By Dr Andrea Grassby, Chief Marketing Officer
When families consider Alice Smith School, our Admissions team is often their first point of contact. During these initial conversations, we frequently hear questions about our teaching staff: "How long do your teachers stay?" and "How do you measure teaching quality?"
These questions reflect families' natural interest in understanding the stability, diversity, and excellence of our educational team as they evaluate our school for their children. Interestingly, we find that these same questions are frequently asked by our existing families as well.
As a parent wondering how to know if your child is receiving the best teaching, it's important to recognise that while some outcomes, like examination results and university placements are easily quantifiable, they only tell part of the story. More fundamentally, it's important to shift focus to the quality of learning rather than teaching alone. Quality learning occurs when educators understand each student's individual needs, build strong relationships, and recognise how each child learns best, while also guiding students to develop this self-awareness.
Several key practices are used to measure this quality learning:
- Work samples and student portfolios demonstrate actual progress.
- Data tracking helps teachers identify patterns in student development.
- Ongoing professional learning ensures that teachers remain informed about best practices.
- Intentional learning design helps educators clearly define what success looks like for each student and activity.
- Student shadowing enables educators to experience learning from the child's perspective
These approaches ensure teachers concentrate on your child's unique learning journey instead of just delivering curriculum.
Seeing the Whole Child
Traditional reports, test scores, and examination results provide only a small glimpse of your child's overall achievements. Our research-based approach goes further by integrating various forms of evidence, including classroom work, teacher observations, self-assessments, and digital learning portfolios.
This comprehensive perspective enables us to recognise and nurture your child's limitless potential in all its forms. A student who may struggle with traditional tests might excel in creating a project, leading a team, or solving real-world problems.
Educators ready to inspire
Investing in our teachers’ continued professional development (CPD) provides them with valuable opportunities to grow as professionals. By partnering with a range of global experts we ensure that our learning and curriculum remain relevant and inspiring. Our well-equipped environment and facilities offer educators the resources they need to implement the innovative approaches to learning that Alice Smith is known for.
Our robust professional development programme and our appealing location in Malaysia promote teacher satisfaction and encourage long-term commitment. This dedication to our teachers is reflected in our consistently high retention rates. Over the past five years, we have maintained an average teacher tenure of 6.5 years, as shown below:
When searching for new educators, we are dedicated to recruiting outstanding individuals who will inspire and empower our students. More important than their backgrounds is their belief in our students' potential. We seek educators who:
- Believe in the Limitless Potential of Every Child: They promote high emotional and intellectual curiosity, ensuring each child feels valued and capable of achieving great things.
- Demonstrate Motivation and Responsiveness: Highly motivated educators who adapt to their students' evolving needs are crucial to our mission.
- Possess Diverse Skills and Knowledge: Our ideal candidates have broad and diverse experiences that align with our unique context.
- Commit to Continuous Growth: We look for individuals who wish to continually update and develop their practices to meet the current and future needs of our students, especially educators who reflect on their impact on learning for students and their colleagues.
Going beyond academic success
As parents, we all want our children to thrive—not only academically but also as confident and curious individuals who are prepared to make a difference in the world. At Alice Smith School, we believe in encouraging brave exploration to inspire a better future. We are committed to developing an innovative approach to understanding and celebrating your child's unique learning journey with dedicated educators who recognise your child’s limitless potential.