Matthew Jonathan Raggett (born 1972) is a British educator, writer and the former Headmaster of The Doon School, the all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, India. He succeeded Peter McLaughlin in 2016, becoming the tenth headmaster of the school.[1][2][3] Raggett left Doon in January 2020[4] and returned to Germany. He was the fourth Englishman in Doon's history to head the school and was a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, UK.[5] Jagpreet Singh succeeded him as headmaster, and joined the school in June 2020. He is currently the Director of the Thuringia International School (ThIS), Weimar, DE.
Matthew Raggett | |
|---|---|
 Raggett at the IIT Delhi Dec 2017 | |
| Born | 1972 (age 51–52) Bristol |
| Occupation | Academic, writer, former headmaster of The Doon School |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Newcastle University (BSc) University of Worcester (PGCE) Charles Sturt University (MBA) |
| Subject | Mathematics, Theoretical Physics, Philosophy of Education |
| Spouse | Lindsay Raggett |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Education
editRaggett went to the University of Newcastle and received a BSc in Physics and Applied Maths, a PGCE from the University of Worcester and then an MBA from Charles Sturt University in Australia.[6][7] He credits the time he spent working for the United World Colleges, at Pearson College and UWCSEA, Singapore, as instrumental in his development as an international educator.
Career
editRaggett was the Secondary Principal of Leipzig International School from 2009 – 2016. He then joined the Doon School, succeeding Peter McLaughlin as the tenth Headmaster of the all-boys Round Square school in Dehradun.[8][9] In April 2018, he featured prominently in Indian Summer School, a Channel 4 documentary and educational experiment in which five working class British boys spent a six months in Doon with the purpose of improving their grades.[10][11]
At Doon, Raggett worked to improve the quality of teaching and learning, grow the provision for pastoral care and implement the Cambridge IGCSE assessment for Grade 10 that the previous board and Headmaster had introduced. This was in addition to developing the already existing International Baccalaureate and Indian School Certificate[12] programmes. Along with the board of governors and the DSOBS, Raggett focused on making more scholarships available to those in need and on making the school more accessible to boys from parts of India that were less represented at Doon in the past decade, especially the Northeast and South India.[13][14]
He wrote Your Child's First Steps Towards Success and How Your Child Can Win in Life both published by Juggernaut Books in 2019. In January 2020, he stepped down as the tenth headmaster of Doon, citing the need to return to Germany to be closer to his daughter and wife. Raggett leads an educational consultancy, MR Ed Partners, based in Leipzig, Germany, which helps global institutions improve their pedagogical practices in various ways, including better design and architecture.[15] MR Ed Partners started working with VITALIS European Projects in 2020 to develop their offerings for students and teachers coming to Germany through the Erasmus programme. Raggett servd as the Director of Education for VITALIS European Projects from 2021 to 2023.
Raggett is a member of the GRJ Education team which provides real-time, case based leadership development for middle and senior leaders for schools in the UK, particularly HMC and SCIS schools, and for British schools overseas and international schools.
Raggett is also working with the EdTech company Dextres in India as a member of their School Success Team. Dextres is creating the ecosystem and process to train and develop world class teachers and academic leaders for India and the region. Since July 2024, he has been working with Sparkl Edventure Sparkl as the Chair of their Academic Council. Sparkl is an online 1:1 bespoke support service for students doing the IBDP and IGCSE assessments that was started by the founders of Aakash and Meritnation.com.
In July 2023 Raggett became the Director of the Thuringia International School (ThIS), Weimar, DE. ThIS is Thuringias only non-profit International School and serves the Erfurt, Weimar, Jena region.'It is accredited by the Council of International Schools, an IB World School offering the PYP, MYP and DP and a proud member of the Schule ohne Rassismus network.
Bibliography
edit- How Your Child Can Win in Life (2019), Juggernaut Books, ISBN 978-9353450342
References
edit- ^ Read. "It's a spartan life at 'the Eton of India'". The Spectator. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- ^ "After 8 decades, Doon School looks to South, East for students | dehradun". Hindustan Times. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- ^ "Educationists deliberate on enabling students to meet 'VUCA' challenges | lucknow". Hindustan Times. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ http://www.doonschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2559-final-weekly.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "The Doon School". HMC. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
- ^ "Raggett is Principal of Doon School". Tribuneindia.com. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- ^ "Kedar child survivors say education helping them rebuild lives | Dehradun News – Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ "Matthew Raggett joins The Doon School as 10th headmaster – Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- ^ Duttagupta, Ishani. "Dehradun: Keeping the traditional schools company in the rash of new-age institutions". The Economic Times. Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ "Indian Summer School review – five terrible teens are sent to India's equivalent of Eton | Television & radio". The Guardian. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ "Indian Summer School – All 4". Channel4.com. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ Duttagupta, Ishani. "Dehradun: Keeping the traditional schools company in the rash of new-age institutions – The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ "Doon School: Doon School looks for more boys from south | Bengaluru News – Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ "The Doon School comes hunting for exceptional boys | Vadodara News – Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ "MR Ed Partners". mredpartners.com.
Further reading
edit- How Your Child Can Win in Life: The Doon School Headmaster on Raising Kids Who Love to Learn by Matthew Raggett, Juggernaut Books, 2019 ISBN 978-9353450342
- Chhota Hazri Days: A Dosco's Yatra by Sanjiv Bathla, Rupa & Co., 2010 ISBN 978-81-291-1694-9.
- The Corporeal Image by David McDougall, Princeton University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-691-12156-7.
- Doon, The Story of a School, IPSS (1985) edited by Sumer Singh, published by the Indian Public Schools Society 1985.
- Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School by Sanjay Srivastva, published by Routledge 1998 ISBN 0-203-98027-1.