Staff profile

Experience and research interests:

Dr. Taylor earned her PhD in history at Georgetown University where she taught in the Liberal Studies Degree programme from 2001 until 2008 when she moved to Switzerland. She currently serves as the Director of Education and the Institute of Learning and Teaching at the International School of Geneva (Ecolint). The International School of Geneva (Ecolint) is comprised of three campuses each offering a bilingual (French English) education from pre-Reception through Year 13. Its student body is highly diverse, representing a wide range of neurodiverse attributes, 140 nationalities, and 80 first languages. As the first International School and birthplace of the International Baccalaureate, the school has retained a spirit of pedagogical innovation that continues today in collaborative work with Durham University, the University of Geneva, UNESCO and a range of specialists in various domains of pedagogical practice. As Director of Education and the Institute of Learning and Teaching, Dr. Taylor works with the school principals in developing pedagogical strategies across the eight schools and to disseminate educational research, drawing from the relationships we have established with external experts and universities.

Global Citizenship Education

Dr. Taylor is currently engaged in research in the area of Global Citizenship Education and International Mindedness. Having trained as a historian with a specialization in women’s education in eighteenth-century France, Dr. Taylor’s initial work addressed the concepts of virtue and citizenship in the Enlightenment. That interest in fundamental concepts of rights, obligations and the intellectual and philosophical contexts in which they develop remains essential to her current focus on contemporary issues.

Promoting Research Informed Practice in Education (RIPE)

In collaboration with Durham University, the University of Geneva, Evidence Based Education, the Association des Écoles Privées Genevoises, Wellington College China and Dulwich International we have established the RIPE network, the purpose of which is to bring together university researchers and classroom practitioners in close collaborative relationships that allow us to collectively construct deep understanding of teaching and learning in a plurilingual and pluricultural context. Long term aims of the network include the dissemination of publications on collaborative and school based research in a range of domains as we seek to empower practitioner researchers and build a shared body of knowledge that challenges notions of traditionally legitimate sources of knowledge about pedagogy in the complex context of international education.

Inclusive pedagogy

Developments in educational research, cognitive psychology, and neurobiology that have contributed to expanding our understanding of how learning takes place should have an impact on teaching and learning. This is especially significant given the particular challenges associated with the linguistically and culturally diverse populations that may be found in both international and state schools. Dr. Taylor participates in a research group on co-teaching for inclusion sponsored by Next Frontier Inclusion and the United Nations International School in Hanoi.

Publications

 “Promoting RIPE: Research Informed Practice in Education,” forthcoming International Schools Magazine: Spring 2020.

 “What do we Mean by Research Informed Practice in Education.” Global Insights: November 2018. https://issuu.com/ecischools/docs/globalinsights_november2018

 Alderson, S. Dommen, B. et E.. Taylor, K. “Société des Amis : L’égalitarisme en action.” Choisir . N°689. oct.-déc. 2018.

 Review. “Rethinking the History of Education: Transnational Perspectives on its Questions, Methods and Knowledge. Thomas S. Popkewitz editor. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, vol. 62.3, Fall 2016.

 “Autonomy, Gender and Intellectual Development in the Eighteenth Century: The Pedagogical Writings of Madame d’Épinay and Madame de Genlis,” in Children and Childhood: Practices and Perspectives. Chandni Basu and Vicky Anderson-Patton eds., © Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2013.

 “Marie Goegg,” in Tiffany K. Wayne. ed. Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World: A Global Sourcebook and History. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2011.

 “The Influence of Early Modern Epistemology on the Education of Girls in Eighteenth-Century France,” in Negotiating Childhoods. Lucy Hopkins, Wendy C. Turgeon & Mark Macleod Eds., Inter-Disciplinary Press Oxford, United Kingdom© Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2010.

 " The Articulation of Emotion in Eighteenth-Century Théâtre d’éducation," EMF: Studies in Early Modern France. Vol. 13. Eds. Anne L. Birberick and Russell J. Ganim (Charlottesville, VA: Rookwood Press, 2010) 204-228.

 Companion to the French Novel, Facts-on-File, 2007.

 Karen L. Taylor and James B. Collins, eds., Early Modern Europe: Issues and Interpretations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2005. Editorial introductions to sections on Changes in Religion and Cultural Life, The Revolution of the Mind, and The Roles of Women in Early Modern Europe; co-authored general introduction.

 Karen L. Taylor and Dominique Picco, “Géographie à l’intention des demoiselles de Saint-Cyr” in Anne-Marie Cocula and Josette Pontet eds., Sous le sceau des réformes: entre continuité et rupture. Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2005.

 “Saint-Cyr, vertu féminine, et évolution des notions de citoyenneté dans la France du dix-huitième siècle,” in Chantal Grell and Arnaud Ramière de Fortanier eds., L’Éducation des jeunes filles nobles en Europe XVIIe –XVIIIe siècles. Presses Universitaires de Paris Sorbonne, 2004.

 “Les Cahiers de géographie de Saint-Cyr: Le Nouveau Monde,” in Les Yvelines à travers leurs archives. Archives Départementales Conseil général des Yvelines, Versailles; Paris: Somogy éditions d’art, 2003.

Conference Papers, Presentations and Lectures

Workshop: “Teaching and Learning for the Global Citizen”, CIS Symposium on Intercultural Learning, Leiden, Netherlands, January 2020.

Alliance for International Education Conference: “What do we mean by Research Informed Practice in Education?” Geneva, October, 2019.

Keynote address: “International Mindedness in Education,” Durham University School of Education Reflective Practice Conference, Durham, UK, January 2019.

Soirée débat: Éthique religieuse et éducation. PFIR Genève, Novembre, 2018.

Workshop: “International Mindedness in Education: Defining our aims.” CIS Symposium on Intercultural Learning, Portugal, March 2018.

Keynote address: “International Mindedness in Education,” Durham University School of Education Reflective Practice Conference, Durham, UK, January 2018.

“International Mindedness in Education : Past and Future, ” Annual Conference of the History of Education Society, Winchester, UK, November 2017.

“International Mindedness and Multilingualism in International Education, Seminar, University College London, Institute of Education, London, UK, July 2017.

Research Seminar: “International Mindedness,” Durham University School of Education, Durham, UK, May 2017.

“A Geography of Knowledge: Saint-Cyr’s cahiers de géographie, Annual Conference of the Society for French Historical Studies, Washington, DC, April 2017.

“The Discovery of Childhood,” Global Conference on Childhood, Mansfield College, Oxford University, UK, July 2014.

“Adolescent Autonomy, Gender, and Intellectual Development in the Eighteenth Century: Two Case Studies,” Global Conference on Childhood, Mansfield College, Oxford University, UK, July 2012.

“The Gendered Spheres of Silence and Voice in Eighteenth-Century Pedagogical Literature,” 13^th International Congress for Eighteenth Century Studies, Graz, Austria, July 2011.

“The Influence of Early Modern Epistemology on the Education of Girls in Eighteenth-Century France,” Global Conference on Childhood, Mansfield College, Oxford University, UK, July 2010.

“Sensationist Epistemology and Eighteenth-Century Pedagogy: A Case Study.” Annual Conference of the Society for French Historical Studies, St. Louis, MO, March 2009.

“Women’s Education and Political Culture of the Old Regime,” Annual Conference of the Western Society for French History, Long Beach CA, October 2006.

“Reading in the Provinces: The Library Inventory of the Collège de Castelnaudary, 1792,” International Institute of Social History European Social Science History Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March 2006.

“Education, Female Virtue and the Notion of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France,” Annual Conference of the Western Society for French History, Newport beach, CA, October 2003.

“The Articulation of Emotion in Eighteenth-Century Théâtre d’éducation,” Annual Conference of the Western Society for French History, Baltimore, MD, October 2002.

“Saint-Cyr’s Cahiers de géographie and the Shifting Boundaries of Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century France, Annual Conference of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 2001.

“Saint-Cyr, vertu féminine, et évolution des notions de citoyenneté dans la France du dix-huitième siècle,” By invitation of the Archives Départementales des Yvelines and the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines, May 2001.

“Theater and Female Education at Saint-Cyr,” Conference of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Portland, ME, October, 2000.

“Saint-Cyr and its Libraries,” Annual Conference of the Society for French Historical Studies, Washington DC, March 1999

“The State and the Education of Noble Girls in the Eighteenth Century: Smol’ny and Saint-Cyr,” Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Boston, MA, November, 1996.

“The Revue des Deux Mondes and the Literary Figures of Nicolaevan Russia, 1830-1855,” Congress of Learned Societies, St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada, May 1996.

“N.I. Pirogov, Baron Korf, K.D. Ushinski and the Philosophy of Education in Nineteenth-Century Russia,” Congress of Learned Societies, Montreal, Canada, June, 1995.

“La Maison Royale de Saint Louis at Saint-Cyr: Liberal or Conservative Reform in Seventeenth-Century France?” Phi Alpha Theta Southeastern Regional Conference, Washington, DC, April, 1994.