Day 6: Henry Searle

Who was your most inspirational colleague and why?

     I've been teaching for over twenty years and in all that time have met many great educators, but the person who has had the biggest influence on my career would be Henry Searle. He got me when I was still very green and education was just something I had rolled into.
    To understand this better, a bit of background is needed. I found myself in Moscow at the beginning of the nineties after having finished an MA in modern languages, one of which was Russian. I arrived in the Russian capital in 1988 when the words Gorbachev and Perestroika were on everyone's lips. It was an exciting time, freedom finally became more than just a vague possibility and for a couple of years I worked for various news agencies in varies capacities, but exciting though it was, it was never really my thing.
     Foreigners flooded to the Russian capital in search of new business opportunities.The only International school in Moscow in those days was AAS, but it was oversubscribed and since they had to prioritize American, English and Australian students, children of other nationalities often found themselves wait-listed indefinitely. Desperate parents looked for solutions and that's where we came in. To make a long story short, some friends and I started the Moscow International School ( a parent-sponsored school) which grew rapidly and then because of many difficulties was taken over by Nord Anglia education. They turned it into the British International school and sent in a new Headmaster "Henry Searle".
     Henry was an experienced educator in his late fifties, old school, who had been in charge of schools in England and Africa. He was brought to Moscow to turn what we had created into a real school. Because this sort of implied that we had messed up and were not up to the challenge, I was really nervous about working under him. I shouldn't have been.
     From the moment I met him it was clear Henry was a professional, driven and concerned educator.   He was very aware of the situation and was always honest, but in a very correct and tactful British way.  He worked tirelessly to improve the school. Henry had principles and he was possibly the most honest man I have ever known. He taught me that it was more important to do a job well, than to be liked by everyone. He showed me how to tackle difficult parents, uncooperative faculty and naughty students: in a kind but decisive way. I learned to assess myself and my teaching through someone else's eyes. He had a lot to deal with, the difficult Russian business partner, the English business partner for whom profit was the priority and all the day to day bureaucracy of Moscow at that time, yet he was always there when you needed his honest feedback or his kind support.
    To me Henry Searle was an inspiration. I may not have appreciated him enough. His work as an educator was his life. He died on the job of a heart attack in July 2000, but I will always remember him. He laid the foundations for the educator I am today.