Jo's Reflections

I am finding at the moment that I am trying to summarise the trip to a number of different people; parents, governors, friends, family, children, staff are all asking about my experiences. I am finding that I have a different answer to everyone. Whilst this may say something about my butterfly personality (to use a Dr Lee metaphor), I think it is mainly symptomatic of an experience that has been so rich and diverse, in that it can not be characterised by a synoptic sentence.
I had high hopes for the study trip, in terms of the list of aims I had itemised on my application form, and also what I hoped to take from the experience on a personal level. It did not fail to live up to these.
What I left Malaysia with was a deeper understanding of how we can learn from leadership examples and how to become the fulcrum of change in our own schools. I spent a lot of time reflecting on my own approach to leadership and what I could learn from the different approaches I observed while we were there. What I admired in leaders was their inter personal skills and the way they could speak with such passion on educational issues. Here, the leaders did not just embody the title they were given, but personified what it was to lead, to motivate change.
We observed huge diversity between the different school settings we visited but each was characterised with friendly, enthusiastic children. It helped us to remember that whatever our cultural, social or geographical setting, that we are all working for the same reasons. This is true child-centred learning.
Culturally, I think we have much to learn from the Malaysians about how communities work together in what appears an effortless symbiosis, rather than an action planned effort at community cohesion as we strive for Ofsted gradings. The culture and the people were welcoming and hospitable everywhere we went. I only hope visitors to British schools could leave with the same experience.