IBSC Ideas Lab
Professional Conversations for Academic Leaders in Boys' Schools
Starting October 27, 2026
IBSC Ideas Lab invites academic leaders in boys' schools to connect virtually using the free online tool Zoom. Limited to 14 participants plus the facilitator, this IBSC Ideas Lab includes three one-hour sessions for participants to discuss relevant topics.
Designed as an interactive exchange among colleagues, IBSC Ideas Lab engages dedicated educators who learn and grow together. Before each session participants engage with relevant resources to provide a foundation for discussions. Together we surface fresh ideas and build mutual support structures and enduring professional friendships.
Available exclusively to IBSC member schools, first-time participants who can commit to joining all three sessions get preference in registration to support the success of each small group. No more than two participants from one school may register for an IBSC Ideas Lab.
In the spirit of open dialogue and collaboration, IBSC Ideas Labs are not recorded, allowing participants the freedom to express themselves openly and share their experiences candidly.
Who Should Attend?
Heads of academics, academic deans, deputy heads of academics, directors of academics, and anyone with primary responsibility for academics in boys' schools
Format
IBSC Ideas Lab attendees participate in three scheduled one-hour calls using Zoom. Gerry Noel, deputy head—academic affairs at St. Alban's College (South Africa), facilitates each session.
Conversation Topics
Conversation 1
Is the Academic Day Working for Boys?
Tuesday, October 27, 4:00 PM EDT, 8:00 PM GMT, 10:00 PM CAT
Wednesday, October 28, 4:00 AM AWST, 6:00 AM AEST, 9:00 AM NZDT
Check the event time in your time zone.
60 minutes
Does the structure of a typical school day—its timetable, its transitions, its co-curricular boundaries—actually support the kind of learning we say we want for boys? Or does it quietly work against it? Academic leaders often find ourselves trying to improve learning within a structure we did not design and rarely have the mandate to redesign, yet the architecture of the day shapes everything from attention and engagement to the integration of skills across subjects.
Join your peers to examine the academic day as a design problem. Share where your timetable and structure genuinely serve your boys and where they create friction, and discuss what it has taken—or would take—to change them. This conversation focuses on practical experience: What has worked, what the obstacles are, and what design principles might guide a school willing to rethink the structure rather than just refine it.
Conversation 2
From Grades to Learning That Lasts
Tuesday, November 3, 3:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM GMT, 10:00 PM CAT
Wednesday, November 4, 4:00 AM AWST, 6:00 AM AEST, 9:00 AM NZDT
Check the event time in your time zone.
60 minutes
What would it mean to reorient your academic culture around mastery rather than performance? Most academic leaders can articulate the case for it, but shifting the lived culture of a school—where grades are the currency that students, parents, and faculty all trade in—is a different challenge entirely. And underneath the cultural question sits a harder one: What does mastery look like for boys and are our current curricula and subject structures the right vehicle for building it?
Engage with fellow academic leaders to examine the gap between the learning culture you want and the one you have. Share what your school has tried, where the resistance has come from, and what progress looks like when it arrives. This conversation also takes seriously the question of curriculum design: which competencies deserve dedicated time, which develop best elsewhere, and how we resist the pressure to keep adding without ever taking anything away.
Conversation 3
Technology in the Academic Program
Tuesday, November 10, 3:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM GMT, 10:00 PM CAT
Wednesday, November 11, 4:00 AM AWST, 6:00 AM AEST, 9:00 AM NZDT
Check the event time in your time zone.
60 minutes
The research on technology and learning is genuinely difficult to read. Studies pointing to declining academic outcomes from device use sit alongside evidence that well-integrated technology improves engagement and efficiency. Much of the research conflates mobile phone distraction with purposeful laptop work or draws on data from secondary schools while saying little about junior or middle years. How do academic leaders make sound decisions in a space where the evidence is contested and the stakes are high?
Share your school's current approach and the reasoning behind it in a conversation that resists easy answers. Explore what the research actually says and what it does not, how to distinguish between distraction and effective digital learning, and what meaningful technology integration looks like across different year levels. This is a conversation for leaders who want to move beyond blanket policies and share positions grounded in evidence, context, and the specific realities of their boys.
Registration
IBSC member rate: US $185
Refund Policy
If you are unable to attend, you must cancel your registration in writing by emailing IBSC@theibsc.org by October 13, 2026. IBSC will refund 90% of registration fees if a written request is received via email by this date. No refunds will be made for cancellations received after this date. Schools seeking to register an alternate to replace a participant unable to attend should contact IBSC@theibsc.org.
Please note: Watch your email for login information for this IBSC Ideas Lab by October 20, 2026. If you registered later than this date, watch for login information within 24 hours.
Participation certificates: Participants present for all three conversations will receive a certificate of participation within two weeks of the final session.
Facilitator
Gerry Noel
Gerry Noel is deputy head—academic affairs at St. Alban's College (South Africa) in Pretoria. In 2025, he joined St. Alban's after 10 years at Bishops Diocesan College (South Africa) in Cape Town and a further spell at Michaelhouse (South Africa) in Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal. Noel holds an MPhil in sustainable development from the Sustainability Institute of Stellenbosch University and brings a particular interest in complexity and systems theory as a framework for rethinking how schools prepare young people for sustainable living.
Growing up on a farm in the Lowveld of Limpopo Province gave Noel a deep connection to the natural world and that connection runs through both his thinking and his practice. Outside the classroom, he hikes, rock climbs, trail runs, and surfs. Noel is drawn to the question of how people and the planet can build connected, thriving communities—and he brings that curiosity to everything he teaches.