BA, MA, PGCE
Voicu holds degrees and certifications across 3 disciplines. He received my BA in Philology and History from his home country in Romania. He holds a MA in English Language and Literature from Assumption University (Thailand) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Literacy and Learning from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia). He specialized in Positive Psychology at the Positive Psychology Center from University of Pennsylvania (USA) and is a Certified Positive Psychology & Mindfulness Practitioner and Coach. Voicu is currently studying to become a mental health expert and is pursuing a MSc in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience from King’s College London (Class of 2023).
Voicu has been a teacher all his adult life. He started teaching straight out of Teacher’s College and has been teaching internationally since 2002. Before moving to China in 2018, he taught in Thailand and Qatar. His teaching career followed his qualifications path. He taught English and American Literature for many years but then he switched to his second major and started teaching History. He especially enjoyed teaching Asian History. As Voicu also had a background in educational psychology, in 2015 he decided to refocus his teaching interest on psychology and has taught the AP and IB curricula in the international schools system ever since.
When the pandemic started he had just finished my certification in Positive Psychology and he immediately started implementing the scientific-based theory and concepts of positivity in his daily teaching. Voicu soon realized that the mental wellbeing of students is often forgotten in favour of higher GPA, college application, and societal pressures. So, in parallel with his teaching duties, he initiated a Positivity Center in order to help students thrive, develop resilience, and offer mental health support. While discussing these projects with the leaders of BSB Shunyi, he realized that our vision with regards to teaching philosophy and the importance of the students’ mental wellbeing aligned perfectly.
As a former competitive archer who has participated in many international archery competitions (including the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, the Indoor Archery World Cup in Singapore, and the Asian Archery Grand Prix in Bangkok), he is highly interested how mindset influences peak performance in sports. He hopes to open an archery club at BSB Shunyi and impart with the students the awesome sport and art of archery. One of his other interests is survival psychology and calisthenics. During his free time, he is engaged in an auto-ethnographic project by studying Chinese calligraphy, ink wash painting, and playing the guqin.
