Interview: ISL Director on COVID-19 Adaptations in New School Year

In an interview with Chronicle.lu, David J. Condon, Director of the International School of Luxembourg (ISL), shared what changes have been made in the school regarding COVID-19 since the start of the 2021/2022 academic year, as well as what 2022 has in store.

David J. Condon took over from long-serving ISL Director Nicki Crush, who retired at the end of the 2020/2021 academic year, on 1 August 2021. Prior to this, Mr Condon had an extensive career as a teacher, division head and curriculum leader and Head of School in public, independent and international education across the world.

Chronicle.lu: Firstly, how have you settled into your role as ISL Director? 

David J. Condon: I am very grateful to be in Luxembourg. This is such a wonderful country. I am also grateful to be part of such a dynamic, high-achieving school. My new ISL colleagues – faculty, professional support staff and leadership – are enormously talented and inspiring in their commitment to students and their learning. I have been learning from them since the day I arrived. In spending time with the students, I have found them to be curious, respectful, eager to learn, poised, comfortable and excited to share their learning. ISL parents are right to feel proud of their children, who greatly appreciate their teachers. In the words of one middle school student, ISL teachers “make learning fun with a serious purpose at the same time".

Chronicle.lu: What is your vision for the school this academic year?

David J. Condon: Like all good schools, ISL is constantly seeking ways to improve, to reach its next level of excellence. As someone new to the school, one of my personal goals is to first understand what brought the school to its current level of excellence. We have a long tradition of academic excellence – our student learning results in such programmes as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme are among the best in the world – so obviously we want to maintain that tradition.

At the same time, no school today can afford to be complacent. The educational landscape both here in Luxembourg and indeed across the world is changing, and we want to be out in front of those changes. One such change is the exponential growth of schools wishing to offer an international education. What exactly constitutes an international education, however, is not well understood, both in the academic literature as well as in popular conceptions. It’s not just about multilingualism, though that is vitally important. With its nearly 60 year history of serving students and families from over 50 different nationalities, I believe ISL is well positioned to accentuate intercultural understanding and global engagement.

Finally, my aim is to firmly establish a shared vision of the ISL future in this rapidly changing landscape. To that end, we are seeking ways to engage our community members in quality discussions of what constitutes success, both for individuals and for the school community as a whole. We are also seeking ways to integrate more into the larger Luxembourg community. This year we have initiated a Symposium series to provide ISL stakeholders with opportunities to gather together to talk about the issues that matter to our community and to clarify our shared vision.

Chronicle.lu: What changes have been made in the school regarding COVID-19 since the last academic year ended / the new one began?

David J. Condon: In order to keep up with the ongoing and ever-changing COVID-19 regulations, we created the Covid Task Force (CTF). The primary concern of this committee has been to keep student learning at its most optimal level, while keeping our students, staff and community healthy and safe. This team works to adhere to government regulations, bearing in mind our pedagogical emphasis on active learning. 

Achieving these goals has required compromise and flexibility as we adjust to the changing conditions here in Luxembourg and the resulting inevitable changing government regulations. An important decision-making filter is respect for individual values and beliefs while balancing out the various perspectives found within our community. With this in mind, we made the decision to excuse absences for the week prior to the December break in order to give our parents a choice to operate within their own comfort zone by either keeping their children at home or continuing in-person schooling.

We remain responsive to developments as they occur.

Chronicle.lu: Has this school year (so far) been disrupted less than the previous one? What were some of the lessons learned (if any) from the previous school year?

David J. Condon: This is a difficult question for me to answer since I was not here last year. I believe one lesson learned last year was that a hybrid model in which some students are learning in person while others in the same class are learning virtually does not work very well. Also, everyone is even more acutely aware that the most effective learning is socially situated; students understandably want face-to-face interactions with their teachers and classmates. Flexibility and resiliency have been key to this year.

Chronicle.lu: Can you please provide further details about the ISL Roadmap Plan and the school’s hygiene and safety concept?

David J. Condon: ISL has developed three plans for operating that can be found in the ISL Roadmap Plan: Plan A - Face-to-Face Learning Model; Plan B - Rotating Grade Model with Connected Virtual Learning; Plan C - Virtual Learning Model.

The Roadmap is guided by five principles:

• ISL’s Mission and Values: “We ensure that everyone in our community becomes inspired, resilient and passionate about achieving what matters, anywhere in the world”;
• prefer face-to-face learning in full classes over rotating groups or Virtual Learning whenever it is safe to do so;
• prioritise student and staff members’ health, safety and wellbeing as ISL central focus;
• ensure hygiene and health-related directives set out by the Luxembourgish government are clearly communicated, effectively implemented and followed through;
• promote practices and policies to reduce the risk of virus transmission and support all governmental activities when facing changing health circumstances, which includes contact tracing.

Chronicle.lu: What does 2022 have in store for the ISL (primarily regarding COVID-19 but not only)?

David J. Condon: As the school navigates the uncertainties associated with COVID-19, ISL will need to be agile in how it adjusts and responds to external health conditions and risks. We believe learning should be an active, contextualised and constructive process for students that allows them to grow academically, socially and emotionally. Accordingly, ISL is highly motivated to keep its campus fully open at all times to provide students with opportunities to learn in face-to-face environments whenever it is safe to do so.

ISL remains committed to doing all that we can to help our students and their families navigate COVID-19. We will continue regular updates to our ISL community on how we are responding to the situation and implementing the various directives and recommendations from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.  Working together, supporting one another, we can meet the challenges facing us and ensure that 2022 is a rewarding year of learning for all.