of minutes each to talk.

Ours were: the Minister of Education Michael Gove and Hon. Vice –President of COBIS Alastair, Lord Lexden – both experienced in this procedure.

Eteach CEO Paul Howells

Mouth-watering entrees

Sprinkle the event with a few glasses of quality wine; ours was sponsored by Eteach, along with some mouth-watering entrees expertly served by a professional team.

Blend together your carefully selected guest list. Ours included senior representatives of government and its agencies, COBIS educational members, training and service organisations,

NGO’s corporate clients, approved inspectorates and the educational media. Leave to steep for an hour or so.

La crème de la crème!

Our result was a crisp cocktail of professionals who were able to discuss and promote the many advantages of an independent inspection system for British International Schools. This included the importance for COBIS member schools this Gold Mark to differentiate themselves from those just calling themselves ‘British’.  By upholding the highest standards

expected by the approved Inspection Teams and COBIS itself, both parents and teachers are able to choose schools with complete confidence. These schools can then promote themselves and the British education system they provide with

confidence, and know they truly are ‘la crème de la crème!’

And as we all know from celebrity cooks ‘the cream always rises to the top’……

“There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” – Ursula K. LeGuin

Eteach were lucky to attend and sponsor the Trevithick Learning Academy’s fantastic event: Southwest Storytelling, with Pie Corbett. The day was a real success, with lots of participation from delegates and a great atmosphere. Storytelling and the talk for writing approach are proven to raise standards in writing. They provide children with the necessary vocabulary, understanding of language patterns and plot structure in order that they become effective writers. Pie Corbett, the creator of this approach, explained the theory behind this method of teaching and discussed effective classroom techniques;

The hosts of the event, Trevithick Learning Academy, provided examples of its effectiveness with live performances from their pupils. Nationally recognized for their storytelling approach, their methods provide the opportunity for children to engage with the story and learn language patterns which in turn further writing skills. Kaye Haywood, Vice Principal of the Academy described to us the importance of Storytelling at the School:

“Story writing is magical and helps us to bring our world and ourselves alive.  The majority of children who attend our school do not come from language rich backgrounds.  We all know the best writers are always children who read eagerly, consequently our children were not good writers and our results for writing were very poor.

Children who are read to and read themselves internalise narrative patterns and story language, then recycle them into their own writing.  The idea of building a storehouse of stories inside children’s minds lies at the heart of ‘storytelling’.  Using the storytelling approach to teach language means our children now internalise different story types, sentence construction and vocabulary, as well as characters, settings and events.   Our approach releases creativity, builds our children’s confidence, has improved our standards dramatically, but most importantly our children now see themselves as writers.”

From Aesop’s Fables to the Canterbury Tales, storytelling is something that everyone can relate to:

Do you remember the first story you were told?
How important is storytelling in your classroom?

Wellington College threw open its doors to the cream of the education world over this weekend and welcomed all those that support and work in the profession. Eteach was there in force to speak with teachers and heads and discuss ways in which we can help with recruitment.

From Secretary of State Michael Gove to Sir Bob Geldoff, Sir Robert Winston and David Starky (to name but a few) the programme was packed with superb speakers. It was such a hard decision to decide which sessions to target and which to leave out, that one visitor admitted to starting in one session and sneaking out the back half way through, to visit another.

Credit must go to Anthony Seldon, Head of Wellington College, in organising a festival which featured an open forum to discuss and debate a range of topics across education. These included Free Schools, the current pension situation, what makes for a good education, how to turn schools around and various developments in different curriculum areas. And these were just the tip of the iceberg!

I was fortunate enough to hear Anthony Seldon outline in his opening presentation the vision and aspiration he has for all his students at Wellington College and the importance of developing the whole student, not just the academic aspect. He also spoke of his commitment to Wellington Academy in Wiltshire, where they are working hard with the state sector to give students there the grounding and aspirations that students at the College already experience. Best of all was hearing from the students themselves, who talked about their experiences at Wellington and what they felt was important in their own education.

Another session was led by Peter Hyman who originally started as a strategist to Tony Blair. He has since trained as a teacher and is shortly to head up a Free School in Newham. When questioned by the audience whether he would have advised the PM in the same way, now he has experienced teaching for himself, he replied that the outcomes would have been the same, but that maybe the methodologies would have been less prescriptive. He was also pressed by several attendees from the Newham area, where his Free School will be based, as to why he felt he could only achieve his aspirations for children via a Free School and not through the LA. If the legacy of Labour education was so good why wasn’t he supporting it and working within the government sector dealing with all the never-ending initiatives and red tape they had to work through? He replied that he wants to work alongside these schools and look at good practice and learn from them too. However, he wanted to focus on English Language as ‘the driver’ for all things and a set of skills that would infiltrate all aspects of a child’s education. These include teamwork, problem solving, confidence, interpersonal skills, self-awareness, resilience, initiative, commitment and motivation. Nothing different then to his ‘state’ colleagues down the road!

The final keynote speech of the day was a question and answer session with Michael Gove. Generally people were polite with their questions, the toughest ones being about the pensions strike and why does education always have to be driven by politics, whoever was in power at the time? Why were successive governments always changing what was being taught and why couldn’t they just leave teachers to do their jobs? He said it was the government’s responsibility on behalf of the electorate to hold teachers accountable, to focus on continuing to raise standards and to move back up the world education ranks rather than continuing to sink lower. Politics needs to drive education, to ensure our education system keeps up with a changing world where economics, social and technological developments are evolving all the time. This final question seemed to link back to where Anthony Seldon started that morning: What are we educating our young people for? Is it to fit neatly into society? For business and the economy? Or purely as learners of knowledge?

Tell us your ideas: What are we educating young people for?

Eteach had the pleasure of attending the 30th Annual COBIS conference from the 7th – 9th May 2011. ‘Stakeholders for Successful International Schools’ was held at the very impressive Royal Horseguards Hotel in Central London and we were very excited to be exhibiting in such beautiful Victorian surroundings.

The COBIS conference gave us the opportunity to talk to head teachers of British International schools about their current recruitment strategies and needs. Many of the schools that we spoke to were in agreement that their ideal International teacher would be one who has trained in the UK and has a minimum of 2 years classroom experience. A positive international attitude to life, a passion for travel and teachers who could offer more than just their subject to the school were also high up on the list.

International Account Manager at Eteach, Gerry Manolas, was extremely fortunate to be able to attend several of the keynote speeches and seminars whilst at the conference. She found all of the talks to be highly informative and gave head teachers the latest up to-date developments in the UK education system.

The main issue that dominated the conference was the discussion around school inspection and which teams have now been, or are in the process of being accredited by the government. Only schools that have passed a recognised inspection are allowed to be fully fledged members of COBIS, thus ensuring a quality mark that parents can trust when choosing a school abroad for their children.

This mark is also something that prospective teachers should look for when deciding where to teach as it gives them the confidence that the school they may eventually join follows strict COBIS guidelines for quality assurance.

Howard Kennedy, Non-Executive Director of the Foundation, Aided Schools and Academies National Association was the first speaker and he outlined the current government’s plans for raising standards in State schools and trying to close the gap between deprivation and attainment.

The talk focussed around the fact that, unfortunately, there is still a link between postcode and what a child’s educational outcome will be. The association wants to make a curriculum which is ‘Fit for Purpose’ where children can achieve regardless of their background and where only the best graduates are recruited to become teachers.

The hot topic was the developing idea of student teachers completing the majority of their degree courses in Teaching Schools. The teaching schools would be selected from those who have received outstanding results across the board in their Ofsted inspections. It is hoped that a network of these schools will be created which will provide professional development to teachers as well.

Do you as teachers and current student teachers agree with this or do you feel the courses you have experienced through university prepared you for life in the classroom?

This was all backed up by Nick Gibb, Minister for Education who in his session said that one of the greatest exports we have in the UK is the Independent Education System with £12 billion being brought into this country by overseas students studying here in the UK. Mr Gibb wants to give the state sector more independence to do what is best for their schools and children in order for them to raise standards and he also believes that the Academies and Free Schools programme is the way forward.

Are you teaching in one of these schools? Can you see a difference and do you feel it is the way forward for your pupil’s attainment?

Over the coming weeks we will be bringing you other highlights from the COBIS Conference including information about SEN and Gifted and Talented, Safeguarding Children, Developing Leadership Skills through Sport and Safe Student Broadcasting, which was a new initiative about making children aware of how to keep themselves safe when using Social networking sites.

What were Gerry’s personal highlights? Having the opportunity to have coffee with the England Rugby World Cup scrum half Andy Gomarsall and listen to his plans for life after his testimonial year and saying a brief hello to HRH Princess Alexandra KG GCVO as she left the reception.

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The Autism Show takes place on 24th and 25th June 2011 at London ExCeL. Organisers say it will provide parents, carers and professionals with immediate access to the latest thinking, practical advice, products and services to aid their support of an autistic child or adult.

The event has been developed by the parents of an autistic child in response to their own experiences and their determination to help connect the growing autism community. The organisers say they uniquely combine their personal knowledge of autism with twenty years of organising some of the most prominent and successful exhibitions in the UK.

‘Face-to-face advice, support and information’

For two days, The Autism Show promises to provide face to face advice, support and information on autism. Once inside the event, everything is free to access including 1-2-1 Professional Clinics, over 50 suppliers of products and services, an in-depth conference programme, practical workshops and interactive forums.

The conference programme is now almost complete and includes speakers such as the Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons; Anna Kennedy, founder of Hillingdon Autistic Care and Support and Daily Mail Woman of the Year; Chris Jesson, award winning autism advocate diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and Dyspraxia; Dr Mitzi Waltz, Lecturer and researcher at the Autism Centre of Education and Research School of Education; and Carol Povey, Director of the Centre for Autism at the National Autistic Society.

                                The show is organised in association with the National Autistic Society, the leading UK charity for people   with autism (including Asperger syndrome) and their families, and in partnership with The Hesley Group,  which offers long-term residential care and education services for people with learning difficulties, challenging behaviours, complex needs and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

For more information about The Autism Show, follow this link.

View the Eteach Special Education Needs jobs here.

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