Highlights from The Exam Man podcast, Season 1 Episode 5
Early on in Season 1, John and Sophie chatted to Camilla Harris of Taipei European School about her role as exams officer (as well as Music Teacher and Operations Manager!) at her international school in Taiwan. It was so interesting to hear about her life with her family there, and how she ended up in the role.
Could you tell us a little bit about the school and your role, Camilla?
Thanks for having me, it's very exciting and especially with the Brighton connection- it's really nice to get in contact with people from back home! Taiwan is a beautiful, beautiful country. If you ever get a chance to come out here, I'd really recommend it. I came here eight years ago.
I came here, first of all, as a music teacher. Well, I was interviewed for a music teacher. And then about four or five months after I had started the job, an opportunity came up for an Operations Manager. This included exams, timetabling, teachers' cover when they're sick, and trips and things. I went for it and got the job, and it was all very new. Well, I'll say all very new. I was Director of Music back in the UK before I came here. And I had dealt with exams in terms of the music side of things and timetabling through music lessons. But it was much smaller scale- then I came here, and it was all on a much bigger scale.
Are you still a music teacher now, Camilla?
I am, yes. I'm technically a full-time music teacher, but with operations as the second half of my job. I have got many hats!
What drew you to Taiwan in the first place? What caused you to go?
Nothing in particular, really. My husband and I went to an international job fair in London, because his sister is an international schoolteacher as well. I just thought, let’s give it a go. We were very happy at our previous school and weren't inclined to leave. We just thought, we'll just see what's happening, what's going on. And the Headteacher from Taipei was interested in our CVs. We thought that there's no harm in going along. We then had an interview on the Saturday, thought about it over the weekend, over the Saturday night. By the Sunday, we had to make a decision if we were going to be moving to Taiwan or not.
We thought, why not? It's a two-year contract. If we hate it, we can always come back home. Eight years later, we are still here!
How much did you know about Taiwan before? Did you know much?
Not a lot, to be honest. I mean, it was typical being born in the 80s that everything seemed to be made in Taiwan. We did a lot of research in the 24 hours from having the interview and receiving the job offer and then having to make a decision. We couldn't find anything bad about it, to be honest, when we researched it. And now living here for this long, there really isn't many negatives.
Did you have a period where you were adapting and you found it difficult, or was it fairly straightforward to move?
It was really straightforward. And within the first two, three weeks of living here, we were like, yep, this could be home pretty quickly.
Do you think that you have set up home forever in Taiwan?
I think so, yes. We've actually put our kids into local schools and they are fluent in Mandarin. My eldest is nearly 10, and his Chinese is better than his English. The rubbish trucks here play music to let you know that the rubbish trucks are coming in the streets to put your rubbish in. When we go back home to Brighton, they think it's not the ice cream van, they think it's the rubbish trucks! Fur Elise is the common tune, so that's the common one you hear around the streets. On the way to school, sometimes we see monkeys on the road. We don’t make eye contact!
I think it's the puzzles, like puzzling the timetable together, or puzzling the admin. It sounds weird, but it's really satisfying as well. I do get quite stressed by it, like everyone else in this role, but it's that satisfaction at the end that I've done the job, I've completed what I need to complete, and it's helping the students on their journey as well.
I teach mainly year 7, 8 and 9 students, so it's nice to still see the older ones by doing exams. They know me through teaching music in years 7, 8 and 9 so it’s then nice to see them when they're in Year 11. Actually, the other day, I had one of my Year 11s speaking about exams- he's coming up to his IGCSEs- and he said, oh, I remember in year eight when you said you do the exams and now you're actually doing it with us. It's nice that they remember me from those few years back.
Sometimes some students clearly wonder like hang on a minute, you were in music a second ago and now you're in the exam hall. What's going on? They don't expect it. They don't really know my other part of my role. Also, I'm quite heavily involved with the house system in the school as well, so I'm also sometimes standing there with my green tutu on! I've got my serious hat on with exams and the fun side of things like the house system or music. It's nice to have that mix as well.
Could you tell us a little bit about the school? Where the students are coming from, and a bit about the curriculum that they get there?
Sure, we're actually quite an unusual school. Being called the European School, we have three main sections- we have the British section, French section and German section. We therefore have three curriculums in a way. In the British section, we're just starting the MYP (Middle Years Programme) course with Years seven and eight. It's all very new to a lot of our teachers and obviously to the students, but it's been an interesting road, shall we say. It's been difficult at times to get our head round a different way of teaching- and I think for some of the students as well, the way they have to think. That's been interesting. And then we've got the French section who follow the French government rules, and German section as well. So even though we are one school, we've got three subsections as well within that one school. It can make it quite interesting.
Do students in the French and German sections follow IB at all or are they just doing their national curriculum for exams?
When they get to Year 10 we have integrated lessons- so our French and German students get taught in some of our British section lessons. They have music taught by us, or they will learn Mandarin. They have Chinese lessons and PE lessons are integrated as well. When they get to Year 10, they have option to do their IGCSEs/ IB Diploma as well. The German section joined us, the British section, quite fully, and the French section do half French curriculum and half British curriculum.
And what sort of backgrounds are the kids coming from? I mean, I'm guessing there’s an expat community, and are there people all over Taipei coming to you?
Yeah, we've got students travelling from quite far away actually every day, over an hours’ journey to come to school. But we have a lot of local students who usually have dual passports. There could be Taiwanese American, Taiwanese Canadian, Taiwanese French and German as well. But we also have a lot of expats. Recently we've had a lot of Scandinavian families coming for work at the wind farms in Taiwan over the last three, four years. I can't remember the stats, but it's a big number of nationalities.
Could you explain a little bit Camilla about the IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma, how it works, and how it might be a bit different to what we're used to here?
With the IB programme, students choose six subjects along with two sub-subjects. They have to do Maths and a language of some sort. Usually, they do a science and then they have the option subjects, which can be business or another language if they want to as well, plus the arts- that sort of thing. Then within that, they have to also do something called the extended essay, which is a big project-based essay on a subject of their choice, and this is a big chunk of their mark as. To get the full diploma, they have to choose three subjects at high level and three subjects at standard level. In the higher-level subjects, they can gain the higher grades.
They have to do three of each to get the full diploma. Some students who may not be able to do the full diploma depending on their ability, their subject choices or their future thinking, can do a CP course as well, which is a Careers Path Programme course, linked to the IB. These students can choose subjects only at standard level and then do like project-based work alongside it as well.
In the UK, there's quite a lot of talk about digitalising exams. Is that something that you're aware of from the point of view of the international boards?
Yes, from Cambridge (Assessment), I've had a survey recently about what my thoughts were on digital exams. In some ways, I think it'd be good, but then I remember you mentioned before in previous podcasts about the security of it. I'm not sure how it will work if you've got a massive room full of a hundred students. I can't get my head around how it's going to work.
Is it worrying at all, living in Taiwan?
The funny thing is, people who live in Taiwan, expats and lots of the locals, are not worried. I think people on the outside world think it's more worrying from outside. But, you know, we're happy, and we wouldn't risk our children being here if we weren’t. It’s a magical place for the kids to grow up and the weather's amazing. It's pretty warm all the time. That’s one thing I don't miss, the weather back home. But I do miss home. Last summer we came back home after about three, three and a half years of being away because of COVID. It is nice to come home, and Brighton is always home.
We’ve had loads of communication in the past so it’s been really, really lovely to meet you and find out a bit more about Taiwan. What time is it with you there?
It's coming up to 9pm now, in an exam week as well. The exam brain is fully on right now!
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