From 400 year old institutions in London to rural campuses in South America, schools across the globe are united in their commitment to shaping future leaders. The International Boys’ School Coalition (IBSC), a global network of boys’ schools dedicated to the growth and development of education, seeks to achieve these goals.
Recently, Eugene McDermott Headmaster David W. Dini was announced as the new head of the group. Dini, who previously served as secretary and treasurer, has been familiar with the IBSC since its inception in 1995
“There were a limited number of schools that were involved in the formation, only a couple of boy’s schools,” Dini said. “It was very informal in the beginning. It was just organized by volunteers who were heads of small boys’ schools. There were some informal gatherings in the beginning years, and St. Mark’s was engaged in that process from some of the earliest conversations. Since the creation of the coalition, the school has been engaged in that dialogue.”
After serving on the coalition board for several years, Dini rose up the ranks. Due to the unexpected exit from longtime member and former head of the IBSC David Ferguson, Dini was called upon to take his place.
“I ended up stepping into the role that (Ferguson) recommended (me for),” Dini said. “It was a role I anticipated happening but in three years time. He would have likely served as the board chair for three years had he stayed at his school, and I probably would have followed him in 2027 and got it for three years from that point, but he had a change in his own professional and personal life that necessitated the IBSC to find somebody to step into that role sooner than expected. So ultimately, he stepped down, and I’ve stepped in.”
Reflecting on the significance of Dini’s appointment, Correa recognized his ability to unite educators across the globe.
“There must be something that other leaders saw in Mr. Dini,” Correa said. “One, the conference we had here, which was very well organized, people had a great time. And then to think and try to put this in a dimension – how many head of schools from around the world go over there? So to pick him, I think it’s a great honor, a great responsibility too, but it says a lot about his leadership.”
Every year, IBSC hosts an annual conference where teachers and administrators can present on various topics.
“There are educators from all over the world, so it’s been a wonderful association for St. Mark’s,” Dini said. “Having had the opportunity to host the conference, we always send a big group of faculty to the conference every year. We sent about 15 or so teachers to the conference. This year in England, we always have faculty members that are doing action research work. They do sort of two-year research projects on various topics. We have a number of teachers now that are doing that, and we always have faculty members that present at the conference.”
As one of these educators, Correa presented on the Brendan Court Summer Program at a recent conference at the Harrow School in London.
“We, as a school have resources, that we can provide and we can put to the service of others, especially public schools here during the summer,” Correa said. “We were trying to tell people and teachers from other schools around the world that, having the resources we have and sharing those resources with other schools, from IBSC, we should put them to the service of children that do not come to this school.”
After listening to many presentations, Correa’s main takeaway was that there are always lessons to be learned from others which could then be applied to his own work.
“There’s always something that you can take and actually make it part of the things that you do,” Correa said. “So then you pay more attention to what’s going on in in the classroom, around the school and in my program, which is the community service program.”
Dini, in the distant future, hopes to foster a more inclusive global community of schools through the IBSC conferences starting next June at the Belmont Hill school in Massachusetts.
Additionally, Dini will continue to meet new and interesting educators through the conference as he’s done in the past.
One of which includes an educator at Belmont Hill whom he remains good friends with to this day.
“We still laugh about it,” said Dini. “In fact, being in England this past summer, we recalled that one day, more than 20 years ago, when we went to Wimbledon. It just opened up a much wider lens to the people I have and will meet through the conference.”
