Ines Schreiner
Being able to substantiate your decision making as a school leader can make a lot of difference to a school team and its best practices. It was one of the main reasons Ines Schreiner, director of the International School in Carinthia, Austria, decided to take the Learning & Innovation master’s programme in International Teacher Education.
“The main difference I want to make is having informed conversations with my staff and the stakeholders at my school. I think it’s important to have your reasoning based on theories and it helps to provide academic research, educational-based research, to better my practices as a school leader. So that’s what I’m hoping to get out of this master’s. It’s giving me a chance to learn different theories and practices and apply them in a school context.”
Blended learning, blended experience
“The programme is a mix of in-person and online learning and this blended learning approach has been a very positive one for me. I just couldn’t have done a programme that was completely in person. The specialisation subjects are online which means I can work in my own time and at my own pace. I usually work in the evenings and in the weekends so it all fits in with my very busy schedule. The core courses are given in-person in the Netherlands, and that has been a real enrichment to the programme. I wouldn’t otherwise have ever come to the Netherlands and the experience has opened up the beauty of Europe to me. Plus, it was really good to actually meet my fellow students and the professors. We come from such diverse backgrounds and there’s a huge range of experience. Some of us have over twenty plus years of experience while for others it’s the start of their teaching career. I think combining that fresh wind with our experience makes the programme really rewarding.”
“The highlight of the programme remains the practical application of the knowledge we gain. As I said, my main aim is to put some more theory behind my practices in an international school. What’s actually happened is that it’s benefiting the whole team. My staff are coming to me asking for research papers, they’re asking me for opinions on certain topics, and we’re reinforcing our best practices. It means we’re already reaping the benefits from me doing this master’s. As an international school leader, it was important to me to get an international school leadership master’s, and the practical application of the programme means it’s also enriched our community.”
Find out more about the master’s in International Teacher Education on the programme’s website.