Canadian superstar teacher Maggie MacDonnell won the Global Teacher Prize in 2017 after the Inuit students she taught in the remote Arctic, where some of the world’s highest suicide rates can be found, nominated her for literally saving their lives. She was able to achieve this by tearing down traditional classroom walls and co-creating new ones – rooted in a pedagogy of community, and empowerment and woven together with strands of empathy, and love.
From palm trees to polar bears, MacDonnell has spent decades teaching with and learning from resilient populations across the globe. It’s no surprise that many in the education world see her as a hero. Today, she sits on the Judging Academy of the World’s Best School Prizes – described by the BBC as the “World Cup for schools” – where she has discovered some heroes of her own. Or, as MacDonnell likes to call them in her own inimitable style, her EduCrushes.
In this interview, MacDonnell shares her EdCrushes with us and urges trailblazing schools around the world to apply for the World’s Best School Prizes so she can crush on some more.
Salman Shaheen: At the World Schools Summit you gave a shoutout to some of your EduCrushes – schools that have been shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prizes. Can you tell us about some of those schools and what most inspires you about them?
Maggie MacDonnell: I am gushing and mega CRUSHING on so many of these school stories. How can I NOT fall in love with all they do. My heart is huge, with a lot of love to give. I will share just a few who literally make my knees weak.
Lets jump to Kenya. I am blessed to live on “the continent” and am fascinated at the role education plays in either staying in the colonial shadow or breaking free of it and stepping into new light. An all-time EduCrush for me is the Children Freedom School from Nakuru Kenya – led by Dr. Utheri Kanayo. They call out the “white” education elephant on the continent, and counter that by creating an Afro-Centric school. This school proves that Kenyan parents are willing to invest their hard-earned salaries into a “Afro-Centric” school model. I think the work they are doing is breaking mindsets and launching new generations of changemakers. They are building a school where African kids can love themselves first, and also fall in love with learning! I have no doubt that this school is emerging as a giant in this field and will shape the country and the continent.
I am writing this in a coffee shop. The barista gives me a latte with a heart floating in the cloud of frothy milk. Where is this taking me? To the true heart of education and another crush! Deep into the lush forests and highlands of Colombia, you will find an award-winning school called Institución Educativa Municipal Montessori sede San Francisco with a project known as CAFÉ LAB. They don’t just brew coffee they brew CHANGE. By converting coffee related waste into eco-friendly products, they root their students into their own contextual challenges and solutions, while nurturing a sustainable future. I had the pleasure of meeting their teacher Ramón Majé Floriano in person recently, as his work continues to be recognised at a global level. This school brews science, entrepreneurship, stewardship, and community development together into a page-turning education story that can capture any heart. Don’t sit on the fence on this story, check out this video.
India. Another crush I have is Riverside School in India. Confession. I have been in the same room as the founder. Her name is Kiran Bir Sethi. And can I even approach her? NO! I literally melt into a puddle reverting back to my preteen acne-riddled self, swaying with awkward off off-beat rhythm at school dances. The cleaning staff have been known to mop me up at the end of one of her sessions, so I can be at least wringed out of the room. As I write these words my edu heart is fluttering like the wings of a butterfly on a gusty day. She is a school leader who has brought design principle to education. Her approach to learning is that children must actually FEEL, then IMAGINE, then DO then SHARE. For a school leader with her platform to literally say that FEELING is important to learning – while the larger edu landscape is still full of rote practices, anxiety-inducing standardised tests, and teacher as preacher models – is so refreshing and courageous. Her day-to-day work is the equivalent of the scene in the Moana movie where our heroine battles the ferocious storm to restore the heart of Tafiti!
Salman Shaheen: Applications for this year’s World’s Best School Prizes are now open. What would you say to schools wondering whether or not they should apply?
Maggie MacDonnell: GO FOR IT! Believe in yourself. And APPLY! I write in caplocks as text cannot allow me to “shout” at you to just do it – as if we were in person. But I hope you get my meaning.
And let’s add some more urgency to this request. Have any of you been reading the headlines these days? There sure are some global messes out there. Realistically, the only way out is through education. So let’s start writing some new headlines. Your story could be one that someone else needs right now. This search for the World’s Best Schools doesn’t just find “winners”, the real prize is that it builds an ongoing community, inspires change, shares innovation, and we learn from each other. Don’t hold back. Join now! APPLY!
Salman Shaheen: As member of the World’s Best School Prizes Judging Academy, what do you look for in a winner?
Maggie MacDonnell: I think previous winner Riverside has summed it up so well, when they said they are not looking to be the best school IN the world, but the best school FOR the world.
Let that sink in like tea leaves unravelling in a hot cuppa of some serious education wisdom. As a judge, this is the tea I like to drink.
Salman Shaheen: It’s fair to say you yourself are high up on the list of many people’s EduCrushes. What inspired you to make a difference to so many lives through your teaching?
Maggie MacDonnell: Do people crush on me? Don’t make me blush! Your question is flattering, and I will try to absorb some of the intended compliment. I am conscious that my best work comes when I am humble and grounded!
I don’t “try to make a difference” to be honest, I just try to do what I can, where I can, with who I can. I am sure there are so many opportunities that I have missed and more that I will face plant on (hint: especially when Riverside is in the room! #awkwardteenalloveragain).
I keep reminding myself not to teach AT my students, but to teach WITH them. What does this even mean? The students I work with have been through so much trauma, that many have lived a life where they have not even felt the permission to “dream”. So I can’t even give that classic line that; “I help students follow their dream”. My students are in a “pre-dreaming crisis reality” that middle class privilege doesn’t fully grasp.
Let me try a metaphor on here to explain what I do. I sit WITH my students, at their bonfire of life. Often the fire is out. They might not even know there can be a fire there. The coals are cold. The matches are wet. And windy, rainy blusters keep snuffing us out. But together, as we connect and build a relationship, we literally gently stir, shake and blow on those coals to see what spark we can ignite. Sometimes it happens in a minute, and sometimes it takes years. But when those flames catch, let me tell ya, those flames give me that “teacher glow up” that the Kardashians would even want to bottle up and retail!
Salman Shaheen: Can you tell us a bit about the work you’re doing now?
Maggie MacDonnell: I teach. I train teachers. I give keynotes. I coach (with poor technique but endless enthusiasm) my 7-year-old daughter’s soccer team. I run summer camps in the Arctic. We even collab to make teenage arctic summer music anthems – complete with music videos.
And I keep sitting with youth at their bonfires of life. You can meet one here.
I think I have been sitting at Ida’s bonfire for a decade. This teaching work is not always fast and catchy, sometimes it is slow, but it endures. Her flame has sparked. She is a single mom, who graduated high school over 10 years ago, and has finally plunged into an art degree in college. She also leads our summer camp. I can only imagine how bright her flame will burn and where it will jump! She is just one of the Arctic superstars I get to work with. But there are so many more, Like Felix and Patrcik, aka “tall and small”.
If you want to connect more, find me on LinkedIn, or check out our work at:
