Two Online Workshops for International School Leaders

What if building student agency didn't depend on you driving every change?

Create the conditions for more student-centered classrooms — by leading school-wide change and empowering teachers to shift their everyday practice.

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The Leadership Challenge

Student agency is easy to put in a strategic plan. It's much harder to see in every classroom.

Perhaps your school already talks about agency, inquiry, student-centered learning, or learner ownership. But walk through classrooms and the experience can look very different.

Some teachers

are already creating dynamic environments where students ask questions, make decisions, collaborate, lead discussions, and pursue their own ideas.

Others

are still doing most of the thinking, talking, planning, and decision-making for students.

The leadership challenge isn't simply: "How do we get teachers to change?"

It's: How do we create the conditions that help teachers change their practice?

That requires more than introducing a new initiative. It requires engaging stakeholders, starting small, learning from pilots, creating space for experimentation, observing what is actually happening in classrooms, and giving teachers feedback that helps them grow.

The Approach

Lead the shift. Then empower others to make it.

These two workshops look at student agency through two different leadership lenses.

01

How do we lead the shift across a school?

Explore how international school leaders have moved student agency from an aspiration to actual classroom practice.

+
02

How do we help individual teachers make the shift?

Learn how to observe classrooms through the lens of student agency and have better conversations with teachers about where ownership can shift toward learners.

Together, they address both sides of the equation: Changing the conditions around teachers  +  supporting the practice of teachers.
Workshop 01 · Wednesday, September 30, 2026 · 7:00–8:30 PM HKT

Leading the Student-Centered Shift

How do you move student agency from a shared aspiration to everyday classroom practice?

Hear dynamic case studies from international school leaders who have worked to transform passive learning environments into more active, agentic ones.

We'll unpack how leaders engaged stakeholders, started with small pilots, navigated resistance, learned from what didn't work, and ultimately embedded student-centered learning into wider school strategy.

This won't just be a collection of success stories. We'll look at the triumphs, pitfalls, false starts, and leadership decisions behind the transformation.

You'll explore:

  • How leaders built stakeholder understanding and buy-in.
  • Why starting small can create the conditions for larger change.
  • How pilots can generate evidence and momentum.
  • How student agency can move from isolated classroom practice into strategic planning.
  • What leaders learned when things didn't go according to plan.
  • How to identify a realistic starting point in your own context.
Leave with

A clearer pathway for leading the shift toward more student-centered, agentic learning in your own school.

📅 Wednesday, September 30, 2026 · 7:00–8:30 PM (Hong Kong Time) 💻 Online $39 USD
Workshop 02 · Wednesday, October 14, 2026 · 7:00–8:30 PM HKT

Observing for Agency

Helping Teachers Shift Practice

You walk into a classroom to observe learning. What are you actually looking for?

It's easy to focus on what the teacher is doing: the quality of the instructions, questioning, pacing, classroom management, resources, and lesson structure. But if the goal is greater student agency, we also need to look carefully at what the students are doing.

Who is asking the questions?

Who is making decisions?

Who is doing most of the talking?

Who is generating the ideas?

Who is solving the problems?

Who is reflecting, collaborating, and providing feedback?

And ultimately: who owns the learning?

In this practical workshop, you'll learn a simple structure for observing classrooms through the lens of student ownership — and using what you notice to support teacher growth.

You'll explore:

  • What student agency actually looks and sounds like during classroom observations.
  • How to notice the balance between teacher ownership and student ownership.
  • How to identify practical opportunities for shifting more responsibility toward learners.
  • How to use observation evidence to create better coaching conversations.
  • How to support teachers without prescribing exactly how they should teach.
You'll leave with
The Student-Centered Learning Observation Tool

A practical observation structure that has helped 1,000+ teachers reflect on their practice and create more dynamic, student-centered classrooms — and helped leaders have more useful conversations about how to support that growth.

Use it during learning walks, observations, coaching conversations, or your own reflection on teaching and learning.

📅 Wednesday, October 14, 2026 · 7:00–8:30 PM (Hong Kong Time) 💻 Online $39 USD
The Two-Workshop Series

Change the system. Support the practice.

Creating agentic learning environments requires both.

Workshop One zooms out.

You'll look at school-wide change: stakeholders, pilots, culture, strategy, leadership decisions, successes, and mistakes.

Workshop Two zooms in.

You'll step inside the classroom and learn how to observe student agency, notice opportunities for greater learner ownership, and support teachers in shifting their practice.

Workshop 01

Lead the conditions for change.

Workshop 02

Help teachers make the change.

And ultimately: create more opportunities for students to own their learning.

Reserve My Spot
Is This For You?

Designed for leaders of learning.

These workshops are for international educators responsible for supporting teaching, learning, and school improvement, including:

Heads of School
Principals
Assistant Principals
Curriculum Coordinators
PYP / MYP / DP Coordinators
Instructional Coaches
Heads of Department
Teaching & Learning Leaders

You don't need to have a school-wide student agency initiative already underway. Come with a strategic priority, a classroom observation challenge, an initiative that's stalled — or simply the question: How could we help students own more of their learning?

Your Facilitators
Kyle Wagner facilitating a professional learning session

Kyle Wagner

Kyle knows what it takes to lead learning environments through real change, not just talk about it. As founder of Futures Academy at the International School of Beijing and the First Montessori Middle School in Hong Kong, a project-based teacher and leader, and author of Power of Simple and Where Is the Teacher? The 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments, he has helped transform passive classrooms into vibrant, student-centered learning environments across international schools.

Kyle specializes in helping schools make practical shifts in what teachers, students, and leaders do every day — creating the conditions for greater student ownership and more dynamic, active learning.

Mari Simpson

Dr. Mari Simpson

Mari knows what it takes to lead a school through real change, not just talk about it. As a former deputy head, principal, licensed school inspector, author of Built for Capacity, and recipient of the Excellence in School Transformation Leadership award, she has transformed traditional school cultures into vibrant, forward-thinking learning communities.

Mari specializes in helping leadership teams align their vision with action — building systems that empower teachers and create the conditions for students to truly thrive.

Online Leadership Series

Join one workshop — or come to both.

Each workshop is $39 USD and designed to stand alone, although leaders will get the fullest picture by attending both. Select the session(s) you'd like, then reserve your spot — you'll enter your details and pay securely on the next step.

Reserve My Spot — $39 USD

You'll enter your name, school, and role — and confirm your workshop selection — during checkout.

What would change if more of your teachers felt empowered to step back?

Building student agency doesn't mean asking teachers to work harder. It means helping them design classrooms where students do more of the questioning, thinking, discussing, deciding, creating, reflecting, and ultimately learning.

As leaders, our job is to create the conditions that make that possible.

Two workshops. Two leadership lenses. One goal: greater student ownership.

Wednesday, September 30 · Wednesday, October 14
7:00–8:30 PM Hong Kong Time (GMT+8)

Each workshop is $39 USD.

Reserve My Spot
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