Teach Middle East Podcast
Welcome to the Teach Middle East Podcast, the ultimate audio hub where educators find inspiration, share innovative ideas, and grow together! Brought to you by Moftah Publishing—the minds behind the premier Teach Middle East Magazine—this podcast is your gateway to the latest research-based practices, cutting-edge classroom strategies, and the heartwarming stories of educators from the Middle East and around the globe.
As the only podcast that interviews school leaders from across the Middle East and beyond, we offer unparalleled insights into the challenges and successes that shape educational landscapes in diverse settings. Join us as we dive deep into the fascinating world of education, where every episode promises a treasure trove of insights designed to connect, develop, and empower the brilliant minds shaping our future. Whether you’re seeking fresh perspectives, practical tips, or a dose of inspiration, the Teach Middle East Podcast is your must-listen resource. Tune in and transform the way you teach!
Teach Middle East Podcast
Leading Through Learning: Mark Ford's Journey from Yorkshire to Dubai
From the windswept moors of Yorkshire to the sun-kissed sands of Dubai, Mark Ford's journey as a principal is as extraordinary as it is enlightening. Please pull up a chair alongside Leisa Grace as we traverse Mark's fascinating voyage through the world of education and leadership in our Behind the Principal's Desk series.
His story is filled with insights on how education is flourishing in the Middle East and peppered with tales of his own competitive spirit that once aimed for tennis stardom and rocked the music scene.
Feel the heartbeat of the English College, Dubai, where confidence blooms and community ties are as strong as the desert sun is bright. In our candid discussion, we uncover the secret ingredients that craft such a vibrant educational culture.
This episode is a mosaic of inspiration, gratitude, and the heartfelt community spirit that defines the English College. Join us and see what sets our haven of education apart in the bustling city of Dubai.
Teach Middle East Magazine is the premier platform for educators and the entire education sector in the Middle East and beyond. Our vision is to equip educators with the materials and tools they need, to function optimally in and out of the classroom. We provide a space for educators to connect and find inspiration, resources, and forums to enhance their teaching techniques, methodologies, and personal development. We connect education suppliers and service providers to the people who make the buying decisions in schools.
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Hosted by Leisa Grace Wilson
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Hi everyone, my name is Lisa Grayson. Welcome back to the Teach Middle East podcast. On this episode of the podcast, I'm speaking to Mark Ford and Mark is the principal at the English College, dubai, and we are doing another in our series of Behind the Principal's Desk, where we learn about the person in the role, what makes them tick, who are they, why did they choose to become the head of a school, and also a little bit about sort of what they do when they're not sitting behind that desk. So let's welcome Mark to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hi everybody, it's nice to be joining you this afternoon.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. Thank you so much for your time. We know how busy principals can get. Every time I catch up with one of them and I'm like can we have a chat on there? Like, oh, you have to schedule it and sometimes it's months in advance. So I do respect and appreciate the fact that you've given us some time so I won't waste it. Mark, where are you from?
Speaker 2:So originally I'm from England, from the north of England, very close to York. So I'm very proud to be a Yorkshireman, which everybody across the world knows about, the famous Yorkshireman from England.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to be honest, york is my adopted home, so I grew up in London and now we've actually moved to West Yorkshire. I don't, I live here in Abu Dhabi, but we have a home in West Yorkshire and so, yeah, I can appreciate how beautiful that part of the country is. I didn't before, but it definitely is God's own country for a reason Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Totally agree with you. It's nice to be talking to the converted.
Speaker 1:Yes, the weather up there is not, you know, the most favourable, but we learned to adapt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. It's bracing, but it's healthy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how long have you been in the UAE?
Speaker 2:So on and off. For about 15 years. I started my career in the UK and then I had a number of positions abroad. We had children in France. We then went back to UK to be close to family for around nine years. From there I was in Abu Dhabi, but Al-Qubayreft for two years and then returned to the Middle East for a nine-year stint and then for the third time, and this is my fifth year. So that is 16 years in the Middle East altogether. This is my fifth year at the English College.
Speaker 1:Wow, your nine-year stint. Where was that so?
Speaker 2:that was at Dubai British School, which is one of the Tallinn schools, but again very similar school to the English College, in a different location but a similar feel and a similar size. Lots of similarities, which is what attracted me to the role of English College.
Speaker 1:So take me back a little bit. What made you come out to this part of the world? I mean France, yes, I get France, but Middle East why?
Speaker 2:A number of reasons. It's a fascinating region. Generally. It's a wonderful hub to travel from. Education in the Middle East has been growing and investment has been growing, so it's been a really exciting 10, 15 years to watch how the educational landscape has developed and grown and improved over the last 15 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tell me a little bit more about that. What have you seen? What have you noticed?
Speaker 2:More schools higher quality schools, obviously, regulatory bodies and governments that are really committed to providing really high quality education. So that's a refreshing climate to work in. So there's a real striving for excellence for education across Dubai, the UAE and the Middle East generally. It's been really exciting to be part of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think a lot of people don't even understand how far we've come. When I came out here in 2010, I was an advisor with the Abu Dhabi Education Council and I've watched the growth and it's beautiful to see because, for such a young country, the emphasis that's being placed on developing quality education is actually admirable. It's really admirable. But I want to talk about you. So what do you think would be a word that would best describe your personality, Gosh?
Speaker 2:passionate, enthusiastic. This is. That's more than one word energetic, committed, very competitive, highly competitive, and that's manifested in different ways over the last 30 or 40 years. I guess they would be the first ones and obviously, as a principle, many of them lie at the heart of how I work and my kind of raison d'etre.
Speaker 1:How does your competitive side come out? Are you a sportsman?
Speaker 2:Because yes, so well. First of all, as a teacher, I wanted my children to be the best that they could be, so I was quite a hard taskmaster on the children but also on myself, and I think as I've grown as a leader, I still have that sense of competition that the school that I'm working in I want it to be the very, very best for the children and for the people that work here. So there's a less competitive, less sporting aspect of competitiveness there. As a younger person I was a highly competitive sportsman to the point where, as the John Mackinac and Roe of the tennis world not quite as good as him, but I struggled to deal with not winning and not being the best at things.
Speaker 2:Obviously, with age and some degree of sensibility I've learned to deal with my expectations of myself. So I've always been competitive, initially as a sportsperson, as a musician I wanted to be a rock star but realized pretty quickly that just wasn't going to happen. But I guess education has been the place where I've always felt that I can excel, I can be competitive and I can actually really steeply make a difference. I'm sure I would have done as a rock guitarist and that just didn't happen, I'm afraid.
Speaker 1:You've painted a crazy picture in my head. You said John Mackinac, you said guitarist rock, and I'm thinking it kills my age, doesn't it? It doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't. But you know what it made me think of? What kind of tantrums would you throw when you lost?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad that the children in my school didn't see me as a youngster, because some of my behavior was properly colourful, I'd imagine. I think cricket bats were thrown, tennis rackets were thrown, squash rackets were smashed against a wall and probably occasionally the language was not fitting for a principal. But obviously that's youth and you learn and you move on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but this is the whole essence of this interview. We want to know, Mark, so we want to conjure up that picture of you smashing tennis rackets and breaking guitars and being the rock star that you are. We love it. That's exactly what this is about. You mentioned family, wife, children. What's family like?
Speaker 2:So I have a wife and two amazing children. They're obviously the centre of my universe. I say children my son is 32 and my daughter is 29, and I'm actually a grandfather as well, so I have one grandchild and the second one on the way. And obviously, family for me, it always has been with my own parents and my own brothers. Family has always been really, really central and it's something that's really probably one of the most important things in my life, but really the most important thing actually.
Speaker 1:What do you do to connect and ensure that you have that quality time with your family? What do you do?
Speaker 2:That's a good question. Obviously, we're in different parts of the universe or the planet. So my daughter lives in UK and my son in Norway. So we spend a lot of time meeting actually in France. So have a house in France and that's our focal point now, and we try to get together as often as we can and I see as much of them in Dubai as I possibly can but we make as many opportunities as we can, given that we've got busy lives in different parts of the world.
Speaker 1:What's the favourite thing you love to play with the grandchild?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, that's a good question. She's only really got to the age where I can start playing with her, so I like playing hide and seek. She's at an age now where she understands what that means, and she's so cute. She hides behind curtains and I'll say where is she? Is she behind the? Is she in the bath? And I'll hear these little voices from behind the curtain no, is she in the cupboard? No, no. And then eventually I discovered she's behind the curtain, which, to her hilarity, they're yet to lovely age. But I just love being with her. She's such a good company. It's a very unusual feeling to have grandchildren. Obviously they are genetically connected, but they're not your children. But they're still a very special bond and relationship and I have to say I was completely taken aback by how madly in love I fell with my granddaughter. I knew it would be an amazing feeling, but I never quite expected it to be as powerful as it has been.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's beautiful. I watched my parents before they passed with my kids and there was nothing like that with me. Were you stricter with your kids than you are with your little granddaughter? Really good question.
Speaker 2:So with my son I was incredibly strict and, I think, reflecting and we often have conversations about this, so there's very good nature about it. But I'm a mathematician. I've always been passionate about maths and science. My son is similar and I think as a father, I tended to be more pushy with him than perhaps I should have been. It was meant, obviously, in a very supportive and caring way, but I think I was probably more pushy than I should have been, whereas with my daughter it was very laissez-faire and very much left her to her own way. Again, there's a special relationship between father and daughter, so she's always been the spoiled one in the family. I love them both equally, obviously, and I'll do anything I can for either of them, and they're the centre of my universe.
Speaker 1:I can see that on your face when you're talking about them, that you really do love your kids. How about spending time with your partner, your wife? What do you guys do here in the UAE when you want to chill?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's quite challenging in the UAE because we're very outdoorsy. So typically in France, lots of mountain biking, lots of walking in the hills, lots of outdoor exercise. Enjoy going to the beach here occasionally. Enjoy eating out both lovers of food and nice cuisines from around the world. I love watching good films. Love watching good TV, not any old TV, so quite selective we're both selective in that sense, but good films. Live quite a secluded social life, but films, music, cinema in Dubai seems to be our main source of entertainment, whereas back in Europe it's very much more outdoorsy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's your favourite cuisine? Oh?
Speaker 2:good question. I think probably Indian, and I'm really getting there. I have to cook really high quality curries now. It's been a long time coming, but I think I'm at the point now where I can cook a fiddle authentic curry. I like French cuisine, of course. I think that's hard to beat. I think it's a sport for choice. I think probably Indian and French. Equally, I like Italian from time to time, like Japanese, korean again, I can't name just one.
Speaker 1:You like quite a bit of them, but you mentioned earlier about how central Dubai is for travel. So, apart from going back to your home in France, where do you travel to and what do you enjoy when you go on your travels?
Speaker 2:I guess for me, meeting people from different backgrounds is probably one of the most enriching parts of the experience. So, gosh, I guess the longer we've been here, the less frequent we would travel, but pretty much seeing most of the well, most Jordan, egypt, india, several times Sri Lanka, africa, different parts of Africa. So I've been really lucky to see some amazing places and to meet some amazing people that I still keep in touch with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you had one country to add to your wish list, what would it be and why? Where? In?
Speaker 2:the world would you want to come? My favourite place would always be Kenya, because that is really special. On my bucket list I still have South America. I'd like to see Bolivia. I think probably top of my bucket list would be Namibia, so I'd like to spend a few weeks traveling the length and breadth of Namibia, which is meant to be a pretty spectacular country.
Speaker 1:Why Namibia? What's the draw? I?
Speaker 2:think the people, I think the geography and the scenery is meant to be quite spectacular. It's quite diverse from beaches through to desert, through to national parks. I love deserts. I think a desert landscape is one of my favorite landscapes, but we'll put that next to the coast. Spectacular wildlife in Namibia as well. The Atosha Pan in the north is meant to be a fascinating reserve for wildlife that's found in the desert, in lions. So I think Namibia and Namibia's, and the food, of course. So I think there's a lot of things that would draw me to Namibia.
Speaker 1:All right. Okay, I've been to the border of Namibia. I didn't go across, but I'll encourage you to add Zambia to your list.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what's going on there?
Speaker 1:actually, I'd like to what plan is meant to be good? I've been. It's beautiful, yeah, absolutely stunning place and very good for safari, if you ever are into going for safari.
Speaker 2:Hopefully one day, hopefully one day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, cool, let's change the pace a bit and I would like to kind of dig a little bit deeper into you as a person. What do you do to relax, especially after a busy day in the office, because we know what principles lives are like. What do you do to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I try to run. So I used to be a very seasoned runner. I used to do a lot of competition running when I was a bit younger, but I still try to run at least every other day. So for varied distances, whether it's in the gym or the machine, whether it's in the hot season or whether it's down on the beach. So I try to knock out a few kilometers every week. I enjoy I mentioned before I enjoy music. I'm a passionate musician, in the sense of listening to it now more than playing, and, again, I enjoy good films. I enjoy reading. I'm currently reading how to Murder your Family, which is a great read. If you haven't read it Sounds a bit ominous, but it's a great book. So, yeah, reading, reading, reading a range of literature, fairly eclectic taste, both in my music and in my literature. Actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now reading is good. What advice would you give to other school leaders who are finding it really hard to switch off?
Speaker 2:after work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think exercise and taking regular exercise is probably the most important thing to do. There's a lot of research that shows the positive benefits on mental health taking regular exercise, apart from the obvious cardiac and other aspects of exercise. So I think regular exercise is really important for managing stress levels. I don't talk about work at all when I go home, so I think trying to establish a climate where it's not heavily about work and it's just completely different conversations are really important. And again, having routines or reading for a certain amount of time every night, just really switching off and trying to have that respite between getting away from work and then your next thing, the following day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for any new aspiring school leader that's listening to this who's they're coming into the role with all lust and gusto. How would you, or what would you say to them to help them, to make sure that when they get into that role, they don't just burn out and fizzle?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, being realistic. Take your time to settle into the role and to understand what it is that you're taking on. Understand what you like and what you want to keep in terms of the school, its character, its personality and its positive aspects. Take time to identify what you think needs to change. Build relationships. Make sure that when you do identify what you need to change, you've got the relationships there to get buy in from people and to get that momentum that's needed to make things change. Don't try to do too much too quickly. Make sure that you have a very measured approach and that you have a realistic expectation of what you can achieve over any given time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's next for you?
Speaker 2:I still love doing what I'm doing. I'm a funny principal because I still love mathematics. I still love being in the classroom. I try to get into classes as much as I can, especially mathematics classes, which is obviously a real pain for the maths department here, because you can imagine the principal sticking his nose into your maths lessons probably not the most relaxing of things to happen, but I would know that it's with good intent and it's because I enjoy it and I love seeing children and mathematics and I love seeing teachers teach it. Really well, I enjoy that. I'm really interested by leadership. Obviously, I've been really fortunate to have a number of different leadership experiences in different roles. Most recently I've been a principal. I'm fascinated by leadership, so perhaps something in terms of helping people develop as leaders and develop leadership across schools, across organisations. But it's something that's become more and more of an interest to me as I've spent more and more time in schools.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. Before we end, I'm going to break my rule a little bit before we end and ask you a little bit about your school. I have not myself been to the English College. I've been in this role since 2018 as editorial director of Teach Middle East, and I've managed to go to pretty much a lot of the schools, but I haven't been to yours. So what makes it unique? What's so great about the English College?
Speaker 2:Well, I guess you have to come and see really, so we need to find a time when you can come in there and have a walk around with us. Obviously, I'm biased, so every principal will say it is the best school I've worked in. What makes it special? There's a number of things really. First of all, we have amazing children. Everybody that walks into the school talks about how calm the school is, how confident, but without being arrogant, the children are. They're well-mannered, they're articulate, they're polite, they want to learn, which is obviously a lovely position to be in, but they're really grateful for everything that the teachers do.
Speaker 2:I always tell people the story. When I first arrived at EC and I stood outside on the gate and the security team obviously helped guide children across the school on the zebra crossing, and I remember on the first morning, all of the children, as they came across the crossing, said thank you to the security guard and they said things like have a great day, thank you very much, see you this evening. Thank you very much. And I was just absolutely staggered by I mean, that's how life should be, isn't it? Yeah, that's how life should be, but I was just so impressed with the fact that the children appreciated and were grateful for what they have.
Speaker 2:And they show that massive respect for everybody that's here to make their life better, no matter whether you were a class teacher, members of the security team the respect that they show for others, which is hugely impressive. And we've got a wonderful bunch of teachers. They do a phenomenal job, they work incredibly hard and there's a real sense of communities that put all of those three things together and you get a really special community and it's powerful as soon as you come into the school and visitors comment in it all the time you will. When you come and see us. You really feel that very special sense of community that you can only really experience by coming and having a look around.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. I think I'll pay you a visit. On that note, I look forward to it, thank you. Thank you for being on the podcast, mark. It's a pleasure. Thanks for your time.
