Sarah Santillan-Isern

Sarah is a professional educator with 20 years of experience in various international schools around the world. Her experiences in the education field include roles such as instructional support, classroom teaching, designing teaching frameworks, and curriculum coordination.

While she was born in the beautiful islands of the Philippines, Sarah grew up with a strong aspiration to see and experience the world. She pursued a career in international education leading her to expand her understanding of various curricula. A few years into her early stages of being a teacher, she decided to pursue another degree, particularly in the field of curriculum and instruction. Sarah received her post-graduate degree in Advanced Studies in the IB at George Mason University. As an active and lifelong learner, she stayed curious about the trends and methodologies in education. From this realization, Sarah pursued a Master’s Degree in Education through the University of the People, where she first came across published studies about Education for Sustainable Development.

As a Global Schools Advocate currently based in Zimbabwe, Sarah continues to leverage her student's learning by integrating the UN Global Goals into her teaching designs. Fueled by her passion for advocating for change-making in today's education, Sarah joins the Global Schools Team as Project Officer, Alumni Relations, with a vision to empower educators like her through the mission and conviction of the Global Schools Program in shaping today’s learners with skills for building a sustainable society. Her extensive multilingual and multicultural experience in international education has honed her teaching skills with diverse learners while inspiring her vision for creating learning experiences that highlight individual strengths that allow students to thrive. Beyond delivering high-quality instruction, her multicultural immersion taught her to design learning experiences that challenge biases, cultivate empathy, and foster global citizenship. This response has become her mission in education, aiming to provide students with the tools and understanding they need to embrace diversity to build a just world.

Her extensive experience in creating learning programs aligned with the learning principles and practices of the IB Primary Years Programme has enabled her to research the importance of innovative frameworks that allow students to experience and examine real-world learning. Her teaching pedagogy also highlights the value of questioning ideas, analyzing, and forming conclusions while fostering independent thinking that empowers learners from diverse backgrounds to engage with different perspectives.

In addition to teaching, Sarah engages in various causes. Her interests range from performing and running to creative projects. She actively participates in small community initiatives such as waste management projects and joins running events to raise awareness.