The persona of 21st century educators: people behind the Olympia's classrooms

Where talent meets passion

Every person embarking on education always carry with them their own passion and desire to inspire young generation. To be a teacher at Olympia Schools, they have to pass many tests, interviews, and demo sessions under expert assessment besides top college diploma and certificate. All Olympian teachers have college degree and 30% among them have master and PhD degree. Before Olympia, they have gone through many regions and the world’s top educational institutions. From the US, the UK, Australia, Scandinavia, Singapore and others, they come to Olympia to impart knowledge and foster humanitarian values in each student.

On the other hand, besides expertise and experience, Olympia sets a strict requirement for “dedication”. The teachers at Olympia must go after an advanced educational approach with a student-centric mindset. If they can meet such requirements, Olympia schools are always there to support them to enhance their professional expertise, skills, and knowledge.

Life-long learning journey

A day at Olympia Schools begins with the smiles of the Board of Management at the school gate to welcome the students. While the cleaning ladies are doing the last shift at the end of the day, these teachers are staying at the office to grade homework and prepare for next lessons. At night, they still ponder on “how to empower students to become a global citizen at tomorrow lessons?

The journey of each teacher, wherever they are in the world, has the same “patterns”. They share the same start and end of the day. They have the same concerns, workload, and passion. At Olympia, the teachers even have a longer journey – a life-long learning journey starting from their very first steps at this purple school

At Olympia, they are continuously trained and coached to be better day by day. They are provided with opportunities to enhance their expertise both in and outside the school. International exchange programs, scientific seminars, and summer programs are the platforms where they approach advanced educational methodologies in the world. Not only students, teachers must also be proactive and innovative in their life-long learning journey.

Boldness, innovation, and Vietnamese identity

Their boldness is reflected in their innovation and creativity. The teachers at Olympia never sit and wait for a textbook or policy reform but actively explore new teaching methods, integrate technology into lessons, walk their students through many continents in English lessons, and go back to historical events by applying role-play into class. Dang Huong, a member of the Middle School Board of Management, referred to the quest for innovation at Olympia as a pride of the school.

“We integrate state-of-the-art technology into Math lessons. We turn a theoretical lesson into a vibrant and interesting one through dramatization. We guide students to simulate a presidential election in English. We let students create Facebook profile for historical figures. Many teachers have dedicated 10 years into education and still keep up their innovation spirit to never stop surprising their students in each lesson. Every time they step out of their comfort zone, they grow a bit more with stronger commitment to their career.”

Against the backdrop of increasing technology adoption into education, many teachers do not forget to incorporate local cultures, folk materials, and Vietnamese identity into each lesson. “Identity” is a word that has imprinted on the mind of each Olympian teacher since day one. They must know what Vietnamese identity is and feel proud of their own Vietnamese legacy before inspiring their students. If one goes around Olympian campus, he may hear a folk “xam” melody or some tunes from “t-rung” instrument out of nowhere. From Co Loa to Hoa Lu Ninh Binh, from the historic Highlands to a solemn Hue, the footprints of Olympian teachers and students are found along the journey to Vietnam’s history and culture.

“Anyone can teach”

At Olympia, there are 150 teachers but up to more than 300 educators. “I still believe that it takes a village to raise a child,” quoted Hillary Clinton, is a true story here. Besides teaching staff, every other employee at the school is also an educator.

“Anyone can teach” is not an unpopular notion but not all schools can apply it while Olympia has made it a philosophy to all teaching and non-teaching staff.

Education is not just confined within classroom but to the corridor, the school garden or the security gate. They are an irreplaceable part of the Olympian family – housekeeping staff, nurses, security guards, cooks, monitor staff, etc. One might wonder what to learn from them?

But at Olympia, the students are welcomed to the classroom by the smiles, passion, and dedication of the teachers

They walk around the clean corridor with a gratitude to the housekeeping staff. They learn about the commitment day in day out of the security guards. They learn about punctuality and thoroughness of the monitor staff. Any person joining Olympian staff must have a student-centric mindset, in particular can they convey a life lessons to the students? As of now, the answer is yes. These “educators” have persistently been cherishing each and every student in an unassuming and affectionate manner.