Roberta gets the credit for the initial inspiration to travel abroad and work in international schools. While she was in graduate school she ran into her 5th grade teacher, Ms. Smith, at a local Chinese restaurant. In their conversation, Ms. Smith shared that she had transitioned to working in international schools. She had worked in China and Australia. This conversation inspired Roberta to pursue international education. She held the desire to educate internationally close to her heart and after several years of working in the US public school system, we both decided that we should pursue future international opportunities.
As with everything in life, many choices are dictated by timing and circumstance. Our case was no different. Many things were going on in our life personally and professionally that made us feel that time was right to transition abroad. Peter held a position of principal of a school with 2,500 students for three years. The work was all consuming and our entire family was invested in the school. Although the school made significant progress under his leaderhship, there was a constant feeling of push-pull between all the stakeholders. Some teachers were burned out. The tenure system protected poor educators. The responsibilities kept piling up. Even though 99% of the things were going well, the 1% that did not was the most discussed. Each year more was added to Peter's plate and nothing was taken off. Then the economic recession hit and the work became more consuming. More pressure, less support, and more work! Peter held a deep passion for education, but thought there had to be a better way than what he was currenlty experiencing.
Roberta was working at a high poverty, high needs middle school. She found her teaching experience really rewarding and had a lot of success with her students. She gained leadership positions in the school as department head and an instructional coach. She often reflected that the students forced her to become a better teacher. Roberta would often come home and share her success, but she also desired to do more. There were so many skill gaps the students possessed and the system did not possess the same sense of urgency to build the students academic skills. In addition, the work was draining. She would often come home totally fatigued by the days events. She was very successful yet she still felt that there was something else she could be doing to improve education.
As with everything in life, many choices are dictated by timing and circumstance. Our case was no different. Many things were going on in our life personally and professionally that made us feel that time was right to transition abroad. Peter held a position of principal of a school with 2,500 students for three years. The work was all consuming and our entire family was invested in the school. Although the school made significant progress under his leaderhship, there was a constant feeling of push-pull between all the stakeholders. Some teachers were burned out. The tenure system protected poor educators. The responsibilities kept piling up. Even though 99% of the things were going well, the 1% that did not was the most discussed. Each year more was added to Peter's plate and nothing was taken off. Then the economic recession hit and the work became more consuming. More pressure, less support, and more work! Peter held a deep passion for education, but thought there had to be a better way than what he was currenlty experiencing.
Roberta was working at a high poverty, high needs middle school. She found her teaching experience really rewarding and had a lot of success with her students. She gained leadership positions in the school as department head and an instructional coach. She often reflected that the students forced her to become a better teacher. Roberta would often come home and share her success, but she also desired to do more. There were so many skill gaps the students possessed and the system did not possess the same sense of urgency to build the students academic skills. In addition, the work was draining. She would often come home totally fatigued by the days events. She was very successful yet she still felt that there was something else she could be doing to improve education.
The thing that created the final push to move abroad were our children. After researching international schools, it was clear that we could provide our children with amazing educational and cultural opportunities if we made the move. International schools rival the most prestigious private schools in the US in academic performance. They provide a rich education that includes opportunities to study music, art, language, as well as the traditional subjects. The schools are filled with students from diverse cultural backgrounds. In addition, living in another country would allow them to grow from daily experiences, learn an additional language, and gain a sensitivity for other people's perspectives. People talk about globalization and how small the world has become. We wanted our kids to be proud of their American heritage but view themselves as citizens of the world. All combined, we felt the time was right to explore options outside of the US.
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