In June 2008 I took on a new challenge, to head not just a new school, but one in a new and unfamiliar country. After spending most of my working life in North America, the prospect of re-locating to the north Indian Himalayas greatly appealed to me. People have varied responses to change; for me, change is something I have embraced many times in my life, both in position and geography. The relocation from New York City to Mussoorie has yet again plunged me into a new life. Four months on, I now appreciate the draw this mountainside has for the Woodstock alumni who make regular pilgrimages to their alma mater. Looking down on the twinkling lights of Dehradun from on high and observing clouds roll into my living room, are unique experiences that will forever remain etched in my memory.
For most education professionals who accept new challenging assignments, the knowns are greater than the unknowns and there is a calculated process of becoming familiar with new surroundings and expectations. Compared to what I have done in the past, what I do at Woodstock is not as great as the change students and staff face when they opt to come to Wood-stock. Prior to accepting the offer to serve as principal of India’s ancient (estb.1852) and most respected interna-tional school (as per EW’s Survey of Schools 2008), I worked in two well- established vintage schools, The University of Toronto schools in Canada and Hunter College Campus schools in New York City, both arguably the best schools in their countries. The loyalty of people connected to schools and the importance of traditions are two factors I have encountered in three excellent institutions.
Someone once coined the phrase “Constant change is here to stay”. This is particularly true of educational institutions. Boarding schools, particularly those which in the global context are sited in exotic places, are institutions in transition. A day school provides education to its students and a place of employment for its staff, but moving in and moving on for both groups does not usually engender sweeping lifestyle changes. A boarding school on the other hand imposes all-encompassing, radical lifestyle changes on teachers and students. The decision to work or study here, for most people, involves a major upheaval — separation from family, decisions about what possessions to retain and what to store or dispose of; and a process of change which has to be repeated again after two, three or ten years, when it’s time to move back or move on. Change — endemic to society and life — radically impacts residential schools in three main areas: leadership, faculty and students.
School leadership has become increasingly professionalised over the past few decades. When I began my career in the 1960s, school principals were experienced teachers who had risen through the ranks, and who had the practical knowhow to keep things moving along. Demands from parents and society were less insistent; education was viewed as the province of teachers, and they were broadly, left to get on with it.
School leadership is now very much a professional discipline, with Masters and doctoral programmes in the subject and a developing body of research and best practice. The fast pace of change we see in business enterprises is mirrored in top schools. An Economist Intelligence Unit report two years ago identified the five major concerns of top business executives as knowledge management; customer service and support; operations and production processes; strategy and business development; and marketing and sales activities. It does not require much stretch of mind to apply these key concerns to educational leadership.
A second challenge is in the area of staffing. Boarding schools in particular struggle to retain staff for lengthy periods, and typically experience an annual turnover of 20 percent or more. Many teachers from overseas moving to work at a school in India regard it an adventure, an experience. Our challenge is to enable them to make a notable impact on the school while they are here, and to find ways for them to use this experience as an opportunity for their professional growth which they can take home with them. Indeed it’s vital that schools — abroad or at home — see themselves not just as users of teachers’ skills, but as contributors to their growth. In this way the investment of society in education is constantly increased and the quality of education dispensed globally is continuously improved.
Young people are the least afraid of change. On the contrary they think of it as something worthy of pursuit. The majority of Woodstock’s students proceed abroad for higher education, and those who enroll in Indian colleges in material ways experience similar issues of transition from one education model to another. In Woodstock we address this issue through a year-long programme of transition preparation during which graduating students learn through discussions with those who have made the transition.
Such preparation is something we could all do with; comfort zones are becoming a rarity in today’s world. The transition into the future of education is well on its way. Let’s try not to be left behind.
(Dr. David Laurenson is principal of Woodstock School, Mussoorie)