Once again, the SGIS Conference (hosted this year by ISZL) delivered. The theme, “Curiosity and Courage: Learning Together,” unfolded through three strands that felt more like lines of inquiry: Courageous Spaces, Disruption and Design, and Thriving Together.
After the welcome from the SGIS chair, the head of ISZL reminded us that we all had a place at the conference. Given that the entire ISZL staff was present—a clear majority—this explicit invitation carried weight: it signaled that those of us from other schools were not guests at the margins, but full participants in this learning experience. Then came one of the most powerful openings I’ve seen at a conference: some 50 young students took the stage to perform a short skit and sing “This is an SOS from the Kids.” Many in the audience were visibly moved. What a profound way to anchor us in our purpose of improving education for all our students!
Jennifer D. Klein, CEO of Principled Learning Strategies delivered an energising keynote that invited us to reflect on what must shift in our systems for students to truly thrive. Two provocations stayed with me:
- Replace rigor (“inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment”) with vigor (“effort, energy, and enthusiasm”) in our curriculum.
- Move from “inclusion” to rightful presence, ensuring students feel seen—but not for the wrong reasons, such as deficits or compliance.
Her description of students wanting to “feel like Jason Bourne in their own action movie” was such a fresh metaphor—an empowering reminder of the agency and energy young people crave in their learning.
Rob Coe of Evidence Based Education shared insights into “What Makes Great Teaching—and How Do We Get More of It?”. He defined expertise as the combination of Understanding + Skills + Judgment, and he emphasised that a great school must be a community where every member is committed to learning.
His Great Teaching Toolkit structures teacher growth around four elements:
- Understanding the content
- Creating a supportive environment
- Maximising opportunity to learn
- Activating hard thinking
I couldn’t help noticing how closely this mirrors our own Professional Learning Plan: goal-setting, deepening understanding, practising skills, and embedding habits.
Coe also pointed to the Education Endowment Foundation’s report on Effective Professional Development, which highlights the need to balance schoolwide CPD priorities with teacher-specific goals—an important reminder of the role of teacher agency and autonomy.
Homa Tavangar from the Big Questions Institute challenged us to move from othering to belonging. Belonging, she noted, is not the same as fitting in. She reminded us that belonging is not the same as fitting in because the former includes the “right to both co-create and make demands on society” and is deeply connected to mattering: knowing your actions make an impact.
This landed strongly for me. I found myself thinking not only about how we cultivate belonging at Le Rosey, but about how I communicate mattering to each student in my classroom. I want to embed this explicitly into my student feedback processes.
Tavangar described a developmental pathway I found compelling:
Tolerance → Acceptance → Belonging → Mattering → Flourishing
In order to reach that highest step, to flourish, psychological safety is key—the same factor Google identified in its 2012 Aristotle Project as the strongest predictor of high‑performing teams. Tavangar’s description of teams lacking psychological safety—marked by fear of blame, reluctance to dissent, and protective, reactive behaviours—was sobering. What was left unsaid, but is fascinating to consider, is the way institutions can unintentionally contradict their own aspirations. How do we, often inadvertently, sabotage our goals of building high‑performing, innovative teams? Her comments on “deficit mentality” made me reflect on how focusing on what is missing, rather than what is emerging, can erode collective efficacy.
The conference left me with a renewed sense of responsibility: to create learning spaces where every student and every colleague can bring their full self. Curiosity and courage are not abstract ideals for an educator; they show up in our daily practice. My next step is to examine the micro‑choices I make in my classroom and leadership work, and the ways they either build or erode the possibility to flourish.
Practice. Reflect. Repeat.