Simon O'Connor is School Director at Deira International School, Dubai and COBIS Board member.

1. What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Seeing others achieve and surprise themselves in doing so. I strongly believe the largest limitation we face is living down to our own expectations. The role of a school is to enable people, whether students or staff, to dream big and then go on to achieve these ambitions. I love it when alumni get in touch to tell me of what they are doing now and how they have made successes of their lives.

2. What/who inspires you?

Teachers who have managed to ensure learning never stopped over the last two years. Schools in the UAE moved to distance learning for a term in 2020 and have been back in school since September 2020. This required simultaneous delivery of face-to-face learning with online learning for a whole year. When we first started this, I suspected we would manage to keep it going for half a term, but we managed a whole year. It was an extraordinary effort, and I am so proud of everyone I work with at DIS.

3. Which living person do you most admire?

My teaching subjects are History and Politics and, as a result, I am very interested in the way in which political leaders behave. The last few years have been incredibly challenging for political leaders. The way Jacinda Ardern has demonstrated that leadership can be both empathetic and kind, whilst remaining strong, is certainly an inspiration and hopefully a model which others can adopt.

4. What is the best part of your day?

Without doubt, meeting the students in the morning. Children carry with them such boundless enthusiasm positivity. Standing on the gate, greeting them as they arrive, always sets the day off well.

5. Which talent would you most like to have?

I don’t believe in talent as such – we all start with the same potential. Opportunity, hard work, reflection and persistence then enable us to achieve. There are many things I wish I was better at, including learning languages and sport, but it’s not an issue of talent.

6. What is your favourite thing about the country you live in now?

The UAE is a melting pot of cultures. I have learned so much since I came here and continue to do so. I am very lucky to live in such an exceptional country.

7. What do you consider your greatest achievement?    

I really hope I haven’t had it yet. I always try and improve what I do. Moving to Deira International School has been a great opportunity for me to learn so much more as I had not worked with a primary context before or with an IB curriculum. I have particularly loved getting to know and understand both of these elements of the school. So, hopefully, the best is yet to come.

8. What part of the COBIS network do you value most?

The opportunity to link with colleagues in similar contexts and to share experiences, challenges and successes. Leadership can be lonely, but organisations such as COBIS help to minimise this. One of the great positives of the last two years has been how we have pulled together, usually online, and are now looking forward to continuing these relationships in person.

9. What advice would you give your younger self? 

The film ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ contains the wonderful line ‘Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end’. I think that’s an important reflection on persistence, and one which I wish I’d known earlier.

10. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

The first lesson I ever taught was in Masikana Secondary - a rural school in Zimbabwe. When I was 18, I spent two terms living there teaching History, English and Commerce. I only had two days training, but loved every moment of it and, as a result, decided I wanted to go into teaching after university.