About

Lee Parker

Lee Parker has spent 25 years in international education, most of them in Asia. He started out as a psychology teacher, and his career has taken him from the UK and the Netherlands to Indonesia, Japan, China, Vietnam and now Hong Kong.

Along the way he has been a Head of Department, a Head of Humanities, a curriculum coordinator, an Assistant Principal and a Principal. He has led IB workshops, twice written a course textbook, and worked on school accreditation. He holds a master’s degree and the NPQH, and is currently completing an MBA.

Much of his senior leadership has taken place in difficult times. In Shenzhen, he joined the senior team in 2020 and helped lead a school community through three years of the pandemic: closures, lockdowns, online learning, testing, and the slow work of bringing everyone back together. As a Secondary Principal in Vietnam, he again found himself leading a community through a period of real challenge and change.

In both places the work was the same at heart. Decisions had to be made quickly and with incomplete information, for students, families and staff whose needs did not always line up. His focus was on keeping people informed, supported and looked after. He learned that in a crisis people remember less of what you decided than how you treated them while you decided it.

After Vietnam, Lee chose to step back into the classroom, teaching IB Psychology in Hong Kong. It has been a chance to reconnect with students, sharpen his teaching, and reflect on what those years taught him about leading through uncertainty and moving forward afterwards.

This site grew out of that reflection. It is a place for thinking rather than answers: on school leadership, building culture, honest conversations, and the lessons that challenging times teach you if you let them.

You can find Lee on LinkedIn.

Experience