International Education in Action - 3-18

A Curriculum for Excellence and Determined to Succeed must be seen in an international context. If our pupils are to be confident and successful contributors in the 21st century, then they must be global citizens. Each Scottish school needs to promote an understanding and awareness of Scotland and its place in the world and embed an international dimension into the educational experience of all pupils. International education needs leaders at all levels, ready to seize opportunities for pupil links and experiences with schools across the world.

This session will exemplify the leadership of international education and the range of opportunities available to practitioners, such as:  

• international visits to the school: making the most of them and building connections   
• international trips, expeditions and exchanges: assessing the risks and going ahead   
• work experience abroad: preparing for gap years and the adult job market   
• planned projects: making connections and making a difference   
• working with SEED and the British Council   
• joining national and international networks: how we can help each other   
• the experience of the Scotland China Education Network: let’s be radical!   
• international professional development opportunities for staff   
• international student and international education committees and Diversity Days.

Dr Judith McClure, CBE, Headteacher, St George’s School
Helen Mackie, Deputy Head of St George’s School and Head of International Education
Meryl James, Quality Improvement Officer (Modern Languages), Perth and Kinross Council

Judith McClure
Judith is the Headteacher of St George’s School in Edinburgh, an all-through school for pupils aged 2-18 which has links with schools and institutions in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Rwanda, Malawi, Russia, China and a whole host of other countries. She has been a Headteacher for twenty years and she is passionate about supporting the current collaborative movement for educational reform in Scotland. She believes that pupils and staff alike have everything to gain from international education, which opens their minds to the 21st century world as well as giving them opportunities to develop their skills and talents and to encourage their understanding of people of other cultures and societies.

A Curriculum for Excellence is liberating practitioners and enabling them to engage together in interdisciplinary projects with an international dimension. Judith is Convener of SELMAS, the Scottish Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society. She believes strongly that all schools need collaborative leadership, and so does Scottish education. 

Judith is also Convener of SCEN, the Scotland-China Education Network, and she believes that the experience of a learning and support network united in the common purpose of raising the understanding and awareness of China and its language and culture in Scottish schools is a model for further working together to promote international education.

She is looking forward to the chance of engaging practitioners and pupils in what we are learning so far and what we could achieve together in the future.

Helen Mackie
Helen has led countless trips and expeditions to destinations abroad, including China and Uganda. She is a linguist as well as an indefatigable explorer, and she believes that languages should enable people to communicate, to enjoy each other’s company and to understand each other. Every day she is engaged in international activity, much of it aimed at strengthening links with partner schools abroad and supporting colleagues and pupils who are engaged in international visits and exchanges.
She believes strongly in the importance of international professional development opportunities for teachers as well as in the central educational experience of being part of a school abroad for pupils. She understands the risks and she knows how to assess them and prepare for them in ways which give confidence to all.

Meryl James
Meryl has been developing International Links with France, Germany, Spain and China. Since 2005, Meryl’s focus has been to introduce the wonders and richness of China, Chinese culture and language in both primary and secondary schools.

In 2005, with funding from DIEPP, she spent three weeks in secondary schools in Chongqing and Beijing. These included both inner city, rural, state and private schools. In the summer of 2006 she was one of ten delegates from throughout the UK who was invited by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China to visit schools in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai and to meet the Minister for Education.

Meryl believes strongly in international education. She is passionate in declaring that learning about China is motivating, stimulating, accessible to all and engages teachers and pupils alike.