Daniel Williams出任启明星执行总校长：启航，驶向卓越的下一站！

“忠于”教育

问：从您的学术背景和工作履历当中可以看到，您对教育的执着和热情，是什么让您如此坚定地投身教育事业？

Mr. Williams：我的一位老师对我产生了很大的影响。他也姓Williams，从6年级到12年级，教授我不同的科目。Williams先生非常清楚激发我学习的动力是允许我不断提问。而对于我的疑问，他也总是不遗余力地回答，为我寻找解决问题的资源。无论是课堂上还是午饭时间，他都会和我进行富于思辨的对话，从不会说没有时间或是敷衍了事。Williams先生是我的榜样，让我想做像他一样激发学生好奇心和鼓励他们热情探索世界的教育者。

另一个让我忠实于教育的原因是，作为教育事业的领导者和研究者，我清晰地看到，教育能够对学生的社交、情感和物质生活产生的积极影响和改变。

很幸运，我在教学和非教学岗位都工作过，这让我了解到保证一所学校成功而需要的各种因素。在英国时，我最早的职位是英语和威尔士语的双语物理老师，后来很快过渡到管理和领导岗位。我管理学术团队，监督和规范学生的行为、保障他们的权利，也从事过课后课、大学升学和增益项目相关的工作。所有这些都让我能够不断从全新的角度来看待和理解现在的年轻人。

问：是什么机会让您和启明星结缘的？

Mr. Williams：当年我在欧洲、亚洲各国旅行，发现自己真的很想要来中国工作。中国有着悠久的历史，深厚的文化积淀。它的文化和语言让我着迷，我想在这里长期居住，体会和发现这个古老的文明究竟是怎样实现现代化的。

后来我接触到启明星，立即被它的核心价值观吸引了。它以实现社会创新为使命，关注学生的品格教育，此外，它是致力于帮助双语学生更好成长的IB世界学校——所有这些都是促成我决定来启明星的原因。

眼中的启明星

问：在您看来，启明星最与众不同的地方是什么？

Mr. Williams：我第一次来到启明星，首先吸引我的是它的社区的感觉，从员工到学生、家长，大家共同营造的这座社区是特别值得骄傲和珍视的！

其次，启明星的社区感和核心价值观是我们做出许多决定的出发点，也是我们期待的学生成长方向。我们希望学生成为社会创新者。我们真心认为，这体现着学校的使命，贯穿了从幼儿园到高中的各个学段的教育；是教学团队和非教学团队都在关注的事业。这与我们追求学术严谨并行不悖；学生将运用学到的知识和技能为世界带来积极的改变。

第三，无论是教学工作还是非教学工作，启明星社区都秉持卓越的标准。比如，我们关注数据，在各个维度持续评估学生的成长数据，调整教学和课程内容来确保每位学生实现最大的进步。再比如，我们的餐厅员工严格保障为学生提供高质量的、营养均衡的饮食。他们非常负责，按照最高甚至超高标准采购原料。

所有这些都让启明星如此与众不同！

问：启明星让您感到自豪的地方是？

Mr. Williams：我们的学生让我非常自豪。每天我都能看到，他们不但在课堂里很努力，更在行为中体现了良好的品格。启明星的座右铭是“勇气、改变、激励”，我在学生身上看到太多太多践行的例子了，让我个人也很受鼓舞：

比如我们北皋校区的小学生发起“瓶中书”活动，在全社区范围内鼓励阅读；三里屯校区学生设计和制作奥运明信片，向周围社区宣传可持续发展的理念；还有我们的高中生回应现实需求而发起的许许多多的力求改变项目。尤其值得一提的是，一些高中学生募集资金，发起了和现实紧密联结的创业项目。作为教育者，我可以感到，我们的社区是非常充满活力而具有创造力的。

问：您对启明星的学生抱有什么样的期待呢？

Mr. Williams：我希望启明星的学生能够拥有带来改变的勇气，接受尽可能高水平的教育——不仅仅为了自己，也为了能给世界带来积极的影响。未来，他们可以做非营利工作，在政府机构工作，当科学家、艺术家，也可以出任CEO，做企业家。我们期待他们有能力为本地社区和世界都带来影响和改变。

变化的教育

问：在您看来，优质教育的本质是什么？启明星怎样实现优质的教育？

Mr. Williams：我认为优质的教育是，学生能够及时得到适合各自水平和特点的、帮助他们成长的真实支持——也就是差异化的教学。这样的教学是个性化的，我们总在反思怎样才是实现个性化教学的最佳方式，从而让学生在情感上感到安全，有社区归属感，能感到被激励，进而在课堂内外全力投入学习。

在启明星，我们通过以下这些方面来实现优质的教育：提供优质的课程和指引，配备优秀的教师，保障优良的资源和设施。我们要为学生模拟他们即将面对的真实世界，给予他们大量的、关注探究的课程，为他们深入反思和探索自己想要学习的内容提供机会，帮助他们收获真正的友谊。

问：教育的发展日新月异，最新发展趋势是什么，启明星会做些什么应对这样的变化？

Mr. Williams：教育领域的变化主要在两方面给我们带来挑战。一是变化的速度非常快，二是技术方面变化带来的影响。围绕这些，很多人在谈论AI，其实这不只是关于AI的问题，还有其他很多技术正在对教育产生影响。

在启明星，我们努力保证学生快速适应这些变化，帮助他们成为有韧性的学习者。我们非常注重学生的学科学习，比如科学、数学、语言、社会科学、艺术、设计等。学生要明白他们不只要掌握这些知识，还要把它们应用到实际的场景中。在学校，这个实际的场景通过社会创新项目展示出来——学生或者被分配一些现实的问题，或者自己来发现问题，然后运用知识和技能来进行学科的或跨学科的解答。我认为启明星的教育正在帮助学生做好准备，应对快速变化的世界。

问：对新学年的学生您有什么建议？

Mr. Williams：我的建议就是努力。如果你付出真实的努力，每天都会有进步。微小的进步积少成多，就产生了显著的变化。不仅要努力，还要把努力用在重要的地方，要倾听老师的建议和反馈，把努力放在最需要的地方，并且坚持住！

这一年会是非常棒的一年。整个社区将共同践行“勇气、改变、激励”的座右铭。加油！

Devoted to Education

Q: We can see your tenacity and passion for education from your academic background and your chosen career path. What inspired you to follow education?

Mr. Williams: I had a very inspirational teacher as I was growing up. His name was Mr. Williams as well, and he taught me from Grade 6 to Grade 12. He knew what motivated me as a learner was my constant questioning and my asking of why something was the way it was, and he never just cancelled the conversation or said that we didn’t have time for that. He would always make time to give me the resources or engage me in that critical conversation about why I was thinking these things and why I wanted to know, whether during the class if it was appropriate or during lunch. He inspired me to engage with students, discover what they are curious about and help them explore their passions in greater depth.

Another inspiration is how education clearly has a significant impact on student’s social, emotional and economic life outcomes. That has inspired me both as a leader and as an educational researcher.

I started off as a bilingual physics teacher (English and Welsh) in the U.K. but quickly progressed into positions of management and leadership. So, I've done both academic and non-academic roles, from academic leadership, student wellbeing and behavior, extracurricular activities, college counseling and enrichment. Each of those roles has allowed me to see students and their experiences with fresh eyes. I really feel fortunate in my career to experience different components of key leadership positions in the school, and it gave me the understanding that every aspect is very important for a successful school and a successful school experience.

Q: By what chance did you come to China and work at Daystar?

Mr. Williams: It wasn’t by chance that I came to China. It was deliberate. I really wanted to work in China when I traveled in Asia and Europe. I felt that China had such a deep and rich history. It has a culture and language that I was just fascinated by, and I wanted to spend a long time in China, learning and understanding how this ancient civilization has been modernized in so many ways. What attracted me to Daystar very early on was the core values of the school. Its mission is focused on social innovation, character education of students, and helping bilingual students achieve their best outcomes as an IB world school. Those factors were a huge influence on my wanting to work at Daystar Academy.

Daystar in His Eyes…

Q: How would you describe Daystar’s uniqueness?

Mr. Williams: When I first walked through the door at Daystar Academy, the first thing that struck me was just the sense of community, from the staff to the students to the parents. I think that’s really something the school should be proud of and something that should be celebrated in many ways.

Secondly, I think that sense of community and our core values is what drives our decisions and a lot of what we would like our students to aspire to be. We want our students to become social innovators. We really feel that is something that helps articulate our sense of school mission, both from the kindergarten to the elementary to the middle and high school. It's something that  student education is focused on, and our non-academic aspects of the school are focused on. This complements our commitment to rigorous academic programs well; they use the knowledge and skills to make a positive difference to the world.

And the third thing is that when we choose to do something as a community at Daystar Academy, we pursue high standards of excellence in both academic and non-academic areas. That's demonstrated in the way that we are a data-informed school, we review student progress data at all levels consistently, we adapt our teaching and curriculum to ensure the highest level of achievement for each student. Another example is how our kitchen rigorously ensures the highest quality and balanced food is served to our students, they are responsive and also ensure that decisions regarding purchasing ingredients meet or exceed our high standards.

So, all those things together stand out as a real core aspect of the school.

Q: Are you proud of Daystar?

Mr. Williams: Of course, seeing our students makes me the most proud. And I think not just students trying their hardest in each classroom, which is something I see each day I visit classrooms, but how they manifest their character. Our school motto is to have the “Courage to Change and Inspire.” And I've seen so many examples of students demonstrating that across the whole school since I joined the community. They have inspired me.

Whether that's the elementary students at the Beigao campus doing the “Book in the Jar” initiative to help promote reading in the community or the elementary students in Sanlitun, either the sustainability focus that they have and engaging in their local businesses to promote postcards highlighting issues of importance and their social innovation venture in that way, or the many projects that I've observed in the “Projects for Change” initiative in the middle and high school, where students do take upon themselves to take action for a social need. And then, of course, we expect more of our high school students in that regard, and seeing some of those students actually found social ventures and successfully raise money and capital to launch a project with a social venture focus has inspired me as a person, not just as an educator, that our community can be very inspiring.

Q: What is your dream for Daystar students?

Mr. Williams: My dream for Daystar students is for them to have the courage to change and inspire and to be able to have access to the highest level of education that they can possibly have, not only for their own sake but also for having a global impact. The way that they will do that is by getting positions of responsibility or jobs at non-for-profits, at government agencies, scientists, artists, as world-leading CEOs, and as entrepreneurs. We want them to take action and make a genuine change both locally and globally.

Ever-Evolving Education

Q: What is the essence of education? How does Daystar help deliver quality education?

Mr. Williams: My belief in what's the essence of quality education is that students really are given the support they need to progress at the level that they're at, when they need that support in a timely manner. So, it's differentiated learning. It's personalized learning, but we are always reflecting on the best way for them to achieve that so that they feel emotionally safe, that they feel a sense of community, and that they feel inspired, so they can then give their full attention and effort to the task at hand inside and outside of the classroom.

So, the essence of quality education at Daystar is to make sure that we have quality instruction, quality teachers, quality education resources and quality facilities. We need to model the world that students will go into by providing a larger number of inquiry-focused lessons and more opportunities for students to discover their learning, delve deep into problems they would like to know more about, using their own agency and develop meaningful friendships.

Q: What is the new trend in education, and how will Daystar respond to this change?

Mr. Williams: I think the two major challenges we're facing in education right now are the speed of technological change and its impact. Many people talk about the impact of AI, but it’s not just AI. There are other technological impacts on education.

At Daystar, we make sure that is taken into account, and the students are able to be resilient to those changes. We do pay a lot of attention to students having very strong subject knowledge in Sciences, Maths, Languages, Social Science, the Arts, Design, and the important thing about that is they understand it as a kind of a toolbox or a knowledge box that they will use and apply to a real-life situation. And that real-life situation for us is always informed by our social innovation program, where the students are given real-world issues, or they identify real-world problems, and they use all of that subject knowledge in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary way to answer a need. Daystar Academy's program is well-suited to prepare students for this fast-changing world.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for our existing students in the coming new year?

Mr. Williams:  The most important thing for all students at the beginning of each year is to come to school and give their best effort. If you give your best effort every day, you will make a slight improvement each day, and that slight improvement over many days will change into a very significant gain. How would you not just give your best effort, but how would you put that effort into the most important area? Well, use your teachers and your feedback from your teachers to direct your efforts into the area that you need the most support. Keep working hard, and hang in there. It’s going to be a fantastic year. We are moving forwards together as a whole community to all have the Courage to Change and Inspire. Let’s do it!

新教师，社区里的新身影！Let’s Take a Closer Look at Some Members of the New Management and Teaching Team!