Diving into the world of IB

 

Taking up a new leadership position in a new school can be an exciting and nervous time for anyone.  When that new school is in a foreign country on the other side of the world and operates under a completely different curriculum, it understandably comes with more nervousness than usual.  I found myself moving from a position I felt comfortable and confident in, to being a complete 'newbie' again, asking a lot of questions, needing a lot of support and most of all, taking a much needed journey into the learning pit again as I immersed myself into the world of Qatar Academy Al Khor and the IB - International Baccalaureate curriculum. 

I will start by sharing a little bit about my wonderful school.  QAK is one of several PUE (pre university education) schools that are part of the Qatar Foundation organization.  Qatar Foundation  offers primary and secondary education as well as higher education programs consisting of partnerships with come of the world's top universities as well as local Qatari universities, such as Carnegie Mellow, Georgetown and Northwestern Universities. Since it's launch in 1996, Qatar Academy PUE has grown to five Qatar Academy schools and eight specialist schools around the country.

Qatar Academy schools offer various programs for Kindergarten-Grade 12 students, ranging from IB-accredited school systems to specialized schools that ensure every child gets the education they need. Their programs encompass an international English-medium education, as well as strong Arabic and Islamic Studies, designed to push students to be critical thinkers and active members of society.

Qatar Academy Al Khor was established to serve the needs of the Al Khor community in the north of Qatar. We offer a bilingual program 50% in both English and Arabic and 100% of our students are Muslim, so while our staff are quite diverse our student roll is not, so we are very clear about the community we serve. Our stunning new campus was built 3 years ago and it is mind-blowing!  Coming from a small rural school in Canterbury, NZ that was 150 years old it was a total shock to see such a huge school with every possible resource you could dream of at your fingertips.  We currently have a roll of approximately 1300 students but are built for 1800.  I am the Assistant Principal with the responsibility for leading the Early Years team.  In my team I have 16 teachers and 16 instructional assistants - 50% English and 50% Arabic, with a student roll of 390 this year.  This is just for 3 grade levels - Pre 3 (3yo), Pre 4 (4yo) and KG (5yo).  Compared to my previous role as Principal of Southbridge School where we had 150 students and just 6 classes for students aged 5-10 years old, this has been a huge change for me.

One of very first things I needed to wrap my head around was the change from the New Zealand curriculum and I started working on this long before I arrived in Qatar. In fact, it started when I was offered an interview for the position. In preparation for the interview I obviously read up about QAK and was really excited to find they were an IB school as I had heard a lot about the IB program but had never taught in an IB school before, something I shared openly with the interview panel.  I did however share that in my research (see quote below) I could see huge similarities to the New Zealand curriculum which I know extremely well and shared my views and experience leading teaching and learning under the umbrella of the NZC.  This was enough to get me the job as the panel acknowledged that this type of experience would be valuable and easily transferred to the IB model.     

"Curricular Comparison ... researchers systematically analyzed the alignment of the written content of key elements of both the PYP and the NZC.  The curricular comparison revealed a pattern of coherence between PYP and MZC. The intentions of the two curriculums set out for learners, as well as themes, concepts, attitudes and values they promote, were found to be highly compatible with one another..."         https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/ib-research/pyp/summary-evaluation-of-the-pyp-in-new-zealand-en.pdf 

After I was successfully appointed, my admin team at QAK, consisting of the Elementary AP and Principal and the PYP coordinator were super supportive and sent me several key documents to read over in preparation for my move to QAK.  The best source of current, relevant information about IB is to head directly to their website - https://www.ibo.org/. There is plenty of information there and I found myself diving into the PYP - Primary Years Program, focusing most of my attention on learning more about the Programme standards and Practices, the IB Learner Profile and ATL (approaches to learning) Skills. 

The PYP curriculum framework begins with the premise that students are agents of their own learning and partners in the learning process. It prioritizes people and their relationships to build a strong learning community.

PYP students use their initiative to take responsibility and ownership of their learning.  By learning through inquiry and reflecting on their own learning, PYP students develop knowledge, conceptual understandings, skills and the attributes of the IB Learner profile to make a difference in their own lives, their communities, and beyond.

The framework emphasizes the central principle of agency, which underpins the three pillars of school life:

• the learner
• learning and teaching
• the learning community.

After a few months of learning on the job, observing teacher practice and viewing planning and assessment I felt like I was finally beginning to fully grasp what it meant to be an IB school.  I also knew that when you feel like you are coming out of the learning pit, it is time to challenge yourself and take on some new learning to build on what knowledge you have now gained. I am not one to take the easy road so I thought my first taste of IB professional development should be something that will support me in my role as a leader in an IB School. I enrolled in the "IB Leading the Learning", a category 1, 4 week, PD course that focuses on developing your understanding of the IB philosophy and implementation. It was super challenging but also extremely useful and I would recommend any educator new to IB to enrol in the PD courses they offer.  I have set myself the goal of enrolling in two more next academic year, working my way up to Category 3 courses in the future.  

Wish me luck! 

LIFE IN QATAR! Becoming a global citizen - walking the talk...

As-Salam-u-Alaikum, Marhaba! 

A lot has happened since my last blogpost.  I loved every minute of being the Principal of Southbridge School but all good things must come to an end.  I had clear goals of what I hoped to achieve in my time there as principal and the position I wanted to leave the school in and I after nearly 4 years there working to achieve those goals, I knew I was ready for the next challenge, so in December 2019, when I was offered the opportunity to become the Assistant Principal at Qatar Academy Al Khor, in the Middle East the risk taker, traveller and lifelong learner in me jumped at the chance. It felt like it had all lined up perfectly, the timing couldn't be better...and then 2020 rolled around and with that - Covid-19 aka Coronavirus!

No-one could have predicted the enormous and devastating impact that would have on the entire world. And continues to have - as I sit here now it is February 22nd 2021 and Qatar is in the midst of a second wave, experiencing over 450 positive cases a day with nearly 10,000 active positive cases in the country! It is hard to wrap your head around but it is our day to day reality.  It is also very hard for people I know to wrap their heads around how I would leave New Zealand, which is effectively Covid free and people are back living life as normal, to move halfway across the world, as a family of 5, to a country experiencing high numbers of positive cases.  I have to admit I had plenty of worrying and stressful moments but I had made a commitment to QAK and also knew that this was an opportunity we couldn't miss out on.  

Has it been hard - absolutely.  Has it been worth it - ABSOLUTELY!  And I am confident the best is yet to come once the health and safety restrictions start to lift.  Qatar is a wealthy country with the intent and ability to mass vaccinate all citizens and residents.  This week all teachers have started to be vaccinated and I am ready and waiting to join that list.  Once fully vaccinated in Qatar, we can travel again with no quarantine on return back into the country and more importantly are protected from the chance of getting Covid-19.  When that happens my family and I will get to experience Qatar in a new way - no more masks, no more social distancing, no more maximum capacity at events and in buildings!  Playgrounds will open up, children will return to school again, I will see my colleagues faces for the first time since meeting them without a mask on, we can meet in person and hold social events that build community. I cannot wait!  

In the meantime I thought I would start blogging again to try and capture this once in a lifetime experience while living through it.  I will share my experiences of education and life in Qatar and welcome your comments and questions as well. 

About to board my flight to Doha

Our new 'normal' started on the plane and has yet to end

Adapting to our new life in Doha

While very different to NZ, we love our new home Qatar!