HKIS leadership team moves from strength to strength
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Heading to Hong Kong a few months from now, Elizabeth Elizardi is clearly excited by the prospect of a new challenge and the turn her career has taken.
As from August 1, she will be Lower Primary principal at Hong Kong International School (HKIS), with overall responsibility for the section’s 700-plus pupils and close involvement in the launch of an eagerly anticipated dual-language immersion programme in English and Mandarin.
“What first attracted me was HKIS’s play-based Reggio Emilia inspired model of early childhood and elementary education,” says Elizardi, who is currently interim head of school at The Country Day School in McLean, Virginia. “This is an area I am passionate about and, over the last 10 years as a leader in independent schools in the US, I have built a level of expertise working with this model and this age group.”
However, during an initial visit to HKIS for a series of interviews, Elizardi was greatly impressed by the evident dedication of her future colleagues to creating this kind of learning environment and developing the unique potential of every child.
“Everything I had read about the school was aligned with my philosophy of education and what I believe in,” she says. “And the chance to be somewhere that is so well-resourced and has state-of-the-art facilities convinced me this was the place to be.”
Other determining factors were HKIS’s essentially American curriculum plus the fact that, at this point in her life, Elizardi simply felt the time was right to do something a bit more adventurous.
Back in the day, after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, she had considered a spell overseas with the Peace Corps. Instead, she opted to go into teaching and, while never having cause to regret that decision, still cherished a desire to explore contrasting opportunities and see more of the world.
In terms of her specific role, Elizardi is particularly looking forward to leading a division which is the entry point to HKIS for so many families. This will provide the scope to explain and illustrate the many benefits of the school’s educational philosophy and its approach to pedagogy.
That is centred on the belief that all young children are curious, capable, and come with a tremendous range of assets and strengths. The key task then for teachers is to “light the fire” by inspiring ideas and inquiry, rather than just “fill the bucket” with facts and information.
“Children want to learn in a social structure, and the classroom is a microcosm of the wider world,” says Elizardi, who has a postgraduate degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. “Reggio-trained teachers serve as facilitators, centres of inquiry, which requires an inductive approach to education, not a deductive one. They are also innately observant and will watch children at play to come up with new co-creative experiences that can be done together.”
At different stages of her career, Elizardi has been a founding head of school, led strategic planning initiatives, been responsible for innovative curriculum development and, when based in New Orleans, even managed a construction project for new school buildings.
The common denominator in each case was a compelling vision of what was possible and the commitment to make it happen.
In Hong Kong, support for the dual-language programme is already marked out as a priority. It gets underway with a first intake in August this year and will run alongside the existing lower primary curriculum.
Naturally, another top priority is to maintain a strong relationship with parents and the broader school community.
“I know parents are welcome to attend many events and open house sessions, but I would also like to see more informal opportunities for them to connect with children in the classroom.”