- Instructor: ies
Course Provider: DF Education
| POA | Flexible | Flexible | n/a | Certificate available |
There is no ‘standard’ or ‘off the shelf’ course for professional learning from DF Education. As DF Education, we have outlined three options for your online school-based professional learning however if your needs are different or you have a better suggestion, we are happy to work with your specific requirements.
Option 1: Focused, Intense, Fully Immersive – Option Over 4 Weeks
The goal of the course would be to apply the learning as part of the next steps after the course, and identify ‘whole of school’ approaches that can be easily integrated within current practices.
Course Commitment
30 hours over 4 weeks – a minimum of 7.5 hours per week with up to 90 minutes of synchronous engagement online with the facilitator and/or your course colleagues and the remainder of the time is asynchronous learning.
Option 2: Focused, Intense, Fully Immersive – Option Over 2 Days
This can be determined by the school requesting the online learning – it can be Friday night/Saturday/Sunday morning, or it can be a weekend.
Course Commitment
Sessions of 1.5 hours and 8 sessions in total, total of 12 hours over the two days and fully synchronous. Learning between Day 1 and Day 2? There is likely to be a question for consideration and to be ready to discuss on Session 5, and this is to allow processing of what was learned during Sessions 1-4. However, there will not be any other requirements for the participants for any asynchronous work with this option.
During the synchronous sessions of 1.5 hours, the design of the learning will include:
PROMPT with either a COLLABORATION and SHARING, or an EXPLORE and APPLICATION, followed by a sharing.
Option 3: Bespoke Model of Learning – Focused, Intense, Fully Immersive – Option Over A Time That Suits the School
Course Commitment
This could be a short course of half day (1.5 hour sessions and 2 sessions), one day (with 1.5 hour sessions and 4 sessions in total, and either on the one day of the weekend or over 2 weekends), or over a term or a semester.
Learning Outcomes
This would be dependent on the school and their learning objectives for their professional learning. The design of the learning is essential to the success of the course outcomes.
For example, with Option 1: 30 hours over 4 weeks – a minimum of 7.5 hours per week with up to 90 minutes of synchronous engagement online with the facilitator and/or your course colleagues and the remainder of the time is asynchronous learning.
CONNECT: Prior to the start of every 4 week course, there will be a required ‘synchronous’ meet and greet online, with the facilitator, with a prompt question for everyone to respond to. There will also be a required REFLECT synchronous session on the final day of the final week that will elicit feedback on the course content, the course design and suggested improvements for next time.
PROMPT: Each week on ‘day 1’ or the start of the week will be a PROMPT/PROVOCATION with the facilitator and this will be synchronous and include the overview of the learning engagements, and the intended learning outcomes/success criteria for the week.
COLLABORATION #1/DISCUSSION/DIVERSITY OF OPINION: this part of the learning will require you to add something new to the discussion thread. You can comment or respond to something one of your colleagues has stated, but there needs to be a different perspective brought to the discussion question that is put to everyone.
EXPLORE: as part of your asynchronous learning, you will need to explore further and dive into research reading, as well as watch videos and perhaps even find other research, resources or videos.
COLLABORATION #2: this will need to be scheduled by yourself with your learning partner/group so that you can have a group discussion via video (preferably) so that you can learn together and support each other, to review case studies and to generate questions for the synchronous CONNECT session each week.
REFLECTION: synchronous session to be held on the last day of the final week of the course. There will be structured feedback questions centred around: What worked well and why? And what did not work well and why?
Schedule
Flexible Schedule
DF Education was established in 2014 by Deidre Fischer and she has worked with clients in international schools around the world, from Madagascar to Saudi Arabia, Brazil to Vietnam, China to Australia and many countries between. Her regular clients include the IBO as well as the Council of International Schools and Search Associates Australia NZ. Deidre’s work with schools has included engaging with different stakeholders (Boards, leadership, teaching and non-teaching staff and students) to help them identify how they can maximise the effectiveness of their role in the school and hence support student learning.
Who is Deidre Fischer?
Head of School
Deidre is not only an experienced educator for students and adults, but also a former Head of Pre-School to Grade 12 International Schools.This includes:
● Director of the International School of Ulaanbataar (Mongolia),
● Superintendent of Cebu International School (Philippines) and
● Interim Head for Bali International School (Indonesia).
Global Experience
In addition to her extensive head of school experience, she has also completed projects for the Council of International Schools (www.cois.org), volunteered time for the EARCOS Board of Trustees (www.earcos.org), Basketball South Australia Commission (www.basketballsa.com.au) and Rotary International.Apart from Australia, some of the countries that Deidre has worked in include: Indonesia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Cambodia, Japan, Thailand, India, PR China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Making a Difference
Clients value her ability to stimulate strategic thinking that is aligned to the mission and vision of the school, and developing positive, practical strategies to foster teamwork within the community. She has a warmth of personality coupled with genuine interest in others, be it students, teachers, parents, non-teaching staff or Board members, that puts others at ease and generates an easy, respectful environment within her workshops.
Governance
Deidre has a range and depth of experiences in teaching and leadership from 30+ years spanning public and private schools in Australia as well as international schools. She is known for the way in which she is able to work collaboratively with others to achieve practical results that make a measurable difference to individuals and their organisations.
Inclusive Practices
As well as consulting across the region, Deidre has presented at a number of conferences about building organisational capacity from within, developing inclusive practices that promote diversity of leadership within schools and nurturing women for leadership. Deidre believes that all schools should foster the potential of all those within their community.
As a teacher, my core business has been delivering quality teaching. As a school leader/head of school, it has been about developing quality schools and developing the ‘brand’. Therefore this business is an extension of what I have been doing for more than 30 years – developing the quality of teaching so that students can be successful.
Schools exist so that students can learn and achieve success. A teacher, and school leader’s, responsibility is to the students they serve.
DF Education helps schools/individuals by building practical skills that can be applied immediately following the workshops. It is not just about the learning, it is about process and skill building that can help transform practice in schools.
Deidre Fischer
Deidre is not only an experienced educator for students and adults, but also a former Head of Pre-School to Grade 12 International Schools. In addition to her extensive head of school experience, she has also completed projects for the Council of International Schools (www.cois.org), volunteered time for the EARCOS Board of Trustees (www.earcos.org), Basketball South Australia Commission (www.basketballsa.com.au) and Rotary International.
Apart from Australia, some of the countries that Deidre has worked in include: Indonesia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Cambodia, Japan, Thailand, India, PR China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Denise Walsh
Deidre provided three workshops for us in July 2015 as part of our teacher in-service week. One workshop led the staff through a review of the Mission statement and our new tag line. This workshop fostered great conversations that have continued throughout the school year. Deidre organised the workshop in a way that was engaging and resulted in concrete outcomes that have continued to be beneficial for the school. The second workshop was for middle management, both academic and administration, in leadership skills and challenges. This was a small group with very different cultural backgrounds and understandings of leadership. Deidre took on this challenge and supported each participant to grow in his/her understanding of his/her own leadership role in the school. This was our first foray into small, tailored workshops and it was quite successful and appreciated. The last workshop was a two-day Board training workshop. Deidre immediately switched gears and led our Board to a deeper understanding of its function. She engaged both new and returning Board members and ensured that all members felt encouraged to participate. Her work with the Board helped set us up for our successful CIS/WASC visit that just occurred last month. As you can see, Deidre is very versatile and can support many strategic PD aims. It was invaluable for us to have her with us for these days; covering so many of our identified needs. This was done through a very thorough planning process and input from myself as Head of School, which I appreciated. Deidre doesn’t just take her same old presentation /workshop out of the closet and bring it, she considers the needs of the particular school and comes up with a differentiated program – modelling what we are asking of our teachers!
Kim Ward
Deidre has been an invaluable mentor. Particularly during times when a difficult decision has to be made, she has enabled me, through her coaching, to focus on what is important, to prioritise and decide on things that are non-negotiable. This has helped me to make informed decisions with more objectivity which, I feel have guided me in the right direction.
Russell McGrath
Deidre has provided me over many years with great support and advice as an educational leader. Since meeting her at international recruitment fairs, I have gone to her many times for advice both in recruiting teachers and in my own search for opportunities. She has such a wide range of knowledge, contacts and experiences in international education that her advice is always honest, meaningful and insightful. Personally she has helped me and other through some very challenging situations with a common sense approach that cuts to the chase, and helps you to understand what is important in supporting student learning.
Peter Mallett
Deidre led a very successful biennial governance training session for the Board and Council of St Michael’s International School, Kobe in February 2018. With very little time to prepare, she grasped the ethos and spirit of the School. Her understanding of the journey we have made in the past decade and our present concerns resulted in a day of learning well tailored to our current situation. Not only did Deidre meet all the objectives she had been asked to address, she did so in a style that engaged all the participants and which they all enjoyed. Feedback from members was unanimously positive, one saying it was the best training session she’d attended. The variety of activities aided in keeping attention during a long day; as a result, enthusiasm didn’t flag throughout. The training was particularly useful at a period of change in governance of the School. It allowed newer and perhaps shyer members of the Council to express their views and develop confidence in their ability to benefit the governance of the School. Deidre’s comments on the governance of the School were very reassuring and it was most helpful to be shown we have already taken many of the necessary steps to tackle issues on our agenda in the coming months. We wholeheartedly recommend Deidre as a governance trainer and would be happy to have her back for future sessions at St Michael’s.
