Q&A with Daryl Sinclair

Daryl Sinclair is a geography teacher and consultant who works with schools around the world to develop equitable systems that support all members of their learning communities. Sinclair also hosts a bi-weekly podcast where he interviews educators who are taking innovative steps to support inclusion and transform schools.

In partnership with NEASC, Sinclair leads the popular training, “The Importance of Context and Communication." These monthly sessions were designed to provide the tools they need to support schools through the accreditation process.

Sinclair will also be presenting at the NEASC Leadership Conference: Meeting the Moment, taking place November 17-19 in Boston, MA. 

Tell us a little bit about your work and background.  

I am passionate about ensuring transformative learning experiences for all teachers and students and attempt to realize this through my work. I was born and raised in London with some experiences of living internationally. I have taught geography and led secondary education in several different systems, including in French and Chinese international schools, and I earned my master’s degree in Development Education and Global Learning from the UCL Institute of Education in London. I am currently based in Northern Germany where I still teach geography part-time in addition to the work I do with schools and educational organizations on systemic equity.

My work centers around representation through understanding context and how our communication forms our identities and experiences. In geography we spend a lot of time speaking about places and communities. This gave me a critical eye to how people, including students, get to represent themselves.

You have volunteered as a NEASC Visitor, and now you are working with NEASC to help other visiting team members understand the role. What are the benefits of serving as a NEASC Visitor?

As a NEASC Visitor, you very rapidly get to see a number of different approaches to education,  including spaces where teachers and learners have had to adapt to things you haven’t even considered. I agree when people refer to it as the best professional development you can do, because not only do you get a comprehensive look into how a school is operating and approaching their challenges, you also get to have focused meetings with teachers, administrators and students, so you can learn from one another. You leave every accreditation visit with a wealth of inspiration.

What can people expect from your workshop, “The Importance of Context and Communication”?

This session is meant to be an eye-opening exploration of the power we carry as a visiting team member in the accreditation process. We look at how we can ensure that we are using our power, which enables us to influence a school’s direction, decisions and initiatives, to meet what a school actually needs for their community rather than impressing upon them our personal dispositions and beliefs. The NEASC Visitor must adopt a coaching mentality, supported by specific communication strategies we explore in the session. Participants come away with specific tools to be successful as a NEASC Visitor.  

What is a coaching mentality?

The entire NEASC accreditation process is designed to support the school community in the context in which it exists. Instead of saying that there are specific approaches to education, and certain outcomes that everyone must meet, NEASC wants a school to be able to come as it is. That is, to explore their own unique mission, vision and values, and to discover the pathways that will lead to their greatest growth. As a NEASC Visitor, you aren’t an inspector. You’re more like a coach who uses their expertise and guidance to help the school discover its potential. You partner with the school’s teachers and leaders to help them identify pathways to the impacts they are seeking.

You have said on your podcast and in your blog that you believe in a systems approach to educational success. Can you explain what you mean by that?

It is common to see initiatives and programs which are isolated, in that they take place over a specific period of time or focus on a specific section of the school. They have their place and can be influential and important but they can also be vulnerable to being forgotten, or to not impacting the whole school community. A systems approach, on the other hand, is embedded in the school community and culture. Within the context of NEASC, we might describe this as a shared understanding of high-quality learning. A systems approach relies on clearly communicated shared principles that we turn to each time a decision is made. We can ensure that all of the actions and decisions we are taking in our school are pushing us toward a shared goal as a coherent system.

You are speaking at the NEASC Leadership Conference, the theme of which is Meeting the Moment. What do you think educators should be focused on at this moment?

There’s a lot of noise currently about the pace of change with schools trying to incorporate the latest technologies, including AI, and the continued churn of questions about the best pedagogies or current terms and phrases in education. Those things shouldn’t be ignored, but simultaneously we need to have a greater focus on our own actions and impact. We need to ask ourselves what impacts we see within our students, teachers and team? Are we realizing our shared mission, vision and aspirations? Throughout history people have had transformative learning experiences and there have been brilliant teachers irrespective of what technologies they have had or pedagogies they were using–within reason. I urge all of us to reflect on the actions we are taking by considering how they support our shared aspirations and how they are impacting the people and community around us.

When you aren’t leading training and workshops, how do you like to spend your time?

The work that every educator does has a high impact on us. It’s emotive, social work. I try to take opportunities to recharge. I like to spend time with my wife and loved ones, and to disconnect by going to the gym, tending to my garden, which is really just a small collection of vegetables in pots, playing a video game or reading. As educators, we need to look after ourselves, because the better we look after ourselves the better we can look after others.

To learn more about "The Importance of Context and Communication" and other upcoming NEASC trainings and workshops visit, neasc.org/events.