哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison: 哈罗上海，顶级英式学校的典范
英文版本收录于文末
English version is at the end of the text
导语
创新是引领发展的第一动力，培养创新性人才是我国教育的重要使命。如何培养适应时代发展和变革的创新性人才？是我国当今国际化教育发展中面临的重要挑战。
为进一步了解国际学校人才培养模式，深度挖掘国际学校办学特色，由教育部主管的中国教育国际交流协会中学分会与京领创新人才课题组联合多位哈佛、剑桥、牛津、北大、清华的专家学者共同发起，北京大学教育学院高中教育大数据实验室提供学术支持的“国际学校百校调研”于2020年7月正式启动。
校长领导力是此次调研的重点环节，国际学校校长作为掌舵人不仅需要具备一系列超越普通教师能力的素质，还需要具备强有力的领导力、品牌意识、创新意识以及优质教育教学人才的鉴别与吸引能力。校长领导力是学校办学成功的关键所在，本次百校调研团队专门对哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison进行了专访。
英国哈罗公学有着丰厚的历史底蕴。1572年2月，英国女王伊丽莎白一世授予当地富农约翰·里昂皇家特许状，哈罗公学由此诞生。
在过去近450年中，哈罗公学就是杰出的代名词。哈罗上海集合了哈罗公学几个世纪沉淀下来的优秀品质，为千禧一代提供振奋人心的优质教育，这足以改变他们的一生。今后，他们有能力在世界上任何地方生活、工作，成为成功、全面、有着风趣灵魂的人。
近四个半世纪以来，哈罗公学一直被视为卓越精英教育的风向标。哈罗尽心竭力，旨在熏陶和赋予每一位学生以哈罗的价值理念、愿景以及一系列领导力的特质，为他们成为富有责任感、正直并积极奉献社会的精英作最好的准备。哈罗立志于培养来自不同背景和潜能的学生终生的学习能力和领导力，积极奉献社会，成就精彩人生。对于在中国乃至亚洲范围内的哈罗成员学校而言，哈罗诚然会与当地国情和文化相互交融适应，但哈罗的核心价值和荣誉始终是我们的基石与内核。
嘉宾介绍
Charles Ellison
哈罗国际学校上海总校长
Ellison先生拥有在英国私立学校和海外英国学校25年的从业经验。他曾就读于布莱福德文理学校（Bradford Grammar School）和华威大学（University of Warwick），拥有心理学硕士学位，并持有英国校长职业资格证书（National Professional Qualification for Headship）。
在加入哈罗之前，Ellison先生是英国一所私立学校的校长，在英国和全球私立走读和寄宿学校都有着丰富的从业经验。
同时，Ellison先生还曾担任审查员，以及多项体育运动的教练，尤其擅长橄榄球，曾在专业橄榄球俱乐部Harlequins担任精英球员发展项目负责人长达十年。
京领：学校建校的初衷是什么？请您详细介绍一下学校的建校历程。
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：哈罗公学有着丰厚的历史底蕴，是英国最著名的学校之一。1572年，英国女王伊丽莎白一世授予当地富农约翰·里昂皇家特许状，哈罗公学由此诞生。最初的哈罗公学是一所男校，坐落于伦敦北部哈罗镇。学校由哈罗本地的一位富农出资建立，为当地贫困家庭的男孩们提供教育。
最初，学校只有校长亲自担任老师。随着学校不断的发展，其提供优质教育的声誉得以建立和传播。约翰·里昂也为学校提供了更多的资金以聘请更多的老师。因此，学校的学生越来越多，并且有一些居住在其他城镇的家庭也将他们的孩子送到哈罗公学。考虑到学生上学的路途遥远，一些老师在学校附近买了房子作为寄宿公寓，为学生提供住宿的地方。这些学生的家长给老师交一些住宿费。学生和老师一同居住一同上学。因为学校优秀的声誉，越来越多富有的家庭想要交钱让他们的孩子进入哈罗公学。
总而言之，哈罗公学起初是为贫困学生提供教育的慈善学校。因为教育经验的积累，学校赢得了优秀的声誉和口碑。随着学校的不断发展，付费入学的家庭不断增多，但是学校仍然为无法负担哈罗公学学费的学生留了位置。在接下来的450年中，享誉全球的哈罗公学和伊顿公学成为了全寄宿学校的代名词。全寄宿意味着学生在学校这一社区中一同生活，通过接受全面的教育，取得卓越的学术成就，并发展成优秀的个体。
有很多学校可以培养出成绩优异的学生，但是很少有学校可以像哈罗公学一样为学生提供三百六十度的全面教育。哈罗上海的学生有机会在广泛的领域中发展自身的技能，如体育、音乐、戏剧、领导力、服务等。在这些活动中，学生将会了解到他们的才华和兴趣所在。在这里，学生全面地发展成个体。他们随后会步入世界，并发挥他们的影响力。那时的他们将会具有创新力和同情心，对世界以及公民有整体的了解，并为之造福。
哈罗以培养领导力而闻名。在过去的几个世纪中，哈罗培养了七位英国首相、五位国王、三位诺贝尔奖获得者、以及诸多杰出的校友。
哈罗伦敦
上海哈罗外籍人员子女学校成立于2016年，是伦敦哈罗公学的姊妹学校。哈罗曼谷是亚洲第一所哈罗国际学校，成立于1998年。其后，2005年哈罗落地北京，2012年，哈罗香港诞生。多年前人们便已经了解到了哈罗教育的优秀声誉。哈罗教育在很多方面都是独一无二的，它在不同的文化中传播哈罗教育的核心理念和价值。全世界的每一个家长都想让孩子取得优秀的学业成果。但是，他们也想让孩子全面发展，具备多样的软技能，如团队协作，合作与创新，有韧性和同情心，了解自己在所处世界的定位。他们想让孩子最终成为具有影响力的领导者。这一系列家长对孩子的期待在各个国家和文化中都是类似的，在上海更是尤为突出。
哈罗上海延续了哈罗教育的所有理念核心。哈罗上海与伦敦哈罗公学的所有关键元素都是一脉相承的，包括校服、帽子、以及独特的哈罗名词和传统等等。我们也是哈罗家族的重要组成部分。所以，我们在课程的设置和发展上，在教职员工的招聘和培训上都与哈罗家族有着密切的联系。对于这些事情，我们有很多自己的管理机制。我们拥有一个在线平台，它叫作“哈罗家族网”，覆盖了伦敦哈罗公学在内的所有哈罗学校。在“哈罗家族网”上，各个哈罗学校的校方、老师甚至是学生都可以在一同交流互动。我们是一个庞大的哈罗家族，我们在世界范围内成长，我们一同工作和发展。
京领：请问哈罗上海与哈罗伦敦在课程上有区别吗？哈罗上海是一所纯粹的英式学校还是一定程度上融入了中国的传统文化呢？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：哈罗的学校之间有很多共通之处，从英式课程设置的角度来看，我们的课程设计确实来源于英国国家课程。尽管我们用我们的独立性一定程度上对课程有所扩充和改进，但是我们的学生仍旧在英国国家课程体制下学习。当学生成长成为青少年时，他们会为GCSE考试（普通中等教育证书考试）做准备。随后，他们会学习A Levels（英国高中课程）。
我们相信，A Levels是全世界十六岁以上学生学习的“黄金标准”。与IB和其他美式课程不同，A Levels允许学生选择学习自己最擅长且最有兴趣的几门学科上。一般来说，学生会选择三到四门学科，便可以在每一个学科的学习上花费更多的时间进行更有深度的挖掘。他们在自己的学科领域像专家一样，拥有扎实的理论基础。通过这一阶段的学习，他们会申请到世界顶尖的大学。我们的毕业生就读于牛津、剑桥、伦敦大学学院、帝国理工学院、以及北美、澳大利亚等国家最好的大学。
A Levels课程让我们与其他哈罗学校以及英国哈罗公学保持着非常密切的联系。并且我认为，对于上海的学生而言，A Levels课程比其他任何课程都适合他们的发展，因为大多数上海的孩子在他们十六岁时，他们已经明确了自己的学术领域并且展现出了很强的学术才华和兴趣。
在这种课程体制下，那些擅长数学的大部分学生，会对科学、生物学、化学、物理、经济学、商业等抱有浓厚的兴趣。他们在十六岁以前不会广泛地去学习不同的学科，而是专注于那些他们想要在大学进行深入研究的学科进行学习。因此，如果他们将要成为一名医生或者牙医，那么他们将会在未来学习生物医学，所以他们会选择在A Levels中学习三到四门对大学即将学习的医学专业至关重要的课程，包括数学、物理、生物和化学，而不是像IB课程那样需要学习六门学科。他们不用必须学习另一门语言亦或是人文学科等。
如果他们是语言爱好者，对艺术有着深深的热爱，那么他们也可以将喜好融入到A Levels课程的学习中。毫无缘由他们可以选择不去学习数学，化学，历史，法语或者其他学科。但是，我们发现，我们学校几乎所有16岁的学生，都知道自己在大学甚至是未来的职业中想要去追求什么。所以，A Levels课程给学生以更多深度接触他们感兴趣的领域的机会，从而有能力去申请该领域最好的大学。
从一定意义上讲，哈罗上海和哈罗伦敦的区别在于，在英式课程体系的基础上，我们致力于中文和中国文化的研究和学习。在哈罗上海，所有低年级的学生都需要学习中国课程体系的语文学科。在语文课程方面，我们与当地的学校保持着紧密的联系和交流。我们非常能够理解哈罗上海的学生父母希望学生在中文上的能力如英文一样强，所以他们对我们学校十分放心，因为我们付出了很多时间和精力在中文课程上。
我们的庆祝活动也是国际化的，不单单是中国文化。我们参与了很多有关中国文化、语言和传统的竞赛。同时，我们也有一些课外项目，在这些项目中学生可以学到中国传统的手工艺。我们的终极目标是培养出真正的双语、双文化的孩子。如果一个孩子从18个月一直到18岁毕业都在哈罗，也就是说，这个孩子是从幼儿园阶段开始一直到他/她进入大学前，是在哈罗度过生命中这16年的年华。在他们毕业的时候，他们会达到完全双语和双文化的水平，充分吸收英国文化和英式教育的精华，以及拥有哈罗的传统美德。
京领：学校的办学使命和愿景是什么，您对学校的办学使命和愿景是如何理解的？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：我们的愿景非常清晰，即成为国际上真正公认的提供高品质英国教育的领导者。我们希望可以作为行业典范标杆为世界各地的国际学校和教育机构传递光明，以必胜的信念支持他们顺利地开展教育工作。我们是富有美誉的品牌与领袖。同样，作为一所学校，我们的愿景是引领教育行业，如果人们想知道如何才能做好教育，他们会说去看看哈罗怎样做。这是我们的愿景。
我们的使命是让孩子的生活更美好。我们希望看到的结果是，通过改变他们的生活，通过为他们提供知识技能和全面培养他们的人格，他们将充分利用他们所碰到的所有机会，这不仅指他们的在校期间，更是在他们的生活中。在那之后，他们会明白他们在像哈罗这样的学校接收教育是一个多么独特的机会。他们受教育的优势会变成为他们让周围的人生活更美好的责任。当他们步入世界时，他们会运用他们在学校所积累和培养的知识技能和各方面的力量去对世界产生积极的影响。
京领：为什么早期培养领导力如此重要？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：无论是对于孩子还是成人来说，这是一个越来越令人迷惑的世界。在我上学的时候，世界比现在简单得多。但现在，对于我们所有人，包括孩子，影响我们的事物和渠道是如此之多。我们必须为孩子提供基于明确价值观的教育，以哈罗为例，我们的核心价值观是鼓励谦和互助。只要我们在做所有决策时都以这些价值观作为核心，那么我们所有的创造和创新都将进一步巩固学生的中心地位。这样以来，学生始终生活在一个能够做出道德正确的抉择的校园中，他们自己也会更加理解他们在世界中的位置。
因此，我们有一个非常精密规划的领导和服务项目贯穿着整个学校。我们对于领导力的培养不仅面向青少年。从孩子18个月大开始，他们就开启了一段有意识的领导力发展之旅。领导力的培养既在课程内，也在于课外活动中。
对于我们的课程而言，从幼儿园到小学到初中，我们一直在努力将领导力融入到教学内容中，并寻找更多与发展领导力的机会。例如，在英国的国家课程中，四年级学生学习的主题是水。在课程中，我们一直在促进他们的人格和领导力的发展。在他们学习谁和水循环等知识的同时，我们帮助他们与为中国北部和其他边远地区提供清洁水源的慈善机构建立了联系。学生们通过独立筹款，提高了对于慈善的意识。他们通过做袋子、开展慈善摇滚音乐会等一系列活动，为该慈善项目筹集了超过10,000元人民币。
我们一直在寻找实践的机会，帮助学生将正在学习的课程内容与他们的个性和领导力发展相结合。在课程后他们会进行以他们年龄为基础的反思训练，包括他们的学习经历对他们的影响以及他们对自己的认知。通过这些训练，他们可以有意识地发展领导者的自我定位，并且更深入的理解他们自己的成长方式。学生逐渐对领导力的不同含义有所了解。这是哈罗学校的独特之处，哈罗的这种教育方式并不存在于其他学校。
这种教育方式从学生很小的时候就开始贯彻了。例如，我们四五岁的大班孩子会去帮助中班的孩子。二三年级的孩子也会和大班的孩子一起进行阅读。他们的角色和所担起的责任会帮助他们成长。在少年时期，这些孩子与学校外的服务项目建立了联系，他们会定期参与服务活动。我们学校在星期三的下午没有课，并允许孩子们离开校园去参加一些社会服务活动。他们与其他人一起在疗养院做志愿工作，与修道院以及许多其他的服务项目合作，也与接收严重残疾儿童的机构合作，陪伴这些儿童一起学习和生活，并为机构筹集资金。我们的学生有很多自发的行动。
京领：您认为和其他学校相比，您所在学校最具竞争力是什么？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：我认为我们学校在许多方面都是独一无二的，并且我们有很多十分特别且与众不同的传统，这种传统能带给我们一种认同感。比如我们的行帽礼，当你遇到学校的老师或者访客时，学生触摸帽檐，对老师或访客行礼，这是尊重的象征。这是我们日常生活中所用的一些哈罗名词。这些不仅使我们与其他哈罗学校的人紧密连接，而且使我们成为一个集体。孩子们喜欢与众不同，其实我们每个人都喜欢与众不同。在这里，我们用与众不同的做事方式，将每个人连结在同一个家庭和同一个集体中。这是我们所做的与众不同的一件事。
我们之前谈到了我们培养学生有意识地领导，我认为这也与许多学校不同。我们的课程与A Levels课程的联系非常牢固，因为这样可以帮助孩子们，尤其是中国的孩子们，以一种适合他们的方式获得优异的学业成绩，从而更好地去竞争常春藤盟校、牛津大学、剑桥大学等世界最顶尖的大学。我们与每个学生之间也有紧密的联系。我们的班级规模很小，并且课程包含的范围很广。如果将课外活动包含在内，我们学校有多达一百六十种课程项目。
因此，学生在我们学校内能够参与从创意艺术、音乐戏剧到骑马以及任何你能想到的课程项目。我们坚信，孩子们需要面对挑战，同时也要为他们开放更多机遇。我们永远不知道每个孩子的才华可能体现在哪些方面。我们只有通过为孩子们提供尽可能多的机会去尝试不同的领域，才会发现这些孩子的才能体现在哪些方面。孩子的才能一旦被发现，你就会看到那个孩子的飞速进步，因为有自信心的孩子能够在与学业相关的各个方面都做得很好。例如，有一个女孩擅长戏剧和拉小提琴，我们若在她小的时候便给她机会进行表演，让她不断进步，并在学校中的这一领域有所成就，那么她的信心就会逐渐增强。她会在教室中对自己的学习充满自信，她也会对公开演讲充满自信。每当生活中出现问题时，她都会有信心处理这些问题。她变得坚韧，并且对一切事物都做好了充分的准备。
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京领：您认为作为校长最主要的领导核心是什么？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：领导任何学校和领导任何社区的核心是有一个非常明确的追求卓越的愿景。为了给社区内的每一个人——无论是孩子、家长、教职员工、家庭、学校管理层——创造良好的学习体验，每个人都必须非常清楚地了解他们在实现这一愿景的过程中需要发挥什么作用。你需要确保你正在招聘最优秀的员工，并确保你的员工对学校的重要性有十分具体的了解。每个人都在朝着同一个方向前进。你需要确保他们拥有正确的技能和知识，这些技能和知识是通过员工培训和他们对自己职业发展的承诺，随着时间而发展起来的。所以，我们需要带给大家最好的实践方式，并且真正了解我们如何能够变得更好。毫无疑问，哈罗上海是一个优秀的学校。但是我们都相信，无论我们做的有多好，我们所做的一切都可以做得更好。与其把注意力集中在99%的事情上，不如寻找到那1%我们可以做的更好的方面。
京领：在学校发展的过程中，您认为作为校长最重要的责任是什么？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：任何校长最重要的责任是随时保护其校区内所有人员的安全，这是我们的首要任务。学校内的所有的学生，老师，以及每一个与你们学校有联系的人，都必须能够在安全的环境中生活和工作。我们必须保证每个人的安全，这是第一。
其次，在保证他们安全的前提下，校长需要确保学校为每个人都设计和提供一种能够为他们带来足够挑战且随时都为他们提供支持的体验。这将真正地帮助学生挖掘和发现他们在不同地方所具有的才能。
京领：您认为校长与集团的董事会之间的职责应该如何划分？在哪些方面校长是需要拥有绝对决策权，才能更好的办学？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：哈罗学校的职责划分运用了一种非常典型的模式，即董事会对学校负有最终的责任。然而，他们将学校的日常运作和战略发展委托给了校长和校长的领导团队，这就是董事会的工作方式。同时，董事会也要为校长提供建议和支持，作为关键伙伴“挑战”校长的想法，并追究校长和领导团队的责任。所以，作为校长，我要对董事会负责。如果董事会正确地完成了他们的工作，他们也应该确保自己得到了所有必要的信息，从而确保学校正在实现其愿景、使命和主要目标。我们做得好的地方应该被强调，在可能存在问题的地方，应该重点支持校长对其进行的整改和改善。董事会也应具有丰富的经验和才能，无论他们是在教师岗位，还是在法律、人力资源等领域工作，他们当中许多关键的职业都能够为学校的运营贡献他们的专业知识。
京领：您觉得您担任校长以来遇到的最大困难是什么？您是如何带领团队克服这些困难的？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：毫无疑问，带领学校度过一场全球性的大流行病可能是最艰难的考验之一。我们会遇到各种各样的挑战，其中一些挑战是预料之中的，另一些是意料之外的。我们会因参与其中的每个过程而学到新知识。但是，应对这种大规模的流行病对于所有校长来说都是新的挑战。中国是全球第一个应对这一流行病的国家，这对我们来说尤其具有挑战性。我认为，最大的挑战是在大流行期间确保我们校区的安全，还要保持包括学生及其家庭成员和工作人员在内的整个集体的心理健康，所有的这一切都需要克服独特的困难和障碍。要应对不同情绪的宣泄，我们必须保持十分的坚强，因为作为校长，每个人都会向我寻求指导，决策和支持。众所周知，在一场大流行病中，我们并不能时刻都有答案，因为事情会在每分每秒中发生变化，我们生活的环境可能会在一瞬间发生改变。
突然之间，我们整个社区的每个人都会向我寻求答案，比如我们要对此做些什么？这对我们意味着什么？我们该怎么做？因此，我们要学会变得灵活，并且拥有很强的适应性。我们并非总是能探寻到正确的答案，我们都会犯错误。正如我们告诉孩子们的一样，犯错误在生活中是很正常的。孩子们应该学到，在解决问题时会出很多的错误而非直接得到正确的答案。作为校长，像在疫情这种情况下，我们无法保证自己始终做出正确的决定，因为我们不可能搜集到所需要的全部信息。我们可以看到，在此情况下，全球各地不同国家的政府也一样，他们所做的决定并不总是正确的，因为这是一个全新的领域的挑战。
这是最大的挑战，但是从中我学到了很多关于商业的知识，也从我自己面对这个挑战的过程中学到了与人类个体相关的事情。在这个过程中，我意识到，这是一个绝佳的机会去给孩子们做出领导者的典范，正如我们平时与和他们谈论的领导力一样。我和我的员工挺身而出，向孩子们展示在最困难的情况下高素质的领导力是怎样的，人们都对于我们的领导能力表示赞赏。因此，领导力更加扎根于我们“鼓励谦和互助”这一价值观中。所有这些在整个疫情期间中发生的事情都对我们社区的发展至关重要：在适当的时候给予鼓励；懂得择善而为，勇于承担责任，成为值得托付信赖之人；在集体中保持诚信和诚实，积极地将大家团结在一起等。为人处事要谦和，这意味着我们要认识到我们并不是总能给出正确答案。我不是万无一失的，我是一个人。有时候，你需要举起手对大家说，也许我是搞错了。这场疫情是我职业生涯和生活中一个有趣的插曲。
我认为学生们在整个过程中也学习到了很多有关领导力的知识。这段时间学生们充分理解人际关系的重要性，老师和学生团结在一起共同面对挑战的重要性，以及人类互动的重要性。大概是十年前，当人工智能技术真正进入教育领域时，我们被告知，在未来的某一个时代，所有老师将被替换，学校不再需要老师，我们将全面地在线学习，一切都将被人工智能所取代。所有的这些都意味着我们不再需要老师了。但是疫情揭露了的一个事实：人类需要人类。高质量的教育需要人与人之间的互动。在学生经历线上远程学习之后，回到校园与他们的老师和朋友团聚时，我们看到了人与人之间情感上的联系，这种联系将永远无法通过技术来取代。因此，真正高质量教育的核心是集体和人类。
京领：您认为创新性人才需要具备哪些要素？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：学生需要培养和发展很多重要的技能和素质。首先是韧性，它包括学术方面和情感方面。在很多文化背景下和环境中，人们担心自己做的事情会出错。如果人们一直处于害怕出错的惶恐中，那么他们就不会冒险。但是，如果你想要成为创新者，你就必须去冒险，去承担风险，也必须要有和别人不同的想法 -- 这就意味着你可能会犯错误。如果你只是一味地想从老师传授的内容中得到正确的信息，并且不加思考地将其反复使用在考试中，那么你仅仅是一个追随者，而不是一个领导者。
因此，上海哈罗外籍人员子女学校在课程内外都在创建、推广和不断发展教育环境。我们一直会告诉学生的一个观点是：向你的老师提出质疑这一做法是很酷的。可能在上海的其他学校里，这种做法会让老师感到不舒服。但是在哈罗上海，学生们在学习过程中试图就一些点向老师提出质疑，甚至说"我不确定我同意您的观点"，这种做法是很酷的。因为这样做会引发讨论与辩论，孩子们将学习如何评估一个有效的观点，从而更有效地提出新的观念和想法。久而久之，他们将成为创新思维中的创新者。所以，学校必须在学生们的学习环境中营造一种自由的文化氛围，在这种氛围中，学校鼓励孩子做任何事情时都不需要和其他人用相同方式，也不需要完全遵循老师提供给自己的建议。作为学生，应该永远保持自我反省与自我怀疑的学习状态。
京领：您认为学校应该如何培养创新性人才？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：培养创新人才有很多途径。首先，学生任何素质的培养都离不开老师，无论是创新能力的培养还是思维方式的转变，因为老师是学生在朝夕相处的日常中的榜样。我觉得能加入哈罗是一件幸运的事。我们在世界范围内享有很高的声誉，很荣幸在每次雇佣新员工时，我都有机会从非常优秀的候选人队伍，即来自于牛津、剑桥、常春藤盟校等世界一流高等学府，并持有硕士或博士文凭的老师们中遴选优胜者。我们所有的教职工都有非常优秀的学历背景，能够精通其所教授的学科。
然而，在哈罗上海，我们想要的不止是这些。我们希望每个人都有一双能够发现乐趣的双眼并去做有趣的事情。这将会激励我们的孩子们的发展。在这里，有人足迹遍布美国各地，有人在从事教学前还做过一番了不起的事业。因此，他们能够和孩子们畅聊人生，激励孩子们自己也去做一些了不起的事情。也许有的学校拥有世界上最好的资源和设施，比如豪华的游泳池、运动场和科学实验室，但是如果他们老师的素质不够格，那么，教出来的孩子也会同样被影响。相对而言，建筑和设施条件一般但却拥有一流教师资源的学校是更好的，因为老师是改变一切的关键因素。
如果学生在他们30、40或50岁时被问及校园生活，他们会提及的、也是记忆最深刻的将会是那些对他们影响最大的老师，是那位深受他们喜欢的数学老师，或是那位曾经和他们分享文学知识的语文老师……这就是一个灵魂影响另一个灵魂。学生们不会在那时谈到“我们学校最好的科学实验室”，那只是校园生活的附属品。人会相互影响，而不是被设施。因此，想要培养创新性人才，就要建立起自己的社区，让最有影响力的专业人士们在日常的校园生活中潜移默化地影响孩子们。
京领：您认为创新性人才培养和升学结果之间有什么联系吗？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：我曾和许多有意向选择哈罗上海的家庭展开过对话。我发现家长们致力于探索如何帮助孩子在未来取得成功。在这个充满未知的世界里，孩子们可能会从事各种各样的职业，但现在他们的兴趣方向还不明朗。孩子们需要有不同的思维方式。家长们知道孩子需要形成明确的价值观、对自己充满信心并具备领导资质。他们有关于这些方面的设想，而不仅关注着良好的考试成绩。不论在哪，每个人都想要好的考试成绩，但是我们深知，选择哈罗上海的家长们明白，这些试卷和资格证书，相比于孩子在未来生活中所获得的成功和幸福，是微不足道的。
那些证书和A Levels能够让你进入最好的大学、开启成功的学术生涯。然而，你的最终目标是找工作、创业或者成为一个成功的专业人士，这些证书对你的影响不会深远至此。成功是一个人方方面面的素质共同作用的结果。比如沟通能力、所表现出的价值观、风险承担能力、与他人的关系、在诸事不顺的逆境中触底反弹的能力等等。所有这些方面对我们的孩子而言都是至关重要的。我们不仅仅希望孩子们能够适应10年、20年后的未来，更希望他们在未来的任何时候都能够把握机遇、茁壮成长。
我们培养的是真正的面向未来的孩子。我们希望学生们能够做好准备迎接他们所遇到的一切状况。如今，人们的职业更加灵活多变，因此，我们要让孩子具备多维素养。
京领：在国际学校发展迅速的当下，您认为新建国际学校应当如何打造特色品牌？老牌国际学校如何维持优势，升级品牌？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：就国际学校的集中度而言，全球两大最具竞争力的国际学校市场，排名第一的是迪拜，第二的是上海。上海位居世界第二，这里的国际学校市场竞争激烈。在教育和择校问题上，家庭面临着多种选择，包括国际学校、双语学校、当地学校、私立学校，可以列举出很多。如果你想要建立一所新学校，需要考虑各种各样的因素。如果你有一个品牌，那么你需要思考品牌对学校而言到底意味着什么？对要选择这所学校的家庭而言意味着什么？
哈罗教育是有着450年卓越表现的品牌，我们学校具备其经久不衰的特质。因此，当家长决定选择我们的时候，他们了解了我们的机制，知道这个选择做得“物有所值”。如果你在上海以品牌之名建立一所新学校，你一定要有明确的自我认知，你的学校和其他的有什么不同。如果这是一个毫无特色的产品，就会被淹没在市场竞争的激流中。这就是和其他学校相比，我们学校的特色。
关于这个问题的第二问，我认为首先要做的事就是兑现承诺。如果你建立了一所学校，拥有自己的品牌，有清晰的愿景、明确的自我认知，知道品牌对于上海的学校而言意味着什么，那么你需要做的就是证实这些，让家长眼见为实。超过50%的选择哈罗上海的新家庭是被我校现有的家庭推荐来的。因此，现有家庭的满意度有巨大的影响力。你必须说到做到，让家长们看得到、感受得到并成为其中的一份子，和学校一同走完这段旅程。这是至关重要的。
我建议不要为了改变而改变，要克服诱惑，跳出盲目跟风其他学校的怪圈。要对自己所做之事有信心并尽自己的最大努力去做。最好不要分心或者被诱导地去做一些改变，或者做出一些与学校的既定认知和发展路线不相符的决定。在多种技术和其他方面因素的影响下，学校会产生“我们需要做这个那个，我们需要成为一所IB学校”等等想法，这些想法会分散你对一些关键性成功要素的关注，这些要素包括自我认知、雄厚的师资力量、良好的家校关系，要能够从这些要素中认识到自己的可取之处，并在此基础上再接再厉。
京领：在学校的品牌建设方面，您有什么经验想要分享吗？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：我一直认为确保品牌完整性是关键一环，也就是学校与其品牌合作伙伴要如何进行密切配合。
对我们而言，如果我是一位有意选择哈罗上海的家长或者一位想来这里求职的员工，我会想要知道哈罗上海和哈罗伦敦有着怎样的关系。哈罗伦敦的关键基因、关键理念、关键特质是否融入到了哈罗上海的日常生活中。如果你在做品牌建设，一定要尽可能地从方方面面反映出原有品牌的成功和强大。这就是品质把控。例如，如果我要在西班牙做LV包，我就要确保我在西班牙做的包的质量和在上海做的一样好。因此，哈罗教育无论在哪——重庆、上海、伦敦还是曼谷，都会有关键因素、关键特质、关键经验将这个品牌凝聚起来。这也正是我们品牌独特且有辨识度的关键所在。
京领：在数字化和人工智能技术快速发展的今天，国际学校应该如何更好地把握未来发展方向？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：归根结底，巨大的技术进步植根于对关键性技术知识的掌握。如果你想成为AI领域的专家，那么在开发出人工智能技术之前，你首先要是数学和物理方面的专家。这意味着获取成功的核心要素依然没变。我们依旧需要创造出一种氛围和文化，让孩子们能够以不同的思维方式思考问题、开展实验、提出问题、分析评估并运用高阶思维。
我们有很多机会培养与技术进步相关的各种兴趣和技能，但孩子们在11岁或12岁时制作机器人所用到的技术，到他们大学毕业时会变得大不相同。我们现在要做的就是为孩子们培养激情、兴趣和好奇心，以及用不同思维方式进行思考的能力，但最重要的还是打好学术知识基础，这些技能是永远不能丢弃的。
京领：对于国际学校的未来发展而言，最重要的是什么？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：上海的国际学校，需要认真思考中文教学的质量和对于中国文化的立场，因为市场在不断变化，在国际学校中，华裔家庭的占比越来越大。来自这些家庭的孩子们可能会去世界各地上大学，但其中的一部分未来会回到上海或在中国的其他地方发展。中文水平、对民族及中国文化的了解对他们的成功而言至关重要。
10年前，家庭和学校都坚信上国际学校比较好，因为在国际学校，可以获得国际认证，然后去海外上大学和工作。他们认为这样可能会发展得更好，没有过多地考虑如果回到中国工作会发展得如何。我们期待并已经看到了越来越多的中国学生回到中国工作，在大公司中承担着之前可能由外派人士所负责的工作。因此，对国际教育、全球化和世界公民意识的理解是非常重要的。
京领：您认为中国大陆的国际学校数量会持续上涨么？
哈罗国际学校上海总校长Charles Ellison：我认同这一观点。我认为国际学校仍然可以在中国大陆的二线、三线城市建立市场。在这些城市，存在着接受国际教育的需求与渴望。我认为双语教育会有巨大的发展空间，因为它让那些持有中国护照的人能够为他们的孩子提供拥有国际化经历的机会，而且它已经为中国的国家课程体系和另一种课程体系的结合创造了精细市场。
English Version
KingLead: What is the original intention of establishing the school? Could you please introduce the history of the school?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: Harrow is one of the most famous schools in the U.K, with a very rich history of excellence. Harrow was formed as a school for boys back in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. A rich landowner in the area of Harrow, named John Lyon, used a considerable amount of his money to establish a school that originally provide education for poor families in the area. At first, the school only had one teacher which was the headmaster. Later on, the school developed and gained a reputation for delivering excellence, and also because John Lyon gave further money for the school to employ more teachers, the number of boys was keeping growing.
As the school developed, it also generated interests of families that were living far away. Therefore, some of the teachers bought houses close to the school and used them as boarding houses, which in essence providing lodgings for the boys. Parents paid accommodation fees to the teachers. As time went by, more and more families from wealthier backgrounds were eager to send their boys to go to the school, because they were attracted to the strong reputation of the school. In summary, Harrow started as a charitable school for poor children, and then gained a very strong reputation for the educational experience provided.
Over time the numbers of boys from fee-paying families increased but places were still open to those who could not afford the fees for Harrow. Over the next 450 years, Harrow and Eton, who were similar in their reputation worldwide, became synonymous with full boarding schools. Full boarding means living together as a community for academic excellence, strong outcomes, and holistic education developing the whole character. There are plenty of schools that produce very strong exam results, however, very few schools can deliver on the Harrow holistic 360° education.
Boys and girls at Harrow Shanghai are exposed to opportunities to develop their skills in a much wider-ranging field such as sports, music, drama, leadership, and service. They understand where their skills, passions, and talents lie. They grow as a person, then they go on into the world to make a difference. They are going to be innovatory and compassionate, have a wide understanding of the world and other people within it, and having an influence for the good. Harrow is very famous for leadership. It has produced seven UK prime ministers, five kings across the world, three Nobel Laureates, and many other very famous alumni over the decades and centuries.
Harrow Shanghai, was founded in 2016. It is the sister school to the London school. Later on, Harrow Bangkok was established in 1998 and then followed by Harrow Beijing and Harrow Hong Kong. There was a realisation years ago that people understand the benefits in the strength of reputation that Harrow Education has. It showed in many unique ways. It transports into every culture, the essence is what is delivered as a Harrow Education. It is important to parents all over the world. Everybody wants strong academic outcomes for their children, but also everybody wants their child to be rounded, to have strong soft skills, or to be able to work in a team, to cooperate and innovate, or to be resilient, to be compassionate, to be understanding of themselves in the world around them, and finally to become influential leaders. This, as a model, works in any country and any culture, particularly in Shanghai.
Harrow Shanghai has all of the key genetics of Harrow Education. The key elements that you see in Harrow London, you will see here -- everything from uniforms, hats, terminology, traditions, vocabulary, and the language that we use. All of that is connected. We are also a fundamental part of the wider Harrow family. Therefore we work very closely in the development of the curriculum, in training our teachers and recruiting our staff. We have lots of mechanisms in place for this. We have "HarrowNet" which is an online platform through which all of our schools, including London, can interact; the teachers interact and so do the pupils. We are one big universal growing Harrow family across the world, working together.
KingLead: Are there any differences between Harrow School Shanghai and Harrow London? Does Harrow School Shanghai combine some Chinese traditions or it is a pure British school?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: There is a huge amount of overlap between the schools but we do follow the identical curriculum from a British perspective. Our children are learning the English National Curriculum, although we use our independence to augment and improve the curriculum. As children grow up and get into their teens, they begin to prepare themselves for GCSE, which is the British curriculum public examination, and then they go to study A-Levels.
We believe that A-Levels is the gold standard for post-16 studies across the world. Unlike IB and some of the American pathways, A-Levels allows pupils to concentrate on a smaller range of subjects. Normally, students will start with three or four subjects, which allows them to have a greater amount of time on each subject, going into much greater depth. They become much more knowledge-based, like an expert in those areas, and then apply to the best universities worldwide. Our students go on to the University of Oxford and Cambridge, UCL, Imperial College, as well as the best universities outside the UK, in North America, Australia, etc. A-Levels keep us very close to the Harrow family and Harrow London. I would also express that the A-Levels route is much more preferable for students in Shanghai than any other routes, because children of Shanghai families, for the most part, tend to have very definite passions and talents in academic fields by the time that they are 16 years old.
So, a very high proportion of students are very good at maths, and they have a strong interest in science, biology, chemistry, physics, economics, business, and so on. They are not learning a very broad program up to 16. Instead, they concentrate on those topics that they want to follow further into university. So, if they want to become a doctor or a dentist, they are going to study biomedical sciences. They would much rather take three or four A-Levels subjects -- in maths, physics, biology, and chemistry, which are crucial to go on to study medicine at university -- than to be doing six subjects in the IB, whether they need to do another language or to do humanity and so on.
If they are linguists, they enjoy the arts, then they can combine that in A-Levels. There is no reason why they can't do the maths, chemistry, history, French, or whatever. But we find that our 16-year-old students here, almost without exception, they know the path where they want to go towards university and beyond the career. So, A-Levels give them a much more direct opportunity to go into more depth with those studies, and then be able to apply for the best universities in that field.
The difference between us and Harrow London, is we are also intertwining a strong commitment to the study of Mandarin and Chinese culture. All of our students in the lower school follow the Chinese national curriculum for Mandarin. We stay on a part with local schools in terms of the study of Mandarin. We understand that how much our parents care for students' mandarin learning, so we put a lot of time and energy into that so that they can be satisfied and comfortable.
Our celebrations are of internationalism and not just about Chinese culture. We joined many competitions about Chinese culture, Chinese language, and Chinese traditions. We also have extra-curriculum programs which give students opportunities to learn Chinese traditional crafts and arts. What we ultimately commit to within our key aims is the creation of genuine, bilingual, and bi-cultural children. If children come to us from 18 months to 18 years old, which means that you can come to us from Harrow Cubs to the time you go to university, that is 16 years of their life. By the time they leave, they should be entirely bilingual and bi-cultural, and they will have the very best of the British and the Harrow excellence and traditions.
KingLead: How do you understand the mission and vision of the school?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: Our vision is very straightforward, which is to be a genuinely recognised leader in the delivery of high-quality British education internationally. We expect that other international schools and education providers, wherever they are in the world, will look at us as the guiding light of how things should be done properly and well. We think of ourselves, with our prestigious reputation and brand reputation, as leaders. By the same token, as a school, our vision is that we should be leading the educational market and that if people want to see how things are doing well, they should be saying going to see how they do it at Harrow. That is our vision.
Our mission is to change the lives of children for the good. As a consequence, by changing their lives, by giving them the skills of the knowledge and the development of their characters over time, they will make the most of all the opportunities that come their way -- not just in school, but in their lives beyond. Then, they will understand that they have had a privileged opportunity to be educated at a school like Harrow. That privilege becomes the responsibility to impact the lives of other people for the good. They will go on into the world to use the skills of the knowledge, the strength that they have been nurtured in them over time with us to impact positively on the world.
KingLead: Why you think cultivating leadership skills is so important for these young kids?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: This is an increasingly confusing world for children and adults. When I was in school, the world was a much simpler place. Now, there are so many influences and channels of influence upon us all, including children, that unless we give our children a definite values-based education, where you have core values of -- in the case of Harrow -- courage on humility and fellowship. As long as we have those values at the core of all of the decisions that we make, all of our creation and innovation will help to centre and anchor our pupils, so that they will always have a correct moral campus for making decisions and they also understand their place in the world.
So, we have a very sophisticated leadership and service program running throughout our school that starts at 18 months old, not just teenagers. All of our children go on a conscious journey of leadership development from 18 months old. We do this by using both curriculum and off-curriculum set.
Within our curriculum, right through our early years and into our pre-prep, and up into the prep, we are always looking for a way to also develop leadership skills within our delivery of content. For example, our Year-4 students have been studying water as a topic with the English national curriculum for their age. But within that, we're always looking for the development of their character and their leadership. They've been studying water, the water cycle, and so on. For the same time, they've been linked up to a charity that provides a system of producing clean water for children and families in northern China or in remote areas who don't have access to clean water. They have also been independently raising money, raising awareness of the charity and they have raised over 10,000 RMB for the projects of this charity. They have been making bags. They have been doing a rock concert in aid of the charity.
We're always looking for opportunities to marry up the content of what they are studying in the curriculum with opportunities for developing them as people and their leadership. They then go through a reflection exercise, where we ask them to stop and think, depending on their age, of how the experience they have been through has impacted them and of what they have learned about themselves. They are then developing this conscious understanding of themselves as a leader, and understand how are they developing. They have an understanding of what leadership looks like. It is certainly in different ways, shapes, and forms. That is a very distinctive difference, the passage of education that Harrow delivers, and other schools just don't have the same.
That starts at a very young age with them. For example, our reception children, who are four and five years old, go down to help with our nursery children. We have our year two and three children going down to do reading with the reception children. They all have roles and responsibilities that help them to grow. These children in their teenagers are all connected to service projects outside the school. They do these activities regularly. We have a Wednesday afternoon, where we have no lessons. This allows them to go off-campus. They worked in nursing homes with all the individuals. They worked with the monastery and lots of other service projects. They worked with a home for severely disabled children to work alongside the children and to raise funds for the home. We have lots of initiatives.
KingLead: What do you think is the most competitive part of your school compared with other schools?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: I think our school is unique in terms of a number of things. I think we have lots of very idiosyncratic, very different traditions which give us a sense of identity. Like the wearing of hats -- capping members of staff as you walk past them is a symbol of respect, the terminology in the vocabulary that we use in our everyday lives. These not only connect us to who we are as a Harrow school but bind us as a community. Children like to be different, we all like to stand out and be different. The way we do things differently here binds everybody as a family and a community.
That is one thing very different about what we do. We have spoken about our conscious journey of leadership. I think that is apart from many schools. I think our connection to A-Levels is in a very strong place of this, since the children, particularly those in China, are in a much more suitable manner for obtaining strong academic outcomes, like the places of the most competitive university, Ivy League, Oxford, and Cambridge, and other great universities. We also have a strong connection to the individual. We have a very small class size and we keep a wide program. We have over a hundred and sixty programs, if including extra-curriculum activities.
So, pupils are involved in everything, from creative arts, music drama to horse riding, and to anything you can mention. We are great believers that children need to be exposed to challenge, but also opportunity. We never know where any child's great talents may lie. It is only by exposing them. There are as many different opportunities as possible. You will discover where those talents may be. Once you find those talents, you will see that child blossoms because confident children do well in all aspects of their education. Maybe a girl is particularly proficient in drama or playing the violin. Exposing her to that, like to perform to other people at her very young age, allows her to progress and to do very well in an aspect of her life at the school. So, that confidence in her grows, and she becomes confident in the classroom with her academics. She becomes confident in public speaking. She becomes confident in dealing with problems and issues whenever they arise in her life. She becomes resilient. Everything else falls into place.
KingLead: What do you think is the core of principal leadership?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: At the very core of leading any school and leading any community is to have a very definite vision for excellence, and for producing an experience for everybody within your community -- whether that is the children, the parents, the staff, respective families, the governance of the school -- everybody must understand very clearly what role they have to play in bringing about that vision. You need to ensure that you are recruiting the very best staff, and to ensure that your staff has a very concrete understanding of what is fundamentally important to the school. So, everybody is pulling in the same direction. You need to ensure that they have the right skills and knowledge, and those skills and knowledge is developed over time with you through training and the commitment to that professional development. So, it is about sharing best practices and having a true understanding of how we can always get better, no matter how good we make and we believe we are, as Harrow is undoubtedly an excellent provider. We can all get better at everything that we do. Rather than concentrating on the 99% of things, we look for that 1% of aspects that we can do better.
KingLead: In the process of school development, what is the most important responsibility of a principal?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: The most important responsibility for any principal is to keep all of his or her community safes at all times. That is our first priority. All of your children, our teachers, and everybody who is connected to your school must be able to live and work in a safe environment. You must keep everybody safe, that is the number one.
Secondly, after they've been safe, a principal needs to ensure that the school is designing and delivering an experience for everybody, which challenges them sufficiently and supports them at all times. That will genuinely bring about and recognise all of their talents and skills wherever they may lie.
KingLead: How do you think the responsibilities of the president and the board of directors should be divided? In what aspects does the principal need to have decision-making power?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: In a very typical model, and that is the case here at Harrow, the board of governors has the ultimate responsibility for the school. However, they delegate the day-to-day operational running and strategic development of the school to the head, the principal, and the principal's leadership team. That is how the board of governors works. Also, the board of governors is to advise and support the principal, to challenge the principal as a critical friend, and to hold the principal and the leadership team to account. So, I am accountable to my board of governors. If the board of directors does their job correctly, they should ensure that they are being furnished with all of the necessary information, so that they can be satisfied that the school is delivering on its vision, mission, and key aims. Where it excels, that should be reinforced. Where it may have concerns, it should highlight that and support the head in delivering rectification and improvement. Then, the board should also have a range of experiences and talents, whether they are teachers, or they work in law, HR, etc. There are many key professions that could add their expertise to the running of the school.
KingLead: What is the biggest difficulty you have encountered since you became the principal? How did you lead the team to overcome the difficulties?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: Undoubtedly, leading the school through a pandemic will probably be one of the hardest tests. You come across all sorts of challenges, some of them expected, some of them unexpected. You learned from your involvement in each of those. However, dealing with the pandemic on this scale was new territory for all principals. Being in China, which is the first part of the globe to adapt and deal with the pandemic, was especially challenging. I suppose the biggest challenge of all was to keep our community safe during the pandemic, but also to keep our community mentally well, including children and their families and staff. All of them have unique difficulties and obstacles to overcome. Supporting that emotionally draining, you have to remain incredibly strong because as a principal, everybody will look to you for guidance, for decision making, for direction, and for support. In a pandemic, as we know, you didn't always have the answers, because things would change for all hours and all days, circumstances that we were living in could change in a moment.
Suddenly, everybody in your whole community would look to you for answers, like what we are going to do about this? What does this mean for us? How are we going to do that? So, we need to learn to be flexible, adaptable. We did not always have the right answers, and these show that we are all going to make mistakes. Just as we tell the children that making mistakes is very normal in life. That is how you learn. You will get more things wrong than you will get right. As a principal, in the circumstances like a pandemic, you are not always going to take the right decision all the time. You don't always have all the information you need. We've seen the same thing with governments around the world, the decisions they make have not always been right, because this is new territory.
That has been the biggest challenge, but also from that, I have learned a lot about business. I have learned a lot about myself as a person. I have learned that it has been the most wonderful opportunity to model everything that we talk with our children and our community about leadership. My staff and I stepped up and showed the children what high-quality leadership looks like under the most difficult circumstances. People have appreciated that. It has allowed us to be rooted in our values, which is, as I mentioned, "encourage on a humility fellowship". All of those were absolutely crucial to starring a community through the pandemic, showing courage when you needed to, showing honour, and being truthful and honest on fellowship, pulling them together as a team of people. Humility -- recognizing that you don't always have the answers. I'm not infallible, I'm a person. Sometimes, you are going to put your hands up and say that maybe I got that wrong. The pandemic has been an interesting episode in my career and life.
I think the students themselves have found a great deal about leadership through that process. It allows people to fully appreciate how important human relationships are, how important it is for teachers and their students to be together, how humans need that interaction. It may be ten years ago, when technology was really coming into education in a big way, we were being told that a time will come when all teachers will be replaced, you won't need teachers, we will have full online learning, we will have all AI, and so on. All of this will mean we don't really need teachers anymore. One thing that the pandemic exposed is that humans need humans. So, high-quality education needs human interactions. There is an emotional connection that people have. You will never be able to replace that through technology. We saw that through remote learning, virtual learning, and when our pupils came back to campus and were reunited with their teachers and their friends. So, what at the very heart of high-quality schooling is community and people.
KingLead: In your opinion, what are the qualities that a student needs to become an innovative talent?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: There are a number of crucial skills and qualities that students need to nurture and develop. The first is resilience, both academic and emotional. There are many cultures and many environments where people fear of getting things wrong. If they fear getting things wrong, they don't take risks. If you are going to be an innovator, you have to take risks. You have to think differently than other people. That means you are going to get things wrong. If you only want to be spoon-fed the correct information from your teacher and then regurgitate that in the exam, you will be a follower, not a leader.
So, we promote, nurture, and support our environment in the class and outside the class in Harrow. It is cool to question your teacher. That doesn't sit very comfortably in many of the schools in Shanghai, but here, it's cool to question your teacher and to try to catch them out, and to even say that "I'm not sure I agree with that". Because by doing that, it starts a discussion, a debate, and then children will learn how to qualify, evaluate, and come up with new concepts and new ideas. Then, they are on their journey to become innovators who think differently. So, you have to create that culture in your learning environments where children have the freedom and are encouraged not to do everything in the same way as everybody else, and not to just follow exactly what the teacher tells you. You should always question things yourself.
KingLead: How do you think the school should cultivate innovative talents?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: There are lots of ways. Firstly, anything that you want to nurture, whether it's innovation or thinking differently, all ultimately owes to the teachers that you employ, because they are going to be the daily models to the pupils. I am very fortunate that in Harrow, we have a very strong worldwide reputation. I am very fortunate that I get to pick from a very strong field of candidates every time I'm employing a new member of staff. Of course, I expect them to have a top-quality degree, from Oxford, Cambridge, and ivy league and have a master's degree, Ph.D., or doctor diploma. All of our staff have very strong academic credentials and they know their subject extremely well.
However, in Harrow, we want more than that. We want people who have lived with interesting eyes and done interesting things. That will inspire our children. I've got people who have run across the entire width of America. I've got people who have worked in some amazing careers before they came to teach. So, they are able to have conversations with children and young adults about their lives, which will inspire those young children to do amazing things themselves. Maybe you have the best resources and facilities in the world, amazing swimming pools, sports courts, and science labs, but if your teachers are of poor quality, the outcome for the children will be poor. You are much better having a very poor-quality building with very rubbish facilities and having superb teachers because that will make the biggest difference of all.
If you ask the students about their school days when they're in their 30s, 40s, or 50s, what they will talk to you about and what they will remember the most are the teachers that impacted on them the most. They will remember a math teacher that they really love, or they remember a Mandarin teacher who shared literature with them. It is people that impact people. They won't say to you that "we have the best science laboratories". That is just an extra. People are influenced by people. So, to cultivate innovative talents, you need to build your community, get the very best influential professionals to impact the daily lives of your children in school.
KingLead: What do you think is the relationship between the cultivation of innovative talents and the results of admission to the school?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: I have met lots of prospective families looking at Harrow. I have conversations with them. They're looking for something that can help their child to succeed in this very unpredictable world where a huge proportion of the careers that children will go to, but not yet been interested in. The children need to be able to think differently. They know that their children have to form solid values. They know that their children have to be confident in themselves and need to have leadership credentials. They can assume these. These are more than just great exam results. Everybody wants good exam results, no matter where you are. But we also know that the parents who come to see Harrow know that those pieces of paper, those certificates that you get are only one small piece to your child being successful and happy in their lives going forward.
Those certificates and those A stars will get you to the best universities. They will get you onto the road to success with your academic career. However, ultimately, when you start applying for your jobs or you start opening up your own business, or you want to become successful as a professional, those certificates are not taking you so far. It is everything else about you that makes you successful. It is how you can communicate. It is about the values that you can show. It is about the risks that you can take. It is about the connections that you can make with people. It is about the resilience that you can show when things don't go well and you can bounce back. All of that is absolutely fundamental to our children. Rather than just surviving in the world of 2030 or 2040, we want our children to thrive and take opportunities whenever they are encountering.
What we are doing is future-proofing children. We want our students to be ready for whatever comes up to them. These days people are going to have flexible careers and likely they are going to change careers. Therefore, we need children to be multi-dimensional.
KingLead: With the rapid development of international schools, how do you think new international schools should create their distinctive brands? How should established international schools maintain their advantages and upgrade their brands?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: The Top 2 most competitive international school markets on the planet in terms of concentration of international school: number one: Dubai city, number two, Shanghai. Shanghai is number two in the world. It is super competitive. Parents and families have a large amount of choice when it comes to education and schooling, including international schools, bilingual schools, local schools, private schools. You get the whole range.
If you're thinking of setting up a new school, there are all sorts of factors that you need to think about. If you have a brand, then you need to think about what does that brand truly means to school? What does it mean in the context of the families who are going to connect to you? We have the enduring elements and characteristics of a Harrow education, which is a 450-years-brand that delivering excellence. So, when parents are buying into that, they know it is going to be delivered on. They know the mechanisms, and the proof is there. If you're setting up a new school in a place like Shanghai now with a brand name, you have to be very sure about what it is that you do and is it different from anybody else? Because if it is the same product as everybody else, you are going to drown. The answer to the first part of the question is knowing what is unique and different about what you do in comparison to anybody else.
For the second part of the question, the first thing you need to do is to deliver what you promise. If you set up a school, you have a brand, and you have a clear vision of who you are and what a brand means in the context of a school in Shanghai, then you need to deliver on that so that parents can feel and see the proof of that. Over 50% of our new families to Harrow Shanghai are recommendations from present parents. So, the most powerful influence is the satisfaction levels of your present parents. You have to deliver what you say you are going to deliver on. Your parents have to see that, feel that, be part of that, and walk that journey with you. This is paramount.
My advice would be don't change for change's sake. You need to get over the temptation to jump into a new fashion or a new trend, or what the other schools are doing. I think you need to have confidence in what you do and doing the best of your capabilities. It is best to not be distracted or be tempted to make changes or change decisions that are not truly in line with who you are and what you do. There are so many technologies and other kinds of influences coming in, and schools thinking that "we need to do that, I need to be an IB school, etc.". All it does is distract from the key ingredients of success, which are knowing who you are, having the best teachers available, providing opportunities, monitoring or tracking, having great relationships with the people in your community, and then recognizing success and building on it.
KingLead: What experience do you want to share in the development of school brand building？
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: If you have a brand, I would say at all times, ensure that the integrity of your brand is being delivered on one key aspect, which is how closely the school works with its brand partners.
In our case, if I was a parent or a member of staff looking to join Harrow Shanghai, I would want to know how close does Harrow Shanghai work with Harrow London. How can I be sure that the key genetics, key concepts, and key characteristics of Harrow London that we know to be so strong are being lived out in daily life in Harrow Shanghai? If you're building a brand, you must reflect in every way possible what is strong and what has been successful about the original brand. It is also about quality control. For example, if I was going to make Louis Vuitton handbags in Spain, I would want to be sure that the quality of those limited handbags I'm making in Spain is just as good as the quality of the ones that are made in Shanghai. So, wherever anybody samples a Harrow Education -- it does not matter if you are in Chongqing, Shanghai, London, Bangkok -- there are key aspects, key characteristics, key experiences that hold the brand together. They are the unique and recognizable aspects of our brand.
KingLead: With the rapid development of digital and artificial intelligence today, for international schools, how to better grasp the future development direction?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: Ultimately, being strong in technological development is still rooted in having the key skills of that knowledge. If you want to be an expert in AI, you still have to be an expert in maths and physics before you think about developing AI. This will determine that the core ingredients to success are still there. You also need to create that climate and culture that allows children to think differently, to experiment, to question, to analyse, to evaluate, and to use higher-order thinking skills.
You can have exposure to opportunities to develop an interest and skills in elements of technological development, but if we do robotics with an 11year old or 12 years old, by the time they are leaving university, that technology will look so different again. All you are doing is developing a passion, an interest, curiosity, and the ability for them to think in a different way. But the most important is the foundation of strong academic knowledge skills. You can never dispose of those skills.
KingLead: What do you think is the most important point for the future development of international schools?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: I will put this into a Shanghai context. International schools in Shanghai, if they're not doing this already, need to be thinking very hard about the quality of their Mandarin and Chinese cultural position, because we know the market is changing. We know that there is an increasing proportion of ethnic Chinese families in international schools. Their children may go on to universities all over the world, but a higher proportion of them will be coming back to Shanghai and China to take up high-powered roles and careers in the future. The level of Mandarin and the understanding of their own ethnicity and Chinese culture is going to be fundamental to their own success.
10 years ago, families and schools themselves were feeling great of the belief that international was always better because, in an international school, you can get international qualifications, go to university and work overseas. They thought that is probably going to be better and they do not think too much about the consequences of working back in China might look like. We are expecting and seeing far greater numbers of Chinese students coming back to work in China, taking more and more influential roles in large organizations that may have been taken by overseas expatriates in the past. Therefore, the understanding of strong international education, globalization, and global citizenship are really important.
KingLead: Do you think the number of international schools in China will continue to increase?
Charles Ellison, the Head Master of Harrow International School Shanghai: I do. There are tier-two and tier-three cities around China where I think international schools will still be able to establish their market. For these cities, there is an appetite for international schooling. I think you will see that there is great growth in bilingual education, because it allows those with Chinese passports to reach an international experience for their children and because it has been getting to create a niche market for the combination of Chinese national curriculum and another curriculum.
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