Visit the Inspired Education Featured Schools' Page

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Mike Lambert is Global Education Director at Inspired Group which educates over 90,000 students in 119 schools across 6 continents.  Previously, he was headmaster of Dubai College and has held leadership and teaching roles in Europe and the UK. In the schools across the Inspired Group staff work hard to integrate modern teaching methods while ensuring that students develop their creative and sporting as well as their academic skills.

Rethinking hybrid learning

An example of the evolution of teaching concepts is hybrid learning. This has expanded significantly in recent years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Hybrid learning can include a variety of novel teaching methods, including students watching educational videos or doing online research to participating in real-time virtual classes. Yet while digital tools have become more integrated into the classroom, most schools still operate within traditional, structured environments. For some very specific groups of young people, for example students with medical needs, elite athletes, or children who travel frequently, these digital tools may be their main source of education. However, for most children, hybrid learning is integrated into the traditional classroom, but has not replaced it.“The beauty of the international education market is that whatever it is that you want, you will find the right solution for your family and your children,” he says.

The significance of the curriculum

Often, parents choose a school because of the curriculum it offers. While this differs from school to school, Mike Lambers says the components of a curriculum have always been a deeply political issue.“Across the globe, governments have recognised the importance of a national curriculum—not merely as a blueprint for education, but as an instrument of social cohesion,” he says. By embedding shared cultural reference points into national curricula, countries hope to foster a common understanding among citizens, one that binds society through shared knowledge and values.“However, this does not always apply uniformly,” he says. “Independent, international and private schools are often not tethered to a national curriculum. Yet parents do expect a degree of cultural and academic continuity because they want their children to be able to move between sectors, to be meeting national and international benchmarks, and to have access to opportunities that their peers enjoy—regardless of the educational path chosen.“Within the Inspired Education Group, for example, we offer a diverse portfolio of more than a dozen curricula,” Mike says. “Our flagship offering is the International Baccalaureate (IB), from early years through to the Diploma Programme. Alongside this, we provide A-levels and IGCSEs, and also cater to local demands with the Spanish, Peruvian and Australian national curricula, among others.”This reflects different parental preferences too. The English national curriculum, for instance, is rich in content and focused on knowledge acquisition. The IB, on the other hand, places a stronger emphasis on inquiry-based learning, conceptual understanding, and the development of transferable skills.“I wouldn't argue that one is superior to another, it depends entirely on what parents value: a traditional academic foundation, or an education rooted in broader philosophical inquiry,” he says. “For example, the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in Silicon Valley—a place where many of California’s tech elite choose to send their children - is staunchly anti-tech. Its emphasis is on creativity, expression, and the physical classroom.”Generally, Inspired Group schools advocate for the judicious use of technology—tools that enhance learning without dominating it. Central to this is a focus on digital literacy and safeguarding. Children are taught not only how to use technology but how to engage with it critically. That means understanding online safety, being alert to misinformation, and developing the cognitive tools to distinguish fact from falsehood—especially in an era when AI can present fiction as fact with unsettling confidence.“We are now in the process of integrating a comprehensive AI literacy curriculum for students from Year 3 to Year 13,” Mike explains. “This will cover everything from the ethics of artificial intelligence to its implications for future careers, to practical instruction on using AI as a learning partner. As educators, our responsibility is to prepare children not just for today, but for the world they will inherit.”He says educators and industry are only just beginning to understand the ways in which AI will reshape the job market.“Some people predict sweeping changes while others suggest we are entering a new phase of augmentation rather than replacement. Just as the Industrial Revolution didn’t render humans redundant—but rather made us exponentially more productive—so too, I believe, will AI amplify human potential. Tools like ChatGPT are already being used to support work, not supplant it. The result may be not more leisure, but more output—an acceleration of pace, not a slowing down.”He says that is both an opportunity and a challenge. The onus is on schools not just to keep up, but to lead: to help young people understand what AI is, how it works, and where it fits in their personal and professional futures.

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Wellbeing and digital use in schools

Student wellbeing is central to the ethos in Inspired Schools, and there are clear boundaries: mobile phones are banned, and some schools use pouches to enforce this. However, Mike says the greatest wellbeing risks often lie outside of school hours, particularly in the home environment where students have unrestricted access to devices. Here, collaboration with parents becomes vital to support healthy digital habits.“It is all about the partnership that exists between the students, their teachers and the parents,” he says.Wellbeing also includes physical activity and creative expression. Inspired follows a three-pillar model: rigorous academics, rich sporting opportunities, and expressive arts. Students engage in intra- and inter-school sports, as well as music, drama, dance, and design from early years. These experiences not only promote balance but help students understand their emotions, build friendships, and achieve meaningful accomplishments. This aligns with the PERMA model developed by psychologist Martin Seligman, which is a framework for understanding and enhancing well-being and covers positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement.“The three pillars of Inspired Group is a is a strong, rigorous academic curriculum,” Mike explains. “Adjacent to that is our sporting programme and our creative and expressive arts programme. So we have in intra-school sports, through a house programme, which gives students the opportunity to compete with their friends and peers at the level that is most appropriate to them within school exists. We also have school sporting competitions and  inter-school sports competitions and leagues. We also have a huge culture of dance, drama, music, art and design within all of the schools. All of our students have dedicated lessons from very early on in their primary years, for music, drama and sport, because we prioritise those as part of this broad and balanced curriculum.“We also provide tiered support — from initial interventions to more targeted, individualised programmes — to ensure all students receive the help they need,” he says.Inspired Group helps students connect globally with guidance and opportunities, but Mike says that the expectation that schools alone should meet all of society’s needs is unrealistic. He believes business and employers need to engage more actively with schools to help shape employable graduates, rather than expect schools to deliver them unilaterally.

Global citizenship and cultural exchange

Looking after and assimilating young people from so many backgrounds and cultures raises the issue of what it means to be a “global citizen”. Mike says the issue is complex and nuanced.Students within Inspired Group schools often come from internationally mobile families, but global mobility covers a range of people from highly privileged to forcibly displaced populations. In reality, global citizens often maintain strong ties to their cultural identities, sometimes even amplifying them in international contexts. Inspired students learn to appreciate diverse traditions through real experiences like international school exchanges, summer camps, and competitions in order to foster open-mindedness.“The three main reasons why people are in a country that is other than their domicile by birth are those at a huge financial advantage, who are looking for ways to escape punitive tax regimes in their in their home country. Then you have got people who are traveling, who have voluntarily gone to work elsewhere, and then the third and more tragic reason is often people who have been displaced and are refugees,” he says. “So the phrase “global citizen” is not one that is easily defined.”Inspired Group works hard to provide global summer camps for students, packed with outdoor pursuits, trips, visits and adventures.“Students from all around the world can choose one of the locations where we offer these global summer camps and come together,” he says. “We celebrate the multicultural aspect of our student population from around the world, rather than trying to cohere to one sort of singular, generic sense of identity. There are plenty of opportunities to exchange and experience different cultures, but not necessarily coalesce around the sense of a generic global citizenship.”Education, at its best, equips students to navigate a changing and complex world with confidence and enthusiasm. Whether choosing a curriculum, integrating technology, or preparing for an AI-driven world, the task is to empower the next generation with knowledge, judgement and adaptability—whatever the future holds. Inspired Group puts its students at the centre of learning and personal development, so that they are well equipped to adapt to the demands of a fast-moving work environment.

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