On November 12, more than 100 top talents from various countries and fields gathered in Hangzhou, where the 2023 Hangzhou International Talent Exchange and Project Cooperation Conference kicked off. At the opening ceremony, Stephen Keown, the Executive Principal of Hangzhou Dipont School of Arts and Science, was awarded “Qianjiang Friendship Ambassadors 2023” for his outstanding contribution to international education in Hangzhou.
Hangzhou Foreign Experts “Qianjiang Friendship Ambassadors” is the highest honorary award granted by Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government to foreign experts who play an important role in promoting the city’s economy, education, science and technology, culture and other fields, and who have made outstanding contributions to economic and social development, opening up to the outside world and exchanges and cooperation.
Executive Principal Stephen Keown
Stephen Keown is from Ireland, he used to be the vice principal of St Mary’s College, Derry, assistant inspector of the Department of Education of Northern Ireland, he has in-depth research on international education, fruitful theoretical and practical innovations, he has more than 20 years of teaching experience and excellent experience in managing primary and secondary schools in England, China, and he is well-known in the industry. In 2019, he took his wife and children and brought his family to Hangzhou and was deeply attracted by the educational philosophy of Hangzhou Dipont School of Arts and Science and chose to join our school.
He is committed to researching the cultural connotation of Chinese primary and secondary education and the humanistic spirit of the campus. While strictly abiding by the Chinese education policy and taking the “implementation of China’s national and local curricula” as a prerequisite for running a good school, he has introduced the advanced education concepts of the United Kingdom, fused Chinese and Western cultures, innovatively proposed to promote the transformation of the school from the three dimensions of the “Academic system, Co-curricular Programme and Pastoral Care system”, and has developed and implemented the above and beyond program which points to the “cultivation of outstanding talents” and the “development of global competency”, which has created a different kind of excitement for the diversification of the school’s education and the development of unique characteristics.
Mr. Keown actively integrates into the cultural construction of the local community, takes the initiative to participate in Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges, and strives to be a good “ambassadors”of Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges. 2022 Chinese New Year, he brought his family to participate in the “Village on the Clouds Evening” to welcome the Spring Festival. In the Spring Festival of 2022, he took his family to participate in the “Village Night on the Cloud” to welcome the Spring Festival, and led the foreign teachers and students who stayed in Hangzhou to participate in the local Spring Festival celebrations. During his leadership of King’s College School Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, in addition to “British education”, he also advocated the learning of Chinese and promoted Chinese language instruction, encouraged expatriate students to learn about traditional Chinese culture, personally organized experiential teaching for expatriate teachers and students during traditional Chinese festivals such as the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, etc., and advocated the layout of a Chinese culture gallery and propaganda wall, which effectively promoted the development of Chinese culture and culture. He also advocates the arrangement of Chinese culture corridors and propaganda walls, which effectively promotes foreign students’ learning and understanding of China’s fine cultural traditions.
He has brought his academic achievements and excellent school running experience accumulated in the UK and Ireland to our school, and organically integrated them into the Chinese primary and secondary schools according to their geographical characteristics, and complemented them with his own strengths. He is committed to promoting the healthy development of home-school relationship. After the establishment of the Parents’ Committee of the school and the whole school, he has participated in every meeting of the Parents’ Committee and actively communicated with the parents, which has effectively improved the parents’ satisfaction with the school. He emphasizes that “teacher development is the prerequisite for school development”, pays attention to the professional level and performance of teachers, often organizes and hosts teaching quality seminars, actively promotes the development and implementation of the “School Teaching Comprehensive Quality Improvement Action Plan”, and often meets with experts in various disciplines to exchange ideas, listen to opinions, and maintain a good relationship with the school. We often organize and host seminars on teaching quality, actively promote the development and implementation of the “Action Plan for Comprehensive Quality Improvement of School Teaching”, and frequently meet with experts in various disciplines to exchange ideas and listen to their opinions, so as to keep the daily operation of education and teaching at a high level.
He focuses closely on student learning and has pushed forward the “For Learning to Happen for Real” teaching reform, focusing on the academic achievement of all students and leading the way in expanding the scope of student learning from the classroom to beyond the classroom, organizing hands-on project-based learning outside the school, and developing the overall competence, global competence and leadership excellence of the students.
The work of Mr. Keown has given us a deep sense of the spirit of teachers who love students, dedicate themselves to their work, and make a positive contribution without boundaries. The introduction of such an outstanding educational talent is a reflection of the school’s adherence to the “foreign-led, Chinese-led, deep integration” working mechanism.
We believe that under the leadership of outstanding foreign talents, our school can continue to develop and improve the “Academic System”, “Co-curricular Programme” and Pastoral Care Programme” to help students develop global competence and academic excellence, and to cultivate more young leaders of the future who have a Chinese style, a sense of family and country, an international outlook, and global competence.
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