Librarians are perhaps the unsung heroes of international education. They always have a foot in more than one camp, playing both teaching and support roles. Story tellers and administrators, they will lead curriculum and community initiatives and often manage a wide range of physical and digital resources for the school outside the library.

In this edition of the ITM Podcast, we speak to two people who inhabit and shape this special environment. Rob George is the Head of Libraries at the Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur and Sally Flint was Head of Libraries at Bangkok Patana School before returning to the UK.

Just how and why they became school librarians is a story in itself: in their previous lives as teachers, Rob taught Physics and Sal taught English.

But when they made the move, was the job what they expected it to be? What were the challenges and just why did they come to love being a librarian so much?

And love it they clearly do.

Their conversation ranges from how library spaces and collections are changing, to why physical books have retained their special appeal, even in an age of digital resources to which a school community has access 24/7.

And it is that word ‘community’ they keep returning to, as they explore how the school community finds a place in the library, and how, in turn, the community is shaped by the Library itself.

Wherever your school is with the issue of equity, this well-informed, down-to-earth conversation between two of the most experienced educators responsible for establishing a culture of equity in a school is a must-listen. In 20 short minutes Nunana Nyomi, DEIJ Coordinator at Leysin American School and Clare Ives, EDI lead at Sevenoaks School shine a clear light on the real issues that almost everyone has found challenging. How can a really good school be egalitarian - but not equitable? Why are Senior Leadership Teams hesitant about taking on issues of equity? How do you deal with the fear of being caught up in an unwelcome flare-up of the culture wars in your own community? 

After listening to Clare and Nunana, a pathway just might open up. After all, we've been giving additioanl learning support to students who need it for many years. Their argument is that not only is it time to address other serious issues of marginalisation, but that it will make a school community much stronger and productive to do so if it is done in the right way. 

Nunana Nyomi has been the University Advisor and DEIJ Coordinator at Leysin American School in Switzerland since 2021. He’s a TCK, growing up in the U.S., Ghana, Kenya, Switzerland, and the U.K. After graduating from Calvin University where he studied French and International Relations, he spent seven years in Calvin’s Admissions Office, where he became Associate Director of International Admissions. After completing a Masters in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University, he moved to the Council of International Schools as Associate Director of Higher Educational Services and finally to LAS.  

Clare Ives is Senior Deputy Head and EDI lead at Sevenoaks School in the UK. She is a graduate of St. Andrews, where she also took her PhD in American History, focusing on the development of Civil Rights in the 1960s. She spent eight years as a civil servant, before leaving to teach History at Canford School where she subsequently became a Housemistress and EDI lead before her move to Sevenoaks in 2021.

In the May 2023 edition of the ITM Podcast, Nalini Cook of and Mansoor Ahmed, two of the most respected observers of the international school scene talk to Andy Homden about the post-pandemic world of international education and the changes already shaping its future.

They agree: although international schools have faced real challenges in the early 2020s, a new paradigm for international education is emerging from a badly disrupted world and it is charged for growth.

Mega-projects, the realignment of geo-politics, the rise of the digital nomad and the increasing mobility of a new and aspirational middle classes in growing economies are all contributing. 

Mansoor Ahmed is the Executive Director (Middle East and Africa) at Colliers International. Based in Dubai, he is the Head of Development Solutions in the areas of Real Estate, Education, Healthcare and PPP. He leads a team of over 30 experienced advisors and has been responsible for the completion of more than a thousand individual projects throughout the region in the last 20 years. After an early career as a research economist he made the move to the business world with Arthur Anderson and then EY. Now as a senior member of the Colliers team, he is a sought after commentator on the links between regional development, education and health.

Nalini Cook is the Head of Global Research at ISC Research, and heads the team analysing and commenting on the growth of the international schools market worldwide. A graduate of Lancaster University where she also took her Masters, her wide-ranging international career and long-term work at ISC Research has given her the kind of global insight and understanding of international education that makes her analysis of developments in the international school sector so highly valued in both the business and education worlds.

Talking about - the ITM Podcast is recorded and produced by sound solution expert Jason Lasky