Dulwich College Beijing in China was the second to join the Dulwich College International (DCI) family of schools in 2005. It has over 1570 students from age 3 to 18, with over 45 different nationalities represented. It draws upon 400 years of excellence and tradition from Dulwich College in the UK. Dulwich College Beijing is fully accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS), the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the National Centre for School Curriculum and Textbook Development (NCCT). It is inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). Dulwich College Beijing is affiliated with the International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACMIS) and the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA). It is one of the nine Dulwich College International schools, all of which use BlueSky.
“Everything is in one place, so it makes things easier for everyone. Professional development, performance management and appraisal, as well as observations. In so many schools it can be a tick box exercise, but with BlueSky it is a developmental process.”
How is BlueSky supporting Dulwich College Beijing?
BlueSky has been an integral part of staff development in Dulwich College Beijing for over 10 years. BlueSky has been very successful for the school, particularly the way it reduced workload, and has developed its use even further since. Dulwich College Beijing currently uses BlueSky to support its processes for professional development, performance management, observations and evaluation monitoring.
BlueSky’s Role
“Initially, staff set their goals in the first few weeks of the academic year once the students have settled in, and discuss with their line manager. Whenever staff request training, or their line manager observes a lesson, or they have a development conversation it is recorded in BlueSky. We have a mid-year review which is also recorded. Throughout the year, staff can add notes and upload evidence to support their objectives ready for the end of year review in June.”
“As part of our professional development programme, our teachers request their CPD through BlueSky, and when they do they select the professional objective it links to, and which of the school’s aims it relates to.”
The Impact
“The teachers are comfortable with using BlueSky, and the processes we use it for. That makes a huge difference. They know their own objectives, they can request CPD and they know the school development plan. BlueSky links everything together, that’s a huge impact for everyone. The transparency of the system means that everyone feels good about their development and can see what they are working towards which has a very positive impact. If a teacher is moving to another school they like that they can take their BlueSky account with them.”
“BlueSky also supports our accreditation process and our Council of International Schools (CIS) evaluation. One of the CIS domains is about staff professional development, and as a CIS Evaluator myself, I know exactly what is required and I can present that with BlueSky for our school. They are expecting to see that your school is giving teachers professional development based on their professional objectives and the school improvement plan. You need to have a record of CPD, and show how it links to professional objectives and the school’s aims. It’s not just helpful to support our CIS evaluation but also supports the International Baccalaureate (IB) and any other accreditations we provide information for.”
What’s next?
“Along with Dulwich College International (DCI), we are currently undertaking an evidenced based research project to enhance our teaching and learning process. Currently, the three sections of our school, early years, junior and secondary work with teacher competencies under the umbrella of four learning principles across the school. Once the project is done, we will incorporate everything into BlueSky for the purpose of creating new observation templates, performance management templates, etc”.
“I am also going to look at Projects in BlueSky. This is a nice way to encourage staff collaboration and will enhance their professional development”
