Readers Suggestions
for a Family Friendly Category |
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6/21 I would add two lines and
define "family
friendly" like you
do above when you say "community offers a variety of activities" Why
not say in the first space "Community offers a variety of activities
for expatriate families with children"? That is the community part
of family friendly. Similarly, get specific with the school portion of "family
friendly". I have worked in my share of schools where the expat
kids are ostracized and cannot find a way in or playmates easily...so
the wording
here could be along the lines about school community and it support and
inclusion of "international kids". If there is going to be
a line added, why not two? I would clearly separate the two and very
specifically
define them--of course, there is a down side to that as well. :-) In
any case--it is a great idea and however it is included it is a welcome
addition
to the evaluation form. |
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6/21 Great addition!
I like the split rating idea especially. I guess too it depends on the
ages of the kids. What might work for a Pre-K kid might
not work for a middle schooler. Hopefully the comment section would give
people an opportunity to expand on their answer! Thanks!
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6/21 I think
they should be separate. I have worked at some schools with a very family
friendly environment in the school but nothing in the community
and vice versa worked at a school which had wonderful environs but was
not very friendly to families. Also family friendly means more than just
a chance to integrate. Much of it has to do with the attitude of the
school. I have worked at one school (for-profit) where you had to give
partial
payment for your child's tuition, apartments were fine for singles and
couples but inappropriate for families. Conversely some schools even
have day care available on campus.
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6/21 'Family
friendly' could also include something like "School pays
all or part of medical/hospital cover for teachers' family" or "School
pays all or part of fees for teachers' children". Marc |
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6/21 I
think it's a great idea especially since I've just come from a school
in a city which does not have much for kids to do. It's not a place I
would have liked to have had my children. The school was primarily attended
by locals
which changes the tone for kids of expat families who may have
more trouble breaking into previously
estabished social groups. Go for it!. |
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6/22 These two indicators are
very important, especially if you are an educator with kids who will
go to the same school. Of course,
any of the categories
are largely subjective. For example, I was at a school in Portugal where
we had to pay 20% of our child's fees even though my wife and I both had
full time contracts. Not very family friendly in my opinion but how would
others view this? That same school did have a very child friendly atmosphere
due to the mainly pleasant student body that largely embraced most cultures.
So how would I then rate the family friendliness of the school?
On a related note, I have long been
thinking that what ISR also really needs is a list of 'recommended schools/directors'
or schools exhibiting
'excellent practices/directors'. I know people who are happy with their
schools don't really need to go here so we may not get many comments
but there are now so many poor schools that the chance of signing with
one of those at least once in a career is getting higher. When they
come to complain, ISR should encourage those posters to share their recommended
schools too.
Not only would this balance out the admittedly largely negative content
of ISR, but ISR could then say to those snobbish directors trying to
vindicate themselves and their reigns of terror that all they have to
do to prove the negative posters wrong is simply improve conditions for
staff and students and they will automatically end up in the 'preferred/favoured
schools' list :-). I think that is kind of neat! |
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6/22 Sure,
I agree that Family Friendly is a valuable category to add! I would
also add categories for 'social and active colleagues' and 'abundance
of nightlife/social opportunities in the community' for those of us
who
have not been blessed with families.
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6/22 If
you are going to do this, you need a single friendly category. Many schools
do not hire
singles or give them small apartments or make them
have roommates.
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| 6/22 This is a great
idea and would be very helpful when we decide to make our next move. Especially
with three young children and a dog! |
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6/28 I
think that community also reflects the attitude towards families by
admin and other teachers at the school. Do other teachers have kids in
the school? Do you have colleagues in your same stage of life, and will
we as parents be accepted into the community as well? We are currently
at a school where
our kids get along well during the day, but the expat parents don't socialize
with teachers(We aren't corporate high flyers to network with) and our
colleagues are all reaching retirement and are not interested in being
surrogate grandparents and aunties. I had complaints about Kuwait,
but one thing
that was awesome was social support by young families for young families
on staff. We were are real community. I am looking for that again and
would appreciate this category being added. Thanks so much for thinking
of us that have
committed to raising our kids overseas. |
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Do
You Have Something to Add? Scroll Up to Enter Your Ideas |
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This
is our preliminary plan for
adding a Family Friendly Rating
to the school evaluation rubric. 