International Schools Blog

In autumn 2017, #Metoo began trending on social media networks. Across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, women were posting, tweeting and sharing about their experiences of sexual violence.

They flashed like beacons against the long dark sweep of the pandemic: reports of teenagers helping their teachers, parents and siblings adapt to emergency remote learning. News stories about students lobbying their city government to allocate millions for broadband and devices to help close the digital divide. Images of young adults with masks and megaphones marching for social justice every night in cities around the world.

Artists and creatives are unlikely to be successful if they create artistic pieces that require too much of our intellect to decipher when viewed. However, with the emergence of Industry 4.0, the virtual world has much to offer artists in terms of creating opportunities for them to be the ‘first’. The first to show; the first to create awareness; the first to sell… and then the first to upsell.

Just 18 months ago, online teaching wasn’t part of the traditional primary or secondary educational landscape. But 2020 gave teachers a crash course in delivering education via a host of different mediums. Classes everywhere were being run on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype and Google Hangouts.

Have you heard the story about the guy who spent 10,000 Bitcoins on two pizzas? It’s true. In 2010, when almost no one had heard of ‘cryptocurrencies’, a developer named Laszlo Hanyecz convinced his local pizza shop in Florida to accept the blockchain-based digital currency in exchange for two pizza pies. If Laszlo still had those 10,000 Bitcoins today, they’d be worth $587 million, more than half a billion US dollars. Some expensive pizzas, wouldn’t you say?

In this article, Kai Vacher, Principal of British School Muscat in Oman explains how in early 2020, his school developed an idea that at the time seemed novel, innovative and creative: delivering a whole curriculum through a mix of online and face-to-face teaching. Of course, within a few months, the whole world was doing likewise. But what British School Muscat created was not about overcoming a pandemic, but something more fundamental: about international schools and their staff using their skills to help broaden access to education across their host country using a blended approach to teaching and learning they called FlexEd.

When a three to five-year-old child steps into a Reception or Early Years class, it is often the first time they have experienced a dedicated learning environment. It’s a key moment: what children learn at this age and developmental stage can have a lasting impact on their success later on in school.

An academic qualification is only part of what is necessary for university study. To ensure students are fully prepared for the rigour and demands of degree study and equipped with all the skills needed for success at university, the ultimate aim of educators and parents is to develop ‘well-rounded students’, which of course, goes beyond the achievement of A and A* results.

Homework is a polarising topic. It can cause students to feel stressed or anxious. It adds extra pressure on teachers, who are often already struggling with their workloads. And, some parents resent the way homework can cut into family time at home.

International students need more than just ‘knowledge’ to be successful. It’s not enough to learn facts and methods. It’s also about knowing when to apply the knowledge and methods, about having the mental dexterity to deal with the unexpected, about being able to think through a problem. These things will be crucial in the exam. In other words, it’s about skills as well as knowledge.