Joshua James

School governance, integration and safeguarding in Southeast Asia

As featured in

Nearly twenty years in education, most of them in international and bilingual schools in Malaysia and Vietnam: founding head of a K-12 school, integration director after an acquisition, and assessor of teachers across the region.

GOVERNANCE

Board structures, decision rights and accountability that let a school run well once it's past its founding years. Designed the governance architecture of a K-12 school after acquisition, aligned with Vietnamese education law and CIS standards.

How bilingual schools work

INTEGRATION

Due diligence, strategic planning and integration execution when a school changes hands: institutional audits, communication with staff and families, and a governance model that both the new owner and the school can work with. Led for Taylor's Education Group after its acquisition of a K-12 school, 2025 to 2026.

Lessons from an integration

TEACHING AND SAFEGUARDING

Visiting Assessor for NITE at Coventry University, observing teachers in schools across Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Brunei. Co-founder of ChildSafeguarding.Online, providing child protection training and policy for international schools.

On assessing teachers

Testimonials

“One of his particular strengths is his ability to combine academic knowledge and educational insight with commercial acumen, strategic thinking and a practical understanding of organisational performance.”

Professor Raymond Gordon
Vice Chancellor and President, British University Vietnam