Head Viewpoint Education
Going global
Increasingly in today’s global society, the job market for young people is not limited to their local area, or even their home country. Well-qualifi ed young people are looking to the global arena, both for their higher education and their employment options. To ensure that children have access to the
British schools need to think more globally, says Jeremy Lewis
opportunities of this new internationalism, all schools, not just international schools, need to instil the skills needed to compete in a global arena. T is should not just be about CV-building, rather about embedding ethical and cultural awareness alongside academic and extra-curricular excellence.
From my own experience of teaching and running schools in Kuwait, Japan, Hungary, Turkey, Vietnam and England, I can certainly attest to the importance of children developing a sense of international mindedness, not just to compete in a global job marketplace, but also to learn tolerance and understanding for their fellow humankind.
In today’s globally mobile society, nationality is no longer a suitable benchmark by which to explain why some students perform better than others. T ere are certain national stereotypes associated with particular nationalities but, today these amount to nothing more than clichés. It is like having three children in the same family and expecting them all to be identical. T e culture and curriculum of the school that they attend, together with their personal and environmental expectations have much more infl uence on their performance. At ACS Egham we treat all students as individuals irrespective of where they hail from geographically.
However, a truly international
education also has to accommodate diff erent learning styles and expectations from the “tiger mums” highlighted in Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, who might demand an exclusively academic approach, to the parents that believe children can learn as much from the great outdoors than purely from a classroom. It is important to remember that it is not any one of these diverse approaches to education that hinder a child’s ability to compete in a global arena, on the contrary, an individualised approach to teaching and learning should be
encouraged because every child is
diff erent. For children to compete on a global stage it is
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important that a culture of acceptance is encouraged alongside a well-rounded and challenging education. Research that ACS International Schools conducted into the future pathways of our own alumni, found that almost all respondents felt that their international education had prepared them well for their career. T is suggests that English students’ ability – and at ACS Egham, 17% of the student body is made up of English students – to compete globally could be enhanced by a curriculum that is attuned to global issues. T e International Baccalaureate (IB), for example, looks at the whole student and encourages international mindedness. By approaching all subjects with an emphasis on pursuing cross-cultural and inter- disciplinary links, beliefs and traditions, the IB equips students with a broad appreciation of foreign cultures. Some elements of the English education system – GCSEs and A levels – are moving closer towards the breadth of study off ered by qualifi cations like the IB, Take the English Baccalaureate (E-Bacc), for example. While the E-Bacc is not a qualifi cation in itself, it is designed to encourage students to continue studying core subjects such as English and Maths to GCSE level. T is is important as a secure foundation in these core subjects is needed to compete on a global level. But where does it leave the English education system in terms of producing global citizens? Qualifi cations such as the IB makes the study of maths, language and literature, language acquisition through a modern foreign language or classical language, social science, experimental science (eg, biology, physics, chemistry or design technology) a compulsory element of the qualifi cation for both pre and post-16 education. It also recognised the value of creative subjects, ensuring that all students continue an arts-based subject, something which the E-Bacc has been criticised for. But perhaps the most important element of the IB is that it helps to enhance a student’s capacity for academic and global awareness because it incorporates cross-cultural links across all of these subjects through its overarching philosophy, namely the IB Learner Profi le. T e IB Learner Profi le provides the qualifi cation with a concept of how to develop international mindedness. It encourages students to inquire – a quality that stirs students to accept other cultures. A similar approach to education that promotes international mindedness alongside academic rigour is something that could be replicated in English schools as part of an integrated and holistic approach, and would certainly better prepare not only English, but all students for competing in the global arena.
Jeremy Lewis is the Head of School at ACS Egham International School in Surrey.
Autumn 2011 FirstEleven 21
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PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO
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