International Schools Blog

Our international schools blog is somewhere to share ideas, exchange opinions and take part in a bigger conversation about ideas and trends in the world of education. But with lots of articles, it can be hard to keep up to date, especially for busy teachers.

Society is always in a state of flux and development. But the rate of social change has accelerated over the last hundred years, thanks to technological advances and increasing connectivity. These social changes are reflected in every field, and perhaps nowhere more so than in education, where teachers are surrounded by the next generation.

Mastery is not a new approach. In fact, the concept was first introduced in 1968 by American psychologist Benjamin Bloom with his idea that if learners don’t get something the first time, then teach them again and in different ways until they do. Teaching for mastery in maths is fundamental to the UK government’s education reforms and was reflected in the 2014 English national curriculum for mathematics. The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching Mathematics (NCETM) and the Department for England (DfE) have all endorsed this evidence-based approach which is inspired by some of the leading performers in mathematics education, including Shanghai and Singapore.

There has been a long-running pedagogical debate over the benefits of a skills-based educational approach, as opposed to a knowledge-based education. And with the exponential development in new technology making huge changes to our society, it’s difficult to predict the future of employment. So, there is an increasing demand for a skills-based education, where students will be equipped with the skills they need to navigate a changing world.

School uniforms have a history stretching back to the sixteenth century. And for almost as long as the concept of school uniforms has existed, so has debate around them. Even in recent years, schools have been featured in news stories for introducing or abolishing school uniforms. Almost everyone has personal experience of either wearing a uniform or not during their school days. It’s certainly a topic that generates strong opinions.

This academic year started a whole new chapter for schools but how can we better promote a healthy reading culture? Storyteller and educational trainer, Alec Williams shares his top tips for building your school reading culture to inspire every child to become a reader.

In her first article, Paula Rowlands outlined how a smooth transition between the MYP and DP is supported by having a seamless continuity of mathematics concepts, fostering a sense of curiosity and inquiry throughout the MYP, developing problem-solving, a consistent development of ATL skills, and the integration of the graphic display calculator as a learning aid prior to starting the DP course.

Climate change is something that children and young people are very aware of. Eco-anxiety – the psychological impact of the climate crisis and fear of the future – affects enormous numbers of children and young people.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2020 Report, by 2025, 85 million jobs will be transformed by increased use of automation and robots. Furthermore, it is estimated that 97 million new professional roles more suited to the new division of labour between man, machine and algorithms, could emerge from this change.

In recent years, many institutions have experienced cuts to the arts. In the UK this has meant reduced lesson time, staff and resources for creative pursuits. In the US there has been more of a push towards traditional STEM subjects. And a study in Turkey recently found a creativity gap between students’ in school and out-of-school activity.