My IBSC Journey - Where it began...

In 2006 during my first year at St Peter's Boys Prep, I was given the opportunity to attend the 13th Annual International Boys Schools' Coalition (IBSC) Conference at St John's College in Johannesburg, South Africa. The IBSC is an organization of schools dedicated to the education and development of boys worldwide. It enables educators from around the world to work together to discover the best learning practices for boys.

The 2006 conference was inspirational and as a teacher new to a boys school, I learnt a great deal about how boys learn, especially from Abigail Norfleet James. She presented two papers, Gender Differences and the Brain: Classroom Applications for Middle School and Studying is More than Just Reading a Book:  How to Help Boys Learn to Learn. 

However, Dr Michael G Thompson, consultant, author and psychologist specialising in children and families, made the biggest impact on me. He was one of the keynote speakers at the conference. I noticed him standing on is own during one of the first social functions and I plucked up the courage to go and introduce myself. What an amazing man! He astounded me with his ability to understand exactly what I was trying to say, even better than I understood myself. Throughout the conference, he was happy to chat and exchange ideas with me. At the end of the conference, he gave me a signed copy of his New York Times best-selling book, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys (Ballantine Books, 1999) co-authored by Dan Kindlon. The book is one of my prized possessions and I have read it from cover to cover many times, especially since having a son of my own.

During this IBSC Conference in 2006, I also heard about Action Research for the first time. The IBSC had just introduced Action Research aimed at promoting the collaboration of educators in member schools worldwide to design, implement, evaluate and report on in-depth Action Research projects in order to improve their effectiveness in the classroom and beyond. Immediately, I knew that one day I was going to be a part of this initiative.

Since the IBSC introduced its Action Research program in 2005, more than 220 teachers and administrators from all regions of the IBSC membership have contributed to more than 200 Action Research projects, which are conducted over a two-year period with the assistance of an IBSC Action Research coordinator. And now 12 years later I am part of the 2018/2019 Action Research Cohort!