The International School of Luxembourg (ISL) has announced that it will be organising two workshops next week with child psychologist, Drs. Douglas Ota on “Third Culture Families” - the first devoted to all parents in the local community at the ISL Upper School Auditorium from 18:30 today, 19 May, and the second for local educators at the Lycée Aline Mayrisch from 10:00 to 12:00 tomorrow, Wednesday 20 May.
Drs. Ota is the author of the highly-regarded book “Safe Passage: What Mobility Does to People and What International Schools Should Do about It”, on the effects of mobility on learning, dealing with the individuals and those around them in such a situation. The topic is ideally suited for Luxembourg, given its large international and expat community.
With a high percentage of expatriate families living and working in Luxembourg, almost every school in the region could call itself “International.” The term need not account for the obvious candidates such as ISL or St. George’s International School.
Families, students and school staff throughout the Grand Duchy are uniquely affected by the high degree of mobility and multi-cultural diversity in the Luxembourgish school system. This internationalism is, for the most part, celebrated, though research shows it comes with some risks to healthy learning and the cultivation of lasting relationships. After decades of research, a great quantity of insight has been gained into what is known as the “Third Culture Kid (TCK)” phenomenon.
As Drs. Ota explains, "Moving is one of life's greatest challenges. The largest study in educational research history demonstrates that moving harms learning. But moving not only challenges students. The experience of lost identity extends across the lifespan, also affecting parents and school staff.”
In the presentation, he will outline the cutting-edge neuroscientific findings that account for the adverse effects of mobility on our brains and on learning. His message is a fundamentally hopeful one: the experience of moving and being left behind—sometimes repeatedly—can actually be channelled into an experience of growth that produces more resilient students and adults. However, this can only occur if educators, parents, and educational systems collaborate to address the formidable challenges at hand.
“Safe Passage” maps the challenges and charts a course for individuals, schools, and accrediting bodies to navigate them. Although primarily focusing on international schools, the hopeful message within this book reaches into any school, university, or organization where human beings come and go.
This presentation will journey through the synaptic level of the distressed brain, to how accreditation for schools should be designed.
Drs. Ota devotes half his time to counselling children, adolescents, couples and families at his private practice in The Hague, Netherlands, while devoting the other half to assisting schools and organisations in building programs to address the challenges and opportunities of mobility.
To make a reservation to attend the workshops, interested parents and school faculty and administrators should contact Lou Gervais at lgervais@islux.lu.
