DEIJ Leadership Development Cohort 2024

Trying to navigate life with curiosity, courage and connection.

Loretta Fernando-Smith is an educator with more than 20 years of experience in international schools. She grew up between cultures, moving several times during her childhood. She is also the mother of two multi-racial, Cross Culture Kids. Her experiences of straddling several cultures as a child, adult, parent and educator have made her aware of how people negotiate belonging in different spaces. This tension drives her curiosity, inquiry and research into belonging. Her study on young children’s perceptions of belonging in culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse settings is a part of the recently published Handbook of Research on Critical Issues and Global Trends in International Education.

Loretta currently enjoys exploring the world with four and five year olds at Frankfurt International School (FIS). She is an active part of her school’s Equity Justice and Belonging steering committee and has served this past year as an elected faculty member on FIS’ Board of Trustees.  Next year she looks forward to joining the FIS Wiesbaden campus as their Associate Principal and PYP Curriculum Coordinator.

Loretta is grateful and humbled to be co-facilitating the ECIS DEIJ Leadership Cohort with Michael and Yasmine.  She looks forward to exploring, learning and growing from and with you towards a more inclusive, just, sustainable world.

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”  – Arundhati Roy 

Michael Neumann is an enthusiastic educational leader, deeply committed to fostering inclusive and engaging learning environments. His international teaching journey began in Taiwan, and he is now in his seventh year in Malta, where he is currently the Elementary Assistant Principal and the Diversity, Inclusion, and Well-Being Lead at Verdala International School. Next year, Michael is excited to start his new role as a DEIJ Coordinator at St. George’s International School in Luxembourg.

During his time at Verdala International School, Michael has been actively advocating for the school’s DEIJ journey. He initiated and co-wrote the school’s anti-discrimination policy and led various workshops within the school community. A highlight of his work is coordinating Verdala International School’s Friday Focus programme, where he collaborates with monthly Diversity, Inclusion, and Well-Being (DIW) champions to develop student inquiries into various DIW themes.

Michael holds a BA in Sociology, a B.Ed in Primary/Junior Education, and an M.Ed in Educational Leadership and Policy. Through his M.Ed from the University of Toronto, he facilitated a two-month professional development programme where he explored a novel exercise that involved educators investigating the juxtaposition of gender and racial practices to promote inclusivity.

Michael is thrilled to be one of the facilitators of the ECIS DEIJ Leadership Cohort, alongside Loretta and Yasmine. He is eager to create a community of learners and leaders dedicated to unlearning, relearning, and fostering a strong sense of belonging for all.

Yasmine Aslam – Hashmi is an international school educator with 18 years of experience. She has taught in Canada, South Korea, Vietnam and Switzerland where she currently resides. Having taken on multiple roles within schools as a teacher, department head, curriculum developer, instructional coach, and an academic and action researcher – Yasmine is an inclusive and equitable schools specialist, with additional specialist in learning support and teaching English to multilingual learners. She has taught middle school Mathematics, Science, Learning Support, English as an Additional Language, and Grade 11 and 12 Theory of Knowledge. She is currently teaching Grade 6 Science at the Inter-Community School Zurich.

Yasmine is an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion both within education and the greater community. A trained United Nations (UN) Human Rights Defender, Yasmine was an invited speaker to the UN Human Rights Council with a focus on injustices within indigenous communities, and racial profiling in Switzerland. She worked with UNICEF on their Goal Area 2: Every Child Learns – Global Annual Results Report. Currently, she is the co-chair with International Schools Services (ISS) Diversity Collaborative BIPOC Voices Data Committee.

Yasmine is honoured to collaborate with Loretta and Michael as one of the facilitators for the ECIS DEIJ Leadership Cohort. She looks forward to the rich exchange of insights with every cohort member, dedicated to deepening our understanding in how to foster just, equitable and inclusive schools, where all members of the school community experiences a sense of belonging.