Paul Penfold is an educational leader and consultant, currently serving as Head of School at British Concordance International School (BCIS) in Thailand. Guided by his personal mission, “Enabling young people to flourish,” his four-decade career emphasizes invisible leadership built on culture, trust, and human-centered stability. His professional journey began with military service in Germany and Singapore, followed by teacher training and classroom practice in the UK. He later founded an international NGO delivering humanitarian aid and literacy programs for displaced communities on the Thai–Cambodian border, working with UNHCR and TEAR Fund, an experience that shaped his belief in education as a fundamental human right.
A qualified teacher with a Master of Education, Paul is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. For over 20 years, he has served as a senior consultant to global agencies including UNWTO, the EU, ADB, and LuxDev, contributing to national curricula and HR strategies across Asia and the Caribbean. An early pioneer in educational technology, he won Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Inaugural Teaching and Learning Innovation Award in 2009 for virtual learning environments in Second Life. Since 2023, he has led BCIS from inception to a thriving community of over 380 students, integrating AI literacy with character education through a practitioner-scholar mindset.
In an exclusive conversation with K12 Digest, Paul Penfold talks about how leadership in education is shaped less by visibility and more by the quiet work of culture, trust, and responsibility. Drawing from a career that spans military service, humanitarian work in refugee camps, curriculum development across continents, and pioneering work in educational technology, he reflects on how schools can remain deeply human in an age increasingly defined by AI. Throughout the conversation, he offers grounded advice for students and young professionals navigating an uncertain future with clarity and purpose. Below are the excerpts of the interview.
Looking back on your career, what have been the key milestones and turning points that shaped your educational philosophy?
Looking back on my career, the key milestones that shaped my educational philosophy began with military service in Germany and Singapore during the 1960s, a period of my life that provided a foundational sense of discipline and global perspective. This was followed by a transformative period between 1980 and 1985 in the refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border. Coordinating adult literacy and education programmes for the UNHCR and TEAR Fund for displaced Hmong and Cambodian populations established my core conviction that education is fundamentally about human dignity and possibility. My journey continued through the “Open Learning revolution” of the mid-eighties, where I developed a solid grasp of distance learning methodologies, further reinforcing my belief that learning should be accessible and flexible.
As Head of School of a young international institution, what major challenges have you faced in establishing BCIS’s identity and culture and how have you turned those challenges into opportunities?
As the Head of School at a young institution like British Concordance International School (BCIS), the major challenge has been establishing a distinct identity while navigating rapid growth from 34 to over 380 students. I have turned these challenges into opportunities by positioning BCIS as a “school for the community” and intentionally embedding the BRAVE values—Belonging, Respect, Aspiration, Vitality, and Excellence—into daily school life. By focusing on “invisible” leadership—the trust nurtured and the culture built through small, repeated actions like greetings and feedback—we have created a stable environment where a diverse student body of 29 nationalities can flourish.
Technology and AI are rapidly changing education. How are you integrating emerging technologies at BCIS, and what do you see as the biggest opportunities and risks for K–12 schooling?
Technology and AI are integrated at BCIS through the development (in progress) of a future-ready 2030+ curriculum model that prioritises AI literacy. Drawing on my pioneering research into virtual learning environments, such as the PolyU Virtual Hotel in Second Life, I view technology as a workplace simulator that prepares students for a world where collaboration with intelligent machines is the norm. The biggest opportunity for K–12 schooling is the ability to provide immersive, experiential learning, yet the significant risk is the potential loss of the “human” element; therefore, we ensure that technology serves to enhance human connection and imagination rather than replace it.
Leadership in schools often means balancing tradition and innovation. How do you approach this balance, especially in an international setting where global best practices and local culture may intersect?
In an international setting, I approach the balance between tradition and innovation by bridging Western educational models with local cultural contexts. This is informed by my research into how Asian culture affects learning and my experience developing national curricula in countries like Myanmar and Vietnam. At BCIS, we maintain the rigour of traditional UK standards, such as IGCSE and A-Levels, while remaining sensitive to local traditions and ensuring that our strategic vision is always tempered with relentless practicality and cultural rapport.
Outside your professional work, what personal values, interests or passions drive you and how do those inform how you lead and engage with students and staff?
Outside my professional work, I am driven by personal values of community, empathy, and imagination. A recent creative writing project, “The Dim Knight Chronicles,” which I am co-authoring with my son, Jacob, has been a great way to get inside the thinking of a primary school child. This interest in storytelling informs how I engage with students and staff, as it reflects my belief that imagination is fundamental to education. I am also an avid reader, contributor to Linkedin, and still continuing my own lifelong learning journey which I encourage my staff to consider too. I love to camp with friends and my son, and during the cool season in North Thailand we camp 8 or 9 weekends in the mountains near to Chiang Mai.
For students at BCIS and young professionals aspiring to work in education or leadership, what advice would you give them about building meaningful impact in an evolving educational landscape?
For students and young professionals, my advice is to focus on building meaningful impact through human-centred responsibility. I encourage them to be “practitioner-scholars” who can bridge the gap between theory and practice and keep grounded and focused on more than just the work, to ensure the human factors remain central to their thinking and their career. Success in an evolving landscape comes from noticing effort in others, staying “human” despite the weight of responsibility, and standing firm on values even when no one is watching.
Looking ahead three to five years, how do you envision BCIS evolving, academically, culturally and technologically and what role do you hope to play in that evolution?
Looking ahead three to five years, I envision BCIS evolving into a fully CIS-accredited institution that leads the way in integrating character education with advanced AI literacy. My goal is to continue as a forward-looking leader who fosters an environment where the culture is felt through trust and stability. I hope to see the school further solidify its role as a community hub that prepares students not just for exams, but for meaningful lives in an uncertain, rapidly changing world.