UWCSEA Staff
Our staff are central to our supportive, learning-focused work environment as we come together to provide a remarkable learning experience for our students. We have an ambition to be a leader in international education. Central to achieving this goal is the recruitment and retention of highly qualified and experienced staff across all parts of the College.
A dynamic, welcoming place to work, our staff are united by a shared commitment to our guiding statements and the delivery of our holistic learning programme. All teachers, and many educational support and administration and operations staff, participate in the Activities and Service programmes; many are also involved in the Outdoor Education programme each year.
With around 1,100 teaching, educational support, administrative and operations staff across both campuses, we have developed a shared commitment to care and wellbeing that underpins interactions on campus and guides how we work together to support our community.
Teachers
Research shows that the biggest single influence on student achievement is teachers. We recruit and retain highly qualified teachers and provide them with professional learning opportunities that ensure they stay at the forefront of educational practice. Our teachers create a challenging and stimulating environment that helps students to grow in all five elements of our learning programme.
Our teachers collaborate with peers to develop best practice across both campuses. All our teaching staff are all fully qualified with experience teaching in an international environment.
Many have postgraduate qualifications and all are involved in a process of ongoing professional learning and development, ensuring that we are able to offer the highest-quality educational experience to our students.
Educational Support staff
Our educational support staff play a crucial role in the delivery of our exciting and dynamic educational programme. They fulfil essential support in a wide variety of student-facing positions on campus, including as teacher assistants, department and specialist technical assistants, secretarial and administrative roles, and as sports coaches.
Administration and Operations staff
Our hardworking administration and operations staff are key to the ongoing operations of the College as a not-for-profit, registered charity and as a safe and secure place to learn and work. This widely diverse group brings with them expertise in business and operations that ensure we balance the present and future educational, environmental and organisational needs.
Teaching at UWCSEA
Meet our community
Profile Ellie-S
I am constantly struck by the energy, capacity, creativity and commitment of the people with whom I work.
Profile Jensen-S
I've gained so much from my time with UWCSEA. I've been pushed by colleagues and students into genuinely reflecting on my own beliefs.
Profile 3
As a UWCSEA teacher I have the opportunity to develop the UWC spirit in my students and together we can build a better world.
Profile 4
UWCSEA is an exciting environment where students, staff and community members challenge and inspire each other, inside and outside the classroom.
Profile Shruti-T
Our community strives to make the world a better, more peaceful place one day at a time
Profile Vikneswaran-K
I feel that community spirit is the best part of working at UWCSEA.
Profile 1
My values are very close to UWCSEA's values. There is a unique sense of a united community.
Profile 2
I am inspired by the power of UWC’s diverse communities who will challenge and disrupt the status quo.
Profile 3
She's been inspirational through her dedication to my learning.
Profile 4
My coach created an environment for me as an individual to strive.
Profile 5
My teacher guided me through the whole process step-by-step.
Profile 6
The opportunity to work with students throughout their UWCSEA career appealed to me.
Profile 7
I teach at UWCSEA because I can help to mould really decent young people.
Profiles Pop Up Container
Shruti Tewari, head of university Advising and Assistant Houseparent, Dover Campus
From the 4 year olds in Kindergarten to the 18 year olds in Grade 12, our students live the UWC values every day, supported by our staff. We are united as a kind and caring community, concerned about the environment, who strive to make the world a better, more peaceful place one day at a time.
Vikneswaran Krishnan Murthi, Head of High School Learning Support, East Campus
Personally, the mission has given me the drive to do my best for the main stakeholders of the school - the students!
I feel that community spirit is the best part of working at UWCSEA. Everyone is unique as an individual and this is well acknowledged here. I feel safe and secure to be myself as I am accepted for who I am. That is a honestly the gift of UWCSEA.
Nisha Farah, Service and Sustainable Development Officer, East Campus
The UWCSEA mission aligns with my personal principles and values. It is an amazing supportive community, which values diversity and life-long learning. My experience since joining the East Campus Service team in 2012 has not only given me the opportunity to see students grow and contribute to the UWCSEA mission but also enabled me to facilitate their contribution to the Singapore community in which they live and learn.
Over the years, I have developed meaningful relationship with my peers, students as well as with our external service partners. These relationship has enhance my life.
Gilles Collong, Teacher of High School French and IB CAS Coordinator, Dover Campus
Since I joined UWCSEA, I have enjoyed working with the whole community - students, staff and parents - from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. The five elements of the Learning Programme resonate with me and I believe that everyone who is taking part in them has been able to develop as a professional as well as a person. Certainly, it has taken me out of my comfort zone and I have enjoyed the challenges of outdoor education, service and activities. As I have taken on these challenges and opportunities, it has given me more self-awareness about my own abilities, and hopefully helped inspire students to take the risk of exploring seemingly new interests too.
I am currently involved in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) working group. It is a very exciting project as we focus on creating a more diverse and inclusive environment at school, where everyone feels safe, supported and heard. Working with people from so many backgrounds is extremely uplifting and enriching and I am very proud of being part of being a part of this working group.
Five years ago, two students approached me help with the creation of an LGBTQ+ group for students. It is a testement to the College and its enviornment our students felt safe enough to speak to me and were willing to improve the visibility of the LGBTQ+ students and staff community. Our group “Prism” has been incredibly influential in bringing an aspect of diversity to UWCSEA Dover, and has continued to evolve with growing student support. We have been working to improve the understanding of the struggles that those in the LGBTQ+ students may face, including organising several “Diversity Days”; advising on amending and diversify the PSE element of our Learning Programme; discussing issues that staff may face and helping to equip teachers to better support LGBTQ+ students. We are currently working alongside teachers who are willing to make their subject curriculum more inclusive. I am fortunate and grateful to be part of a supportive environment amongst staff and students, and their parents.
Anisha Wilmink, Teacher of High School English, Dover Campus
I came to the Dover Campus in 2016 as a relatively young teacher and joined a phenomenal and very experienced department. I still find myself reflecting with gratitude on the unusually supportive environment that I was welcomed into. From my very first year I have found my colleagues willing to listen to my ideas and contributions, I have been able to collaborate meaningfully with almost every member of my department, I have been given both freedom and support which I feel has allowed me to develop my teaching practice much faster than I expected. The curriculum leaders I have worked with have afforded me opportunities to collaborate on developing curriculum, to perform pedagogical research in my own classroom, and to share what I have learned with the teaching community. I feel both valued, supported and challenged by the teachers I work with and I know this has a direct positive impact on my classroom practice.
I first realised that the UWC mission aligned with my values when I was 15 and applying for a National Committee Scholarship to study at a UWC. The value of service was instilled in me by my family and this, combined with my own international background, led me to seek a community built on similar values. My experience at UWC Atlantic was so formative that it led me right back to UWC as a teacher. I found it to be hugely productive to be part of a community where most were striving and pushing each other to think critically and live positively, both personally and as a global citizen. Despite now being at an entirely different school, in a different part of the world, with a completely different setup, I have found the community drive much the same. Every day I am challenged, encouraged, and supported to be of service to both my local and global communities.
Sean Lacey, Head of High School English as an Additional Language (EAL), East Campus
UWCSEA has been the most empowering school I have ever worked in. It is not always easy, because we are all expected to take an active role in building this experience, and we don't always see things the same way. But that's why it's important; our voices are heard and considered, and we build the community towards the mission together.
In the East Campus community I have both teaching and support roles, engaging students, staff and parents in a learning journey that is deeply personal. I teach and support students who do not speak English as a first language; far more than simply providing 'EAL lessons', my job is also to help them maintain a sense of the value of their cultures, languages and contribution as individuals. Our students face very specific problems which I provide support in addition to my teaching role working with students who are in English A, but have an English B background. A core part of what I do is also running the Equality group, a support group for LGBTQ+ students. I also run the parents version of tis group, called PAUSE (Parents at UWC Support Each other), a cross-campus group for parents of LGBTQ+ students to come together under our guidance to ask questions and receive support from other parents.
Support and relationship building are built in to everything I do at UWCSEA East. As a person of mixed origin and culture, my life is a reflection of the UWC mission and I put it into practice every day in my teaching.
Profile 1
Aman Singh Chauhan, Head of Facilities and Operations
My connection with UWCSEA is a unique one. I was busy climbing a so-called corporate ladder until I realised that I was slowly moving away from my values. My values are very close to UWCSEA's values. There is a unique sense of a united community which I cannot explain in words, truly it can only be experienced by being part of the remarkable culture created by the communities on both campuses.
This organization has impacted me personally and professionally in so many positive ways, and I am very grateful for the fact that I have an opportunity to be a part of its mission. Education, Sustainability and Peace are very close to my heart and the members of UWCSEA showcase their commitment to these values in action, day-in day-out - which I find inspiring!
Profile 2
Dr Erin Robinson, former middle School Principal, East Campus
I often refer to UWCSEA and the wider UWC movement as my “dream school”. I feel incredibly fortunate to a part of an organisation that is so deeply committed to Kurt Hahn’s vision for reaching a peaceful and sustainable future. While I am currently the Middle School Principal and teach social entrepreneurship, my career began as a high school Biology teacher, and prior to UWCSEA, I was a school leader in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Leading learning at UWCSEA feeds my soul; there’s no greater joy than seeing how the collaborative approach we have embedded in our leadership and our classrooms impacts so positively on student learning, supports the craftsmanship of my colleagues, and builds a positive culture and community.
I am inspired by this coming together of our diverse community members which empowers students who will go out into the world and challenge and disrupt the status quo in order to pursue an equitable, humane, and sustainable future.
Erin was a senior leader at UWCSEA, sitting on the Learning Leadership Team at the College and the East Campus Leadership Team. Read more about Erin's professional experience here.
Profile 6
Jeremy Tong, Outdoor Education Specialist, East Campus
I joined UWCSEA for the amazing opportunity to grow personally and professionally in a full-time international outdoor setting. The opportunity to work with students throughout their UWCSEA career was what appealed to me and that I could be part of the catalyst to see them grow in their little outdoor moments was something I did not want to miss. The passion for the outdoors simply starts with a single moment!
I’ve been involved in the Singapore outdoor adventure industry since 2010. Immediately prior to joining UWCSEA, I was climbing on the slopes of Mount Everest and reached her summit on 22 May 2019. I hold a Diploma in Outdoor and Adventure Learning and a BSc in Sports Science and Management from Nanyang Technological University. From 2010, I held instructor and management roles in Outward Bound Hong Kong, a climbing gym, a corporate team-building company and a local expedition adventure company. I am also a sports climbing instructor and hold kayak, sailing, rescue3 and lifesaving qualifications.
Profile 7
Hugh Pollard, Head of Grade 5, Dover Campus
I teach at UWCSEA because I can help to mould really decent young people. As a young adult, no one cares very much about the grades you got at school, but they care very much about the kind of person you are. I think UWCSEA helps to shape the right kind of young people and I'm proud to be part of that.