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“Their excitement for learning makes you forget what they’ve endured” A teacher’s remarkable story of education amid the daily struggles in a refugee camp
Editor’s letter
Welcome to The IB Global Conference, The Hague 2017
Nothing can stand in the way of education as this issue’s cover story demonstrates (p4). What is needed, though, is a determined educator and students who have an excitement and hunger for learning. Although resources are limited, and the children receive little support, learning still thrives in a refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. The country is home to over one million Syrian refugees. Are you looking for some inspiration for how you and your students can make a positive difference to society? Turn to p6 for some practical ideas. Back inside the classroom, if you’re considering adopting new approaches to learning, our thought-provoking keynote speakers might have the answers (p10). Learn about brain exercises that can strengthen compassion – and how values, beliefs and habits are developed – which can enhance learning. Break free from traditional education systems and reimagine a better future.
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his year’s theme: Inspiring Communities brings together IB educators in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The conference provides an ideal professional development opportunity for educational leaders, decision makers and practitioners from schools, universities and governments to share best practice. Motivated by the IB’s mission, the conference fosters partnership and participation, providing a forum for discussions on educational quality, pedagogical leadership and international mindedness. Over the next three days, you will discover new ideas to further develop your IB programme, learn from IB practitioners, reflect on your practice and hopefully leave with inspiration and renewed energy to bring back to your school.
Sophie-Marie Odum, Editor Follow me on Twitter: @Sophie_Marie_O IB World Editor Sophie-Marie Odum IB Editors Jenan Al-haddad, Freddie Oomkens Managing Editor Stephanie Wilkinson Production Editor Ilana Harris Designer Sandra Marques Picture Editor Dominique Campbell Reproduction Haymarket Pre-press Printed by Stephens & George
Each year, the IB hosts several conferences. The next IB Global Conference will take place in March 2018 in Singapore. For more information on upcoming events, or to read the IB World Conference Special magazines, presented throughout 2017, please visit www.ibo.org
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Contents October 2017
45 COVER STORY Refugee children can look forward to a better future thanks to an education programme
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67 INSPIRING LESSONS Five ideas for global problem-based learning
COVER PHOTO: MOHAMED ELMA’ANDI. PHOTOS: MOYASAR ALTATARI; SIMON STANMORE; LINCOLN COMMUNITY SCHOOL.. ILLUSTRATION: TIM BIDDLE
67 Read more stories online
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You can read more IB World features and community stories online at blogs.ibo. org. If you would like to contribute a feature idea or tell us about your inspiring community projects, please email editor@ ibo.org or Tweet us @IBWorldmag. Please note that all submissions are subject to editing.
89 50TH ANNIVERSARY To mark 50 years, the IB has launched an ITN documentary about how schools are making an impact around the world 1014 MEET THE SPEAKERS Our keynote speakers explore new learning approaches for the 21st century
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“A humbling and unforgettable experience”
English teacher Ashley Karlsson shares her story of volunteering in a refugee camp, helping Syrian children receive the education they deserve
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ince 2011, the Syrian civil war has caused 5.1 million people to flee Syria. It is the largest displacement crisis of our time, and has reversed two decades of educational progress. To date, 2.1 million Syrian children are out of school.
In response, Jusoor – a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Syrian refugee children through education and entrepreneurship – has several programmes within Lebanon, which is home to over one million Syrian refugees. Jusoor helps 4
students develop their English language skills. Education uninterrupted When Ashley Karlsson, English Language (EL) Teacher at IB World School Washburn High School, Minneapolis, US, learned about Jusoor, she signed up
COVER STORY experiments, and arts and crafts projects,” she says. Stationery and supplies were limited, so Karlsson bought coloured pens and markers to do fun visual activities with the children.
to its 2017 summer education programme. Staying in Beirut, Karlsson travelled by bus to teach at Jarahieh School in a mid-size refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. For four weeks, she taught English to 30 students, aged five to six years old – many who had never been to school before. “We spent each day doing peace-building work, science
Teacher training Karlsson had an assistant teacher to help with interpretation, but the language barrier was her biggest challenge. “When I wanted to know why a student was behaving in a certain way, I was reliant on others to identify a solution,” she says. Some camp staff had prior teaching experience, but others did not, so classroom and behaviour management was an issue. Karlsson led a training session on teaching with English as a foreign language for other Jusoor volunteers from different countries. “We talked about creating safe learning environments, encouraging students to take risks with language development, and supporting language input,” she explains.
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The power of hope Volunteering in a refugee camp was something that Karlsson will never forget. “A lot of people would come to work every day with smiles, hope and optimism. The students’ excitement for learning makes it easy to forget that many have endured more than any child should ever have to experience. “I’ve learned how resilient children can be and why it is so important for those of us who do have access to resources to really support the countries that have taken in huge numbers of refugees. “There are so many talented individuals and it is saddening to see how many people spend so long in camps without the tools to develop themselves.” Karlsson is unsure if she’ll return to Lebanon next summer, but she will continue working with refugees in some way. “It is important that we continue to rebuild these countries so that students can receive an education.” She adds: “Even with the programmes that are currently running, I know that there are still thousands of children out of school with limited options for education, so I would love to be involved in this field as much as possible.”
IDEAS FOR GLOBAL PROBLEMBASED LEARNING
Erin Dowd, former PYP teacher and coordinator, provides tips on how educators can help develop the next generation of leaders who will inspire world change
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2. Link local to global
ny community or school problem can be turned into an authentic and meaningful learning experience. But how do you enthuse students to feel part of the solution and empowered to make a change? Teachers are getting creative when designing globally relevant, interdisciplinary, problem-based units. Erin Dowd (pictured), former Director of Curriculum for Level Up Village (LUV), which runs arts and science courses, shares some ways IB teachers can make ‘global problem solving’ an effective learning tool.
Students should be able to clearly see the connections between global and local issues, and how they can have an impact on solving them through research and community action. For example, for their Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition project, students at Freedom 7 Elementary School in Florida, US, chose an SDG that they were passionate about and determined how the goal connects to their local community, which helped to bring about change.
1. Use SDGs as a lens
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a popular entry point for inquiry. The 17 goals and 169 targets are a call to action for everyone “to take the bold and transformative steps, which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path” by 2030. Educators can connect the goals to the IB Learner Profile and pose questions that spark thinking, such as, “Which leaders are principled in their decisions about climate change or the refugee crisis?”
Students at Lincoln Community School helped create a new library (above) for a local middle school 6
INSPIRING LESSONS
PHOTOS: IUNEWIND/123RF, OASIS, LINCOLN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
3. Try design thinking
Princeton Junior School in New Jersey, US, implemented an LUV course called Global Inventors. PYP students connected with a school in Honduras, Central America, to address unequal access to electricity and how solar energy could help. By following the design process steps of Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create and Improve, and using a computer-aided design program, they designed a solar-powered flashlight that could be used during power outages, or in areas with limited access to electricity.
Students participating in the OASIS Solar Jam race, organized by Princeton Day School
4. Let students lead
The Middle Years Programme (MYP) personal project is a fantastic opportunity for students to discover a passion and make a difference in their world. MYP student, Adoma Addo, at Lincoln Community School in Ghana, led a group of 15 students in her Global Issues Service Summit (GISS) club to organize a project to fund and build a library for a local middle school. The school had to share space with the elementary school, and this was preventing students from accessing age-appropriate resources, limiting their inquiry and learning. Adoma and her classmates arranged fundraising activities, held book drives and fixed broken shelves.
5. Start small
Global projects don’t need to be overly ambitious. Rather, by linking community problems to the larger issues with which they are connected, students will realize they have a voice and can make a valuable contribution to society. They will learn that their actions, no matter how small, can move the world closer to peace and sustainability for all. 7
Film brings to life the diversity of IB World Schools ITN documentary shares how schools are making a difference around the globe
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Kaplinsky (above, right), looks at how an IB education develops ‘the whole child’, while building international mindedness and respect for other views. Teachers share how they deliver the IB curriculum in ways that best motivate and encourage students. Sturgis Charter Public School, in Massachusetts, US, is one of the IB World Schools featured in the programme. It is part of a grassroots movement in the US
he IB’s 50th anniversary year is just a few months away and, as part of the campaign, the organization has launched a news and current affairs-style programme, produced by ITN, to explore how IB educators and students change the world through their global impact on communities. The programme, A Better World Through Education, hosted by newsreader Natasha 8
50TH ANNIVERSARY schools, and this is portrayed and film. explored in the fi lm. “We hope that fellow educators learn, by watching the programme, that the IB can transform all students, teachers and school communities. It’s fair to say we have been transformed by the IB.” Simon Shelley, Head of Industry News at ITN Productions, says: “ITN Productions is delighted to be partnering with the IB and examining these programmes of education aimed at producing curious, self-motivated confident and confi dent young people. “We’re very excited to embark on this project and engage with schools and key people across the globe who are dedicated to shaping the future of education and assessment.” Dr Siva Kumari, IB Director General, adds: “As we head into our 50th anniversary year, the IB will continue to celebrate international education with its schools, teachers and students. The that aims to make partnership with the IB Diploma ITN Productions Programme (DP) is a key element accessible to all of that effort. students – Sturgis’ mission is ‘IB for All’. “We are honoured “The effect the movement has on The school’s Executive to be included in IB schools, and on the outside Director Paul Marble says: the programme. world, is achieved through “We are beyond honoured to be included in the Our inclusion in innovation, service and community, and that is programme. Our inclusion the IB’s story how we deliver our mission in the IB’s story is surreal.” is surreal” – education for a better ITN devoted a full day to meeting with Sturgis’ students and faculty, world. We want to share that message with those who have an interest in the future of and observed classrooms and the larger education and in developing the citizens school community, to get a better sense who will build a better tomorrow.” of what ‘IB for All’ means to US public 9
Psychologist Daniel Goleman on the importance of compassion
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Education to expand the mind
Our inspirational keynote speakers challenge traditional teaching methods and explore new learning approaches for the 21st century 10
he IB’s Compassionate Systems curriculum, which is in development, will help students understand how systems – everything from interpersonal, family, organizational, economic, environmental and global – operate and fit with international mindedness and cultural respect. This is a skill set that will be increasingly needed in the future. I’ll share new data, which shows that brain circuitry – often associated with caring
“Compassion is a necessary skill for the future”
ILLUSTRATION: TIM BIDDLE
MEET THE SPEAKERS and compassion – can be strengthened through repeated mental exercises. I’ll also discuss the increasing dangers of our ‘collective blindness’ to the impacts of our daily habits, and our economic system, in terms of how things are produced and the cost to the planet, particularly on the global systems that support life – such as rising sea levels and increased global warming, for example. A new discipline, called ‘industrial ecology’ addresses life-cycle assessment. It looks at how any product can be broken down into hundreds of thousands of discrete steps, and the very fine-grained impact it has on the environment. I hope delegates will awaken their students to how systems operate, encouraging them to have an ethical rudder that will make them act in caring and compassionate ways. I’ll deliver a message from the Dalai Lama, too. I wrote a book with him for his 80th birthday, called A Force For Good. Among many other things, he says that each of us has a sphere of influence, particularly educators, that ripples outward. We can act now to change things for the better, even if we won’t live to see the final results of what we do.
Tony Wagner, from Harvard University, on how to teach innovation skills
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or the first time in human history, the skills you need for work, for learning and for citizenship have converged. But the teaching profession must develop practices that enable students to learn these skills. Academic knowledge still matters, but skills matter more, and motivation matters most. To reimagine new approaches to teaching and learning, we must empower teachers to pursue educational research and development. My presentation will discuss the transition from a knowledge economy to
the innovation era; the new skills and dispositions that are critically important for all young people today; and the implications for teachers and parents. Traditional schooling was created at the twilight of the 19th century, but there are contradictions between how we organized teaching in the last century to how we work now. The nature of high-stake tests that dominate in educational systems, are an enormous barrier to innovation in education. In response, educators need to work together with policymakers, and business and community leaders, as well as parents, to become advocates for a system that better fits the needs of our students in the 21st century.
“Academic knowledge still matters, but skills matter more, and motivation matters most”
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“It’s time to break the mould”
Ewan McIntosh, Founder of global consultancy NoTosh, on breaking rules
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hen I have conversations with school leaders, they talk in rallying terms about breaking rules, innovation and creativity. But at the same time, they’re just following rules. It’s time to break the mould. My presentation, School: at the centre of changing the world, will discuss how educational institutions can see success criteria and design constraints not as an end goal, but as a starting point. Delegates
can imagine what their school would look like if it were to exceed what the rules set out. For example, when Australia launched its first national curriculum a few years ago, many teachers thought they were going to be prevented from teaching things that they loved to teach, and that this would somehow constrain them. When NoTosh went in to work with groups of schools on curriculum redesign, and demonstrated how students might learn more from a student-led experience, we realized that the curriculum – whether it was the IB or a national 12
programme – offers huge scope for innovation, but you’ve really got to get to grips with it. The same goes for transdisciplinary learning. When teachers take a look sideways through the curriculum, it can have a huge impact. That links back to following the rules – if you only see your job as teaching one subject and getting to the exam, then learning is limited. There are teachers that collaborate with colleagues from other disciplines, bringing classes together. This results in faster and deeper learning, and students who are able to make more connections earlier in the school year. I’m going to share some recent stories from IB World Schools we’ve been working with, which have reinvented themselves to go beyond the call of duty. A lot of this is to do with the attitude with which teachers in leadership approach learning. A private school has the means to enforce change rapidly, but state schools can also turn themselves around quickly if there’s a shift in attitudes. However, it takes careful planning.
MEET THE SPEAKERS Patrick Awuah, President of Ashesi University, on education in Africa
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ducation is important to develop the future leaders that we need to achieve change. In my presentation, I’ll be discussing my journey in coming to that conclusion and the work I am doing. My background is in technology, so getting involved in education was new for me when I founded Ashesi University, a private, not-for-profit institution, in Ghana. I often get asked why I switched careers so I’ll share more
about that and will talk about my experiences with the University, too. What is happening with our students and alumni is inspiring, as well as our community service initiatives. This is very much in line with the IB’s Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) part of the IB Diploma Programme (DP). I’ll be providing examples of where all of this can lead, which I hope will be an inspiration to delegates. We recruit students who have gone through many different paths, including the IB. But we find that IB graduates are well prepared for college – they have a breadth of
perspective, as well as depth in key areas like mathematics and language that serve them well when they are in college. However, the IB is not the standard curriculum in Ghanaian public schools. I’ll also share my thoughts on what I think the IB represents to Africa and what the future could hold. Currently, the only institutions in Ghana that offer an IB programme are private high schools, but there is potential to scale the programmes across West Africa and millions of lives could be positively impacted.
PHOTO: TEMIS/123RF
“The IB has huge potential in Africa”
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PHOTOS: WAVEBREAKMEDIAMICRO/123RF; USC PHOTO/GUS RUELAS
MEET THE SPEAKERS
“Some educational processes can undermine purposeful, engaged learning” Neuroscientist Mary Helen ImmordinoYang on emotions and learning
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here are new exciting discoveries about how the brain, and its development, are shaped by culture, sense making and story telling. I’ll be discussing what this means for teachers and the effects this has on how they educate today’s youth to be global citizens. Delegates will learn about the connections
between how they teach children to understand situations, the skills that they develop for engaging with complex information and ideas, and the ethics that underpin the long-term implications for humanity. They’ll understand how to integrate those skills into teaching, as well as ideas and reflective habits-of-mind to promote purposeful citizenship, ethical reflectiveness, active participation and lifelong learning. 14
New information about the brain also gives us insights into the ways developmental experiences will shape children in the future. We can learn how to structure educational experiences so that we help develop the kind of intellectual and knowledgeable citizens that the IB aims to promote. During my presentation, I’ll share new research about mechanisms that underpin complex meaning making, and the development of values and beliefs and habits. Based on evidence, I’ll discuss the way that those mechanisms can be used to understand the constraints of effective education. For example, which processes are likely to develop strong citizens, and which could undermine purposeful, engaged learning. Helping teachers become aware of those experiences and think about more productive ways to engage students in their learning – through emotions, social buy-in and cultural context building – will give them a new source of ideas when devising pedagogical activities and assessment practices. These practices would promote deep, durable, meaningful learning.
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