Enabling the next generation of global leaders?
As they embark on their careers, today’s school-leavers and new graduates will be navigating a world of global opportunities.
Equipping children to become true global citizens
One of the most popular options for families when relocating with children is to find a place in an international school teaching either the curriculum of their home country or an international curriculum such as the International Baccalaureate (IB), owing to the ease of transition and the international transferability of the learning programmes offered.Rachael Westgarth believes that student’s exposure to different cultures is a powerful force in advocating and promoting international understanding. “Students from all nationalities are welcomed into each school,” she says. “They are taught to appreciate, value and respect all cultures, religions and languages. Students learn to see themselves as global citizens and are asked to look beyond gender, class, race, nationality and culture to understand human nature.”Related news:
- Relocating a child with special educational needs
- A single sex or mixed education?
- Exploring curriculum options
What employers want from today’s school-leavers
Kimberly-Clark’s HR director for China, Naomi Monteiro, has outlined what she believes are the qualities required of today’s graduates and school-leavers. “We are looking for top talent who want to be global leaders. We certainly don’t want them to be worried about what country they live in. Quite often, these young people don’t have a conception of where they come from, because they were born somewhere different from their parents, and now live somewhere else.” In the future, she predicts, people will be even more ‘agnostic’ about where come from, and, she felt, that is great for building global leaders.Claire Snowdon, UK co-chair of Families in Global Transition, has observed the close alignment between the key competencies needed in the world of work and the International Baccalaureate Programme, which is taught in many international schools across the world. These include, says Ms Snowdon, “the ability to work collaboratively with teams from a range of backgrounds and countries, excellent communication skills, both speaking and listening, an ability to embrace multiple perspectives and challenge thinking, and an ability to influence clients across the globe from different cultures. Time and again, we find that some of the key skills and competencies are the focus of the IB programme.”An international curriculum
Clive Pierrepont, director of communications for school group Taaleem in the United Arab Emirates, believes that, in an IB school, these competencies are fundamental and are lived and taught as part of everyday life. In fact, says Tim Waley, principal of Taaleem’s Uptown School, Dubai, “The whole cultural basis for our existence exemplifies these ideals. Staff, students and parents relate very closely to them, and as such they remain shared and expected outcomes from an education here. We see these, and others, that provide an ethical, civil and internationally educational package for young people as being integral to success in the world in which our graduates will live.”“By design, the IB provides students with a greater understanding of the world around them, so that they can live and work in a rapidly globalising marketplace,” agrees chancellor of Dwight School New York City Stephen Spahn. “Dwight families have for some time understood – and embraced – the concept of preparing their children to be internationally minded and equipped with a rich skillset that will enable them to be successful in the global marketplace.“The IB measures students around the world against the same universal benchmarks, and inspires them to become well-rounded, culturally agile, respectful, and internationally minded citizens of the world. As such, IB graduates are well-prepared to succeed as global leaders.”Henk van Hout, head of education services for Shell, oversees the company's education policy and maintains nine Shell Schools around the world, which provide education for the children of Shell staff. He believes that parents of children in Shell Schools already have an international attitude; they’ve chosen an international career and so tend to have an international mindset to learning.“Most of Shell’s international workforce are doing multiple international assignments,” he says, “and this is why curriculum needs to be compatible wherever they are based, and also needs to be designed to help children to adapt to different educational systems – from British, French, US, German and other systems. The International Primary Curriculum (IPC), for example; when it was put together, the whole architecture of the IPC was about the adaptability of learning so that it would be relevant for all children wherever they may be living.”British education: global expansion
According to the International School Consultancy (ISC Research), there are close to 9,000 English-medium international schools around the world, teaching nearly five million pupils. Nearly 4,000 of these schools offer a UK-based curriculum.John Bagust, member of the COBIS executive committee and head of primary schools at Prague British School, said, “With a perpetually changing world, there are now more people working abroad than ever before, and that change in work patterns has created a huge need for high-quality British schools abroad. As leaders of these schools, we have been given a huge challenge to ensure that these ‘global nomadic’ families, not only from Britain but from across the world, have access to the best British education can offer.”Whether they offer a British education adapted for the international market or a learning programme designed around the successful transferability of learning for globally mobile families, what schools teaching international students seem to have in common is a level of adaptability and flexibility to meet the needs of an evolving global marketplace.“What we see at the moment,” says Henk van Hout, “and have been doing for the past year or so, is that schools are now really thinking, ‘what do children need to be successful in the 21st century?’, and these schools are also asking themselves, ‘how should we change to help our children achieve this?’ Many international schools are now tackling this question – more so than many state schools, where questions like this, on the whole, haven’t arrived yet.”This article was originally published in September 2013.Relocate Global’s new annual Guide to International Education & Schools provides a wealth of advice to anyone searching for a new school in the UK and in an international setting, and offers insights into what it takes to make the right school choice.
For related news and features, visit our Education & Schools section.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory Get access to our free Global Mobility Toolkit
©2024 Re:locate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.