Collaborative Culture Creation

It's been seven months into my self-imposed sabbatical after being actively engaged as an educator for a start-up international school in Mumbai, India. For the last five years my life was consumed by curriculum planning, establishing policies and procedures, teaching, reflecting and establishing new partnerships. My brain was in constant overdrive mode thinking about what I could do better, how I could make learning more meaningful and engaging and how I could make my students happy and lifelong learners, who come to school because they want to learn and not because they have to learn. I was often asked by friends and family - What's it like to work at an international IB school? My reply took some pondering after which my response was - Very challenging! It's like participating in a triathlon. Only more challenging because the race never ends. But the beauty of it is that you do more than just teaching. A manager, counsellor, colleague, teaching partner, administrator, event organizer, house keeper, entertainer are just a few roles that this position embodies. Depending on what the situation demands you are either one or a combination of the above in varying degrees. So it is very satisfying in spite of all the hard work. You get called 'mom' very often in the classroom and I quite like that. One is learning at every single moment and I really enjoy that.

Snowed in today and having found the time to finally attend to this blog post, I am delighted to put my reflection into words. I hope this will make interesting reading for anyone in international education. Teachers, administrators, parents and students alike. It takes a village to teach a child as they say and at an international school it is no different. Many heads and hands are working together tirelessly to make each student's journey successful, gratifying and memorable. When I sit back and ask myself - what was the most challenging task I had to face to feel successful as an international educator? I am quite surprised to realize that it was managing teacher relationships and teacher collaboration before curriculum design, delivery and nurturing teacher - student relationships. I was blessed to be in a constellation of educators representing diverse backgrounds and cultures. Yes, we were weaving magic but 'culture' often emerged as the reason for conflict or an excuse to not know how to deal with a particularly challenging situation.

The thrust of IB education are its learner profile attributes. We as international educators are continuously striving to make our students international and open minded, knowledgeable, balanced and empathetic individuals, who will hopefully be peace-loving, environmentally conscious human beings ready to take on the world and change it for the better. We as educators rarely stop and ask ourselves - how many of these attributes do we adopt and demonstrate? Are we making the time to learn how to make these a part of our own philosophy? If the answer is 'no,' 'sometimes' or 'may be' then that is where learning ends and conflict begins. Ultimately, we are responsible for the narrative our students will learn and the mindset they will form so it is our prime responsibility to model what we are expecting from our students. Blaming it then on cultural differences makes the situation even more complex and depressing. If I have decided to be an international educator, it is not just my duty but my responsibility to walk that extra mile and be more flexible and accommodating. What does this look like in the form of achievable goals?

• It is important to listen carefully with an 'empty' mind. Empty in the sense of 'free of stereotypes.' When you catch your mind putting your colleague in a category of nationality or type, broaden the category immediately. Not seeing them as Asian, American or rigid but as teachers. It instantly expands your ability to accommodate and seek dialogue.

• Try to be the center sometimes and the periphery at other times. They are totally different perspectives. Like our old saying goes - try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Will instantly calm that raging heart rate.

• Try to see intercultural understanding not as a problem to deal with but a competency to acquire. You start the journey with a positive mindset.

• Check the vocabulary you use. For administrative purposes words like 'local' and 'expat' may be comprehensible to a certain extent but not at faculty meetings or in the school community at large. Use teacher names instead. Countries are man made and the resulting nationalities create artificial barriers. Just because I have a particular nationality does not necessarily make me local in that country. It is a dangerous assumption.

• "Culture is sometimes nothing more than a convenient and lazy explanation." (Piller 2011:172). Let's not be lazy.

• In any team we tend to focus on the differences between team members. We need to function on a continuum of similarities and differences. It takes practice but it is doable.

• Dialogue is very important. It takes time for two people to negotiate understanding. Perhaps a little extra time if you come from different backgrounds and experiences in life. The problem is that we don't have time. It's worth making some.

• You might be successful in some situations and fail in others. Acknowledge failure. Analyze failure and learn from it. It is totally alright to fail.

• "Respond to people according to how you find them rather than according to what you have heard about them." (Holiday et al 2009) This requires time and effort but is worthwhile.

• We are very conscious about avoiding racial and sexist remarks. We have to make an effort to avoid falling in the culturalist trap and reduce people to less than who they really are. Constantly reminding ourselves that every society is as complex and culturally varied as our own helps us develop open mindedness and be empathetic.

Of course, there is more one can do than what I have listed here today. I also don't want to undermine the richness each culture brings with it. But as believers in progressive international education, we bear the responsibility of leading teachers, who join this brigade into looking beyond generalizations and paying more attention to the nuances and undertones of culture. It is time to go beyond the definitions of culture as 'individualistic' or 'collectivist'. These are situation-based in every culture and a matter of perspective. They are also strongly influenced by politics and media.

As I continue reflecting on other aspects of my learning as an international educator, I want to conclude by saying that I am grateful for the learning experiences I have gathered as a result of working with so many talented educators and a school that provided a platform for substantial growth and learning of their students as well as teachers.

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