On the 23rd and 24th April, Eamonn Mullally, Director of Education and Karen Ardley, Karen Ardley Associates, led the final facilitated sessions for the inaugural group of participants following the Malvern Pathways Middle Leadership programme.
During the 10 month programme the participants have learnt about many facets of leadership and how to utilise these to best effect to help them fulfil their leadership roles in school. Topics covered have included the management of change, using coaching to facilitate improved outcomes, the power of teamwork and effective observation of learning in the classroom environment.
The Malvern Pathways Middle Leaders Programme was developed in conjunction with Karen Ardley Associates as a bespoke course which uses the Malvern Qualities, a fundamental aspect of the ethos shared across the family of schools, to underpin the leadership traits and activities which make-up the course content.
‘Before the programme I spent too much time on management issues and now I spend more time looking at my leadership and developing that.’ Jessie Lu, Malvern College Qingdao
In a first of its kind for the Malvern family of schools, the course brought together participants from Malvern College Qingdao, Malvern College Chengdu, Malvern College Hong Kong, Malvern College Pre-School Hong Kong, Malvern College Egypt, The Downs Malvern and Malvern College. All of those who have taken part have expressed how much they have enjoyed working with colleagues from the wider group of schools and how much they have learnt from the process so far.
‘It was so informative and well organised…it is interesting to think about how it progress further next year.’ Jordan Nawchukwu, Malvern College Chengdu
The final part of the course will be for the participants to present to their individual school leadership teams towards the end of the academic year about how the course has impacted their practice and helped them to develop with their various areas of responsibility.
The Malvern Pathways Middle Leader Programme is the first of a planned suite of professional development courses which will form the core of career-based development opportunities for a range of staff in the Malvern family including classroom assistants, advanced classroom practitioners and those looking towards more senior posts, making the Malvern College International schools an attractive, long-term, career option.
‘I feel tremendous pride in being part of the Malvern organisation, an organisation investing so much in to its people using high quality training.’ Bene Benoit, Malvern College Hong Kong