74. Smile! You're Starting a New School. A Candid Conversation with a Master School Starter, ASB Director Dave McMaster. Artwork

Educators Going Global

Our mission is to inform both veteran and aspiring international educators about working overseas - What it’s like and how it's changing, Where to find more information, Why "going global" is so attractive and How and When to work through the recruiting process. We do this via targeted episodes where we give informational interviews as well as sharing personal vignettes related to all aspects of international education. We work to tell the full story so you are really in the know about international schools. We invite you to travel, teach and connect with us!

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Educators Going Global

74. Smile! You're Starting a New School. A Candid Conversation with a Master School Starter, ASB Director Dave McMaster.

March 14, 2025 • Audrey Forgeron and David Carpenter • Season 3

If you’ve ever visited the International Schools Services website, you may have noticed at some stage that they added a button at the top that said “start a school”. The button has now moved to the bottom of the page, but it’s still there. For us, it always felt like that line from the movies, “I wonder what happens if I press this button?” Well, Dave McMaster is a brave soul who has “pushed the button” on starting a school, not once, but three times. We think it’s fair to say that Dave knows what happens!

Dave has 35 years of K-12 education experience, primarily in leadership roles across Canada, Hong Kong, and Bahrain. He joined the Esol organization in Bahrain in September 2018, and led the founding team in establishing the American School of Bahrain, which opened its doors in September 2020. The school began with just over 100 students amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has grown to nearly 800 students in its first five years of operation.

Prior to this role, Dave served as Principal and Head of School at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) from 2002 to 2014. During his tenure, CDNIS was recognized as the top international school in Hong Kong for seven consecutive years. Dave has founded three schools, with the most recent being the American School of Bahrain.

Dave’s authenticity as an educational leader is a recognized force that motivates students, parents, staff, and management to continually advance the status quo, ensuring excellence in educational provision and learning. He emphasizes what he calls the "smile index" as a key barometer for assessing a school's success. Dave also possesses extensive experience in recruiting and retaining top international educators, which he considers crucial to the success of founding ASB.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Education from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He also earned a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University.

Our Guiding Question was, “How does one start an international school?”

Here are a few of the topics covered in this episode:

Reasons why new international schools are being built
Who are some of the parties behind the new schools
Some of the various “buckets” or categories of work that you needed to plan for and start a new international school
Some of the headaches and some of the heartfelt moments in starting his current school
Advice for any person or organization thinking about starting an international school

Resources mentioned in the episode:

American School of Bahrain

Dave McMaster on LinkedIn

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Music: YouTube. (2022). Acoustic Guitar | Folk | No copyright | 2022❤️. YouTube. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEmg_6i7jA.