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
Balancing School Leadership and Family With Patrick Affley
Ever wonder how to navigate the world of international education while managing a busy family life abroad? In this episode, we sit down with Patrick Affley, Director of Ajman Academy, to uncover just that. Starting as a sports teacher in the UK, Patrick's journey to leading schools in the UAE is a story of passion, perseverance, and adaptability.
We dive into his transition from a reluctant educator to a leader in international education, discussing the unique challenges of running schools in both the UK and the UAE. Patrick also opens up about balancing the demands of his career with raising a family in Dubai, sharing personal insights, from morning routines to connecting with his children through shared activities.
Tune in for an episode full of practical advice and inspiring lessons on leadership, family, and education.
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Speaker 2:Hey everyone, this is Lisa Grace, welcoming you back to another episode of the Teach Middle East podcast. Behind the Principal's Desk series. Today I have Patrick Affley, who is the director of the Ajman Academy. So we've gone further afield, people. We have gone all the way over to beautiful Ajman. Now we want to know a little bit more about Patrick, about his school, about his philosophy on education, what drives him and the work that he's doing. Welcome, patrick.
Speaker 3:Hi Lisa, Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2:You are most welcome. See guys today. Even though I am delighted, I didn't say it. I'm on this mission, patrick, of stop using the word delighted and amazed. These words then become sort of um numb to people yeah, even though in my heart I am, I'm on a mission to not use those words. Patrick, tell me what led you to a career in education all right.
Speaker 3:So so, going back up, even as a middle teenager, I enjoyed teaching children sports and I would help out in some local sports clubs. It got to about 17, 18, I was looking at what to do. My friends were telling me that I'm really good with younger children and I responded and related well to them and basically, going into university, I chose a career younger children and I responded and related well to them and basically, from obviously going to university, I chose a career that I swore I wouldn't actually because my dad was my head teacher in secondary school. My family were all teachers in primary school, so I thought I'm going to do something different. But I really liked PE and I really liked obviously doing sports clubs and so on with children.
Speaker 3:And then you know, when you're 17, 18, things happened and basically next thing I know I was on a teaching course, a BEd teaching course for four years, for four years, um and yeah. So so I was basically, uh, on a primary um b ed course, with p is a main subject, um and as I went through and as it grew and developed, I just really got a love of learning and imparting learning on others and finding out how other children learn. So it was kind of um something I swore not to do but something that I grew into and developed and um, yeah, originally I wanted to be just just a straight up and down pe teacher but I found that um other subjects like I'd be like history and other subjects, and if you could teach all those other subjects in primary, you could still continue to learn in those. So, um, even though I initially went in with a kind of a p mindset, um that really developed into teaching kind of the whole curriculum in primary where did you do your b ed?
Speaker 3:so it's. It's in a um it's university of wales and it was a um. It was a, basically an old teaching college in a um just outside of Newport in South Wales, in a place called Caerleon, which is an old Roman town. So in in that area there was um, a number of public houses there's 20 public houses. There was uh, but also there was an old uh barracks, roman barracks, and there was an auditorium um and uh, yeah, a number of other Roman areas. Basically there's an old Roman bath there. So it was right on the river Usk. So, as I mentioned, I liked history and it was a really good area to learn and yeah, so the Gwent Valleys did lots of teaching practices there and in Newport City as well.
Speaker 2:And your career in the UK. Where did did that take you? So? Where did it start and where did you go on to?
Speaker 3:yeah, so my first teaching post was in cardiff, a big kind of inner city school, catholic school, um, with 500 students and, um, that was just a year three teacher to start off with and with physical education coordinator duties, and then year five there. Now I did three years there and an opportunity came up to be a middle leader in a school back in Newport. Okay, so you find this in the UK quite a lot. There were quite a few very experienced teachers in the school that I was in and you could see, even though you had the capabilities, you knew that there was a pecking order in order to move up, uh, in into middle management. I had to go to, to another school.
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, and I think with the PE side of things, with middle leadership, especially being pretty young, um, it gets you out of your comfort shell a bit and your comfort zone a bit and basically you're dealing with parents quite a lot, you're organising health and safety, all of these middle leadership responsibilities and roles you kind of do as a PE coordinator. So it gave me a little avenue into middle leadership that way and a little bit of a drive to want to be a middle leader. So I went into Newport and I was there for five years. I went for a few middle leadership roles and deputy roles. Didn't get a few of them and then eventually got and went, got a deputy role back in Cardiff. So I was there for seven years. I was internally promoted then to be head and I was head there for two years and then the opportunity came up to have a life changing experience and move to Dubai, which took 10 years ago now actually 10 years in Dubai.
Speaker 2:So your move to Dubai started your headship in international schools. How does it compare to leading schools in the UK?
Speaker 3:to leading schools in in the uk. Yeah, very, very different. I mean, when I was in in the uk, you obviously got government, the governance side of things, local authority side of things. You have a kind of a um, a clear umbrella above you and, um, you know, with, with lots of constraints and so on, and I could see myself there. I was relatively young, being a head teacher, 37, 38. I thought, well, this is me for another 30 years. I thought I wanted something different. So what I knew to do by I definitely got something different because, um, when you what happens?
Speaker 3:Quite a lot, we're starting new schools, if you imagine, 10 years ago came across and the school wasn't ready, wasn't registered as a workplace, um, numerous things. So, obviously, with myself, with my family, four children, you, you, uh, you recognize you're out of that security blanket of of your job, uh, in in the uk. So, but everyone out here, I think, is risk takers, aren't we? We'll all. Everyone out here, I think, is risk takers, aren't we? We've all come out here trying to live the dream. But it's absolutely the best move that ever happened for me, because you're dealing with marketing, builders, new owners, emirati owners, you know.
Speaker 3:So you're dealing with a number of conversations you would never have in the uk and skills you have to upskill on very, very quickly, um, that you just want to have the experience of doing that in the uk just doesn't happen because the schools pretty much are all set.
Speaker 3:They've already been there for a number of years, um, so that first year was brilliant in lots of ways because we settled our children in but also you could see how the land lies in Dubai, you could see which schools are out there already and you could link up with lots of the heads and kind of get their ideas on things. And that first year was a marketing year. And then the second year, then we started the school off proper and we could build the school from one step to the other and I was there for nine years and I loved every every minute of it. We built a really nice um national curriculum for england school up from six kids to start off with to over 750 at the end before I left last year. And uh, it was, uh, yeah, a wonderful um small british community school in DIP and I loved it there and at that point it was the best decision, the best career move that I'd made.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can remember hearing your voice on the radio, Patrick. Hi, this is Patrick Affle from Dove Green Farm. Do you remember the advert? I do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you'd be out meeting people for the first time and you're having a chat with someone and say, what do you do? I say I'm a head teacher. Yeah, what's your name, patrick? And they would turn and they would go are you the proud teacher from Dovecott Green, the proud head teacher from Dovecott Green? I'd be like, yes, that's me. But that's the power of marketing. Yeah, because, because the one-to-one conversation links this, this, um, this message people are getting every morning in between their songs on virgin radio and um, yeah, it was uh interesting.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I do remember that advert. Uh, talk to me a little bit about, as a head teacher, how you approached marketing and what other head teachers can do in terms of maybe lifting their profile, which in turn lifts the profile of their schools yeah, yeah, I mean going back.
Speaker 3:I mean that advert is probably a prime example. I I was like for a number of years and, um, you know, the first couple of years you'd hear these adverts about schools and and everything was really scripted and staged and you know children saying I chose this school because it's like, well, you know, you're obviously reading from a script, so, uh, and obviously you'd have actors speaking from a green script. So I just thought the school that I wanted to set up then was very much a small British community school and I was committed to the school for a long period of time. So a lot of the mentality around it was hi, this is me, come and see our school. It's new and it's small and it's very much kind of a personal approach handwritten script. That then I recorded once and I think it's you know, a number of heads do that now and not saying I was the first, but I was one of the first to do it and it just sounds so much more authentic and real. You know, and it's an avenue in for people to come and put their trust in a school, especially a new school, because you know there's a lot of school groups out here very, very strong school groups and they've got that reputation. And then you might have schools that have been out here for a short period of time but have got the reputation of schools in America or Britain and that kind of heritage, whereas as a straight independent school you've got to kind of put in. You know, this is me, this is my experience, and be a lot more personal approach and that was the best way to market the school I found, rather than the script.
Speaker 3:Lots of you know and parents are very savvy, they can see through things. So I think, yeah, the idea is with marketing is to be authentic and get people through the door. Once you get people through the door, then it's a case of the school selling itself, the atmosphere, the ethos, the feel of the school selling itself, the, the atmosphere, the ethos, the feel of the school. Um, I was always very, um, open and honest with people coming to new parents come to school, especially with brand new parents, and saying go and see other schools and and because actually physically go in but don't go in for pre-arranged tours when the kids aren't in. Go in and and so you get a feel for it when the school is in action and that will help and drive the decision and also bring your children along as well with you, because they should be an important part in the decision making of it as well, in my opinion. So yeah, that's how. So a kind of an authentic approach to marketing was very much my philosophy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're now in Ajman, but what do you think about the move from the new director of the KHDA to actually halt inspections in Dubai for the upcoming academic year?
Speaker 3:In Dubai specifically. I mean it's made so much sense, absolute common sense. I was in Dubai for a number of years. We had COVID and so on. We had inspections before and after.
Speaker 3:I think it is such a good way to kind of benchmark schools and get schools on a common framework and for common accreditation. It did just get to the stage where it's crazy in some cases where it's every single year you'd be inspected. You might be inspected in the February, march time and with recommendations from inspectors, and then you're then inspected in the October of the next academic year, six months between. You've got the spring break, you may have an e-break, you've got the spring break, you've got the summer break and how other schools were expected to work on those work-ons from the previous inspection and lots of schools were kind of stuck in a certain grading because they couldn't have time to develop. So I think it's a very, very good thing. It's good that they've still got some individual daily inspections in certain schools that may need that bit of extra help, that bit of extra encouragement. But it's also good that if schools are at a particular level, that then they can breathe and grow rather than being on the inspection trail all the time. So I like the way they've done it and I think.
Speaker 3:But also I think schools should be given the opportunity. There may be a school, for example, which has good, very good features and is really on the cusp to move into that next grading. I think they should have the option of actually opting into to an inspection. So, uh, I think there should be, you know, there should be kind of some schools should have three years, three year gaps, you know and uh.
Speaker 3:But but for me with that is that I would say those schools that are outstanding, um, for example, need to share with other schools uh, you know, in in order for them to retain their outstanding status, because the end of the day, with dealing with students, you're dealing with kids and I think share a part of being outstanding. In the uk they used to call it in wales you'd say you're a sector leading school, not an outstanding one, and to keep your sector leading status you have to share and develop because it is the common good and I think that potentially something they could do as well. Not not all school groups are open. We're on, we know this and um, but from my dealings with the vast majority of head teachers in Dubai. They're educationists with children in their hearts and they want to share. You know, I think that potentially is the way forward.
Speaker 2:I think we I think we at Teach Middle East get them to share through the back door. We don't, we don't go through the actual official channels. We just get the heads together and we get the, the teachers together and the heads of departments together and we just people are willing to share with people, irrespective of the corporate offices and what they might stipulate. People like to share with other people and so it's happening. But it could be, like you said, um, a feature of being outstanding, um, yeah, to lead by sharing. So I like that as man. Why, as man?
Speaker 3:well like. So I was in uh, in dub dream, for uh for nine years. Brilliant experience, absolutely brilliant, and we developed, as we were developing, the second department and it's like like with any any job, you can stay in the same role for 15, 20 years. But I think change is as good as a rest and I felt that an opportunity came up here. Where it was, it's an IB school, so it's different to the National Curriculum of England. Even though the school itself uses National Curriculum of England objectives.
Speaker 3:It's in a different emirate, northern Emirates. There's lots of excitement about things changing here and the Northern Emirates growing and more investment coming into this area. So I think, whereas when I went to Dubai I was probably joined at the cusp of the wave, whereas here you can not only develop your own school but you can influence a growing Emirates. I also looked into it as well. Obviously we've got KHDA, adec, spia as kind of effectively local educational authorities, and here they've just got a new local educational authority, apia, aspen Private Educational Authority. We're considered a leading school in this area, so it was good to think I could influence that and develop and work with other schools in the area on that.
Speaker 3:So and it's a number of reasons as well. You get, the demographic is different. Okay, so it is an IB school 65% MRRT students, 97% English second language learners, and it's different. Like I said, it changes as good as the rest. And again, for me with my career, at that point in time I felt what was best for my previous school was a new vision, a new set of eyes to take that school to the next level. And coming to this school is building on my predecessors work here is is taking it on. So I think it's, um, yeah, it's been again another really good choice for me and um, yeah, and I think it's it's been a good role to uh, to take up, especially at this stage of my career brilliant, quick one.
Speaker 2:Where? Where are you? Where are you taking the school to? What's the vision?
Speaker 3:yes, so, um, again, it's again. We won to be a leading school in ashwa. We are considered leading school in ashwa but as the population is growing is kind of again I want we want the school to be a beacon school okay in the community. So a few things we have to get organised within the school itself. But we're an Apple distinguished school, so it's one to one iPad school as well, so sharing those things. Also an IB World School as well. So really pushing. You know, international learning is really important as well.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, I think the issue that's probably been historical with some of the schools in Northern Amherst.
Speaker 3:There were no schools here 15, 20 years ago, very, very limited, and lots of people in the area would move to Dubai or Abu Dhabi where there were considerably better schools there.
Speaker 3:So I was told very, very early on in my career that there was an agenda of local schools for local children.
Speaker 3:So making the quality of education here really high, really clear pathways for the students, because we do GCSEs and A-levels and BTEC here and can really clear pathways for students to go to really high-performing universities.
Speaker 3:That's something that we are working and developing all the time so the local students of Ajman can come to an Ajman school and get high-quality education, but, you know, still there are too many children on buses, you know, and traveling in that direction, and in Dubai there's too many children on school buses as well. So it's less than 10 years ago, but it's a case of if you live in an area, I do think children should be able to travel a short distance to achieve a really high quality education. And Dubai is going that way because if you think of of all of the the areas of dubai that are coming up, you've got, you know, arabian ranches, three and all these different areas you know, and dip, especially in dubai south. All these areas are developing now the schools are coming around them, um, so for me, the the best thing to see is limited school buses and high quality education in different areas, and that goes back as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ajman seems to be up and coming. A lot of developments, a lot of housing developments and things like that, so it's quite. It looks like it's quite on the cusp of becoming a place to watch. Tell me, then. The school year is drawing to a close. I know this podcast episode is being aired in the new academic year, but can you give me, though, one of your highlights of the year that's just ended?
Speaker 3:One of the highlights, but not the rain. That's for sure one of the highlights, but not the rain in our, in our school. Yeah, so, um, basically, we, we, um, we've had numerous highlights and, and something that the school needed, really, really needed, was to to kind of put the COVID elements away and to kind of move forward, and that was done with a lot of parental involvement and community engagement activities in the school. So combined is the parental engagement. So, for example, in the region, in the school, it's basically our first ever community Iftar, which in 14 years.
Speaker 3:Progress picnics is an idea that one of my colleagues brought in in Dove Green. We brought in progress picnics for our parents to come into school to sit on the lawn with the sports pitches with their children and actually have time to sit and talk to their children about their work, rather than coming, sit and talk to their children about their work, rather than coming in and speaking to a teacher about their uh, you know, their uh their progress and attainment side of things. Just an opportunity for a child to sit down with their mum or their dad and chat. You know what it's like when you drive you're driving along in your car, and it's that I was just day in school today. Do you learn anything? Nothing from the kids. So we, we kind of put those things in as well.
Speaker 3:Um, lots of clear engagement with the parents bringing them in, uh, the graduation so actually physically bringing in and building those physical relationships. The real highlight of the year for me, whereas some things were still online and and um, I think school schools have got to be, in my mind, homes away from home. And how can it be a home away from home if people aren't allowed to come on to the school site and engage and and feel, get that feeling of um it being away from home, not just the way we drop your kids off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. So, yeah, definitely community engagement. Wrong answer.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. I love that. You know why? Because the way the world is getting more and more disconnected, places like schools or places where people come together are going to be pivotal. They're going to be important places because we're going to desire more touch points of physical presence with human beings. You know, when everything is going remote, what remains physical becomes of higher value, I think, in my humble opinion. Thank you, patrick, for sharing about your school. You're a dad to four kids. Let's talk, dad do. How do you manage that? How do you manage being a busy principal and a father of four?
Speaker 3:yeah, so, um, my wife's a teacher as well, so, um, so, so, um, she works in, uh, a school in Dubai, in DESP, and yeah, so, currently, when we first came over, we were a part of the rector group, so we have the four children in one place, the activities were in one place and it was relatively straightforward, but you know how it works. The children then started to go to different schools and at different clubs and want to join this club. So you know very, very quickly the dream. It turned into taxi driving left, right and center with the kids, um, which is common for all parents in dubai, but, um, for me that the, the touchstone of finding out whether we made the right decision or not is when we went back to the UK every summer and, to gauge, say, we're flying next week back to Dubai whether the kids wanted to come back every year. They wanted to come back to Dubai. So the sports, um, because I, we still live in Dubai, so the sports never cancelled, you know, and and high quality and so on. So the sporting side of things work really well.
Speaker 3:But then the day-to-day stuff. It's just like you know, you've got to get up a lot earlier over here. You know, we're up at five every morning, the alarm goes off, getting their lunches ready and so on, and then obviously dropping to bus stops or dropping to schools and so on. It's just a part of the routine and I'm still in dubai, so I've come here. It takes me 20 minutes to get to ajman, and that's another thing as well is that they think ajman is on the other side of the moon and it's like well, actually it's literally on the on the 311s. 20 minutes, 25 minutes maximum, you know. So, um, so it hasn't impacted my family life at home too much, working in Ashmat and then finally, my kids. When they first came over they were 10, 8, 6 and 4. And now they're 21, 19, 17, 15. So they're all you know.
Speaker 3:I've got two children in university in the UK and then one just going to second year A levels and one going to second year GCSE. So we've got all planned and it is tough having a couple of new kids in the UK. I'll be honest with you and it's you want to see them, don't you? And you want to be five minutes away. But saying that even in the university we were wales and they were in leeds, it's still five, six hours to get to see them.
Speaker 3:Um, and it's a 10 hour. It's a 10 hour flight here, you know, door to door, pretty much 10 12 hours. So it's not that far, but I think they find it a bit tough sometimes. But um, it's, it's interesting. The other interesting thing as well is is the gauge of you bringing your family over here is where do those older two want to be? Where do they consider home is? And it's Dubai. So my eldest is finishing his final year this year and he wants to come back and he wants to work in Dubai and contribute to the environment here, which is interesting. You wouldn't think that 10 years ago, but that's the case for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they do. I think they do think it's home, because, um, my sons, obviously they're still in secondary school, but when we go back to the UK for the summer, their thing is, oh, when are we going home? And they don't think of the UK as home. But it's very understandable, because they've grown literally their entire lives here. They were born in the UK and they've grown all their lives here since they were six weeks old. We brought them back at six weeks, so that is how much they don't know the UK. But in terms of your downtime, though, patrick, what do you do to relax? What do you do? Because the commute might not be as hideous as I thought it was, but you still need time to unwind. So what do you do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so, obviously, apart from taxi driving, myself and my wife we do a bit of running, even though in some fitness time there or we would go to a cafe or whatever and spend some quality time rather than the digital distraction just sitting there for an hour while you're waiting. So we'd be building a lot of time there. We love hiking and things like that. And my youngest son and it's funny, isn't it? Because at my age your friends tend to be acquaintances that you've built a relationship with because of your kids, you know. So it's like my parents in the same class and so on um, and that's the same thing with the activity. So my, my youngest son, he does brilliant, brilliant club called vikings, which is is basically Australian life-saving down at the beach and it's really good, it's a bit like swimming and running and obviously needs some life-saving and so on. So he's down there Friday afternoon, saturday morning, sunday morning.
Speaker 3:So what that has done is meant that we go down shorts on, trainers on and so on, and and we go to the beach and and because, like you said, work sucks you in, doesn't it? Yeah, and and you know you're tired, you go and we're on to tea and then then days go on, you haven't done anything, and that's kind of driven us then to make the best boost. I mean, dubai is is one of the best holiday destinations in the world, isn't it? And it's like I think you've got to remind yourself of that and him having those clubs on the three days meant that every you know, three times on the weekend we're down at the beach hopping in the sea, we'll take a kayak with us, we'll do a bit of running, might go for a breakfast or whatever. So really helps with that quality downtime. Um, and it was by luck rather than design, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's uh, but making the most of the opportunities whilst being here, I think, is really important as well brilliant, yeah, and the thing about driving your kids around which I know too well about is that you get to understand their world. I really chat to them a lot in the car and talk to them about what's going on and how they're feeling about things, and I don't think if I weren't transporting them everywhere, I would get that opportunity. So it's really good, it's good fun, and then you've turned it into your fitness as well, so that's actually brilliant. This podcast will air when the summer break is over. But, um, what is summer looking like or would have looked like for you this year?
Speaker 3:yeah. So summer I mean it's um, we, we fly out on the 6th of july and then we always fly into heathrow, into london and kind of deep, and stay in like a cheaply premiering hotel in Heathrow and just decompress. And to me it's a bit of a tradition where we jump on the tube, go into London, walk to see the sights of London, walk around. We'll stay in the same premiering in Terminal 4. Even though we might fly into Terminal 3, we go to the same hotel and we do that for a few days and then we decompress and then we work our way along the M4 corridor. We're doing centre parks for four days, then to West Wales and seeing families for a week, and then Spain for two weeks and then back to the UK seeing family again and then off back to Dubai. So yeah, it's a busy time.
Speaker 3:But one thing that's again, we do have to be a bit selfish as well, because what we finally that we were coming back home for for the summer break, we were the ones driving around to see everyone. Before you know it, the holiday's gone and you haven't decompressed, you haven't, you haven't relaxed and children have quality family time. So it's important to kind of block that in, but also block in a week in West Wales and a week here and two weeks in Spain for two weeks. A number of reasons. It's obviously to get guaranteed a cent. The cost of living in the UK is so high. You're better off going to Spain for a few weeks, having better quality food but also that is a holiday rather than living out of a suitcase. As great as it is seeing family, but you do need your downtime as well. So yeah, we've learned to block in these times. Family time is so important. Seeing relatives are getting older and that's important to spend time with them. Um, but also you've got to think of yourself and your family as well to block that brilliant.
Speaker 2:I, I like that idea of taking my family would rebel, though. That's the thing. So what we try we try to do is we try to take the holiday on this end. So we fly from abu dhabi because I'm based in in Abu Dhabi to somewhere, so it might be Greece or Spain or Italy or somewhere, and then we have a holiday, just my husband and I and the kids, and then we go to the UK, because if we ever touch foot in the UK and say we're leaving again for a holiday, my family would have us like. They would be like what are you doing? Like just brought, because I don't think they're very interested in us. I think they're interested in the boys. So if we bring them home and then we take them away, they're like what is going on? You've just brought them home, why are you taking them away on holiday? And in their heads, we live on holiday permanently.
Speaker 3:That's what they're thinking. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Sorry, lisa, that's important to know that. The the idea that this, the uae, is a holiday camp. It's, it's. It is a hard work. It is hard work. You make a real difference in the air and you work hard, but you, you've got the sunshine in, you've got all these extra things in which you can utilise, and the hours are long and so on. So there's pluses and minuses to it. So it's a case of when visitors come over to you. This is generally. Other people might be different. When people come over to you, you pick them up from the airport, you drive them here to see your family home, and so on. You fly into the UK. You're the ones you've got to go around and see everyone else and I think, from speaking to to a lot of mates about this, it's, it's the same. So we've learned to be that little bit more selfish, in a way, and say, well, we have to have a whole day as well.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to man up or woman up, whichever I wanted it. Um, and yeah, time like that, because, yeah, we do a lot of driving. Like we end up going from london, where my my relatives are, to leeds, where my husband's relatives are, and then to birmingham, where we've got friends and family as well, and we're just totting around and petrol prices are wild in the uk like yeah yeah, yeah, exactly, and uh, yeah, it's, it's a, it's your holiday time as well and it's your precious family time.
Speaker 3:Because, you know, I, as I mentioned, 10 years ago, my kids were all you know and under under 11 years old. Now it's a case and back then, something that we did because it was right at the time we didn't have a place in the uk, so basically we bought really old static caravan literally on the beach and we called it our beach largely, but it was. It was great for the kids because they were get, they were grounded and you know, the dishes don't do themselves and the room doesn't get tight unless you do it. So that was really good then. But then, as the years go on, they didn't want to be in that one trapped environment, so in their mind, trapped. But it's a case of those days are precious and if you don't have those times where you actually are holding with your kids at that age, suddenly they're 21, 19, 19, 17, 15 and they want to. They've got other lives, they're developing their lives elsewhere.
Speaker 2:So, um, that's why we become called partner's lives a two-week holiday with all the kids yeah, no, it sounds good and I really wish you the best summer and obviously this will air, but I'm sure you would have had guys a great summer by the time you're hearing this. Um, final question, and this is a general question that I love to end the podcast on, and it is what in education generally, in education right now, excites you um excites me.
Speaker 3:Well, I would give you the answer the ai side of things but it's it's young, young leaders and young learners excite me. I think I going from being a teacher to being a head teacher and then worrying about setting the school up, my passion really is now in developing leaders at all levels and developing accountability and getting the most out of people. And I think there there are so many. There are so many schools in edge in UAE and so many schools and limited number of of staff to go around. And what excites me is developing the opportunity for staff to join and and giving them the empowerment to develop their leadership skills. And it's um and making that kind of first and foremost, there really are um, have some kind of real, solid career pathways and recognize that they can make a difference not only to the kids but the people around them.
Speaker 3:So there's a phrase that Robin Sharma uses. The author is leaders without titles, and it's developing that leadership, even though they haven't got the title, is to empower leadership. So I think the workforce is very competitive at the moment. There are so many schools and it's an exciting time for younger teachers and middle leaders to make a real difference.
Speaker 2:Brilliant, so that's what you're excited. It actually ties in so well with the next Middle East School Leadership Conference theme, which is Leading Forward, building a leadership legacy, and it's about how we empower the next crop of leaders. So very apt, very apt. Thank you, patrick.
Speaker 3:Pleasure. Yeah, it's, it's a it's a big thing. I think leadership now is isn't a closed shop. To be the best leader you can be, you've got to get the right people in the right places and empower them. And I think and you know it's teaching is is a kind of profession where I don't want to hear that's not on my job description. As soon as I kind of hear that kind of mentality, I think, well, teaching is is about giving more and giving the opportunity to give more. I think if teachers and middle-easers are empowered and have the safe space to grow, I think that only develops the school and only develops the children. So it's great. I look forward to joining that leadership conference. It sounds great.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. Thank you so much for being on the podcast with me today, Patrick.
Speaker 3:Pleasure Lisa. Thanks, have a lovely summer.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Teach Middle East podcast. Visit our website teachmiddleeastcom and follow us on social media. The links are in the show notes.
