ICT MATTERS > CASE STUDY
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familiar classroom staple for going on two decades now, interactive whiteboards are old news for most British schools. While you probably can’t imagine working without it, there is much functionality that can be neglected by your average teacher and it’s important not to take the device for granted. One school that is grateful to even have electricity, let alone a suite of whiteboards, is the Ullens School in Nepal. Established in Kathmandu in 2006, it is the first International Baccalaureate (IB) school in the country and the first to introduce interactive whiteboard technology and accessories to its classrooms, thanks to a donation from Promethean. As a result, Ullens School is paving the way for educational development across the region and holds a progressive approach to education, against all odds. Founded by Belgian philanthropist Baron Guy Ullens and his wife Myriam, in a bid to help establish better education in Nepal, the school has successfully exhibited an exceptionally high standard of teaching and learning at an international level, while at the same time, welcoming children from deprived backgrounds to its mix. A quarter of the 420 pupils are either orphans or come from an underprivileged background on a scholarship basis, while the remaining 75% pay fees to attend the school and supplement the poorer children’s tuition. This sustainable approach to education allows for an educational opportunity that would otherwise be unattainable for the impoverished children and allows the school to grow its student base year on year. Furthermore, the school’s inclusive ethos, partnered with interactive technology in the school’s classrooms, has had a very positive effect on the pupils’ learning and development. STEPPING UP TO THE CHALLENGES It hasn’t been all smooth sailing since Ullens School’s founding. The school has to contend with electricity shortages, and frequent power cuts, which has led to a lack of technology in its schools. Every organisation in the country that is reliant on electricity has little choice but to have its own back-up power system, which can be quite costly. However, the school felt that technology was so essential to creating an interactive learning environment and educating students to become globally aware, that it took the steps to invest in this. Another challenge was teaching the teachers to use the interactive technology for the first time, though David FairbairnDay, head of education market development at Promethean, saw this as more of a positive. “In a way it was an advantage for the school because the teachers were fresh, enthusiastic and had no preconceptions about how technology could or couldn’t be used in education,” he says. “That allied with the school’s very strong commitment from a management perspective to invest in the teacher support training, which is a very key component.” This extends out into the wider community, as the school runs an outreach programme to train and support teachers in Nepalese government schools, as well as a centre for educational development centred on training managers and administrators in the country’s schools. “Part of their philanthropic activity is very much trying to drive the quality of education in Nepal generally as well as in their own school,” Fairbairn-Day adds. As a result of its hard work, the school has been nominated for the UNESCO Wenhui Award For Educational Innovation Nomination and is currently waiting to see if it has made the shortlist. TECHNOLOGY AIDS INTEGRATION Not only have the interactive whiteboards improved the learning experience, but they’ve also helped to bridge the gap between the richer and poorer pupils, while allowing them to embrace their culture and learn Nepali. Children who are normally too shy to participate in class find it easier to do so by way of a digital pen and board. Meanwhile the boards provide a fun and inclusive atmosphere in the classroom, which allows for children of different backgrounds to work better together. Teaching in Nepali is fundamental to the ethos of the school and ensuring students are confident in their mother tongue is an
important goal as English becomes the default language in most of the country’s schools. The interactive whiteboards help with this, as the pupils use the boards to learn dynamically with a host of colours, sounds and movements. The lack of Nepali software content is sometimes a challenge, so teachers have used graphics that are customarily used in teaching English, such as storyboards and flip charts, and adapted them into Nepali. As a result of this dedication, Nepali is now taught at the school at the IB Diploma Programme level and the same content is being developed in Chinese – essential for the many pupils from the school who choose to go to university in China. Teachers in languages, geography and mathematics have also reported that students are more attentive, focused and enthusiastic
I’m not sure the UK always leverages new ideas to better utilise technology. Ullens has made do with very little for longer periods of time when using the boards and there is more of a two-way communication in the classroom, allowing them to delve deeper into subjects. In addition, where there is a lot of information to absorb and if the subject is difficult for the children to visualise, such as learning about a different culture, the interactive whiteboards can be used to stimulate discussion, making students active participants in the lesson. “The Ullens School’s approach has enabled the teachers at the school to educate pupils far beyond the borders of Nepal, bringing places and issues around the globe to life within the classroom and reinforcing international values,” comments JeanYves Chandler, chief executive of Promethean. “The results speak for themselves and demonstrate the value of the technology when used in conjunction with a learning environment cohesive to its key values.” LEADING BY EXAMPLE There is much schools in the UK can learn from the Ullens School. One element Chandler highlights is the line it straddles between public and private – as an independent school that actively reaches out to include a certain number of children from poorer backgrounds. “As we think about drivers for success in new educational systems, I think that more private/public partnerships are going to be crucial,” he predicts. The second area UK schools could learn from is the ability to make the most of the technology they have. “In the UK, whilst we’re much more advanced in terms of the usage of technology in the classroom, I’m not sure that we’re always leveraging new ideas to better utilise that technology and I think at Ullens they’ve [made do with] very little,” he continues. “There’s a lot of opportunity still to innovate around these technologies that are in the classroom and they shouldn’t be taken for granted at any time.” This is particularly essential as budgets become constrained. “It’s a beautiful little palace,” says founder Guy Ullens of the school building. His future plans for the school include incorporating around 110 more pupils into a new Kindergarten and doubling pupil numbers. To accommodate this, he plans to enlist the help of celebrity Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to build an extension. “If we want to advertise our schools, we can’t do that ourselves,” Ullens explains of the decision to recruit Koolhaas, “but if we have a top architect to talk about his efforts in Kathmandu, it’s going to be different.” Between a philanthropist, leading technology firm and famous architect, this little school in Nepal is set to make an impact that will be felt around the world.
INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 43