The Education Vanguard

🎙️ Rethinking Recruitment in International Schools In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin speaks with Stacy Stephens, Director of The International Educator (TIE). With 25 years of experience in global education, Stacy explores how recruitment is evolving,   from the decline of job fairs to the rise of evidence-based portfolios. She shares why investing time upfront in hiring the r...

🎙️ Empowering Future-Ready Learners: EdTech Success at CIS Guangzhou with Ted ​Barks, Todd Voykin & Lena Gidwani In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin visits the Canadian International School in Guangzhou, winner of the inaugural GBA School Awards for EdTech Program (K-12). He’s joined by Lena, Ted, and Todd to explore how the school’s innovative approach to STEAM, AI, and rea...

🎙️ Caring for the Head, Caring for the School: A Conversation with Dr. Larry Hobdell and Kristine Mizzone In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin speaks with Dr. Larry Hobdell, Executive Director of ACAMIS, and educational consultant Kristine Mizzone about one of the most overlooked aspects of leadership: the wellbeing of school heads. They share insights on the pressures leaders fa...

 🎙️ Brand Is What They Say About You: Rethinking School Identity with Ewan McIntosh In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin speaks with Ewan McIntosh, educator, strategist, and founder of NoTosh. With decades of experience helping schools worldwide, Ewan unpacks why a school’s brand isn’t defined by glossy brochures or polished slogans, but by the lived experiences and stories that...

🎙️Equity, Accessibility, and Innovation: Jeff Sisk on Inclusive Education In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin speaks with Jeff Sisk, Senior Manager of Assistive Technology at Fairfax County Public Schools, the ninth-largest school district in the U.S. With over 25 years of experience, Jeff shares how assistive technology has evolved into inclusive technology, why accessibility i...

🎙️ Leadership and Culture at the American International School GuangZhou with Kevin Baker and Jamie Robb In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin Hardman sits down with Kevin Baker (Director) and Jamie Robb (Deputy Director) of the American International School of GuangZhou to unpack their Judge’s Choice win for Diversity and Inclusion at the GBA School Awards. Hear how AISG turns so...

In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin speaks with Alex McMillan, the Instructional Technology Coach at Shanghai American School and chair of the upcoming AIFE Conference. Alex explains how AI can enhance, rather than replace, creativity, sharing a simple three-step process that educators can use with students. He also explores the importance of values-driven AI policy and how scho...

 🎙️ Health, Wellbeing, and Policy in International Schools In this episode of the Education Vanguard Show, Justin brings together experts Amy Lauren Smith (Hong Kong International School), Sarah Benes (Southern Connecticut State University), and Holly Alperin (University of New Hampshire). Together, they unpack what it really takes to build a holistic, skills-based approach to student health and w...

When you have something working well for your organization, you might decide to keep it to yourself as a competitive advantage or you might take the longer view and share your methodologies with others. Wildwood school, an independent school based in Los Angeles, took the longer view. They created the Wildwood Outreach Center where they bring their ideas and support to schools around the world.  ...

Like me, you may not be familiar with oracy, the ability to express yourself fluently and with proper grammar. But as educators, you are likely familiar with the concept and supportive of the idea. I talk today with Daniel Thomas, the head of School 21, a private school in London. We jump into the power of oracy and its impact on learning. Specifically, for students from financially challenged bac...

When you wake up in the morning and read in the newspaper that your international school will be closed, it can be a bit shocking. Dr. David Lovelin, the High School Principal at Hong Kong International School, had that experience along with the added concern of how do we plan a program in a virtual school environment? Our discussion ranges from day one to nine weeks later and what emerges as the...

Hey, let’s talk about data! Hearing those words might make some of us run for the hills and hide, while others might be excited for that discussion. Thankfully we now have other ways to talk about and deal with data.  Thanks to people like Aaron Reedy, my guest today, the discussion of data is moving toward a visual presentation that lets all of us participate. Aaron Reedy is the founder of Datacl...

“Stories connect us in a way facts cannot. ”  These words from Deb Abela, my guest today, stuck with me during our conversation. For Deb, the author of 26 books and counting, stories are the lifeblood of her work. But storytelling is not the only thing driving Deb today. Much of her work involves sharing the craft and excitement of writing with young people around the world. Deb is an enthusiastic...

Hands on learning is seeing a resurgence in recently. After lying dormant for many years, we see its return in the form of the Maker Movement and, as we will discuss today, robotics. While I can’t explain the exact reason for the return to this type of education, I do have my suspicions. Today’s work is really an early manifestation of mechanical and electrical engineering at work. Oh, and you can...

I remember well when I saw schools in Hong Kong and China going virtual and thinking, “Oh gosh, that must be rough. I am so lucky that this is not happening at my school.”  Seven weeks later and I am not asking “Ok, how did those schools handle it now that I am in full virtual school mode." Stephen Dare is the head of Hong Kong Academy and a seven week veteren of virtual schooling.  Our discu...

When you hear the idea of a self directed democratic school, you might wonder if that means the students will vote for ice cream everyday. Or, more likely, you have a more mature viewpoint than I and are curious how a school can be democratic in its educational mission and still deliver a strong learning environment.  Cassi Clausen is a core founder of Open School based in Southern California.  At...

While English is the predominant language in international education it is often not the only one our students speak. How should we recognize the variety of languages in the world today (over 6000 according to my guest) and celebrate the interesting diversity that comes with it? I talk with ELL teacher Graham Noble about his effort to share phrases from over 100 languages using the popular program...

Starting the job hunt for a position at an international school can be both frightening and exciting. Or maybe just one of the two. Knowing how to prepare for the process and having an understanding of what administrators on the hiring end are looking for can be a big help. Today I speak Tim Bray, The Director of EdTech at Cheongna Dalton School in Korea all about getting that coveted internationa...

Digital communication is ubiquitous today in society, and in recent years, education. Nearly every international school has a device program such as iPads, laptops and more. While the primary reason for these devices from a teacher point of view is to create and consume information, they are often used by students for a much more interesting purpose: Communication! In addition, as we know, most st...

As you can imagine the youth of today are a little riled up when it comes to our world and the direction it is heading. While this may be the norm for all younger generations, I get a sense it is magnified at the moment. Today, I speak with Lincoln Bacal a student at the Venture Academy School in Minnesota in the USA. She is a passionate and articulate advocate for youth issues and attends an entr...

Design Thinking is a popular idea and methodology winding its way across school today.  With the idea that the future is more unpredictable now than in the past, Design Thinking helps us to be more future ready. However, according to David Lee an Elementary STEM & EdTech Specialist at Singapore American school, it is our mindset that really plays the largest role on how well we embrace Design...

OverviewWhen you think of Iceland you might think of geysers, broad landscapes, changeable climate and a fascinating place to visit. Yet, as you can imagine, there is more to Iceland and today we are going to talk about their education system. Ingivi Omarsson is a Chief Innovation Officer in Iceland focused on collaboration and bringing interesting, technology enhanced lessons to teachers and stud...

The library. Ah yes, the library.  For people of my age (Generation X) the library still brings back scary memories of a place where I might get into trouble if I spoke too loudly. Stefanie Gaspari helps us understand that libraries are no longer that type of place and that it is time to return to their original design: A community space for sharing ideas and learning. For Stefanie, that looks lik...

OverviewWhat if the goal of a school was “to learn to” learn, live act and be?  And it looked like a place where students worked on whatever topic there were interested in for the day, had the freedom to choose when to take tests, actively participated in regular trips and might be expected to travel the world speaking about the school. The Evangelical School Berlin Centre is that school. Today I...

OverviewThe idea of positive education appears to sound simple. For me I see myself saying nice things to my students and colleagues in the hallway and trying to have an optimistic outlook. After talking with Justin Robinson from the Geelong Grammar School in Australia, I realized there is a lot more to it. Following the idea that embracing positive education asks us to learn, live, teach and embe...