The International Schools Review Forum

PsyGuy wrote:
> @WT123
>
> I am aware what the OP wrote, please re-read the post, I did not refer to a "business
> manager". I referred to the business MEMBER of the senior leadership team often
> appointed to the senior most leadership role in the business operations portion
> of an IS.
>
> Sure, I can make that case. The director of WIS (Washington IS) in D.C. is a local.
> The Principal of CSFC (Cardiff Sixth Form College) in England is a local.
--------------------------
I read it and understood it. I just don't have the energy or patience to watch you split hairs and contort logic to try and make yourself right.

So the elite/1st tier schools you use to make the case for having a local HT (and thus making the case that having a local HT can be a good thing) are in the US and UK? Although you actually make my case for me, you should be careful or you will labeled as biased/discriminatory/culturalist.

It's discussions like this that bring back the saying - a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing; unfortunately, this appears to be the case for too many teachers. Why? The younger generation has been indoctrinated with left wing nonsense. Of course there is nothing wrong with generalisations and stereotypes; it's how you use it is the potential problem. And of course, anyone who suggests cultures are equivalent suffers a serious ostrich mentality.

I think you will find Cardiff is in Wales not England.

Looks like I've kicked something off here!

To clarify - I don't have anything against local heads. As I said in the original post, there are poor UK and US heads just as there are poor local heads. My concern is that these HT are less likely to have been trained in the UK, so their understanding of curriculum and teaching is more likely to be based on local expectations which may be different to those in the curriculum in which they are teaching. I'd have the same concern back in the UK, for example, with a headteacher from England being appointed to a school in Scotland who has never had experience of the Scottish curriculum.

It strikes me that the best schools tend to have HTs from the country of their curriculum. Poorer schools may too, but they are more likely to have local heads on the basis that they are cheaper to hire.

expatscot wrote:
> My concern
> is that these HT are less likely to have been trained in the UK, so their understanding
> of curriculum and teaching is more likely to be based on local expectations which
> may be different to those in the curriculum in which they are teaching. I'd have
> the same concern back in the UK, for example, with a headteacher from England being
> appointed to a school in Scotland who has never had experience of the Scottish curriculum.

And that is why I insist there's too many "maybe"s... If it is a school doing IGCSE with a local head that has not been trained or worked at IGCSE schools then yes, of course that might be a problem.

Then again, there's many schools that can have (i.e.) the DP as their only guidance for curriculum in high school, not responding to the US or UK curriculum as such, and in that case I would not be so weary necessarily of a local head provided he/she has experience in dealing with that specific curriculum, has been trained, has been working at that specific IS for a while, and if have interviewed with him/her and I'm happy with the conversations we've had... And these would be the same things I would be expecting of a non local head, so the part of him/her being local would not be so important for me in this scenario.

Again, it all depends... t0o many variables.... too many if/buts/maybe to just generalize...

@WT123

Than you didnt read it, there is no splitting hairs. The senior business member of leadership iis not a business manager.

@Ifyousayso

Yes thank you, oversight on my part, I should have just stuck with UK.

My school has a "country-native" headteacher...of the high school English department. His English isn't very good, but he's been here longer than anyone else, so he kind of fell into the position back when the school was starting out and small. Disaster.