John Godbold - Practice & Experience

Practice & Experience

My experience spans a range of international school contexts, each with distinct curricular frameworks, organisational cultures, and expectations. Across these settings, my work has involved not only teaching and leadership responsibilities, but also the interpretation, adaptation, and coordination of curriculum in practice.

Over time, this has led me to focus less on individual roles in isolation and more on the patterns that connect them: how coherence is built, how priorities are negotiated, and how leadership is enacted through everyday decisions.

International School of Bergamo, Italy

Primary Maths Lead (2018–2021)

Working with senior leadership and the assessment coordinator, I contributed to a review of primary mathematics provision with the aim of improving coherence and progression across the phase. This included evaluating existing practice, identifying inconsistencies in sequencing and conceptual development, and supporting the introduction of a more structured framework.

The experience reinforced the importance of shared understanding in curriculum work. While frameworks can provide useful structure, coherence depends on how they are interpreted and enacted by teachers in practice.

Jakarta International Korean School, Indonesia

Native Head (Middle School) (2013–2017)

In this role, I worked across a bilingual middle school context, coordinating the work of native English-speaking teachers across multiple subjects while also collaborating closely with Korean senior leaders and subject leads. The role required not only organisational coordination, but ongoing negotiation of curricular expectations across languages, systems, and priorities.

This experience deepened my understanding of curriculum as something formed through everyday decisions and interactions. It highlighted the importance of shared understanding, particularly in contexts where different educational traditions and assumptions intersect.

International School of Bergamo, Italy

MYP Department Head (2021–2024)

As multidisciplinary head of Design, Visual Art, Drama, Music, and PHE, I was responsible for coordinating staffing, documentation, and departmental priorities across a broad subject area. The role involved balancing operational responsibilities with support for colleagues, while also contributing to wider curriculum and evaluation processes.

What this role reinforced was the relationship between organisational coordination and curriculum coherence. Even where structures are in place, consistency depends on how priorities are communicated, interpreted, and enacted across teams.

Dehong School Xi’an, China

Grade 5 EML Teacher (2024–present)

Although this is primarily a classroom role, it has sharpened my attention to the relationship between curriculum intention and student experience. Working in a bilingual context has reinforced the importance of adaptation, clarity, and responsiveness in how curriculum is enacted on a day-to-day basis.

It has also reminded me that curriculum thinking is not confined to formal leadership roles. Many of the most significant decisions about coherence, progression, and meaning are made within the everyday work of teaching.

Across these contexts, a consistent pattern has been the gap between curriculum as designed and curriculum as experienced. While frameworks and structures matter, coherence appears to rest on interpretation, communication, and the decisions through which practice is shaped.

Across very different contexts, similar questions kept reappearing: how coherence is built, how priorities are interpreted, and how leadership is experienced in practice.

These experiences continue to inform both my professional practice and the way I think about curriculum and leadership.