Alison Derbyshire, Head of Dulwich College Seoul, on balancing rigour and wellbeing in Korea's high-pressure education system
From Auckland to Shanghai and finally to Seoul, Alison Derbyshire has carved out a remarkable careers in international education. A proud Kiwi and historian by training, Alison became the first female Head of College at Dulwich College Seoul in 2023, leading to the school being ranked South Korea's top IB school just a year later. During her time at the school, she's built an unprecedented all-female SLT and is laser focused on striking a balance between innate academic rigour and student wellbeing.
During her conversation with Walter Kerr, Alison reflects on the fibre of Korean education: a system rooted in Confucian respect for learning, renowned for a strict academic focus and built on on an intense hagwon culture (after-school extra learning). She discusses her years in China, shares the highs and lows on shaping Dulwich's Korean identity and opens up about the most pressing things in her in-tray, from new school spaces to tackling perfectionism in her students.
🎙️ Episode highlights
Alison discusses Dulwich Seoul's success, climbing up the rankings both locally and globally for IB.
She offers a glimpse of Alison the student: happiest on the football pitch, "too aggressive" for netball and heavily influenced by her inspiring teachers.
She reflects on Korea's very particular education system; its Confucian roots, its fierce rigour and the competitive pressures.
She unpicks the hagwon culture: the positives of extra learning and the negatives when it overwhelms a child's entire life.
She takes us through new renovations and innovation hubs at the school, blank canvases that will shape how they prepare students for the future.
Her controversial opinion is about perfectionism and how striving for a 45 at IB could lead to damaging consequences.