John Sexton,

Center Principal at Suzhou Experimental High School, AP center.

How many teachers or staff do you manage in your center?

That’s kind of an interesting question, just teachers, not including myself, we have six staff. These are teachers from different parts of the world, teaching science, math and humanities, and then we collaborate with several other Chinese staff that lead part of our program.

Can you describe your involvement with teaching and learning within the center?

Wow, that’s, that’s a question. I would say I spend a lot of my time helping teachers prepare students for the various things they need to do for college success. Whether that’s helping our English teacher get the students prepared for TOEFL or IELTS examinations or making sure our AP teachers are on track for their AP exams every May. That’s a large part of it. We conduct regular meetings on teaching and learning, in the past few years, online learning has been a focus. Fortunately for me, that was kind of my background, so I’ve helped teachers use technology and adapt to that. As we move back to the classrooms, it’s more of a focus on teaching and getting students ready for the exams and success.

What is the number of exams that a typical student is taking this year?

Well, there are no typical students, but in our grade 11 half the students are taking four AP exams, for example. Most plan to take economics, calculus, physics at AP this year. So about half of our students do that. And I would say about 75% of our students take at least one exam in grade 11. I think in grade 12, we have one student who did not take an AP exam, so most of our students are taking at least one. And that’s what we like to see. I think in the future, it’ll be everybody because they’re launching AP precalculus.

Which universities do your students tend to go?

This year has been another shift for our students back toward American placements, besides a few that have gone to Australia. Students in China like to cluster around the East and West coast of the US, though we’ve got a little progress inland as far as Ohio. Most of our students are in the Northeast or the Northwest this year, so Washington, New Jersey and those kind of areas.

Can you describe the management structure that a CP operates within?

Yeah, I think this will be a question that’s maybe different in different contexts. We’re a small school, so at my school, the administration, me, the CLO, the CD, work quite closely together. And we’re kind of all-hands-on deck on many things. But I think in a larger school, it would have a different shape. We get lots of support from Dipont, I deal directly with Leo McArdle, the Deputy Director of Education, he’s really helpful. We get lots of practical support from the head office, especially now that the pandemic is over.

If you were to summarize your key objectives and the roll into a few points, what would they be?

I think there’s really two things I want to do. I want to ensure that our students get the best possible education and university offers. I’m really concerned with whether they are making progress through the year at our center. I want them to develop their English ability, study skills and I want them to grow as people. I want to see them all making great strides every year. So that’s really my focus.

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Here Jon talks about the lifestyle benefits of Beijing, the work-life balance he enjoys at RDFZ, and the ways that the school respects and cares for its teachers.

1.How long have you been working in China for?

The first time I came to China was right out of business school, so that would be 2002. There has been quite a bit of change. There were no blue skies in Beijing at that time. Now Beijing is absolutely beautiful. There are blue skies almost every single day.

Beijing has abundant green spaces where you can slow down and detox from the pace of city life.

China does a really good job, at least in the bigger cities, of creating these big central parks that allow you to navigate back into nature and detox from city life. I enjoy that.

2.What makes RDFZ stand out from other schools that you’ve worked at?

A big reason why I like working here is the work life balance. Here you are primarily a teacher. Of course, there is some administration work, but you are not doing extra things like homeroom teaching. This can occupy a lot of a teacher’s time in other schools.

The Forbidden City is just a subway ride from the RDFZ main campus. Photo by Wong Zihoo on Unsplash.

I love being in the city, and the campus is close to downtown Beijing, not far from my home. The Summer Palace is a ten-minute taxi ride away. The Forbidden City and the Hutongs are also nearby. Sanlitun, which is a nightlife and shopping hotspot, is about 45 minutes away. The location is amazing.

Chinese and expat teachers in the ICC school at the RDFZ main campus perform Auld Lang Syne during a New Year’s Eve gala performance.

My colleagues are great. RDFZ is one of the top high schools in China, so the students are of the highest caliber, as you would expect.

3.What is it like to teach students who are among the best in China?

I’ve sometimes felt that, in other schools that I’ve worked at in China, I really needed to teach students the fundamentals of English communication, especially writing skills, in addition to the subject I’m teaching.

Students display a presentation on ‘Metacognition” as a capstone to an elective course which Jon facilitated.

At RDFZ I feel like I’m a full-time humanities teacher. I do have to teach them some basic writing skills, but nowhere near where I had to at previous schools. Being able to focus on your subject, rather than needing to also teach English in your lessons, is something that I’ve really enjoyed about this school.

For IB, and for A-levels, there’s a lot of writing and reading involved. Teaching this curriculum can be very challenging if the students don’t have the required English proficiency.

4. What subjects are you teaching? 

I teach Economics and AP Seminar. I am also the AP Coordinator.

Another thing that I really enjoy about the school is that they allow you to do an elective course. You are given time during your schedule where you can just teach whatever you’re super interested in. For example, this year I’m helping out with an ultimate Frisbee club. It’s a great way for teachers to share what they are passionate about, as well as adding diversity to the curriculum.

Jon was able to share one of his interests with his students by helping out with the school’s Ultimate Frisbee club. Photo by Patrick Reynolds on Unsplash.

5. What would you say to someone to encourage them to join the team at RDFZ?

For me, the biggest selling point is that the school really cares about us as individuals. The school understands things like work-life balance, because they want you to be at your best. The school wants to give you some creative freedom, because they appreciate what we have to offer as teachers.

Because entry to the school is highly competitive, the students are exceptional in ability and commitment to learning.

I’m Korean American, and I’m the AP coordinator. To me, that says a lot about the culture of RDFZ. This is a school that respects and cares for its teachers. If you are willing to put in the work, they are willing to invest in you. Working at RDFZ has been great for my career, and my life.

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The Dual Diploma Program (DDP) at Tianyi High School, Wuxi, in partnership with the prestigious Shattuck-St. Mary’s school in the US, combines project management, career counselling, software design tuition, leadership, collaboration, creativity and community engagement.

Here Mark talks about the DDP, and what he has gained in this part of his career journey.

1. How does the course relate to the idea of 21st century learning?

The traditional model for education is like a factory system, what you could think of as a cells and bells model. This is where you keep students in a cell for a certain period of time, until the bell rings, and then they move to a different cell. It is very teacher-centered, with the teacher being the primary source of the learning experience.

A goal of 21st century learning  is that students become the  drivers of their educational journey

Central to our approach is that students should be the primary drivers of their own educational experience. We facilitate this by giving them lots of opportunities to try new things, to experience new things, to take actions, and then reflect on those actions.

That way they can discover more about themselves: their strengths, weaknesses, and their own interests, and then use that to grow and inform their next actions.

2. What facilities do you have to support the course?

The design of our initial setup came from our partner school, Shattuck-St Mary’s.  They developed what they call a “WeCreate” space, which is an environment dedicated to self-directed exploration and learning. This space includes things like AV rooms, sewing machines, and even 3D printers.

Industry professionals visit the school to share their expertise

This year, we polled our students to see what other types of equipment or material they would like to have or use, so they have input on the facilities that are provided.

3. How do students choose the goals of their projects?

We give students a fair deal of independence, but there is also structure. In our WeCreate classes, there is a dedicated teacher who assigns specific tasks to get students familiar with the idea of project management.

A good example of this is the board game design project. At a practical level they learn about industry standard software, but they are also learning about managing their time, setting deadlines, resource allocation and sharing ideas with others. This part of the course serves as an introduction to the skills they will be applying later.

Students get hands-on experience using industry standard design software

Beyond this the projects become increasingly more open-ended. For example, we’ll tell students that we expect them to use the design software tools they have learnt about, but what they create is really up to them.

We definitely want them to develop their own creativity, so they can go crazy, but there is some structure.

4. How do you assess students during this course?

As the focus is on empowered, student-centered learning, we have our students set goals for themselves. We work with students to make weekly plans, and monthly plans, and on defining their final targets.

Every two weeks, they write a reflection on how their studies are going, what issues they have been having, what progress they are making, and what they can improve on.

5. What kind of progress have you noticed in your students?

It’s a very new experience for many of our students, so they are a bit shell shocked at first.

Although we do scaffold the process, it still takes them a while to adjust and to realize that they do have a voice and that they are expected to be the drivers of their own experience.

The WeCreate classroom allows students to explore their own interests and develop new skills

I’ve seen a lot of kids take that on beautifully. By the time we got to the independent projects in spring, I feel like many of the students really have their feet under themselves. They took on the responsibility really well.

6. What has been the most satisfying thing for you as a teacher?

For me, it was also a brand new experience. Like the students, I also just had to jump in.

I remember when we returned after the Spring Festival break, I had been worried that all the projects would be behind schedule. But then I found all the students had beautiful plans written up, and they had used the time really well.

Each semester students receive exclusive presentations from industry professionals

When I walk around the lab and see my students really into their projects, I think it really is the ideal of what you want to see in school: kids who are really engaged by their work, and excited about their learning.

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Nearly 500 teachers and managers from Dipont’s China-wide international curriculum centers attended the two-day event, held at InterContinental Hotel Wuxi.

The annual conference, which has taken place every year since 2007, brings together new and current teachers to get to know one another and Dipont, as well as exchange learning and information. It is thought to be one of the largest conferences of its kind in east Asia.

With Dipont international curriculum center teachers usually spread around China, the conference is also an invaluable opportunity to gather everyone in one place ahead of the academic year.

The conference featured a packed itinerary of workshops covering a range of subjects relevant to both teachers just arriving in China and to those with China experience already. The workshops were delivered by teachers, principals and senior managers, and were designed to encourage discussion, inspire innovation and share best practice.

For more than 100 new teachers, the conference was the start of their career with Dipont. New A-level mathematics teacher, Oleksii Khlobystin, who will teach at Jinling High School in Nanjing, felt the conference was an excellent way to prepare for his new role and better get to know both Dipont and his fellow teachers.

“It made me feel even more confident and prepared for the upcoming semester at my new school,” he said.

This year’s conference theme was ‘ethos is everything’. In his opening address, John Birchall, Academic Director at Dipont, spoke of the importance of working atmosphere in Dipont’s high school centers and complemented the work of center principals to encourage positive working environments.

He announced that the development of ethos policies in each center will be a major focus of work over the coming academic year. He also built on Dipont CEO Benson Zhang’s opening speech, outlining Dipont’s own ethos and approach, as well as the company’s past and future development.

Rewarding excellence

The conference was also a chance to reward excellence among staff in Dipont’s international curriculum centers, with several teachers from various centers being named teacher of the year:

• Eldred Apanya, physics
• Martin Bailey, psychology, economics and theory of knowledge
• James Chan, English
• Jason Chitty, science
• Mark Every, economics
• Claire Fan, calculus and statistics
• Nirmala Govender, geography
• Anton Jacobs, economics
• Joseph Kelley, statistics
• Joel Langat, economics
• Sintayehu Maru, mathematics
• Lyneth Masauring, physics
• Thomas McEleney, English
• Asmal Mohamad, economics
• Joseph Onyango, mathematics
• Hemant Rai, mathematics
• James Stringer, geography and English
• Lee Voon, English
• Joyce Xiao, chemistry.

A number of center principals were also recognized for their work, including:

• A-level centers: Simon Atwood (runners-up: Ryan Strugnell and Mathew Thomas)
• International baccalaureate centers: Leigh Smith (runners-up: A. Sharma and J. Humphreys)
• AP centers: Hywel Bennet (runners-up D. Brandau and L. McCardle).

Individuals were given their awards during a conference dinner, held on the first night of the event, which at which attendees socialized and unwound after a full day of workshops.

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He attended our annual conference for the first time in August this year.

“The Dipont annual conference, held at the InterContinental Hotel in Wuxi, was a fantastic event for a new teacher like me. Beforehand I honestly believed that the event was going to be two days of hard work and intensive workshops only, but I had the pleasure of staying at a luxury hotel and didn’t feel exhausted at all!

“I felt energized by coming into contact with more than 400 hundred educators from all over the world who were united by the same goal.”

Instead, I felt energized by coming into contact with more than 400 hundred educators from all over the world who were united by the same goal. It was really easy to get to know everyone and I was able to introduce myself and make friends. I added more than 50 new contacts to my WeChat [messaging app] and began the important task of figuring out who is who!

The atmosphere at the event was just amazing. Everybody was very friendly and supportive. I realized that the main aim of all the speakers was to let me know that I am not alone and we all are a big family.

The conference was organized to a very professional level and the content of the workshops was very interesting and helpful, especially for new teachers. It was also good for those who have just come to China and are trying to figure out how to live and work in a new environment.

“The content of the workshops was very interesting and helpful, especially for new teachers.”

I came to China in 2011 and have been teaching here for the last three years. But even though I am pretty familiar with the Chinese culture and educational system, I found many tips from the conference very helpful. It made me feel even more confident and prepared for the upcoming semester at my new school.

The presentations throughout the conference were very informative, but at the same time, included just the most important details. That helped me to feel inspired and not overloaded after the event.

In the evening, we had a large dinner together, there were some awards for outstanding teachers and a small concert performed by our talented staff. I have even booked three minutes of stage time for a show at next year’s conference – it will be a pleasure to dance for all the Dipont family!”

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The milestone was celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony at the planned site for the school, in Kunshan Development Zone.

The new school, which will follow American and Chinese curricular, is a partnership between Dipont, No. 2 High School of East China Normal University, one of China’s top schools, and local government in Kunshan.

The school will open in 2020 and accommodate more than 2,700 pupils. The school buildings will total around 98,000 square meters and feature state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

This is the third independent school to be launched by Dipont in partnership with highly regarded schools in China and abroad. The new schools are creating a new model for K-12 education in China. They offer internationalized learning experiences whilst maintaining the requirements of the Chinese education system.

Various partner representatives, such as Kunshan Vice Mayor Li Hui, attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Many attendees gave speeches about their high expectations for the project, including Dipont CEO, Benson Zhang, who expressed his thanks to all involved.

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