For our latest View from the Top, Chris Seal, the head of Tanglin Trust Senior School in Singapore gets on his soapbox. With more and more international universities making their way onto students' radars, Mr Seal talks about why strong university guidance and support teams are so vital in schools, empowering pupils to achieve the best possible outcomes...
Since moving to the international sector in 2017 I have learned much. Asia can assault the senses and overwhelm the brain as the culture shock challenges all your preconceived ideas about education. This is especially true of colleagues coming to lead schools for the first time, and particularly interesting when you consider the perceived vital areas of school and the conflicting priorities for resources. International schools have different emphases from those in the UK. Sport happening in eight week ‘seasons’ that discombobulate those of us institutionalised by the three term model, English as Additional Language departments driving cultures school wide from a central and well supported position, and the highly qualified expert panel of university guidance counsellors available in all great international schools.
The resource required to assemble a guidance team is significant in international schools. The market dictates high salaries and status, but the impact can be profound. The end point of any school is the next destination. Though this simplifies education, and hopefully does not denigrate all the outstanding work in the pastoral and academic domains, the preparation needed for what life will throw at our charges is key. Good schools do an amazing job of developing the soft skills required for later life, great schools inculcate a love of learning and curiosity and so it becomes vital to be able to channel all that work and navigate the final hurdles with an experienced and knowledgeable team. Often schools carry specialists for the US. The complex and labour intensive processes demand ‘inside knowledge’ and an affinity with the cultural differences from state to state. This can often see a US citizen parachuted into schools with British curricula and all the challenges that this brings. Induction is vital, but much more than that is a school’s acceptance that this is desirable and an enthusiasm to learn from the US sector. Since 2017 my regular visits to US universities have enabled me to look at schools from another perspective, it supported some novel building projects and rather simply, reminded me that excellence comes in all shapes and sizes and that a place such as Harvey Mudd with fewer than 900 students can and does compete with bigger and better known institutions.
The US and UK are still the dominant destinations but forensic counselling teams have a good sense of Australian establishments and the fiendishly difficult process involved in transfer of courses and accreditation. Prestigious Japanese courses are still in good demand, applications to Ireland are on the increase and the Netherlands has developed a strong suite of international offerings that are of good quality and very affordable. More unknown destinations such as Stockholm will be on the radar of the most knowledgeable. It’s worth remembering that international schools can be working with families from well over thirty different countries.
We all know that exam results aren’t the measure of someone’s worth, but we also know that supporting students in finding the right pathway is vital to the success of a school. A top-class university guidance team can offer a real focus and motivation for all. The bright lights of Oxbridge or the Ivys aren’t for everyone but it is my contention that students capable of considering applications to those places are interesting in themselves, enjoy academic study and have the curiosity and courage to try something new – what’s not to like about that, and why wouldn’t we encourage more students to aspire to this? Those students are role models, they do inspire and their story can create a culture of aspiration that if carefully managed and supported by great pastoral work, should never apply undue pressure to young people.
There are some students of course who cannot access some of the more aspirational offers, and this is also where all strong teams earn their corn. The ‘careers’ tag was not always a useful one in the UK with rather simplistic advice often referred to in withering tones by those succeeding despite being told they had little prospect. However, all great schools can deliver on a promise to find pathways at all levels. In Singapore we have students who must access two years of National Service and some who go straight to gap year posts or full-time employment. In the same way that differentiation isn’t easy in classrooms, the huge range of possibilities on offer post 18 is an enormous challenge but with clever allocation of duties and time underpinned by the basic notion that this is a full time expert role (just like teaching) this can be achieved and all students should benefit.
For years in the UK, I espoused the value of the house system and the tutor being a strong voice in choices to come. I wasn’t wrong then and boarding education can offer this provision well in a holistic yet labour intensive way. My more recent experiences have indicated that given a specialist team with clearly defined roles, support from leadership and cultural backing from the community the destinations we speak of are a hugely powerful driver of change and ultimately outcomes.