A Description of the Consortium for International Teacher Exchange

By Art Charles, former President of International College, Beirut, Lebanon

While president of International College in Beirut from 2001 to 2006, Art Charles conceived of an innovative program of teacher professional development which involves sending teachers to other international schools and schools in the United States for week-long visits. Over the course of his tenure, IC sent 42 teachers to other schools and received 24 teachers from other schools.

Instead of listening passively to presentations on learning theory and practice in hotel conference rooms, IC teachers found themselves engaged in teaching and learning in real school classrooms in another cultural and educational setting. International College teachers returned from these visits excited by what they had seen in the classrooms of the schools they visited, by the historical and cultural sites they had visited, and by the conversations they had had with their new colleagues. They also returned with lots of new educational materials to share with their IC fellow teachers and their students.

Dr Charles also discovered that teachers visiting International College served as helpful resources for the IC teachers. One, a PYP teacher, found himself answering frequent questions from IC preschool and elementary teachers who were learning how to implement PYP strategies at International College. Another, an IB art teacher, offered to hook up his students in Switzerland with IC students via the internet to do peer evaluation of their work.

Back in the USA, Dr Charles approached the NEASC to propose a consortium of New England independent schools and international schools accredited by NEASC. The commissioners of both organizations agreed that such a program would be a great benefit to both commissions. Dr Charles will be presenting on the consortium to heads of New England independent schools and NEASC-accredited international schools at the annual NEASC meeting in December, 2007. With its interest in global education, NAIS has recently sent out a message via a listserve encouraging NAIS schools to contact Dr Charles about the consortium.

As of mid-October, more than three dozen international and American independent schools have joined the consortium, including the following NESA schools: ABA-An IB World School (Muscat, Oman), American Community Schools of Athens, American International School-Riyadh, American International School/Dhaka, Amman Baccalaureate School, International College and Robert College (Istanbul, Turkey).

The process for organizing the teacher visits is quite simple. School administrators fill out a registration form containing information about their school as well as the e-mail of the contact person for the exchange visit program. Dr Charles then matches similar schools. It is up to the individual schools to decide whom to send and when. The sending school pays for travel; the receiving school houses, feeds and provides social and cultural activities. For about half the cost of sending a teacher to a conference, the exchange visit provides the opportunity for a very relevant, horizon-expanding professional development experience.

If you are interested in having your school join the consortium, please contact Art Charles at ahcharles@charter.net