Meet the Board

Executive Director

Margot Long was appointed as the inaugural Executive Director of OISESA from 1 May 2022. An educator of global standing, Margot held the position Deputy Head – Academics & Staff Learning at St John’s Preparatory School for 17 years. In addition to leading the academic and staff professional learning programmes at St John’s, Margot headed up the Teacher-Intern Development Programme.

From 2007 until 2020, Margot also worked as a Research Advisor and then the Programme Co-Ordinator for the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC) Global Action Research Programme. This international schools’ coalition, comprised of approximately 300 schools in 28 countries, bestowed on Margot one of its highest recognitions for her service – the Hawley Jarvis Award. Due to her excellent stewardship of this programme, the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS) turned to her to help establish their Global Action Research Programme (GARC).

Margot has taught in both primary and high schools, as well as at the tertiary level. She headed up the English Department at The Hill High School and at Queens High School, Johannesburg and then taught English and Social Sciences at St Katherine’s School, Johannesburg. She has also worked as an author and editor at Macmillan South Africa and at Wits University Press. An English, French, German, and Italian graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Languages, amongst other qualifications, Margot obtained her Higher Diploma in Education from the University of South Africa. She has also participated in courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Education – Making Thinking Visible and The Future of Learning. More recently, she completed a course in Mentorship at Northwest University.