There is a huge focus on continuing professional development in the UK – the Department for Education (DfE) outlines a five-part standard for teacher’s professional development to be used by everyone working and and with UK schools and, when judging the effectiveness of a school’s leadership team, Ofsted takes into account “whether continuing professional development… Read more »

Before starting to teach internationally, I taught for five years in an East London state school where the number of students eligible for free school meals was almost twice the national average. At my first international school, students’ personal drivers drove the family BMW through the drive-through to pick up a McDonald’s meal for their… Read more »

A great experiment in education has taken place over the past 14 months: A complete shift in the way educators and students interact and in how schools are structured, has forced the world to reflect on the value of teachers and the functions of schools in society. The unprecedented experiment—which hopefully won’t repeat itself—enabled educators… Read more »

Cheryl-Ann Weekes is the high school counselor at the International Community School of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire. This is her 10th year working in international schools and her 22nd year as a school counselor. She uses quotes from her favorite author Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey to teach students about positive self talk.  Most international… Read more »

Protections and rights for the LGBTQ+ community vary widely between the regions Teacher Horizons works in. While some countries—like Ecuador and South Africa—grant members of the queer community with constitutional protection, other parts of the world have conservative mindsets towards sexuality and gender roles which makes life extremely challenging for people who identify as LGBTQ+…. Read more »

The state of counselling in international schools Counselling in any school demands a host of diverse talents to juggle everything that is thrown at you: Writing recommendation letters, supporting children in crisis, providing academic guidance to students, the list of responsibilities can seem daunting to any educator. In international schools, counsellors often support their communities… Read more »

It’s not surprising that in a time of great uncertainty comes a myriad of questions. This blog post shares some common questions being asked among the international teaching community right now and our CEO, Alex, has some answers to put your mind at rest during this difficult time.  It is crucial to acknowledge that while… Read more »

When Susanna Harper engaged her grade eight and nine students in oral history projects, parents would often tell her, ‘We don’t have any history in our family.’ It was these families—who claimed to have no interesting history in their family—who often discovered the most compelling stories.  “You have the students that think there’s nothing interesting… Read more »

Andrew Hallam is a former international school teacher at Singapore American School, where he taught English and personal finance to secondary students, providing them with the tools to become academically and financially successful.  Encouraged by his success, Hallam now works as a personal finance journalist, speaker, and international best-selling author of Millionaire Teacher and Millionaire… Read more »

While chatting with a friend who works in early education about what constitutes a “good” school, she presented a new idea to me: “A school can only be good if it is considered diverse.” I jotted the thought down and moved on to other things. Coming upon my note some days later, the simplicity of… Read more »