After I received my ISASA Staff Development Fund Award, I was scheduled to present at a conference in Toronto, Canada in 2020, and to embark on an adventurous and learning journey in California, USA which included visiting three schools. But the pandemic happened, and the conference took place online.
Fortunately, I was able to reroute my trip to California through a Round Square affiliation and visit a school in San Francisco before heading down south to Los Angeles for two more school visits in Santa Barbara.
Experiential learning
Experiential learning was a common thread at each of the schools. Instead of just getting through the content, they emphasised inquiry-, problem- and outdoor-based learning as integral to education. Classroom arrangements were flexible, mostly arranged in an oval with a teacher as facilitator and everybody around the oval given an equal opportunity to contribute to rich discussions.
Each class had an average of 12 students, innovation was encouraged, and students were allowed to choose different electives to supplement their core study areas. The electives of interest to me were entrepreneurial studies and engineering, specifically the way in which they were taught.
Entrepreneurial studies included a student-owned tuck-shop run on trust. There was no salesperson, instead students could take what they wanted, pay by card, or drop their money in a jar and select their change. Engineering and innovation, meanwhile, incorporated creativity, design thinking and global learning. I liked the idea of introducing Philosophy and Humanities as a major for the more senior students who enjoy debating.
A focus on emotional wellness
Another commonality between the schools is that their educational pillars were based on values such as emotional wellness, intellectual growth, physical readiness, moral courage and social responsibility. Students were encouraged to put together personal-development portfolios to showcase their developmental progress. This was added to their graduate profile.
Student wellness was prioritised. Although I arrived at the first school at 8.30am, the time I was told school started, the students didn’t arrive as scheduled. It turns out the school was holding a “wellness week” and started an hour later to allow the students to sleep in. Various programmes were held on topics such as mental wellness, relaxation exercises, physical-wellness activities like self-defense, knowing your boundaries, communication, and so much more.
Community engagement
California is a wealthy state, and as a result community engagement activities held by the schools were different from what I’m used to in South Africa. Students could earn “community hours” by, for example, filing a tax return for a low-income earner, teaching life skills to children or fundraising for a good cause.
There were some initiatives to clean up areas and feed the homeless, butthis was nowhere near what we experience in South Africa. For their final year of high school, students had to complete a community engagement project and reflect on what they did, why, the impact, challenges, lessons learnt etc.
Looking after international students
Something we would do well to replicate as independent schools in South Africa is having an International Students’ Office which offers academic bridging programmes for students from other countries – to improve their English, provide socio-emotional support, and equip them for culture shock.
The schools I visited offered one-on-one support and every student was made to feel that they belonged. Although there is some support for international students in South Africa, they are sometimes left to struggle on their own after the orientation process.
Diversity, transformation, and inclusion
Topics around equity and social justice were a common thread in the schools I visited. Cultural and social intelligence, empathy and one’s awareness of one’s surroundings were some of the issues that came up in the debates I listened to.
In their interviews with me, grade level leaders commented that their challenges included conflicting ideas around the understanding of issues like inclusion. A staff workshop that took place was a discussion on the book, The Identity Conscious Educator: Building Habits and Skills for a More Inclusive School by Liza Talusan, which explores the idea of research-based learning environments that allows all students to learn and grow by understanding identities, building, engaging and moving from knowledge to reflection and action.
Pressure to achieve
My conversations with various Deans of Students highlighted a common concern around the stress and anxiety students experienced. These were prestigious schools, and students felt pressured to do well and be accepted by top-ranking universities. To their advantage, class sizes are small and they have good access to their teachers. The largest class I observed had 17 students and the smallest had four; most classes comprised 12 students.
Dining time was together time. The buffet-style food was healthy and balanced and the headmaster queued with the students. Seating was arranged to create a family environment and staff and students sat together.
The trip was a huge success in terms of networking. A head of one of the schools visited Johannesburg in September, another teacher will be joining an exchange programme, and several students have inquired about cultural exchanges.
This opportunity to explore new spaces was a highlight of my career. Although I’d visited the USA before, California, with its Spanish influence, was special. So was San Francisco with its technology and innovation, and Los Angeles with its creativity and entertainment.
Personal highlights included driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, doing the “Walk of Fame” and meeting a former ISASA student who attended Stanford University and currently works for Facebook.
California is a place where dreams come true, and these moments made me proud to be part of ISASA. I leave you with this quote: “If you can’t find it in California, it probably doesn’t exist.”
Acknowledgement: This trip was sponsored in part by an award from The ISASA Staff Development Fund. I wish to also acknowledge Mr Mark Friedman from The Athenian School in San Francisco, CA, Mr Will Holmes from Cate School in Santa Barbara, CA and Mrs Barbara Haig from Dunn School in Santa Barbara, CA for assisting me in the planning of the school visits and their warm reception.