• CEESA
  • Conference 2016
  • Lectures
  • Working Across Cultures: The Communication Challenge for International Schools by Peter Welch and Robin Schneider
Monday, 12 October 2015 09:50

Working Across Cultures: The Communication Challenge for International Schools by Peter Welch and Robin Schneider

This workshop is focused on supporting colleagues in international schools who deal with issues of cross-cultural communication every day. This is an endlessly fascinating subject of crucial importance in international schools seeking to nurture genuine global citizens.

This workshop is focused on supporting colleagues in international schools who deal with issues of cross-cultural communication every day. This is an endlessly fascinating subject of crucial importance in international schools seeking to nurture genuine global citizens.

The day will start by framing the communication challenge for all of us, drawing on the latest research on cultural differences. We will then share different models for analyzing cultural differences and do some hands on activities to bring these alive. Then we will move to asking how to we move from self-awareness to practical and more effective cross-cultural communication. The professional community at the International School of Helsinki has a research group that is engaged with this question. We will share our research journey and progress with the tools we are developing for educators, parents and students. Specifically, we will invite participant input into the questionnaire model designed to identify links between cultural dispositions and learning dispositions.

We want the day to serve the needs of all participants. There will be preparatory questionnaire for participants and we will also ask you to complete a culture survey for discussion during the day.

Peter Welch

peter-welch

Peter Welch is currently the Director at the International School of Helsinki.

Peter Welch is currently the Director at the International School of Helsinki. This is a three programme IB school with a diverse Pre-K to Grade 12 student population. Prior to this, he was in Istanbul as the Director of the International Community School - a school with a similar profile to ISH. Before then, he was Head of the American Pacific International School in Thailand, also an IB World School.

Peter has spent most of his careers overseas, working in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. He is English originally, from Nottingham. His wife, Suzanne, is an artist and hails from Toronto, Canada. They are currently working together on a book about cultural differences. They have one daughter, Gaby, who is Grade 5 at ISH.

 

 

Robin Schneider

robin-schneider

Robin Schneider is currently the Deputy Head of School at the International School of Helsinki.

Robin Schneider is currently the Deputy Head of School at the International School of Helsinki. Prior to Helsinki, he worked in Japan and Korea at various international schools as an administrator. He has worked in IB and AP schools around the world. Robin is Canadian but has been educated in Canada, the United States and now started his doctorate at Bath University in the UK with a focus on Cultural Understanding within Education.

 

 

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