James Unsworth | Deputy Head of School
Australian International School Malaysia

A quality education stays with us for life: We feel it in our grounded nature, our sense of belonging and purpose, we hear it in our innovative, problem-solving mind, we see it in our successes and in how we learn from our missteps. As an educator and a leader, I put relationships first: Collective Teacher Efficacy is the fuel that drives any great school. I seek to build bonds of trust through care, integrity and a desire to serve, whilst also fostering these three aspects as shared values. The energy and passions of our community are what bond us and keep us moving forward together. Through a commitment to the empowerment of all members of our community, a spirit of adventure and open-mindedness, we can be the norm entrepreneurs shaping our shared future. I love a community of learners that pursues continuous improvement, as part of PLCs, through Impact Cycles and Teaching Sprints. I prize the development of metacognition, innovation and eloquence. I endeavour to create a Culture of Thinking through a concentration on the Eight Cultural Forces, Mindfulness and the Habits of Mind, as well as through the deployment and co-creation of Thinking Routines. I encourage my colleagues to seek to 'know thy impact', whilst helping our learners to become assessment-capable Visible Learners. I encourage the leaders of our community to be Active & Reflective Listeners, who support emergent and transformative norms, by empowering the Connectors, Mavens and Salepeople in their teams to grow their Circles of Influence. As the beneficiary of the powerful impact of the school programmes that occurred outside of the classroom, during my own school days, I am a passionate advocate for a well-developed and holistic school experience. Embedded service learning, as well as sporting and non-sporting co-curricular activities, are of vital importance in the educational journey. I champion Debating, World Scholars Cup and Model United Nations, a wide variety of sports (most passionately Netball and Rugby), as well as a wide variety of empathy-building and responsibility-instilling service and leadership opportunities. I endeavour to focus on the above aspects in my role as a Deputy Head of School at the truly exceptional Australian International School Malaysia, through my ad hoc training and consultancy and through my annual lecture series at Worcester College, Oxford, where I lead the Oxbridge Academic Educational Leadership Summer Seminar Programme.