On the 24th and 25th of August, the Intercontinental Hotel in Wuxi welcomed the Dipont Annual Conference. The conference brought together a dynamic community of Chinese and expat teachers and managers from Dipont’s International High School Programmes.

The theme for this year is “Seizing the Opportunity, The Future Starts Today”, a reference to the turmoil we have all had to face since our last conference in 2019. So, the challenge we all face now is how to move forward post-COVID and how to prepare for a future that is yet unknown, given the pace of change in the world.

CEO Mr. Benson Zhang welcomed nearly 400 teachers from home and abroad at the outset of the conference and extended his sincere gratitude to the academic management team.

He mentioned that as a pioneer in the development of international education in China, Dipont needs to explore fresh models and directions of development in this new era. This is essential to improve Dipont’s core competitiveness, offer quality education programmes and facilitate the innovation of China’s K-12 education.

Mr. Stephen Fulton, Director of High School Programmes (HSP), introduced the new Dashboard Centre Support System. This system will reflect the new paradigm shift in management from “judgmental to supportive”, moving the whole process towards developing staff through coaching and mentorship.

Over the course of the two-day conference, both newly-inducted and returning teachers participated in over 50 workshops that covered a broad range of themes and subjects across A-Level, IB, and AP programmes. Engaging in passionate discussion, the teachers explored various topics such as classroom pedagogies, the different ways of thinking, activity-based teaching and learning, encouraging creativity, the use of technology in education, and academic quality assessment amongst many others.

We are always proud of the fact that all of the presentations and workshops at the conference are presented by Dipont staff. This is a testimony to the trust that Dipont has always given to its staff and our outstanding educators’ passion and dedication to education.

Dipont Education not only offers teachers opportunities to “share and care”, but also drives them to become leaders themselves through self-development and service. The Dipont family would not be the success it is without all members pulling together towards a common cause. Striving together for new solutions and pathways means every student placed in our care receives the best possible chance to fulfil their potential.

The Dipont Annual Conference is aimed at offering teachers of International High School Programmes exclusive opportunities to engage in continuous professional development. It is also a chance to catch up with old friends, forge new relationships, learn from and teach others.

This conference is one of the largest international teacher’s conferences in Asia. We hope that our staff can be the best teachers they can possibly be, equipped with useful takeaways from the conference when they return to their Centres. We are always mindful that our students are the future of both their country and the world.

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Over 50 workshops and sharing sessions were hosted over 4 days, attended by over 600 teachers representing Dipont partner schools from right across China, from Changchun to Shenzhen, and from Shanghai to Chengdu.

Photo by lucas law on Unsplash

Here are some of the highlights of what was a tremendous showcase of talent, expertise, collaboration and community.

Science Coffee Corner

Hosted by Mia Dela Cruz (Chemistry / Biology AQM), Althea White (Physics AQM) and Faye Cai (Chemistry AQM), the Science Coffee corner was a chance for new and returning science teachers from right across the Dipont High School Programmes to touch base before the new academic year commences.

Examples of past Science Poster Competitions proudly adorn the walls at Dipont Education HQ.

Highlights included an invitation for teachers to apply for positions on the Science Subject Panel. This cross discipline initiative enables teachers to take a lead in delivering workshops during conferences. It also provides an opportunity to give input and share experiences on curriculum changes. Finally, subject panel are able to create and participate in nation-wide projects such as the science poster competition and the hugely popular Science Olympics.

Ideas for Delivering a Successful Lesson

Mark Quayle (Humanities AQM) and one of the most experienced members of the HSP team, delivered a guided sharing session on the features of a successful lesson. The importance of signaling highly differentiated objectives at the start of a class, and of deploying activities that are clearly linked to these goals, was discussed, as were strategies to ensure and assess total participation among students.

Good classroom practice has many facets that come together in lasting and powerful learning expereinces for students.

These and more facets of lesson delivery were modeled with what was a large and engaged group of attendees from across several disciplines. The chat box thrummed with insights and discussion, including a memorable quote from a teacher known only as iPad (6), who remarked that “Students can sniff out busy work like a pack of snarling jackals”. There be dragons!

Effective Technology in the Mathematics Classroom

Two new members of the AQM team, Bogdan Muraru and Greg Marthews, introduced a slew of handy APPs and programs to assist teachers with delivering Maths lessons and preparing exams papers.

New AQM Greg Marthews explaining how he uses LaTex, the software system and not the rubber clothing material, to prepare exam papers.

A couple of good examples were an APP called Plickers and the docx2latex.com website. Plickers provides a mechanism for instantaneous evaluation of multiple choice questions. This enables teachers to scan responses to a multiple choice question.  After doing this, teachers can ascertain immediately if there is a need to clarify a learning point. docx2latex.com is a website for converting Word and Google.doc files to LaTeX format, a convenient platform for preparing math exam papers.

Cognitive Load Theory

Common sense met neuro-science in what was a fascinating and accessible introduction to this widely applicable model of learning. Greg peppered his presentation with quotes from leading theorists as well as providing practical examples to a rapt audience of over 60 attendees.

The journey from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence describes the parallel journey of new information from working to long term memory.

Highlights included an explanation about the dangers of over-stuffed PPTs when introducing content PPTs. They can be a useful mechanism to deliver a lot of information to students. However, too much information at once can overload the working memory. This leads to anxiety, and inability to convert this information to long term memory.

Games in Teaching Economics

Mark Avery, Deputy Director of the AQM team, presented a series of games that can be used when teaching economics. These activities  encourage participation, develop communication and critical thinking skills, and create a context for practical discovery of abstract concepts.

How to make specific paper shapes with loads of paper but no technology, and vice versa, is the core challenge of the International;Trade game.

A fascinating example was the International Trade game. Groups of students are allocated “technology” (pencils, rulers, scissors) and “raw materials” (sheets of paper) in differing combinations and amounts. These represent wealthy, middle income, and poor countries. The task is to construct paper shapes with specific design parameters. The goal is to sell these to each other at a price that is decided by the teacher. Via this task, students learn about wealth inequality at a global scale. They also learn about collusion, cartels and coalition forming, all while making some money out of shapes.

Fundamentals of Conflict in the Workplace

One of the final workshops addressed the different forms of conflict that can occur in a workplace. These can be functional or dysfunctional, and their are a range of strategies that can be adopted to address them.

Mark Quayle, AQM, seen here peacefully hosting a conflict workshop.

Delivered by Mark Quayle a key takeaway was the need for flexibility. That is, when reading a situation, one should always adjust one’s approach accordingly. It is important to take a step back from any emotional responses when experiencing conflict. Also of note was the possibility of “positive conflict”. This occurs when an initial difference of ideas creates the opportunity for a fresh, constructive, outcome for a workplace challenge.

As Mark Quayle noted, the driving purpose of the HSP team is “to make people, not break people”. The genuine enthusiasm on display throughout the four days of the conference was a testament to this ideal. The community remains strong, energized and ready for a new academic year.

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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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