Last Saturday, our first Teacher Leader Institute of the 2024/2025 school year, Leadership Tools for Teacher Leaders, opened with an interactive two-hour synchronous session and many new and returning participants eager to learn or enhance their teacher leadership skills. As I engaged with them online, I couldn’t help but reflect on the previous year, and all that I learned and was reminded of, in my role as Principals’ Training Center (PTC) Director of Programs.
The Principals’ Training Center (PTC) offers many courses for international educators including: PTC, Counselor Training Center (CTC), Teacher Leader Institutes (TLI), The Teacher Training Center - English as an Additional Language (TTC-EAL), and Governance Training Center (GTC)
It’s all about community
Over the years, one of the most common things mentioned by new participants when they take a course with the PTC is the feeling of joining a community. We wondered when we started adding online opportunities that this would be lost, but over the year, watching participants engage in synchronous sessions, Regional Cohorts, introduction and discussion videos, and active discussion boards throughout the courses, it was clear that this feeling was flourishing. Some of that is due to our wonderful, active participants. Some of it is due to our thoughtful course trainers, engaging continually through feedback and dialogue.
This feeling of community is also palpable in our in-person courses. From the traditional “pearls” to start each day, to afternoon group discussions, to the “famous” demonstrations of learning, the in-person participants form a strong bond over their week together. And this doesn’t end with the course. Whether online or in-person, the use of PTCnet/TLInet/ CTCnet/ GTCnet, WhatsApp groups, and our learning platform to communicate and share dilemmas after the course ends shows that the PTC community extends far beyond a single course. This sense of community, building relationships with a network of international educators is so important for both wellbeing and achievement.
Learning may look different but still be impactful
The obvious difference we had this year is the one between online and in-person learning. But there is also the difference between intensive week-long classes in June/July (PTC/ CTC), the 8–9-week courses (TLI/ CTC/ TTC-EAL), and stand-alone synchronous sessions (GTC) during the school year. Even within the 8-9-week courses, TLI courses are predominantly asynchronous with four modules and one synchronous session, TTC-EAL courses are entirely asynchronous, and CTC courses are six synchronous sessions and six modules of learning.
Whatever the model, participants learn from the curriculum, other course colleagues, and the PTC trainers. During the school year, there are job-embedded practices to be completed within the participants’ school context, giving them the opportunity to talk with their team and their administrators. June/ July courses focus on skill practice and have application tasks to plan how to use the learning upon returning to school. The learning may look different, but the feedback that we receive consistently, including our course evaluations, tells us that every model is impactful and makes a difference to their role and ultimately their students. Providing more opportunities for different models to meet the needs of international educators is something that we are continually considering.
We are all committed to growth
Whether it is information shared in our prep surveys, post-course evaluations, or “selfie” introduction videos, PTC participants are committed to improving their practice. They want to learn about the latest research and practices and grow their skills to better serve their students. They come to us as true professionals on a life-long journey of growth. With 50 percent of participants from September 2023 to August 2024 returning to the PTC to take courses, and 198 participants graduating with one of our PTC Certificates in the same time period, it is clear that international educators are committed to growing. This thirst for learning connects to our PTC Mission “to serve the unique professional learning needs of practicing and aspiring principals, teachers, teacher leaders, counselors, and governance members in international schools worldwide” and supports our commitment to continual improvement as we revise and enhance our course offerings to meet the evolving needs of our participants.
Standards matter
Our programs are designed around the International Standards of Practice for each of our participant groups. These standards establish the shared professional benchmarks for excellence in the international school setting. Basing the courses on the standards means that participants build dispositions, conceptual understandings, skills and knowledge (DUcKS) directly related to the work that they are doing or aspiring to do. Providing opportunities for participants to build their DUcKS, collect evidence of their learning, and plan how to use them in their own school context is central to the approach of the PTC. Even larger than that is the idea that if all international schools used common Standards of Practice for recruiting, supervising, planning professional learning, and evaluating educators, then our profession would be elevated, and students globally would benefit. How the standards might be demonstrated in different school and cultural contexts might change, but the overarching goals would frame what we do for students.
Diversity enriches everyone
One of the greatest strengths of the PTC’s programs is the diversity within the community. In the 2023/ 2024 school year and June/July courses, 315 schools from 89 countries, and 103 different nationalities were represented. This diversity helped all of us to practice cultural humility while learning about and from the different experiences our participants brought with them. Online, this meant that our video and text discussions were rich with the practices from different participants. In-person, this was displayed not only in class discussions and afternoon group meetings, but in the unique ways that the demonstrations of learning were presented. Recognizing and celebrating our differences also helps us see the ways that we are similar. At the PTC, we aim to live our mission by providing opportunities to an even more diverse group of learners in the years ahead.
As I prepare for tomorrow’s first Counselor’s Training Center course of the 2024/ 2025 school year, Essential Skills for International School Counselors, I recommit to these learnings, and their evolution in 2024/ 2025, as we strive to continue providing “world class, research-driven, practical training, designed for the international school setting.”
