I would like to provoke you with the following question:
Are you a genuine curriculum expert or a one-trick pony?
I have some advice for young educational leaders that might be a bit controversial: “Don’t become a one-trick pony.”
Don’t stay in the one lane of IB, British, American, Australian or Canadian curriculum.
Become a curriculum expert!
I’ll admit my bias upfront…..
As an Australian, I initially specialised in the Queensland, Australian curriculum. My journey then led me through the International Baccalaureate (IBO), American, and British curricula. I feel fortunate and believe I was advantaged by gaining experience across many of the major curricula. My career started first in secondary, then moved to K-12 and beyond. From early years education, including play-based learning, to higher and vocational education.
However, my deep understanding of the foundations of best practices in teaching and learning, curriculum design, and assessment was crucial. When transitioning from one curriculum to another, I viewed each through the lens of best practice theories.
For instance, I recognised that Bloom’s Taxonomy underpins the structure of all assessment models. I was well-versed in the core principles of the most impactful teaching and learning strategies, such as Marzano’s high-yield strategies and De Bono’s CoRT thinking strategies. I understood and could critique language acquisition theories, critical thinking, literacy, numeracy and many of the “brilliant, ” “fashionable”, “questionable”, and frequently “new and emerging “best practice” ideas. As a teacher, I never taught from a textbook, never taught anything the same way and never believed what I had done previously was good enough.
I could go on……
Think of the curriculum as a vehicle. Whether you drive from the left side or the right, with different levers, controls, rules, and regulations, it’s still a car. I learned how to drive, and that skill is transferable.
My favourite curriculum is the IB, where my greatest strength lies. However, my criticism of the IB community is that many practitioners become almost cult-like in their passion without truly understanding why it is so effective. Tunnel vision is limiting and can make you naive. You don’t fully understand the curriculum if you cannot find criticism in each major curriculum and debate its benefits and drawbacks.
I do understand the opposing argument about curriculum expertise and leadership!
Proponents of each curriculum will argue that true specialists do not spread themselves too thin! By specialising, you can be the very best expert in one field. However, I would argue that many of these “experts” become so narrow that they don’t really understand the field. Like sheep, they can speak to one voice, but can they unpack it, rework it, redesign it, and apply it?
“In regard to curriculum, can you take apart the engine and put it back together?”
I have met educational leaders with 30+ years of experience who can be passionate and fiercely focused in one field but vaguely superficial in debates and discussions about curriculum, teaching, and learning theory. In fact, in some cases, the longer CV might reflect less expertise.
#triggerwarning
My advice to developing educational leaders is this: you can certainly succeed by becoming an expert in one curriculum. However, you will reach even higher levels by becoming competent in multiple curricula.
GSE takes pride in understanding all curricula and applying best practices and “best of the best” approaches.
If you want to learn more about the steps required to set up a school, check out some of our other articles:
– Steps to Setting Up a New School
– 10 Steps and Articles on How to Set Up a New School
– GSE International School Franchise Models
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Global Services in Education plans and opens international schools for investors, developers and governments, and manages them once they are running. 39 school projects delivered across 16 countries. Management agreements run a minimum of ten years.
The company was founded in 2011 by Greg Parry and Shanna Parry.