Blog on Jaap Marsman

Humility and Agility in Safeguarding

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A few months ago, I presented on the two concepts of Humility and Agility in Child Safeguarding at a conference here in Hong Kong. I’ve found both concepts provide value in my work in child protection.

With any given field, be it inclusive education, student wellbeing, or child protection, questions emerge through engagement. Questions such as “Why do I do this?” or “What would be the best way to do X?”

I find there are plenty of resources available on the what questions. For example, a quick search for “school safeguarding policy” turns up a number of Word and PDF documents ready for download.

A strong safeguarding policy is absolutely vital. It will describe the what, the why and the who. Policy tends not to focus on the how, as that factors into procedures and these are more likely to change (Page, 2016).

There is another how, which is closely linked with the why, on a personal level: “Why do I do the things I do, in the way that I do them?” (See also: Simon Sinek’s work¹) Which is where my personal meditation on these two concepts of humility and agility originates.

Inspired by books such as Principles (Dalio, 2017), or You Need a Manifesto (Burgess-Auburn & Griffith, 2022), I’ve found it immensely helpful to try to capture your own internal compass in words. Dalio defines principles as follows: “Principles are concepts that can be applied over and over again in similar circumstances as distinct from narrow answers to specific questions. Every game has principles that successful players master to achieve winning results. So does life. Principles are ways of successfully dealing with the laws of nature or the laws of life.”

For me principles should be seen as foundational guideposts by which we make our decisions. In complex situations, going back to our core is helpful. Equally helpful for me is to maintain a humble mindset. With that in mind, let’s explore these two concepts, starting with humility.

Humility

I’ve adopted the definition from the APA Dictionary:

Humility: n. the quality of being humble, characterised by a low focus on the self, an accurate (not over- or underestimated) sense of one’s accomplishments and worth, and an acknowledgment of one’s limitations, imperfections, mistakes, gaps in knowledge, and so on. (APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.)

On a personal level, I have always admired excellent professionals who embody humility, and conversely I’ve always faced challenges when working with people on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I always seek to adopt humility as an attitude and employ it in my leadership style. This means I seek to act with personal humility, whilst promoting organisational humility. Both are significant. Working in an organisation where humility is not strived for can, in my experience, be risky. Power imbalances appear, blind spots emerge in organisational strategy and mistakes are treated harshly. Similarly, I’ve experienced the opposite, where mistakes are truly treated as learning opportunities and colleagues celebrate achievements, whilst striving for a collective sense of humility.

Keeping each other humble within the workplace then, is an important act to prevent us from becoming too sure of ourselves, too cocky, perhaps, too arrogant. It serves the purpose of keeping us sharp. We can absolutely celebrate each other’s successes, but must remain vigilant to not let them influence our perception and judgment of each other.

Agility

Agile thinking entered the collective work field back in 2001, with the introduction of the Agile Manifesto (Beck et al., 2001). Whilst originally conceived to help restructure the field of software development, the 12 principles have since been adopted in many different fields. It’s led to the introduction of productivity approaches such as scrum or kanban boards.

In my work in education I’ve always felt that school development should be more of an iterative process, one which is never truly finished in an ever-changing world. When I came across these 12 agile principles, I adapted them specifically to my work in safeguarding and child protection. To help you do the same, I’ve compiled a list of reflective questions below, with an easy-to-use PDF download that captures all key questions.

It’s in the interplay

The download available below + the questions raised can be viewed in isolation, but they become more powerful as a reflective discussion when connecting them together. For example, are the principles of frequent delivery and promoting collaboration visible across all parts of our community, including our parents/caregivers?

I found that the 12 principles of Agile only required very mild modification to principles 1 and 9 to fit the educational safeguarding context:

Student Safety: Is student safety the paramount consideration in all processes?
Changing Requirements: Are all our procedures and policies up to date with all (legal) requirements?
Frequent Delivery: Do we clearly and effectively deliver interventions and support in safeguarding matters?
Promoting Collaboration: Can we showcase collaborative efforts, in our school and with the wider community?
Motivated Individuals: Are all staff motivated to take on their safeguarding responsibility?
Face to Face Meetings: Do we prioritise regular face to face meetings between safeguarding staff in school?
Maintain a Constant Pace: Do we regularly provide training, using a variety of delivery methods, to a variety of groups?
Measure Progress: What tools do we use to measure progress in our safeguarding developments?
Professional Excellence: Are all our staff (incl. leads) trained to the best of our ability?
Simplicity: Have we regularly reviewed our procedures and tools to be as simple as possible?
Self-organised Teams: Is our safeguarding team empowered to organise themselves based on need?
Continuous Improvement: Do we continuously engage in activities to help us improve our preventative and responsive actions?

Download the brief self-assessment tool here

Safeguarding Agility Check
A brief self-assessment tool that schools can use to check their current practices against the twelve principles of safeguarding agility.

Closing thoughts on school culture

I could’ve written much more on the value of humility in school culture, and may do so in the future. For now, I think it’s important to recognise that both concepts of humility and agility very much feed into school culture.

John Amaechi (2021) defines culture as a visible manifestation of the choices and decisions made every day in the workplace: “Culture is the accumulation of millions of choices made by each colleague. People make choices. And those choices make culture. People don’t like to believe that culture can be defined…”

With this definition in mind, culture is no longer this nebulous thing that is hard to define. Yes, we all instinctively have gut feelings when it comes to the workplace. In seeking to make cultural changes, Amaechi’s definition helps us to put change into action. In short: stay humble, be agile. Good luck!

References

Amaechi, J. (2021). The promises of giants: How YOU can fill the leadership void. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.). https://dictionary.apa.org/.

Beck, K., Beedle, M., Bennekum van, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J., Hunt, A., Jeffries, Kern, J., Marick, B., Martin, R. C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K., Sutherland, J., & Thomas, D. (2001). The Agile Manifesto. Agile Alliance.

Burgess-Auburn, C., & Griffith, R. (2022). You need a manifesto: How to craft your convictions and put them to work (First edition). Ten Speed Press.

Dalio, R. (2017). Principles. Simon & Schuster.

Page, S. (2016). Writing Effective and Successful Policies and Procedures.

Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Portfolio Penguin.

A topic Sinek has been exploring in-depth (2011) for over a decade.↩︎

Supporting International Student Mental Health in University Transitions

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

No moment is perhaps as significant in the life of an international school secondary student as when they bid farewell to their school and embark on an exciting journey to universities abroad. It’s a time of profound change — a new school, new friends, altered living arrangements, and an increased demand for independence. This transition is both thrilling and demanding, requiring meticulous planning to ensure success. One key quality that becomes paramount during this period is adaptability.

International students may exhibit a higher level of adaptability when supported well with such transitions, thanks to their experiences in transitory international schooling. As highlighted by Ota (2014), these students have encountered significant changes within three distinct groups: when they arrive, when they remain as friends move on and when they leave for a new place.

Complete the brief survey here

This project initially came about due to an invitation to present on the topic of mental health to a group of final-year secondary school students. In my preparations, I reached out to the Mastodon community—a platform for academia and students alike. I invited university faculty members and students to participate in a brief survey focusing on crucial mental health-related issues. Since I’m a proponent of open research, I made it clear that the dataset would be publicly available afterwards. As such, this project is now ongoing indefinitely.

Choosing a mental health model

This brief survey is modeled around five areas that support mental health, based on the dimensions of wellness (Adams et al., 2000; Stoewen, 2017). I focused specifically on self-care strategies, since this would equip individual students with a range of actionable activities to undertake. The five dimensions selected were:

Social Health, i.e. establishing a trusted group of friends.
Physical Health, i.e. sleep, nutrition, exercise.
Spiritual/Cultural Health, i.e. maintaining or establishing spiritual/cultural events or rituals.
Psychological Health, i.e. thoughts, mood, emotions, attitude.
Academic Health, i.e. managing the shift in academic pressures, contents and skills required.

Data for this project is gathered using an anonymous online survey using LimeSurvey. The survey will remain open indefinitely. If you work at a university and have experience supporting international students, then please consider further expanding on this open dataset. This will enable anyone working with students who are considering moving abroad for their studies to use your insights for better transitions care. The survey can be accessed here. Whilst mental health and wellbeing cannot be broken down to individual components like this and are interconnected, my focus was to provide actionable advice for international school students moving abroad.

Complete the brief survey here

Results University Staff

To date, 9 faculty staff members have completed this survey (thank you!). Based on all results so far, the ranking is as follows:

In addition to the bar chart, I used a basic formula to rank this data and divide it across the five dimensions of mental health. For each item ranked in the number 1 slot, it is assigned a value of 5 points. Similarly, items in the number 2 slot are given 4 points, and so on. By combining the scores from different ranks, a ranking is created that specifically focuses on these five areas of mental health. This ranking also includes a total score, which provides a comprehensive overview of the results, captured in the barchart below.

Based on the self-reporting by university faculty staff, the areas that starting international students face the most issues with becomes clear. Social scores the highest, with a score of 37. This is followed by Psychological, then Academic, with respective scores of 34 and 30.

Using a brief version of thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), I identified several themes related to housing, social networks, and international transitions.

When it comes to housing, faculty staff stressed the potential difficulties, cautioning students to be prepared for a challenging housing situation. Their advice was clear: “Be prepared for an extremely challenging housing situation and make arrangements as early as possible.” Additionally, they recommended living in dorms whenever possible.

In terms of social networks, a staff member highlighted the importance of cultivating activities and interests beyond work. They suggested taking the time to join clubs or explore other avenues to meet people. Their advice was straightforward: “Have activities and interests outside of work. Take time to join clubs or meet people in other ways.”

Concerning social health, the significance of exerting effort during international transitions was emphasised. For instance, gaining a basic understanding of the language was mentioned as a crucial step. As one respondent aptly put it, “It needs work to build a life abroad, it often doesn’t happen by itself.” This statement underscores the necessity of putting intentional effort into building connections abroad.

Of note is that one participant mentioned a particular concern on racism, stating: “Expect racism and xenophobic attitudes both within and outside of university.”

Datasets

This project page is directly linked to the survey, but please note that I personally maintain this website on my own computer. As a result, the datasets are not updated in real-time. So, after you complete the survey, you won’t be able to download your results until I manually refresh the site from my computer. Rest assured, your results will eventually appear! This approach also allows me to have control over removing any inappropriate responses.

The datasets are publicly available. Due to the low number of student responses (N_students = 1), I am only releasing the faculty staff responses (N_staff = 9) at this time.

Download the faculty staff dataset here.

References

Adams, T. B., Bezner, J. R., Drabbs, M. E., Zambarano, R. J., & Steinhardt, M. A. (2000). Conceptualization and measurement of the spiritual and psychological dimensions of wellness in a college population. Journal of American College Health, 48(4), 165–173.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Ota, D. W. (2014). Safe passage: How mobility affects people & what international schools should do about it. Summertime Publishing.

Stoewen, D. L. (2017). Dimensions of wellness: Change your habits, change your life. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 58(8), 861.

Anchoring Ourselves

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This article on anchoring was originally published in a shortened version on TES Magazine. With permission from TES, please see the longer version below.

Feeling adrift

In Dutch naval history, the anchor has long been the symbol of hope. As a symbol of stability, the anchor’s purpose is clear: to keep us from drifting off. But what about the metaphorical concept of anchors? How are we ensuring that, as international educators, we are securely anchored during a time of global uncertainty?

Over the past few years, the interest in school wellbeing programmes has soared as, across the world, educational institutes are responding to Covid-19 as anxiety and uncertainty seeps into the everyday culture of our schools.

Staff, students and parents face hardships as people fall ill, lose their jobs or deal with stressful family situations “back home”. A compounding issue is that whilst working internationally brings great reward on many levels, it includes additional risk. In most international schools, there is no government funding when it comes to keeping a school running. The financial self-sufficiency is therefore dependent on school fees which is an added stress for all members of a school community.

For international families in particular, the future can feel fraught. Towards the end of last academic year the fixed endpoint of any school - its exams - were disorganised on a global level. No wonder we feel adrift in these times. Unmoored. Which brings me to this article’s topic: attaching ourselves to our anchors to regain a sense of stability and perspective. Like a well-prepared captain, someone working in the international field must make sure that their ship can survive the storm.

As Doug Ota explains in his book Safe Passage on international mobility and the impact on schools (Ota, 2014), an international family is as strong as its weakest link. By extension, the same goes for an international school’s community. As educators we owe it to ourselves and our community to take stock of where we are and check our lines are secure.

Can we channel stress to growth?

Martin Seligman is known as the founder of Positive Psychology. This is a field of psychology that seeks to reframe how we look at mental health in a curative sense. In his book Flourish (Seligman, 2011) Martin Seligman explores the concept of “post-traumatic stress” versus “post-traumatic growth”.

I wonder if we take ”post-traumatic” out of the equation, and we put stress against growth, the question of our current predicament shifts. The question changes from “How can I deal with the stress of this global pandemic?” to: “How could I grow from it?”

Growth implies more than coping. It provides a sense of direction and improvement. It is a hopeful notion for us all in these uncertain and stressful times.

Stress and anxiety are related, but different. Where stress is a response to an external event, anxiety comes from the internal mechanisms in how a person responds to stress. There is a lot of stress around the future (worry, fear, concern). Children’s behaviour can be more erratic. Terse emails from a teacher or parent become more frequent. A staff meeting is held at full speed with a lack of clarity or time for reflection.

All our higher brain functions become affected when stress, anxiety and frustration are at play. With our students this can present with aggressive behaviour - or the opposite, where students are more withdrawn or inwardly-controlling, such as food-related difficulties (Greer, 2020).

Uncertainty will remain. The global economy is something we can’t influence, as much as we might want to. Job security, income, housing… no amount of self-reflection or mindful moments will impact these factors beyond our control. But by taking stock of what we can control - our attachments towards each other - we can begin to take ownership of our mental wellbeing and exert positive influence on it.

It’ll all make sense when we look back

Whilst we might want to withdraw and hide, we need to connect to our anchors. Trust in them and feel that they will see us through. A famous Steve Jobs quote from his Stanford Commencement address in 2005 springs to mind: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” (JoshuaG, 2006)

In his address, Jobs highlights that when you’re in the middle of something and making choices, you can’t always see the path. It’s after, when we reflect on the choices we’ve made and see where we are that it will all make sense. Until then, you need to trust that your choices, these dots, connect.

Connect with yourself first

I would advocate that in this time we look towards creating a framework of support within our community where we can. We can’t control what happens to us, but we can control our own voice and our way of dealing with this stress.

Creating stable anchors is important for our wellbeing. By being connected to people and routines we ensure we are in the best possible place to contribute to our community.

Everyone is different, and it’s important to look at a framework of activities to help get ourselves to a place where we are calm, open and able to connect with the people who matter in our lives. In our schools we carry a collective responsibility for each other. In these times, if you see someone who shows heightened stress levels and is losing connection, see if you can reach out and offer a helping hand.

To build and maintain strong connections, we need to get ourselves to a place where we’re ready to connect to them. This means that looking after ourselves comes first.

Let’s begin with self-talk, or “that voice in our head which gives us these thoughts”. It’s important to check in with ourselves and to recognising what that voice does and how we can let these thoughts go. As mindfulness teaches us, we are not our thoughts (Kabat-Zinn, 2012) and creating space between our thoughts and ourselves helps us to recognise this. There are many excellent websites and resources available to start your journey on mindful meditation which can be a benefit to finding that little bit of perspective.

It’s an important process to recognise that we aren’t in control of these thoughts and that they come and go, but that we can regain our sense of self by choosing how to deal with them.

Another useful tool is journalling. There are many great apps out there these days that offer guided journalling exercises and the self-help section of any bookstore has a range of books filled with journalling prompts. These might be beneficial, but all you need is an empty page in front of you (digital or analog) and fifteen minutes to pen down your thoughts. This type of journalling, known as “stream of conscience” can be a liberating experience if you don’t overthink it, but write it down. Until you have nothing left to write.

If you are the introspective kind, a journalling practice can help you confront paradigms about your worldview and bring you closer to an authentic sense of self. In her book Getting Real, author Susan Campbell gives a set of questions to help you reflect on your behaviour (Campbell et al., 2010).

Our brains are creatures of habit. Another way to lower stress is to find solid routines that you can rely on. This can be an evening walk, a morning jog, a daily cup of tea or chat to a colleague… anything you can do to keep a recognisable pattern to your day is beneficial. If you manage to slot in daily walks, the more you can include nature (be it a park, a beach, a range of potted plants), the better you will feel about it. Whilst we’ve become good at building cities around us, our brains do enjoy that connection to nature to help calm our nerves.

Within the field of Positive Psychology something that’s at the heart of this movement is a concept called “character strengths”. These twenty-four positive strengths (Niemiec & McGrath, 2019) are tied to six virtues and include strengths such as “appreciation of beauty” or “forgiveness”. Their positive attributes tie them together into a powerful tool to help reframe your situation. On a difficult day, you can ask yourself which of your strengths you could utilise to change your perspective on the situation.

Connect to your anchors

Firstly I would like to focus on the people closest to us, our family and close circle of friends. These people fulfil a crucial role in our life as part of our anchoring. Many of us are facing the hardships of being far away from our families, with no opportunity to travel. Creating as many opportunities to connect online is worth it. Is it the same as giving a hug? No, but as we all experienced over the past few months, any connection is better than no connection.

In the workplace, either working from home or socially distanced at school, make a deliberate time to meet colleagues and discuss their wellbeing. A collective “checking in” moment is powerful, and acknowledging the bizarre current situation can be a relief for many.

For your anchors to help, don’t worry if they’re long-term, like family and lifelong friends, or not. Fostering short, high-quality interactions, shows lasting benefits (Cummings, 2020) when you use multiple ways to connect.

The three main ingredients that Cummings describes are trust, collaboration and influence. The days of fostering strong connections through hierarchy in an organisation are behind us, connect with others to gain influence and strengthen your professional relationships. In all of your interactions, start with positive intent, be open and vulnerable, pay attention the other and listen to show interest and learn something new. This powerful and simple approach will help bring you to an anchored place as you find meaningful connections with your colleagues.

Will these things have an impact?

There is evidence to support the effectiveness of web-based interventions (Woodworth et al., 2017) which is hopeful and provides a reason to say that, yes, these things we do in the virtual space will have a positive impact on wellbeing.

The body of research that will be collected over the next few years, as the impact of Covid-19 will be explored will be telling. I don’t believe that, right now, enough hard evidence exists to say if an online “video quiz night” provides the same rich, deep connections that an in-person one does. That’s the challenge we face as international schools: we have to act now to do the best we can. And see what dots can be connected when we look back at this time and reflect on where we ended up. Time to drop anchor and begin connecting.

References

Campbell, S., TotalBoox, & TBX. (2010). Getting Real. New World Library.

Cummings, K. (2020). Build Better Relationships at Work. TD: Talent Development, 74(7), 64–66.

Greer, J. (2020). “The Galigir Room”: A resourced provision for young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties (SEMH) in their first years at secondary school. Support for Learning, 35(2), 163–177. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12297

JoshuaG. (2006). Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2012). Mindfulness for beginners: Reclaiming the present moment–and your life. Sounds True.

Niemiec, R. M., & McGrath, R. E. (2019). The power of character strengths: Appreciate and ignite your positive personality. VIA Institute on Character.

Ota, D. W. (2014). Safe passage: How mobility affects people & what international schools should do about it. Summertime Publishing.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Free Press.

Woodworth, R. J., O’Brien-Malone, A., Diamond, M. R., & Schüz, B. (2017). Web-Based Positive Psychology Interventions: A Reexamination of Effectiveness: Web-Based Positive Psychology Interventions. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 73(3), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22328