Louise was drawn to education by a keen interest in how different approaches around the world impact the motivation and effectiveness of how we learn, coupled with a strong belief that each student is naturally curious, creative and resourceful. A former Head of School of a bilingual school in Switzerland and teacher, she is passionate about creating a sense of self-worth, curiosity and a love of learning at both student and educator levels. She strongly believes that success lies in partnering academic achievement with developing a strong inner compass, fully equipping students to embrace their future. Originally from the UK, Louise has lived and worked in Europe, Asia and the USA.  She now leads her own company OpenMinds, based in Zürich, providing coaching, training & leadership development programs to schools. She has an MBA, is an International Coach Federation (ICF) credentialed coach, and serves as a Board Member for ICF Switzerland.

‘Inside-Out Leadership  – What Really Needs to Change for Teens?’
As pupils approach their final years of school, success is increasingly judged on a limited number of purely academic measures, often at the expense of the interests and development needs of the student.   This results in increased stress-levels, a lack of self-belief, uncertainty, and a fear of making wrong choices.  In the session we will explore practical Inside-Out leadership tools that give teens a greater sense of self-worth, life-skills, and ownership of the choices they are making about their future.

We will address:

  • What is Inside-Out Leadership?
  • Share examples/stories of inner leadership both at educator and student level.
  • Explore practical activities that can have a positive impact  

Leading from the Back (of the Classroom) – Conflict Management Skills
As teachers, coordinators or Heads of School we feel that for much of our time we are leading from the front; be it standing in front of the classroom, guiding assessments, curriculum or policy, or simply holding the needs of our students or team. This can be exhausting!  
In a recent survey in by Stanford University leaders feel a greater need to improve their conflict management skills than skills of any type.  There are a number of ways that we can lead from the back and hand back some of the responsibility to those around us. in this session we will focus on how we can do this whilst facing up to and dealing with conflict.  

Join us to explore some simple and practical conflict management tools to share with students and/or teaching teams that involve them in the responsibility for moving the relationship forward.