Sunday Jun 09, 2024

Dr Andri Nel-Rasmussen: Dean of Academics for Vanke Meisha Academy in Shenzhen, China. Born, raised, educated, and started her career in South Africa.

Dr Andri Nel-Rasmussen: Dean of Academics for Vanke (pronounced Whank-huh) Meisha Academy in Shenzhen, China, for students from Grade 9 to 12. Born, raised, educated, and started her teaching and teacher training career in South Africa.

 

Dr Nel-Rasmussen became a teacher “by accident” through a bursary offer, which meant she could have a day off school (which was much more enticing than an interview for a bursary!) She didn’t know what she wanted to do after school as she had so many interests. She knew she loved geography, though!

 

She completed her Bachelors in Education, with library science and geography as majors, at the erstwhile Rand Afrikaans University (RAU). Her first job, at the age of 21, was as lecturer at Vista University in the teaching and learning department, doing teacher training. She was able to study further for her Honours and then her Masters degree through RAU.

 

During 1995 she attended 27 interviews and couldn’t find a job in South Africa, the newly qualified teachers from the then teachers’ colleges being better prepared for teaching than her with university qualifications.

At the age of 26 she had not had any experience in teaching and then started teaching at a Montessori school in Knysna, which she did for 10 years.

The topic for her PhD dissertation was to design a curriculum which would match the Montessori philosophy and curriculum to the Government curriculum, and how two different modalities can match in middle school. She found a professor in Port Elizabeth at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU - now Nelson Mandela University) who was her supervisor. The PhD journey was challenging, yet her supervisor was very supportive and encouraged her, when she felt overwhelmed and not “clever enough” to carry on, to merely focus on the next chapter. She also shares fond memories of a social science presentation at Cambridge University with her supervision.

As Andri and her husband love to travel, they decided to expand their experience outside of Knysna and they went to Thailand as English teachers. They initially planned to spend a month in Thailand in 2012 and then travel further. The rest, as they say, is history! She enjoyed the international Thai school, where she was tasked to establish and head the international department, which followed a UK curriculum, with the mix of cultures being 1/3 Thai, 1/3 Thai mixed with European, Australian, and British foreigners, and 1/3 Chinese. She enjoyed the mix of cultures. Cultural identity and belonging to a culture are very important for her. She enjoys the process of “who are we, where do we belong, how can we communicate better and be better humans when we work with each other.” This she also encountered when lecturing at Vista University during South Africa’s years of transition after apartheid.

Andri then accepted a position at Vanke Meisha Academy in Shenzhen, China. During the first part of 2020 she worked online (from South Africa) during the COVID pandemic time, whereafter her and her husband moved to China in 2021. She is the Academic Dean, overseeing the UK track, with 650 children in the high school. It is a school for Chinese students planning to go abroad.

Andri works with the teachers at Vanke Meisha Academy, focusing on what is good teaching, looking at the big picture, how do teachers help students who come in from the traditional education system and they then transition to education where the student is at the centre, teaching them to be self-driven, to know themselves as a learner, and then to be successful when they leave the school and go abroad to be Chinese citizens and good ambassadors for their country. Her program is focused on academia, while there are other programs that focus on art and sport, headed by other principals.

Andri shares a word of advice and profound wisdom with South African parents when she says that, in selecting a school for your child, decide on a school whose philosophy matches your child. She ends the podcast with very practical and wise advice. Keep listening!

https://www.vankemeisha.com/

Comments (0)

To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or

No Comments

Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Version: 20241125