The 7 Habits of Elite International Schools in Asia – Part 3 亚洲精英国际学校的7个习惯 A perspective from an International Principal in China.

Firstly, many thanks to all the readers and stakeholders who ‘reached out’ and gave valuable feedback after the first two installments – you can find them here and here - of my series on the habits of Elite International Schools in Asia. It was very pleasing to see that my observations resonated with so many and on many different levels of various educational institutions in China and Asia. For those of you wanting to read my stories on Community Service and Joint Venture Schools - you can click on the (hyper) links provided. 首先，十分感谢所有读者和相关人员在我关于精英学校惯例的系列文章的第一期发表后，给予我宝贵的反馈。我非常高兴看到我的观察和中国及亚洲各层级教育机构产生了共鸣。想要阅读我在社区服务和合资企业学校的故事的人，可以点击链接。

In the time between publishing this series of articles – and also based on said feedback from many Guangzhou and China based educators – I realized that there are more things to consider when identifying habits of elite schools. For that reason, this could easily be a potential ongoing series and not just three, as initially promised. I am also happy to inform you that I will also be publishing a series of articles focused on the challenges of establishing joint venture schools in China, from a western management perspective. But more on that later…. J  åœ¨å‘表这一系列文章之间的这段时间里，并且也基于许多广州和中国的教育工作者的反馈意见，我意识到，在确定精英学校的习惯时还有更多的事情要考虑。 因此，这很可能是一个潜在的正在进行的系列，而不仅仅是最初承诺的三个系列。 我也很高兴地通知您，我还将发表一系列文章，着眼于从西方管理的角度来探讨在中国建立合资学校所面临的挑战。 但是稍后会更多……

Like most living things in this world, companies, like people, are creatures of habit. International schools are no exception. For some cultural context, our local search engine (Bing) defines habits as a â€˜settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.’ 像世界上大多数生物一样，公司和人都是惯例的产物。国际学校也不例外。在一些文化背景下，我们当地的搜索引擎必应（Bing）把惯例定义为“固定的、规律的倾向或习惯，尤其是那些很难放弃的倾向或习惯。”

The implication from the second half of this definition is what should be most worrying for any schools in Asia aspiring to become international ones, especially for new ones. Like children, how new schools react to new stimuli and situations greatly determines patterns of behavior that are extremely hard to break the longer they are in existence.  è¿™ä¸ªå®šä¹‰åŽåŠéƒ¨åˆ†çš„含义就是亚洲任何想要成为国际学校的学校，尤其是新学校最担忧的。和孩子们一样，新学校对新的刺激和情境的反应很大程度上决定了他们的行为模式，而这些行为模式存在的时间越长，就越难以打破。

Every year I attend the Search Associates Leadership Fair in Bangkok (pre ‘virtual’ days). It is a great sounding board for affairs at my own School, a wonderful networking exercise, as well as a unique way of canvassing feedback, theories and data for my ongoing PhD at Deakin University. (For many of you also on this path of post graduate studies, you also know full well the benefits of this different stimuli – read holiday - on the academic brain!) 每年我都会参加在曼谷举行的SALF。它是我自己学校事务的宣传平台，一个很好的社交网络，也是我在攻读莫纳什大学博士学位时收集反馈、理论和数据的一种独特方式。（你们中的大部分人也在研究生学习的道路，你也知道不同刺激对学术大脑的好处--为大脑提供阅读假期）

In my various conversations and observations with these leaders over the last few years plus existing ones in other school models across Australia, China, Asia and beyond, the same themes keep emerging in broader contexts. It is no coincidence that the ‘best’ schools – by any metric you care to use – have these in common. 在过去几年里我与这些领导人及澳大利亚、中国、亚洲和其他国家的其他学校的领导人进行了多次对话观察，在更广泛的背景下，同样的主题不断涌现。无论使用什么标准，这些“最好”的学校都有这些共同点，这并非巧合。

The following is by no means an exhaustive list but one which warrants further exploration in its own right. For now, and for the purposes of this article, aspiring school leaders and stakeholders can use this a ‘crash course’ or International School CPR checklist.  ä»¥ä¸‹ä¸æ˜¯ä¸€ä»½è¯¦å°½çš„清单，而是一份本身值得探讨的清单。出于本文的目的，现在有抱负的学校领导和利益相关者可以使用这个“速成课程”或者国际学校CPR检查表。

5. Internationalism 国际主义

Of note here is the importance of intention. Quite often some of the best schools aspire to be international – in theory and practice – but are not well resourced enough to realise these ambitions (e.g. hiring foreign staff) especially with the supply and demand of foreign staff in countries such as China. However therein lies a deeper debate - not fit for the confines of this article - about the assumptions of what makes a school ‘international’. Is it mission, vision and  value statements? Or more tangible items such as board structure, corporate governance, staff representation, curriculum or a global outlook (again, this term is up for interpretation)? It is for this reason that intention should be the deciding factor. A Latin phrase comes to mind when ruminating on this aspect. Spectemur Agendo: let us (read YOUR School) be known by our actions. 这里值得注意的是意图的重要性。 通常，一些最好的学校在理论和实践上都渴望成为国际学校，但资源不足以实现这些雄心壮志（例如，雇用外国员工），尤其是在诸如中国这样的国家，外国员工的供求关系。 但是，其中有一个关于使学校“国际化”的假设的更深入的辩论（不适合本文的范围）。 它是使命，愿景和价值陈述吗？ 还是更具体的项目，例如董事会结构，公司治理，员工代表，课程设置或全球前景（再次，该术语尚待解释）？ 出于这个原因，意图应该成为决定因素。 在思考这方面时，会想到一个拉丁短语。 Spectemur Agendo：让我们（您的学校）通过我们的行动而为人所知。

Ideally: Genuine actions from the school such as offshore teacher training, collaboration with overseas schools, staff and student exchanges, social justice efforts, multicultural staff representation, school wide events that promote and celebrate multiculturalism, participation in intra and inter school academic and sporting competitions, efforts to promote bilingualism amongst the school staff and faculty, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 理想情况：学校的真正行动，例如离岸教师培训，与海外学校的合作，教职工和学生的交流，社会公正努力，多元文化的员工代表，促进和庆祝多元文化主义的全校性活动，参加校内和校际学术和体育比赛 ，努力在学校教职员工中促进双语，批判性思维和解决问题的能力。

Reality: Very little of the above except that which makes good ‘click bait’ in WeChat subscription articles. ‘Rolling out’ of expat/foreign teachers/Principals (yes, I have those ‘t-shirts!) for Open Days, local dignitary visits (i.e., ‘look, we have a foreigner, we are so international!’) and similar marketing events. Diluted and quasi attempts at celebrating Western seasonal holidays with little understanding of cultural contexts. 现实情况：除了在微信订阅文章中能很好地“点击诱饵”之外，上述内容很少。 “开放日”外籍/外国教师/校长（是的，我有那些“ t恤！”），用于开放日，当地有尊严的访问（即“看，我们有一个外国人，我们是如此国际化！”）等 营销活动。 在不了解文化背景的情况下，淡淡而准时的尝试来庆祝西方的季节性假期。

6.    â€˜Buy in’ “购买”

Quite often trivialized as ‘empowerment’ when referring to educators, this can be most powerful by simply talking with students. Asking a student what or why they are doing something – either inside or outside of the classroom – can lead you down some interesting paths in terms of school perception. In a recent conversation with a student changing schools in Guangzhou, she referred to her last one as a ‘fake international school’. This term made me shudder and wince on behalf of the stakeholders (especially marketing!) of that school. The messaging of what you want to achieve (read vision) as a School should be something the students can refer to and remember quite simply and give examples of how it is done. It will not happen overnight but it does happen for the best schools.  å½“指代教育者时，通常被轻视为“赋权”，这可以通过与学生交谈而最有效。 询问学生在教室内还是教室外做什么或为什么要做某事，可以引导您走上一些有趣的学习道路。 在最近与广州一所转校学生的对话中，她称自己的最后一所学校为“假国际学校”。 这个学期使我代表那所学校的利益相关者（尤其是市场营销！）感到不寒而栗。 作为学校您想要实现的目标（阅读视野）的消息传递应该是学生可以简单地参考和记住的东西，并提供有关其完成方式的示例。 它不会在一夜之间发生，但对于最好的学校来说确实会发生。

Ideally: Most students should be able to talk about what the vision of a school is/are as well as why they chose to come to their School and why they should be considered ‘international’. 理想情况：大多数学生应该能够谈论学校的愿景是什么，以及他们为什么选择就读学校以及为什么应该将他们视为“国际学生”。

Reality: Other than ‘my parents sent me here to go to University overseas’ there is not much dialogue or knowledge of School vision or aims.  çŽ°å®žï¼šé™¤äº†â€œæˆ‘的父母送我到这里去海外大学”之外，没有太多关于学校愿景或目标的对话或知识。