David Garner arrived in the U.S. five years ago from his previous post in the Netherlands to become Head of School at the International School of Indiana (ISI), an independent school that serves 600 students from pre-school through Grade 12 and is part of a worldwide network of schools sharing a similar mission.
Garner is a UK national with a French wife and two children who have been educated at schools in a number of different countries. He has worked in public and private institutions, from elementary through to higher education, in ten countries around the world and holds degrees in German and Russian, a UK postgraduate teaching certificate, a Masters in Applied Linguistics, and an MBA in Educational Leadership. He studied at the Free University of West Berlin, and spent a year teaching in higher education in the former Soviet Union under the Anglo-Soviet Cultural Exchange Agreement.
Garner is highly experienced in international education and in the programs of the International Baccalaureate Organization. He is the recipient of a fellowship in international education from the European Council of International Schools. He has been a member and leader of visiting teams accrediting international schools in Germany, El Salvador and Colombia.
Garner has a special interest in linguistics, and has presented workshops at international schools conferences on second language learners, bilingualism and questions of mother tongue maintenance. Before coming to ISI, he was Head of School at the International Secondary School of Eindhoven serving the international hi-tech community in the major research and development hub of the Netherlands. Prior to this he was Head of the Upper School at the British International School of Prague in the Czech Republic, providing foreign executives with the possibility to move to Prague with their families and contribute to the development of the free market economy after the collapse of the socialist system.
When not thinking about the future of students in the global economy Garner enjoys such age-inappropriate activities as snowboarding or playing the guitar, and is presently working hard on his bluegrass flatpicking style.
Big Idea: “Caution: Schooling May Be Harmful To Your Learning”
Our brains are superbly equipped for learning, if only our schools would engage us! Today’s students are growing up in a global society and have more information available in a day than earlier generations could access in years. To transform information into learning, students need critical thinking skills; to succeed in tomorrow’s economy they will need to collaborate across cultures. But our schools were designed for yesterday when knowledge was scarce and learning was an individual pursuit. Our schools are still teacher-centered, with too much emphasis on lecturing. It’s time to throw out the sage on the stage.