Confidently You: Women in Leadership · Rebecca Malotke-Meslin & Lynne Macziewski

Shaping the Future of All-Girls Education

·29 min·2 clips
Megan says succession planning should be about the seeds planted today, not just roles filled tomorrow.
1. Confidently You: Women in Leadership examines the evolution of the International Coalition of Girls' Schools and its work supporting girls' education. 2. Rebecca Malotke-Messlin and Lynn Macheskey host the conversation, and Megan Malotke-Messlin appears as the former global executive director of ICGS. 3. The episode asks what girls' schools need now, and Megan uses ICGS, research, and leadership development to answer that question. 4. Megan traces her path from studying international affairs and international political economy to Semester at Sea and university admissions. 5. She says Marlboro School in Los Angeles hired her for development work, and she spent more than seven years there. 6. Megan explains that a mentor and former head of school encouraged her to consider the coalition role in 2012, which became a 13-year chapter. 7. She says ICGS grew from the Girls Boarding School Association and the Girls Day Schools association, which wanted to pool resources and elevate girls' schools. 8. Megan notes that those groups formed the National Coalition of Girls Schools in 1991 and renamed it the International Coalition of Girls' Schools in 2022. 9. She says the Alliance of Girls' Schools in Australasia and the Association of State Girls' Schools in the UK merged into ICGS by 2024. 10. Lynn and Rebecca emphasize that the merger looked seamless from the outside, while Megan credits principals, headteachers, and heads at member schools. 11. Megan says the coalition now includes about 560 member schools in 26 countries, a four-fold increase over the past decade. 12. She lists day schools, boarding schools, schools with more than 2,400 students, state schools, independent schools, and religiously affiliated schools among the members. 13. Megan identifies community, collaboration, integrity, leadership, and creating schools of belonging as the shared values that unite the schools. 14. She says ICGS is the only organization in the world solely dedicated to advocating for girls' schools on a global scale. 15. Megan says ICGS sponsors and disseminates research on girls' learning and development, then helps schools use that research to advance their missions. 16. She adds that professional learning happens online, regionally, and globally, with educators and advocates exchanging ideas and best practices. 17. Megan describes the Global Leadership Institute as a 14-month fellowship for educators and professionals in girls' schools and girls' serving organizations. 18. She says the pilot launches in June with 25 students from five countries, and the design came from survey responses and a think tank of leaders from the United States, Canada, the UK, South Africa, and Australia. 19. The tone is collegial and reflective, with long-form interview pacing and frequent examples from school leadership. 20. People working in girls' schools, school leadership, or nonprofit education partnerships will get the most from this conversation.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how girls' schools build confidence, agency, and leadership.

Girls' education is framed here as a leadership issue, not a slogan. The discussion keeps circling back to agency, confidence, and how girls learn, then widens to the Global Leadership Institute and the fellows presenting action research from 26 girls' schools.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a thoughtful take on women leading girls' schools, not a pep talk.

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