STEPHEN DEXTER, a native of New England, has been a teacher and administrator since 1994. He finally discovered that the Swiss stay thin on a diet of chocolate, cheese and wine by walking a lot and not eating or drinking to excess. He is currently taking a gap year in the Swiss Alps to rediscover his passion for education and to understand what chief innovation officers really do.
DANIEL KERR is now Lower School Director at the American School of Paris. He previously served as Intermediate Division Principal at Academia Cotopaxi American International School in Quito, Ecuador, and prior to that was the Middle School Principal at SCIS in Shanghai, China. Dan has also worked at JIS in Jakarta, Indonesia and he began his International career in Abu Dhabi. Dan is thrilled to be joining the ASP family and will be accompanied by his wife, Jocelyn, who will be working as a counselor, and his two children, Max and Gabby.
KASSI COWLES is an IB English and TOK teacher currently based in Shanghai. She has worked in international education for the last 8 years in Canada, Togo and China. Her writing explores issues of educational reform and how to create authentic and creative learning communities.
MATTHEW GOOD & NIAMH CONWAY are international school teachers who met while working at the British School of Lome, in Togo, West Africa. They later moved to Uzbekistan, where they spent four years at Tashkent International School, each summer exploring another slice of the world by bike. Their Pedalgogy website allows users to follow the touring teachers on their two-year bike trip around the world.
BARRY DEQUANNE is currently working as the Director at the International School of Zug and Luzern (ISZL). His blog explores topics in K-12 education and school leadership within the framework of five focus areas: Academics, Activities, Arts, Leadership, and Service. The blog also explores professional articles and highlights recently read books.
EMILY MEADOWS is an alumni of international schools and has worked as a professional educator and counselor across the world, serving children and families in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. She holds master’s degrees in the fields of Counseling and Sexual Health, and is a PhD candidate researching inclusive policy and practice for LGBTQ+ students. Emily is a consultant on gender and sexual diversity and inclusion in international schools: www.emilymeadows.org
DAVID PENBERG is an urban and international educational leader/consultant with a deep commitment to progressive education, understanding global mindedness, and new school creation. He abides by the dictum of E.E. Cummings who said: “ I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing, than teach ten thousand stars not to dance.” He is presently the Head of School of Innovate Manhattan Charter School in New York City.
SHANNON FEHSE Shannon Fehse has spent her entire teaching career overseas, having lived and worked in China, Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan, and presently, the UAE. As a textbook definition extrovert, she talks to anyone, and enjoys listening to stories and different perspectives on life. Shannon has a somewhat faulty filter and often says what other people are thinking, but this typically works out favorably. She offers opinions and insight into the benefits and challenges of job hunting, dating overseas, and general issues that affect international educators.
MIKE SIMPSON is the Director of Curriculum and Learning at The International School Yangon. Originally a lawyer from New Zealand, Mike has also worked in schools in Qatar, Venezuela, and Lesotho. Mike has a particular interest in the development of collaborative and innovative learning communities. He hopes that his blog might be of interest to other teachers and school leaders as they nurture these communities in their own schools.
GREGORY HEDGER Dr. Gregory Hedger has recently been appointed to be the head of the International School Yangon, in Myanmar, beginning in fall 2016. A native of Minnesota, Greg has served in education for over 25 years, including 13 years in the role of School Director at Cayman International School, Qatar Academy, and most recently as Superintendent at Escuela Campo Alegre in Venezuela. Greg promotes international education through his service on the boards of AAIE, AASSA, and his work with the International Task Force for Child Protection, his contributions to various periodicals, and his work to promote the next generation of leaders through workshops and teaching.
LINDSAY LYON is a seasoned English and Theory of Knowledge teacher currently working at JIS. She and her husband have taught abroad as a teaching team for fifteen years in Venezuela, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia, and now Indonesia. They write about expat life with a focus on money and savings in their blog The Haggard Lyon. Here you will find some of the same, and other musings from Lindsay on life overseas with kids, teaching, technology, and staying balanced in a busy world.
NICHOLAS ALCHIN is High School Principal at the United World College of SE Asia, East Campus. A sino-celtic Brit who has lived and taught in the UK, Switzerland, Kenya, and Singapore, he has also held a number of roles with the IB and writes and speaks widely on educational matters. He enjoys traveling with wife Ellie, and kids Tom (10), Millie (13) and Ruth (16).
TONY DEPRATO Tony DePrato has a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University and has been working as a Director of Educational Technology since 2009. He has worked in the United Arab Emirates and China where he has consulted with schools in both regions on various technology topics. In 2013, Tony DePrato released The BYOD Playbook a free guide for schools looking to discuss or plan a Bring Your Own Device program. Tony is originally from the US, and worked in multimedia, website development, and freelance video production. Tony is married to Kendra Perkins, who is a librarian.
ETTIE ZILBER is a consultant to International School Communities and Families in Transition and a veteran international school educator and school leader. She has served in independent international schools in Israel, Singapore, Spain, Guatemala, China, and most recently in the USA. Her expertise extends to such topics as international school models, second/foreign language acquisition, communicating between diverse groups, the impact of international mobility and relocation on children, parents and staff, the special family experience of the educators’ children, the orientation of newcomers, multi-cultural communities, catalysts for teaching internationally, and marketing of international schools. She is the author of Third Culture Kids: The Children of International School Educators. She can be contacted at ettie.zilber@gmail.com
HELEN KELLY has taught in and led schools in Africa, Europe and Asia over the last twenty years. She has led educational technology teams in three schools. Helen is currently the Lower School Principal at Canadian International School of Hong Kong, where she leads Project Innovate, a Pre-K-12 initiative to bring future-ready learning to the school. Helen completed her Ed.D in 2017 on the emotional challenges that school leaders face in the course of their role. She leads workshops on improving the wellbeing of leaders and educators in international schools.
TRAE HOLLAND is the Director of Academia Cotopaxi’s The ONE Institute, has been a leader in both the non-profit and business sectors, and has 19 years experience teaching both in the US and in international schools, with a specialization in learning differentiation. You can reach his website at www.traeholland.com.
JOHN MIKTON currently is the Head of Education and Media Technology/ Assistant Principal at the International School of Luxembourg . Previously he was the Director of eLearning at the Inter Community School Zurich, Switzerland and the Director of Information Technology at the International School of Prague, Czech Republic. John is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Trainer, Principal Training Center facilitator, Appsevents summit speaker and Learning 2.0 Community Coach. John blogs @ https://beyonddigital.org
FREDERIC BORDAGUIBEL-LABAYLE is the High School Associate Principal and IB Diploma Coordinator at Academia Cotopaxi American International School in Quito, Ecuador. Fred was born and raised in the South West of France; he finished his studies and started teaching in the UK, then went on to Istanbul and he is currently in Quito. Fred likes to pause, reflect and share his experience as an international educator and administrator.
SUE EASTON is the Director of the Teacher Training Center. She has worked with international schools for the past eleven years, on four continents, in roles focused on enhancing teaching and learning practices. This experience has made her passionate about the topic of change and how to best make change to support students and student learning. Her blog will explore this topic through the lens of PTC, TTC and CTC trainers’ words of wisdom.
ALLISON POIROT is currently teaching IB History, Modern World History, and Psychology at Asociación Escuelas Lincoln in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She taught previously at King’s Academy in Madaba, Jordan, and at public and charter schools in and around Boston, Massachusetts. She has a deep interest in progressive pedagogy and believes in fostering student autonomy and empowerment.
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As a parent of a transgender child, I thank you for bringing awareness to this topic. They are remarkably patient and respond to misgendering and deadnaming through educating. However, there is nothing they can do when filling out a form. There are no “gender neutral” or other boxes to describe diverse identities.
I know, through my own research, that affirmation is the ethical thing to do. Thnks again!
Dear Irene,
Thank you for your readership and for your encouraging comments.
I agree that many transgender people are exceedingly patient when it comes to misgendering and deadnaming, though the burden usually falls disproportionately to them to exercise this flexibility. My hope is that, eventually, educators will see it as their responsibility to get this right at school.
Sincerely,
Emily
Dear Emily,
I’m less than persuaded that both cases are analogous (the former and the latter privilege). But perhaps the main problem with the issue you have pointed out is that, as often is the case, there is far too much appeal to emotion, and not so much as a logical treatment of the topic, or a logical presentation of a position with answers to possible counterarguments and so forth.
One could equally write an essay condemning the privilege of healthy-bodied people, and point out how under-represented and discriminated transabled people feel (or in our case as teachers, transable students). Again, feelings. I’m not saying that they are not important, but to make them the yardstick of our ethical system is a recipe for intellectual atrophy.
Now leaving aside the obvious common sense fact that people should not be legally discriminated based on their sexual orientation (which you seem to be pointing out), I’m actually quite curious about the implicit moral claims you are making, and perhaps you can elucidate a little bit more on them.
You seem to be implying that cisgender privilege is wrong, as in ‘morally wrong’. And that implication or statement is binding for all people. Hence, a moral absolute. But why should we observe that imperative and not perhaps other counter-imperatives?
The lack of warrants and justifications for your position makes it difficult to answer your question at the end of the text, since the question itself already assumes a moral stance.
I hope that makes sense.
Yours,
Dear Jonatas,
Thank you for your readership, and for your engagement in this important discussion. I will do my best to respond to the questions you’ve raised.
In terms of the two types of privilege being analogous, I agree that heterosexual and cisgender privilege are not the same. However, they are related in the sense that both relate to gender and sexual minorities, which is sort of an umbrella used in the field. And, heterosexual privilege cannot exist without cisgender privilege. I consolidated the two for the sake of brevity, but certainly it would not be difficult to write two separate posts.
While I do think that emotions are worth considering, I also rely heavily on scholarly research in my writing. If you’ll see my reply to Dominique in this same comments section, I’ve included a partial list of some academic references that you might find interesting, and which support my point from an empirical perspective.
I agree with you that many people carry privilege because of their bodies, whether it be in shape or size or ability. I haven’t prepared a piece on this, but I think that one could easily create a list of ways that this privilege plays out to the advantage of some – and the detriment of others – in international schools. This theme really could apply to any dominant status where minority groups are disadvantaged.
You refer to legal discrimination against people based upon sexual orientation as an, “Obvious common sense fact”, but this not necessarily the case. Unfortunately, there are still many countries around the world where legal discrimination against sexual minorities is perfectly permissible. I’m not sure where you are from, but it has been relatively recent history that sexual minorities have been granted legal protections in the legal system in my country (the U.S.) This is why it is important that we continue to bring the issue of privilege to light.
Finally, for the moral aspect of it. Again, my reply to Dominique might help to answer your question (if I understand it correctly). The idea is not that I, as a heterosexual, cisgender person, created the system that gave me privilege. It was like this before I was born. However, if I do nothing to challenge it during my lifetime, then I am guilty of passing this system on to others. To say nothing is to endorse the status quo. This status quo causes significant damage to the gender and sexual minority children in our care, as professional educators, so I see it as my responsibility to acknowledge the issue and actively work to improve it.
Sincerely,
Emily
I suppose when real problems cease to exist we just invent some. Why not? This is pure nonsense.
Dear Dominique,
Thank you for your readership.
Gender and sexual minorities are some of our most at-risk students for a number of negative mental health outcomes, including suicide (Fergusson et al., 2005; Garofalo et al., 1999; Kann et al., 2016; Russell & Joyner, 2001).
This disparity with their majority peers has been attributed to the social stigma associated with minority status (Almeida et al., 2009; Burton et al., Dane & MacDonald, 2009; 2013; Hatzenbuehler et al., Herschberger & D’Augelli, 1995; Lea et al., 2014; 2016; Meyer, 2003; Tebbe & Moradi, 2016).
From my perspective, and that of many other professional educators, this is a very real problem.
I hope that you will reconsider; a more supportive and inclusive educational environment for all students saves lives (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2014; Heck, 2011).
Sincerely,
Emily
References:
Almeida, J., Johnson, R. M., Corliss, H. L., Molnar, B. E., & Azrael, D. (2009). Emotional distress among LGBT youth: The influence of perceived discrimination based on sexual orientation. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 38, 1001-1014.
Burton, C. M., Marshal, M. P., Chisolm, D. J, Sucato, G. S., Friedman, M. S. (2013). Sexual minority-related victimization as a mediator of mental health disparities in sexual minority youth: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 394-402.
Dane, S. K. & MacDonald, G. (2009). Heterosexuals’ acceptance predicts the well-being of same-sex attracted young adults beyond ingroup support. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26(5), 659-677.
Fergusson, D. M., Horwood, L. J., Ridder, E. M., & Beautrais, A. L. (2005). Sexual orientation and mental health in a birth cohort of young adults. Psychological Medicine, 35, 971-981.
Garofalo, R., Wolf, C., Wissow, L. S., Woods, E. R., & Goodman, E. (1999). Sexual orientation and risk of suicide attempts among a representative sample of youth. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 153, 487-493.
Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Birkett, M., Van Wagenen, A., & Meyer, I. H. (2014). Protective School Climates and Reduced Risk for Suicide Ideation in Sexual Minority Youths. American Journal of Public Health, 104(2), 279-286.
Hatzenbuehler, M. L. & Pachankis, J. E. (2016). Stigma and minority stress as social determinants of health among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: Research evidence and clinical implications. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 63(6), 985-997.
Heck, N., Flentje, A., Cochran, B. (2011). Offsetting risks: High school gay-straight alliances and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Youth. School Psychology Quarterly, 26(2), 161-174.
Hershberger, S. L. & D’Augelli, A. R. (1995). The impact of victimization on the mental health and suicidality of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths. Developmental Psychology, 31, 65-74.
Kann L., Olsen E. O., McManus T., et al. (2016). Sexual identity, sex of sexual contacts, and health-related behaviors among students in grades 9–12 — United States and selected sites, 2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Surveillance Summaries, 65(9): 1–202.
Lea, T., de Wit, J., & Reynolds, R. (2014). Minority stress in lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults in Australia: Associations with psychological distress, suicidality, and substance use. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 1571-1578.
Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 674-697.
Russell, S. T. & Joyner, K. (2001). Adolescent sexual orientation and suicide risk: Evidence from a national study. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1276-1281.
Tebbe, E. A. & Moradi, B. (2016). Suicide risk in trans populations: An application of minority stress theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(5), 520-533.