Being well and doing well have always been an important part of life in school and beyond. And now it is more important than ever. For many of us adults, the COVID-19 pandemic is the most wide-ranging and longest-lasting crisis of our lifetimes. And we are all feeling it.

We are a society that is addicted to the notion of innovation. Everyone wants to innovate, or be seen as innovative. But what does this really mean? And why would we want to do this?

In 2016, Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, released a set of recommendations for bringing ethical character and contribution to the common good into the college application process.

Why is empathy one of ASH’s core values, and why do many design and learning approaches begin with empathy? Empathy is, at its root, the ability to look at any situation from someone else’s perspective or point of view.

As a school, ASH condemns all racism, hate, violence, and the stranglehold those in power have over the powerless or the disenfranchised. In particular, we condemn the senseless violence and death persistently visited on people of color. Black lives matter. We are shocked and saddened when we see events like the death of George Floyd play out before our eyes. But we need to do more.

When schooling goes “back to normal,” there are many practices we have learned from our current situation that can enhance the way we learn forever. Likewise, we miss a golden opportunity if we do not seize upon the chance to change mindset as well.

In this blog, even before the virus disrupted our lives, we have explored new ways of learning to prepare for a constantly changing world. Now change is even more immediately apparent, and we have adapted quickly.

It is always important for us to check in with ourselves regularly and ask “How am I doing?” This is even more important when we are out of our normal routine, and now we know, as students and as workers, that this will go on for even longer. So… how are we doing? And what should we be doing?

How incredible that it has so quickly become almost cliche to say “What interesting times we are living in!” These times are unique. UNICEF now estimates that roughly 95 percent of the world’s students are experiencing a change in education as a result of the current coronavirus. The lucky ones can benefit from distance learning, as opposed to those experiencing an interruption in education.

The recent rapid evolution of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation around the world, and especially its surprisingly sudden arrival in the midst of Europe, provides us a timely opportunity to reflect on one of the most important of our psychological capacities: resilience.

I have alluded earlier to the notion that education (and indeed many other areas in life) are subject to a long unchallenged bias--that comparisons to an average are an effective basis for determining success or lack thereof. We looked at this in the light of standardized testing and also briefly in the way A, B, C, D, F grades developed about 120 years ago. Let's explore this latter example further.

Over the last week, I attended a conference in New York for heads of international schools. There were several workshop and conversation sessions on offer, including sessions about change in schools, inclusion, diversity, crisis management, and many others. Several of us commented on the fact that one of the most heavily attended sessions was entitled, “No, The Kids Are Not Alright”and was offered by a clinical psychologist, formerly a fellow at the Yale University School of Medicine and, interestingly, himself a student at international schools before university.

Part of our vision statement is that we see the world as our classroom. What does this really mean for modern schooling, and what does it mean for ASH? There are at least two ways in which we will strive to make this true: through existing and expanding opportunities for learners to engage in learning abroad, and in more subtle but deliberate ways we can extend learning into our everyday lives.

By now, you have read about our new mission and vision statements. These form the “widest angle” focus for our work going forward. The mission is descriptive - why we are here, and the vision expresses our desire for where we want to be as a school. It is important to point out that “we” in these statements refers to all of us: students, staff, families, and our wider community. This is not about what the school does to or even for students, but what we all do together.

The Winter Break from school and work is a perfect opportunity to let down, relax, reconnect with family and friends (including the ones who live in your house!) and store up energy for the second half of the school year. And a growing body of research is showing us sleep, including napping, is necessary for overall health and learning.

What is your mission in life? What is your vision for yourself in the future? These are not questions you may ask yourself regularly. Independent schools usually go to great lengths to establish mission and vision statements. One might wonder why, given the basic understanding that a school is really about kids learning. It came through clearly from our Project Nest work that people at ASH see us as more than just a school. So what does that mean for us when it comes to mission and vision?

One way to deepen learning and drive toward true understanding is to provide as many opportunities as possible for learning to continue beyond school, or outside the classroom. So what does this mean for a school?

In this blog, we have been scratching the surface of a discussion on mass education and exploring what has gotten us where we are today with schooling. We saw that standardization (of environments, goals, methods) is one effect of the fact education became such a huge and ever-growing institution. A striking example of this development is the standardized test, which has become such an important part of education.

As mass schooling became the norm across the world, certain structures arose (and continue to this day) that we can readily recognize as characteristics of schools. Many of them are so universal that we now think all schools must have them in order to be schools. But are they really standardized?

When considering how schools must change and adapt to new realities, it is useful to explore how they have become what they are today. Of course, it is overly simplistic to say that all...

If the Three Rs of reading, writing, and arithmetic are still important (and they are), but they are not enough, and if “new” skills like emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility are increasingly important...

The swiftly changing world of work and life around our children will demand new skills for them to thrive and succeed. But which skills? And how can we develop them?

Schools regularly go through cycles of accreditation and reflection on the work they do with students. These processes involve third-party agencies with expertise in education...

There is much discussion globally about the need for change in education. This is partly because we can see an unprecedented shift in the job market. It is also because of the speed with which new technologies...