Ecolint Education Newsletter February 2014

Education Newsletter Bulletin pédagogique February 2014

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

1

Contents Nelson Mandela’s vision of education in Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela ou De l’éducation dans Un long chemin vers la liberté Conrad Hughes

2 16

The Charterhouse-Ecolint teacher exchange Liz Waldman (Ecolint), Michael Gillespie (Charterhouse)

31

A values-based education / Les valeurs au centre Alejandro H. Rodriguez-Giovo

36

Nouvelles de l’Institut de l’Apprentissage et de l’Enseignement Alison Ball, Frédéric Mercier

41

STEM Learning Michael Winter

44

CoWriter: supporting writing acquisition through human-robot interaction 45 Sévérin Lemaignan, Shruti Chandra (EPFL) Les ateliers d’échanges de pratiques de la Journée pédagogique de la Fondation Conrad Hughes

48

Lanterna & Ecolint Hugo Wernhoff (Lanterna)

48

SEN Conference Teresa Nunn

50

Rapports Annexe VI

51

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

2

Nelson Mandela’s vision of education in Long Walk to Freedom Conrad Hughes Introduction This article synthesises the approach Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) took to education in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, published in 1994. I think it is valuable to examine the theme of education through the lens of Mandela’s autobiography because the reflections are rich and made at many levels. What I will show is that in his autobiography, Mandela presents education at three analytical levels that all point to the fundamental question: what is an education for?

First, we see that education transcends the institution: it goes beyond the school and the university into the streets. Mandela shows us that a competent person does not necessarily have an academic education and that, on the contrary, institutionalised education can lead to compromise, quietism and moral ambiguity. This was particularly salient in the context of apartheid South Africa, where that educational systems lacked moral legitimacy, but as the examples will show, the question has implications that go well beyond South Africa and make us think hard about the extent to which we can reach worthwhile educational goals through institutionalised means.

Second, education is power. Mandela’s lifelong learning helped him to survive and ultimately vanquish the system of white minority rule in South Africa. Education not only has the ability to liberate individuals from the shackles of poverty, it gives them insights that allow them to build new realities and imagine new worlds. This might seem obvious, but the way it is articulated in Long Walk to Freedom is subtle, suggesting that an education for a better world is as much a question of attitude as it is one of access.

Thirdly, education is about cultural transmission. I will cite those passages from Long Walk to Freedom that speak of African history, cultural practices and ancient traditions and how these are communicated and learned. These educational moments of cultural transmission take place through oral history, group discussion, performance and art.

In my conclusion I hold that these three pillars of education (its de-institutionalisation, potential for empowerment and vehicle for cultural transmission) are essential to understand today, not only because they bear the testimony of an extraordinary historic leader, but because they give form to the oft-cited statement “education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” that Mandela made at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2003. I will argue that in a globalised world where neo-liberal positivistic assumptions are driving educational discourse (education for technological growth, a globalised economy made up of extreme corporate values and a type of new age Futurism), we need to stand back and reflect on the stories of those that have gone before, for whom education points to more enduring values such as past wisdom, higher-order moral imperatives, social justice and ideological freedom.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

3

Hannah Adlide, Campus des Nations

Education transcends the institution Mandela’s early education took him, successively through missionary schools, from a oneroom school in the village of Mqhekezweni (1994, p. 20) to the “far grander” (p. 38) Clarkebury, then Healdtown, which “in 1937 […] was the largest African school south of the equator” and finally the university of Fort Hare, “both home and incubator of some of the greatest African scholars the continent has ever known” (p. 52). Mandela says of these experiences that “the learning environment of the missionary schools, while often morally rigid, was far more open than the racist principles underlying government schools” (p. 52).

Indeed, it is not of insignificance that Mandela escaped Bantu education and, due to this, was allowed to flourish intellectually – albeit within the confines of a colonial model of education.

Part One of Long Walk to Freedom is filled with anecdotes that describe the various experiences Mandela had at these institutions. The reader senses the colonisation of the mind and European acculturation that missionary education entailed: Dr Wellington […] a stout and stuffy Englishman […] would walk on stage and say: ‘I am the descendant of the great Duke of Wellington, aristocrat, statesman, and general, who crushed the Frenchman Napoleon at Waterloo and thereby saved civilization for Europe – and for you, the natives’. At this we would all enthusiastically applaud, each of us profoundly grateful that a descendent of the Great Duke of Wellington would take the trouble to educate natives such as ourselves. (pp. 43-44) Yet it is here that Mandela suggests that the seed of his political activity is planted as we see in a discussion with student called Nyathi Khongisa after the students have listened to a lecture by General Jan Smuts on why South Africa should fight alongside the British in WW2: During one session, a contemporary of mine […] condemned Smuts as a racist. He said that we might consider ourselves ‘black Englishmen’, but the English had oppressed us at the same time as they tried to ‘civilise’ us. Whatever the mutual

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

4

antagonism between Boer and British, he said, the two white groups would unite to confront the black threat. […] A fellow student whispered to me that Nyathi was a member of the African National Congress [ANC], an organization that I had vaguely heard of but knew very little about. (p. 58) Essentially, it is the experiences out of the classroom that mark the young Mandela the most: the mingling of different Africans steadily draws him beyond his Thembu and Xhosa identity to a broader sense of what it means to be African, the way certain black teachers stand up to the white head of school teach Mandela the lesson that “a black man did not have to defer automatically to a white, however senior he was” (p. 45). These observations help to form his notion of humanity. Mandela also notices habits and behaviours that build his metacognitive awareness (or ability to learn about learning): “I saw many young men who had natural ability, but who did not have the self-discipline and patience to build on their endowment” (p.

55).

At this stage of his life, Mandela idealises the importance of an academic education and says that “a university degree, I believed, was a passport not only to community leadership but to financial success” (p.59). However, an extremely significant event at Fort Hare, recounted in detail, means that he will not complete his degree there. Mandela is elected to the Student Representative Council unfairly as the elections have been boycotted by the students and he therefore resigns. However, “Dr Kerr, a graduate of Edinburgh University, […] virtually the founder of Fort Hare and […] a greatly respected man” (p. 61) threatens to expel him from Fort Hare if he does not accept what is, effectively, an illegitimate position. Mandela struggles with the moral dilemma somewhat in the vein of St Augustine in The Confessions: “shaken” and spending “a restless night”, he asks himself “was I sabotaging my academic career over an abstract moral principle that mattered very little?” (p. 61). Finally, he will not budge and rather than compromise his values he refuses to stand on the council and is expelled by Dr Kerr.

Ironically, it is Mandela’s expulsion from Fort Hare that marks one of the most profound elements of his early education – education in the deep sense of growth or more specifically ‘leading out’ - as it is the first of many acts of self-sacrifice he will make, later defining him as the freedom fighter who will risk his life and spend over 27 years of his life in prison for his beliefs. It is also because of this decision that he travels to Johannesburg and follows a path other than the one set for him in the Transkei. What these passages from Long Walk to Freedom suggest is that an institutionalised education is not necessarily the path to freedom or justice but on the contrary to compromise and selfishness, and we see that Mandela will not buckle under the injustice it suggests.

In Johannesburg, Mandela meets Walter Sisulu, a lifelong friend and high-ranking member of the ANC. He is surprised to learn that “Walter Sisulu had never gone beyond Standard VI” (p.80) and points out that he “found that many of the most outstanding leaders had never been to university at all”, this being a lesson from Fort Hare that he has to “unlearn” in Johannesburg. The point is made more emphatically in describing ANC stalwart Gaur Radebe:

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

5

Gaur was an example of a man without a BA who seemed infinitely better educated than the fellows who left Fort Hare with glittering degrees. Not only was he more knowledgeable, he was bolder and more confident. Although I intended to finish my degree and enter law school, I learned from Gaur that a degree was not in itself a guarantee of leadership and it meant nothing unless one went out into the community to prove oneself. (p.85) The point is, naturally, linked to the type of education that a black person could expect in South Africa in the 1940s and the fact that institutional discourses were ingrained with racism and iniquity. Years later, on Robben Island, Mandela compares prison to school in remarking that the brutal prison warder, Piet Badenhorst “ like a teacher who takes over a rowdy class, […] sought to discipline the student he regarded as the principal troublemaker” (p. 545).

However, the reflections are not only significant in the context of 1940s South Africa but should speak to all of us about the limits of an institutionalised education to bring about meaningful change since the moral principles, risk-taking and freedom of spirit of those who have the capacity to transform society will often conflict with the stayed established ritual of an academic education and in some instances might even go against the grain in uncomfortable ways. We should remember those historical geniuses who represented thinking outside of the confines of the institution, people like Shakespeare who did not attend university, or the many brilliant minds who were expelled from school including Shelley, Frost, Einstein and Dali.

In Johannesburg, Mandela continues to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand where “despite the university’s liberal values, [he] never felt entirely comfortable there” (p.

103). Part Two of Long Walk to Freedom describes how one of Mandela’s law professors holds that women and Africans are not meant to be lawyers and how many whites make him feel that he did not belong there (p. 104). Here again, it is not the written curriculum or the institutional discourse that shape Mandela’s moral education directly but the interactions he has with fellow students, usually outside of lectures in late night discussions: Wits opened a new world to me, a world of ideas and political beliefs and debates, a world where people were passionate about politics. I was among white and Indian intellectuals of my own generation, young men who would form the vanguard of the most important political movements of the next few years. (p. 105) These reflections bare testimony to the real educational experience Mandela had at Wits, for though he failed his examinations several times (p. 171), it was here that his political consciousness developed substantially.

What these extracts show us is that the idea that an education means qualifications falls short of education in the broader, more spiritual sense of developing character. Mandela reiterates the point during the treason trial: “to a narrow-thinking person, it is hard to explain that to be ‘educated’ does not only mean being literate and having a BA, and that an illiterate

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

6

man can be a far more ‘educated’ voter than someone with an advanced degree” (p. 299).

This is a citation that we might wish to ponder over in a modern educational climate where literacy and numeracy are seen, understandably, as essential but, worldwide, few assessments are done to test traditional knowledge systems, a person’s moral fabric, wisdom or non-academic competences.

Under the oppression of the apartheid government, it is clearly the school of life that teaches Mandela his most valuable lessons. The accounts of political actions and decisions are strewn with reflections that suggest this: in discussing the relationship between the ANC’s executive and grass-roots level support, “it was one of the first times that I saw it was foolhardy to go against the people. It is no use to take an action to which the masses are opposed, for it will then be impossible to enforce” (p. 153); in prison he shares with the reader lessons learnt empirically about the human spirit: “strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation” (p. 494), “prison was a kind of crucible that tested a man’s character.

Some men, under the pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while other revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be” (p. 539).

The trials and tribulations that Mandela faces and his reactions to them are testimony to his remarkable person and ability he has to extract valuable lessons from life, including seemingly unremarkable incidents: he draws salient symbolic parallels between the struggle for freedom and Antigone’s rebellion when playing Creon in a prison production of Sophocles’ play (pp. 540-541), when Badenhorst, upon leaving Robben Island, wishes him “good luck” he philosophises that “all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency, and if their hearts are touched, they are capable of changing” (p. 549), when tending his garden on Robben Island he learns “through trial and error” (p. 582) as he draws metaphorical parallels between his work as a leader and a gardener (“the leader must take responsibilities for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved and eliminate what cannot succeed” [p. 583]).

Passages like these (there are many) show the reader that the self-taught learner in Mandela is what distinguishes him from others, as he is constantly alert and reflective, a genuine inquirer at all times. He remarks “it is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another” (p. 194). Indeed, to read Long Walk to Freedom in itself is a powerful educational experience as the lessons are real and the way they are presented to the reader full of the wit and perspicacity that made Nelson Mandela such an extraordinary human being. Again, all this shows that the ingredients of a remarkable education are not just about curriculum and diplomas, they are about lessons that are drawn from life itself.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

7

Julia Einsweiler, Campus des Nations

Education is power Of course, it is not because Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom recognises that true wisdom and conscientiousness often exist beyond the walls of the institution that he totally disregards what an institutional education has to offer. On the contrary, Mandela sees the battle for access to quality education as paramount in the struggle, making it clear how a conventional school education can empower and liberate individuals and communities of people. A seminal passage reads: Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that the child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. (p. 194) This is why one of the most pernicious apartheid acts to be passed was the 1953 Bantu Education Act whereby missionaries were to relinquish their schools to the Native Affairs Department so that, from then on, Africans would be “trained to be menial workers” (p. 195).

This Act was accompanied by the 1959 Extension of University Education Act “which barred nonwhites from racially ‘open’ universities” (p. 270).

However, whilst school and university education would be a vital ideological battleground for the ANC, Mandela realises that strategically political action is a more immediate route: “‘education is all well and good,’ Gaur said, ‘but if we are to depend on education, we will wait a thousand years for our freedom” (p. 99). It is here that we see a different type of learning grow and sustain the liberation struggle, away from the impoverished classrooms of Bantu education. Indeed, Gaur Radebe brings the theory that Mandela learned in the classroom to life: “I had taken two courses in modern history at Fort Hare, and while I knew many facts, Gaur was able to explain the causes for particular actions, the reasons that men and nations had acted as they did. I felt as though I was learning history afresh” (p. 99). The extract is important because it shows the power of education when revitalised, contextualised and made relevant. More especially, we see how Guar Radebe brings understanding to

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

8

history, and it is with that understanding that there is the power that allows for analysis and application.

In the 1950s, when Mandela becomes a banned person, he elaborates a series of political lectures for ANC members: “there were three courses, ‘The World We Live In’, ‘How We Are Governed’ and ‘The Need for Change’ (p. 168). These courses in politics and economics are supplemented by courses on African history and culture, delivered by imprisoned ANC activists awaiting trial in 1952 (p. 234). Robben Island becomes known as “the University” because of the rich exchange of ideas that circulate among political prisoners: “we became our own faculty, with our own professors, our own curriculum, our own courses” (p. 556).

Courses in Marxism, political economy, the history of the ANC, the history of the Indian struggle are described as a syllabus, “the style of teaching was Socratic in nature; ideas and theories were elucidated through the leaders asking and answering questions”.

This informal education of that time does not only take place amongst ANC members, Mandela takes any opportunity to educate white South Africans about the history of the organisation and what he stands for, and his long speeches from the dock in the treason and Rivonia trials are extremely historical and didactic. On Robben Island, in discussing the prison warders he says “I wanted to demystify the ANC for them, to peel away their prejudices” (p. 542); “it was ANC policy to try to educate all people, even our enemies: we believed that all men, even prison service warders, were capable of change, and we did our utmost to try to sway them” (p. 497). The first day of talks with the Nationalist government in 1990 are described as “more or less a history lesson” (p. 693) with Mandela explaining that “the ANC from its inception in 1912 had always sought negotiations with the government in power”. These quotations show how education outside the school and university had a crucial role to play in the struggle against apartheid. More specifically, knowledge of history that had been suppressed by propaganda and censorship, played a crucial role in the shaping of opinions (p. 498) and reaffirms Mandela’s “long held belief that education was the enemy of prejudice” (p. 601) .

Education as power comes through Long Walk to Freedom in another, manner: Mandela is a genuine lifelong learner and his continual study of the law allows him insights into the legal system that empower him and those who he represented as an attorney while free and in prison.

Throughout the Rivonia trial, Mandela continues to study for his LLB by correspondence with the University of London (p. 443). Recognising the importance of study, the political prisoners on Robben Island enrol in correspondence courses and despite being deprived of decent study conditions, “within months, virtually all of us were studying for one qualification or another. At night our cell block seemed more like a study hall than a prison” (p. 489). This course of action proves to be crucial for it allows the men reading materials to which they would otherwise not have had access: “the authorities attempted to impose a complete blackout; they did not want us to learn anything that might raise our morale or reassure us that people on the outside were thinking of us” (p. 492). Knowledge of the law in particular is described as power as it allows knowledge of the legal system that challenges the prison

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

9

warders: “Mac had studied law and was adept at putting the authorities on the defensive” (p.

515).

Mandela’s reading of Nadine Gordimer, John Steinbeck, and Leo Tolstoy in prison (p. 585) further develop his philosophical reflections on leadership and social justice while his constant efforts to learn the languages of South Africa are borne from deep thoughts on identity and culture: Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; once cannot share their hopes and aspirations; grasp their history; appreciate their poetry or savour their songs. I again realized that we were not different people with separate languages; we were one people, with different tongues”. (p. 97) Education in Long Walk to Freedom represents power in social, ideological, historical and cultural realms. It is the spirit of lifelong learning that Mandela incarnates and propagates in and outside any formal educational setting that characterises not only his personal development, that of his family (his children are saved from Bantu education through private schooling [p. 198] and then outside South Africa in a boarding school in Swaziland [p. 505]), but much of the core struggle against apartheid: the June 16 massacre in 1976, known as “Soweto Day” came about after students took to the streets to protest against a Secondary School curriculum that was half in Afrikaans, the language of oppression.

The passages that I have termed “education is power” resonate with the theories of Antonio Gramsci, Paulo Freire and Frantz Fanon: education empowers when it is developed away from the institutional organs of ideological propaganda; it is here that it offers the oppressed an alternative to the master narrative that enslaves them. Whether this means escaping Bantu education by self-educating or organising underground educational systems, it is the thread of education that allows the resistance to remain linked to its historical roots.

This is particularly valuable to reflect upon today in a world where the media plays a powerful role in shaping opinions through normalising constructs such as “free market economy”, “developing world”, “ “illegal immigrant”, “anti-democratic” or “terrorist” to give but a few examples. These officialised narratives, if unchallenged, constitute reality for millions of people. It is the counter-narratives of whistle-blowers such as Julian Assange and John Pilger that represent an alternative story. The theme of education in Long Walk to Freedom reminds us not only of the valuable testimony of apartheid South Africa but also calls out for the underground stories that feature less prominently in history text books such as those – to mention just a few - of the Aborigines, the Native Americans, Armenians, Palestinians, Burmese, the stories of the slave trade and colonisation.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

10

Maxine Ntambwe, Campus des Nations

Education as Cultural Transmission So what was it that made Nelson Mandela such an exceptional leader? The question that haunts us about great figures of history can be asked of him, was it his upbringing, his lineage, the circumstances, his education? Part Three of Long Walk to Freedom, “Birth of a Freedom Fighter” starts with a remarkable passage that tells of Mandela’s decision to dedicate his life to the struggle. The inception remains elusive: I cannot pinpoint a moment when I became politicized, when I knew that I would spend my life in the liberation struggle. […] I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. (p. 109) So trying to pinpoint the birth of Mandela’s political conscience is difficult, but what his autobiography does tell the reader is how formative his childhood experiences were in rural Transkei. Indeed, the traditional African education that Mandela received clearly laid the path that he would take to his destiny as president of South Africa. In Part One (“A Country Childhood”), in speaking of the chieftaincy, Mandela wrote: “My later notions of leadership were profoundly influenced by observing the regent and his court. I watched and learned from the tribal meetings that were regularly held at the Great Place” (p. 24).

In these meetings “it was democracy in its purest form. […] The foundation of selfgovernment was that all men were free to voice their opinion and were equal in their value as citizens”. The young Mandela observes the different speakers and clearly draws valuable lessons on oratory from this:

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

11

I noticed how some speakers rambled and never seemed to get to the point. I grasped how others came to the matter at hand directly, and who made a set of arguments succinctly and cogently. I observed how some speakers used emotion and dramatic language, and tried to move the audience with such techniques, while others were sober and even, and shunned emotion. (p. 25) He goes on to make it clear how essential these observations were for his education in a famous passage: As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the Great Place. I have always endeavoured to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I hear in the discussion. I always remember the regent’s axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go on ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. (pp. 25-26) Indeed, it is useful to remember how distinctly African Mandela’s style of leadership was as this debunks the view one hears in certain corners that traditional African society is not congenial to democracy because of tribal organisational structures and chieftaincy when quite clearly these passages show that this was not the case in traditional Xhosa society at all. It was in Mandela’s speech at the Rivonia trial that he articulated clearly the value of his cultural heritage in his world view: The structure and organization of early African societies in this country fascinated me very much and greatly influenced the evolution of my political outlook. The land, then the main means of production, belonged to the whole tribe and there was no individual ownership whatsoever. (p. 391) The experiences Mandela has as a youth in the Transkei do not only expose him to models of leadership but to history from an African perspective. The most ancient of all, Chief Joyi, educates Mandela about the Thembu, the Pondo, the Xhosa and the Zulu: “In pantomime, Chief Joyi would fling his spear and creep along the veld as he narrated the victories and defeats” (p. 26). He also tells Mandela of the coming of the white man (“abelungu”): I did not yet know that the real history of our country was not to be found in standard British textbooks, which claimed South Africa began with the landing of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. It was from Chief Joyi that I began to discover that the history of the Bantu-speaking peoples began far to the north, in a country of lakes and green plains and valleys. (p. 27) Mandela’s traditional circumcision at the age of 16 is described in detail (pp. 30-36). It is through this rite of passage that, according to Xhosa ritual, he becomes a man but the chapter ends with a reflection: “looking back, I know that I was not a man that day and would not truly become one for many years” (p. 36). Many years later, on Robben Island, Mandela

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

12

agrees to secret circumcision for young Xhosa inmates. He reflects that circumcision “was a cultural ritual […]. It was a rite that strengthened group identification and inculcated positive values” (p. 511). This is an important step in the education of Xhosa males and the discussion around circumcision school in Long Walk to Freedom is significant as we see traditional values carried through society as fundamental educational values.

The deep messages that Mandela received from his traditional upbringing would not leave him. Instead of allowing this cultural heritage to create tribal divisions between him and other Africans, which would have suited the strategy of divide and rule that the apartheid government thrived on, mainly in the creation of the homelands and the way the mines were managed, Mandela saw commonality and a sense of African humanity in the stories of other ethnic groups. A powerful passage resonates with this sense of African nationalism as it describes a lecture on Zulu music by an ANC prisoner at the time of the treason trials: Yengwa draped himself with a blanket, rolled up a newspaper to imitate a sword, and began to stride back and forth reciting lines from the praise song. All of us, even those who did not understand Zulu, were entranced. Then he paused dramatically and called out the lines [that] liken Shaka to a great bird of prey that relentlessly slays its enemies. At the conclusion of these words, pandemonium broke out. Chief Lutuli, who until then had remained quiet, sprang this feet and bellowed ‘Ngu Shaka lowo!’ (‘That is Shaka!’), and then began to dance and chant. His movements electrified us, and we all took to our feet. […] Suddenly there were no Xhosas or Zulus, no Indians or Africans, no rightists or leftists, no religious or political leaders; we were all nationalists and patriots bound together by a love of our common history, our culture, our country and our people. In that moment , something stirred deep inside all of us, something strong and intimate, that bound us to one another. In that moment we felt the hand of a great past that made us that we were and the power of the great cause that linked us all together. (pp. 234-235) It is here that we clearly experience one of the most electric moments of Mandela’s lifelong education, not in the classroom or over a book but through the living memory of ancient history in traditional dance and song. The passage is one of the most important in Long Walk to Freedom because it not only gets to the core of the spirit of unity that characterised Mandela as a political figure and led to the freedom of South Africa, but in it we see the seeds of what might one day liberate South Africa further still to bring white and black culture together in honour of a common African culture and history.

Mandela’s message of unity expressed in this passage speaks not only to South Africa but to the whole continent of Africa, for it is through such unity that the continent might seek respite from the internecine wars, exploitation of resources, dictatorships and corruption that fetter the continent and stand in the way of the harmony that is needed for it to federate and consolidate its natural wealth.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

13

Conclusion Nelson Mandela’s vision of education in Long Walk to Freedom makes profound statements on the only real question there is: what is an education for?

Clearly education has the power to liberate the individual socially, politically and philosophically, to open and sharpen the mind and to develop one’s personality. In a context where there is no freedom and/or no access to knowledge, it is the will to carve out an education that will determine the success of this goal. The accounts Mandela gives of deinstitutionalised education, knowledge as empowerment and traditional education are all bound by his willingness to learn, to extract values and lessons from events and to generalise principles from experience. In this regard, the purpose of an education is lifelong learning; it creates the conditions that make an individual passionate about life, determined to continue in the face of adversity and always ready to re-evaluate, re-think and re-adjust.

Whether a school or a curriculum could ever create such conditions for this to be possible remains to be seen but one is tempted to quote Oscar Wilde’s flippant but disturbing “education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught”.

At the same time, we see the tremendous power of the narratives of the past and the structure of ancient social organisation on Mandela’s world view. In this regard, the purpose of an education is to transmit the past to the present for future generations. We are reminded how important the subject of history is, not only ancient African history for Mandela, the unofficial narrative of the ANC’s historical past whose survival was so important in the struggle against apartheid, but the inestimable historical value of a book like Long Walk to Freedom for the rich historical legacy it leaves behind. In an age where discourses on education, particularly in popular media, place a significant if not disproportionately large emphasis on new technologies, higher-order cognition such as creativity and critical thinking and learning to learn, there is less sound and fury about history. Now that Nelson Mandela has passed away, the responsibility to transmit his story to younger generations lies with us, a clear and vital goal of education remains, quite simply, that of the telling of history.

Long Walk to Freedom is full of wisdom and humility that make its educational discourse at once far less complex and far more demanding than those of the cluttered world of textbooks, websites, homework assignments and examinations that students move through if they spend their million minutes in school. The final message with which the book leaves the reader in its last few pages, pages that shimmer with the vision and light of one of the world’s most inspirational leaders, is the true and enduring goal of an education: education for freedom, whether it be psychological, philosophical, economic or political. It is the legacy of Nelson Mandela that will surely inspire us to move for our own freedom and the freedom of others with whom we share life, be it by courageous acts for truth and liberation, selfless acts of generosity or modest ones that simply acknowledge another person’s dignity. The greatest educational message we have is the memory of Nelson Mandela himself and what he stood for. When one closes the last page of the book the overwhelming thought, a deeply educational thought, is surely that if each one of us could act as he did in the smallest of ways, there would be more light in the world, more peace, more freedom.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

14

Works Cited Mandela, N.R. (1994). Long Walk to Freedom. London: Abacus.

Chloe Rene, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

15

Nelson Mandela ou De l’éducation dans Un long chemin vers la liberté Conrad Hughes Introduction Cet article synthétise le regard que porte Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) envers l’éducation dans son autobiographie Un long chemin vers la liberté, publiée en 1994. Je pense qu’il est profitable d’étudier le thème de l’éducation par le biais de cette autobiographie, car les réflexions qu’elle contient sont riches de sens et portent sur plusieurs niveaux. Ce que je montrerai est que dans son livre, Mandela présente l’éducation sur trois niveaux d’analyse, qui tous mènent à cette question fondamentale : à quoi sert l’éducation ?

Premièrement, nous voyons que l’éducation transcende l’institution : elle s’étend au-delà de l’école et de l’université, jusque dans les rues. Mandela nous montre qu’une personne compétente ne possède pas forcément de formation académique et qu’au contraire, l’éducation institutionnalisée peut mener au compromis, au quiétisme et à l’ambiguïté morale. Ceci était particulièrement prégnant dans le contexte de l’Afrique du Sud sous le régime d’apartheid, pendant lequel les systèmes éducatifs étaient dépourvus de légitimité morale ; cependant, comme des exemples le montreront, la question a des implications qui vont bien au-delà de l’Afrique du Sud et qui nous font durement réfléchir quant aux possibilités que les moyens institutionnels nous donnent pour atteindre des objectifs éducatifs valables.

Deuxièmement, l’éducation est un pouvoir. L’inextinguible soif d’apprendre de Mandela l’a aidé à survivre et, en fin de compte, à terrasser le système de domination blanche d’Afrique du Sud. L’éducation a non seulement la capacité de libérer les individus des chaînes de la pauvreté, elle leur donne également des idées qui leur permettent de construire de nouvelles réalités et d’imaginer de nouveaux mondes. Cela semble peut-être évident, mais la manière dont cela est dit dans Un long chemin vers la liberté est subtile, de par la suggestion que l’éducation pour bâtir un monde meilleur est autant une question d’attitude que d’accessibilité.

Troisièmement, l’éducation, c’est aussi la transmission culturelle. Je citerai des passages d’Un long chemin vers la liberté qui parlent de l’histoire de l’Afrique, des pratiques culturelles et des traditions anciennes, et de la manière dont ces dernières sont communiquées et apprises. Ces moments éducatifs de la transmission culturelle se produisent par le truchement des contes, des discussions de groupe, des performances artistiques.

Dans ma conclusion, j’affirmerai que ces trois piliers de l’éducation (sa désinstitutionalisation, son potentiel pour favoriser l’autonomie et son utilité en tant que véhicule de la transmission culturelle) sont essentiels pour comprendre notre époque, non seulement parce qu’ils portent le témoignage d’un dirigeant extraordinaire, mais aussi parce qu’ils donnent forme à la déclaration que Mandela a faite à l’université du Witwatersrand en 2003 que « l’éducation est

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

16

l’arme la plus puissante que nous puissions utiliser pour changer le monde ». J’avancerai l’argument que, dans ce monde globalisé où les hypothèses positivistes néo-libérales soustendent le discours éducatif (l’éducation pour la croissance technologique, pour une économie globalisée construite sur des valeurs entrepreneuriales extrêmes et un type de futurisme New-Age), nous devons prendre du recul et réfléchir sur les histoires de ceux qui sont passés par là avant nous et pour lesquels l’éducation concerne des valeurs plus durables telles que la sagesse du passé, des impératifs moraux supérieurs, la justice sociale et la liberté de pensée.

Alexa Bryan, La Châtaigneraie

L’éducation transcende l’institution Durant ses premières années scolaires, Mandela a fréquenté successivement des écoles missionnaires, l’école du village de Mqhekezweni, qui n’avait qu’une seule classe (p. 18), Clarkebury, un collège qui « était beaucoup plus grand » (p. 32), puis Healdtown, « en 1937 […] le plus grand lycée africain au-dessous de l’équateur » (p. 36), et enfin l’université de Fort Hare, qui « a accueilli et formé quelques-uns des plus grands universitaires africains que le continent ait connus » (pp. 42-43). Mandela dit de ces expériences que « l’environnement scolaire des établissements de mission, tout en étant rigide sur le plan

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

17

moral, était souvent plus ouvert que les principes racistes sous-jacents des écoles gouvernementales » (p. 42). Il n’est pas sans importance que Mandela a échappé à l’éducation bantoue et que, grâce à cela, il a pu s’épanouir intellectuellement – quoique dans les limites d’un modèle d’éducation colonial.

La Première Partie d’Un long chemin vers la liberté est remplie d’anecdotes qui décrivent les diverses expériences que Mandela a vécues dans ces établissements. Ce sont pour le lecteur des descriptions saisissantes de la colonisation de l’esprit et de l’acculturation qu’entrainait l’éducation missionnaire européenne : Dr Wellington […], un Anglais robuste et collet monté […], montait sur l’estrade et disait de sa voix grave de basse : « Je suis le descendant de l’illustre duc de Wellington, aristocrate, homme d’Etat et général, qui a écrasé le Français Napoléon à Waterloo et a ainsi sauvé la civilisation pour les Européens – et pour vous, les Indigènes. » Nous devions applaudir avec enthousiasme, profondément reconnaissants qu’un descendant de l’illustre duc de Wellington prît la peine d’éduquer des indigènes comme nous. (p. 36) Mandela suggère que c’est pourtant là que la graine de son activité politique a été plantée, comme on peut le lire dans une discussion qu’il a avec un étudiant nommé Nyathi Khongisa, après que les élèves ont assisté à un cours donné par le Général Jan Smuts sur les raisons pour lesquelles l’Afrique du Sud devait se battre aux côtés des Britanniques pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale : Au cours de l’une [de ces sessions], un garçon de mon âge, Nyathi Khongisa, qu’on jugeait très intelligent, accusa Smuts d’être raciste. Il dit que nous pouvions nous considérer comme des « Anglais noirs », mais que les Anglais nous avaient opprimés en même temps qu’ils essayaient de nous « civiliser ». Quel que fût l’antagonisme qui opposait les Boers et les Britanniques, dit-il, les deux groupes blancs s’uniraient pour affronter la menace noire. Les conceptions de Khongisa nous stupéfièrent parce qu’elles nous semblaient dangereusement extrémistes. Un camarade me chuchota que Nyathi était membre de l’African National Congress (ANC), une organisation dont j’avais vaguement entendu parler mais dont je ne savais pas grand-chose. (pp. 4748) Pour l’essentiel, ce sont les expériences vécues en dehors de la classe qui ont le plus marqué le jeune Mandela : le fait de côtoyer différents Africains le tire régulièrement hors des frontières de son identité Thembu et Xhosa pour le conduire à une compréhension plus large de l’identité africaine, de la manière dont certains enseignants noirs se dressent devant le principal de l’école en enseignant à Mandela la leçon « qu’un Noir ne devait pas automatiquement obéir à un Blanc, même s’il s’agissait de son supérieur » (p. 38). Ces observations l’aident à former sa conception de l’humanité. Mandela remarque également des habitudes et des comportements qui construisent sa conscience métacognitive (autrement dit sa capacité à apprendre sur l’apprentissage) : « J’ai vu quantité de jeunes

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

18

hommes avec de grandes capacités naturelles mais qui manquaient de discipline et de patience pour tirer profit de leurs dons » (p. 45).

A ce stade de sa vie, Mandela idéalise l’importance d’une éducation universitaire, il croyait « qu’un diplôme universitaire était un passeport non seulement pour la communauté dirigeante mais aussi pour la réussite financière » (p.48). Cependant, à Fort Hare, un événement d’une extrême importance et qui est relaté dans les détails, signifie qu’il n’y achèvera pas son diplôme. Mandela est désigné pour siéger au Conseil représentatif des étudiants, mais de manière inéquitable, car les élections ont été boycottées par les étudiants.

Dès lors, il démissionne. Cependant, « le Dr. Kerr, diplômé de l’université d’Edinbourg, […] virtuellement le fondateur de Fort Hare et […] entouré d’un grand respect » (p. 50) menace de le renvoyer de Fort Hare s’il n’accepte pas ce qui est, dans les faits, une position illégitime. Mandela est en proie à un dilemme moral un peu dans la même veine que celui de Saint Augustin dans Les Confessions : « troublé » et passant « une mauvaise nuit », il se demande : « Etais-je en train de saboter ma carrière universitaire à cause d’un principe morale abstrait qui comptait si peu ? » (p. 50). Finalement, il ne cède pas et, plutôt que compromettre ses valeurs, il refuse de faire partie du conseil et est renvoyé par le Dr Kerr.

Ironiquement, c’est son expulsion de Fort Hare qui représente l’un des épisodes les plus marquants des premières années de l’éducation de Mandela – une éducation à prendre dans le sens large de développement ou plus précisément « d’affranchissement » – car il s’agit du premier d’une longue liste d’autosacrifices, ce qui le définira plus tard comme un combattant de la liberté qui risquera sa vie et passera plus de 27 ans de sa vie en prison pour ses convictions. C’est également dû à cette décision qu’il ira à Johannesburg et suivra une voie autre que celle qui lui était tracée dans le Transkei. Ce que suggèrent ces passages d’Un long chemin vers la liberté est que l’éducation institutionnelle n’est pas nécessairement la route menant à la liberté ou la justice, mais au contraire, celle du compromis et de l’égoïsme ; et l’on constate que Mandela ne cédera pas sous la pression de l’injustice qu’elle sous-tend.

Alexa Bryan, La Châtaigneraie

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

19

A Johannesburg, Mandela rencontre Walter Sisulu, un haut dignitaire de l’ANC avec lequel il sera ami toute sa vie. C’est avec surprise qu’il apprend que « Walter Sisulu n’avait pas fait d’études » (p.64) et il souligne qu’il avait « découvert que beaucoup des responsables de premier plan n’étaient jamais allés à l’université » ; c’était encore une leçon de Fort Hare qu’il devait « oublier » à Johannesburg. Ce point est rendu plus saillant encore dans la description qu’il fait du pilier de l’ANC Gaur Radebe : Gaur était l’exemple même d’un homme sans diplôme mais qui semblait infiniment plus formés que ceux qui quittaient Fort Hare avec des titres ronflants. Il était non seulement plus instruit, mais il avait également plus d’audace et plus d’assurance.

J’avais l’intention de passer ma licence et de m’inscrire à la faculté de droit, mais je n’en ai pas moins appris auprès de Gaur qu’un diplôme n’était pas en soi une preuve de supériorité et ne signifiait rien si l’on n’allait pas faire ses preuves dans la société. (p.68) Cette remarque est naturellement liée au genre d’éducation à laquelle pouvait s’attendre une personne noire dans l’Afrique du Sud des années 1940 et au fait que les discours institutionnels étaient encrassés par le racisme et l’iniquité. Des années plus tard, sur Robben Island, Mandela compare la prison à l’école en faisant remarquer que le brutal gardien de prison Piet Badenhorst agit « comme un professeur qui reprend une classe de chahuteurs, et qui cherche à mater le meneur » (p. 418).

Cependant, ces réflexions ne revêtent pas seulement une importance dans le contexte de l’Afrique du Sud des années 1940 ; elles doivent aussi avoir une résonnance en chacun d’entre nous en ce qui concerne les limites de l’éducation institutionnelle pour provoquer un changement significatif, puisque les principes moraux, l’esprit de liberté et la volonté de prise de risque de ceux qui ont la capacité de transformer la société seront souvent en conflit avec les rituels bien établis de l’éducation académique et, à certains moments pourraient même aller à l’encontre des valeurs de manière désagréable. Nous devons nous rappeler de ces génies historiques qui incarnaient une pensée hors des limites de l’institution, des personnes comme Shakespeare, qui ne fréquenta pas l’université, ou encore tous ces esprits brillants qui furent renvoyés de leur école, comme ce fut le cas pour Shelley, Frost, Einstein et Dali.

A Johannesburg, Mandela continue d’étudier le droit à l’université du Witwatersrand où « malgré les valeurs libérales de l’université, [il ne s’est] jamais senti vraiment à l’aise » (p.

83). La Deuxième Partie d’Un long chemin vers la liberté décrit la manière dont les professeurs de droit de Mandela soutiennent que les femmes et les Africains ne sont pas destinés à être avocats et la façon dont les Blancs lui font sentir qu’il n’est pas à sa place (p.

84). Une fois encore, ce n’est pas le programme écrit ou le discours institutionnel qui forme directement l’éducation morale de Mandela, mais ses interactions avec des camarades étudiants, généralement en dehors des cours, lors de discussions tard la nuit : Wits m’a ouvert un nouveau monde, un monde d’idées, de convictions politiques et de débats, un monde où les gens se passionnaient pour la politique. J’étais parmi des intellectuels blancs et indiens de ma génération, de jeunes hommes qui formeraient

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

20

l’avant-garde des mouvements politiques les plus importants des prochaines années. (p. 85) Ces réflexions portent le témoignage de la réelle expérience éducative qu’a vécu Mandela à Wits car, bien qu’il ait échoué à ses examens à plusieurs reprises (p. 134), c’est là que sa conscience politique s’est fortement développée.

Ce que ces extraits nous montrent, c’est que l’idée d’une éducation équivalant à des qualifications tourne court face à un sens plus large, plus spirituel qui serait celui du développement du caractère. Mandela réitère cet état de fait pendant son procès pour trahison : « Il est difficile d’expliquer à quelqu’un qui a des idées étroites qu’être « éduqué » ne signifie pas seulement savoir lire et écrire et avoir une licence, mais qu’un illettré peut être un électeur bien plus « éduqué » que quelqu’un qui possède des diplômes » (p. 230). C’est une citation à laquelle nous aimerions certainement réfléchir, dans un climat pédagogique moderne où le fait de savoir lire et écrire est certes conçu tout naturellement comme étant essentiel ; mais à travers le monde, peu d’évaluations sont menées pour tester les systèmes de connaissances traditionnelles, la teneur morale d’une personne, la sagesse et les compétences non-scolaires.

Sous l’oppression du gouvernement de l’apartheid, c’est clairement l’école de la vie qui donne à Mandela ses leçons les plus profitables. Le récit des actions et des décisions politiques sont émaillées de réflexions qui suggèrent ceci : en discutant la relation entre l’exécutif et la base de soutien de l’ANC, « Pour la première fois, j’ai vu qu’il était imprudent d’aller contre l’avis d’un grand nombre de gens. Il ne sert à rien de décider d’une action à laquelle les masses sont opposées car il sera impossible de la mettre en œuvre » (p. 122) ; en prison, il partage avec le lecteur des leçons qu’il apprises sur l’esprit humain de manière empirique : « De fortes convictions sont le secret de la survie » (p. 379), « La prison était une sorte de creuset qui mettait le caractère à l’épreuve. Sous la pression de l’incarcération, certains faisaient preuve d’un vrai courage, tandis que d’autres apparaissaient très en dessous de ce qu’ils avaient semblé » (p. 412).

Les difficultés et les tribulations auxquelles Mandela fait face et la manière dont il y réagit sont le témoignage de sa remarquable personnalité et de sa capacité à retenir les précieuses leçons que la vie lui enseigne, y-compris à partir de ce qui ressemble à des incidents sans importance : il tire de grands parallèles symboliques entre la lutte pour la liberté et la rébellion d’Antigone lorsqu’il joue le rôle de Créon dans la pièce de Sophocle, dans une production donnée par la prison (p. 413) ; quand Badenhorst, en quittant Robben Island, lui souhaite « bonne chance », il philosophe que « tous les hommes, même ceux qui semblent les plus insensibles, ont un fond d’honnêteté et qu’ils peuvent changer si on sait les toucher » (p. 419) ; également, en s’occupant de son jardin sur l’île-prison, il apprend « par la méthode des essais et des erreurs » (p. 443) tout en tirant des parallèles métaphoriques entre son travail de dirigeant et celui de jardinier (« un dirigeant politique est responsable de ce qu’il cultive ; il doit faire attention à son travail, il doit essayer de repousser les mauvaises herbes, garder ce qui peut l’être et éliminer ce qui ne peut réussir » [p. 445]).

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

21

Des passages comme ceux-là (et ils sont nombreux) montrent au lecteur que les inclinations autodidactes de Mandela sont ce qui le distingue des autres, car il est constamment en état d’alerte et de réflexion, un chercheur de tous les instants. Il remarque que « c’est ce que nous faisons avec ce que nous avons et non ce qu’on nous donne qui fait la différence entre les gens » (p. 152). A cet égard, la lecture d’Un long chemin vers la liberté est en soi une expérience éducative puissante, car les leçons sont tirées du réel et présentées au lecteur avec toute l’intelligence et la perspicacité qui a fait de Nelson Mandela un extraordinaire être humain. A nouveau, tout cela montre que les ingrédients d’une remarquable éducation ne sont pas la simple adjonction de programmes et de diplômes, mais plutôt des éléments issus de la vie elle-même.

Christophe Van Der Kwasty, La Châtaigneraie

L’éducation, c’est le pouvoir Bien entendu, ce n’est pas parce que Mandela reconnait dans Un long chemin vers la liberté que la véritable sagesse et la diligence d’esprit existent souvent au-delà des murs de l’institution qu’il rejette complètement ce qu’une éducation institutionnelle peut offrir. Au contraire, il considère que la bataille pour accéder à une éducation de qualité constitue un élément primordial de la lutte, en faisant clairement comprendre comment l’éducation dispensée par une école conventionnelle peut responsabiliser les individus et les communautés et les libérer. Voici ce que dit un passage fondateur : L’éducation est le grand moteur du développement personnel. C’est par l’éducation qu’une fille de paysans devient médecin, que le fils d’un mineur peut devenir directeur de la mine, qu’un enfant d’ouvrier agricole peut devenir président d’une grande nation. (p. 151-152)

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

22

C’est pourquoi l’une des lois les plus pernicieuses de l’apartheid est la Loi sur l’éducation bantoue (Bantu Education Act), promulguée en 1953 et à la suite de laquelle les missionnaires devaient transférer la gestion de leurs établissements au Département des affaires autochtones afin qu’à partir de cette date, les Africains soient « formés pour occuper des emplois non qualifiés » (p. 153). Cette loi fut complétée par l’Extension of University Education Act de 1959 qui interdisait aux non-Blancs les universités dites « ouvertes » (p.

209).

Cependant, bien que l’éducation au niveau primaire et universitaire constituera une bataille idéologique d’un caractère vital pour l’ANC, Mandela se rend compte que, d’un point de vue stratégique, l’action politique est une route plus directe : « L’éducation, c’est parfait, disait Gaur, mais si nous devons compter dessus, nous devrons attendre mille ans pour obtenir notre liberté » (p. 79). C’est là que nous voyons se développer et alimenter la lutte pour la libération un type d’apprentissage différent, loin des salles de classe pauvres de l’éducation Bantu. Gaur Radebe donne en effet vie à la théorie que Mandela a apprise en classe : « J’avais suivi des cours d’histoire contemporaine à Fort Hare et, si je connaissais beaucoup de faits, Gaur, lui, était capable d’expliquer les causes des événements particuliers, les raisons pour lesquelles les hommes et les nations avaient agi ainsi. J’avais l’impression d’étudier à nouveau l’histoire » (p. 80). Cet extrait est important parce qu’il montre le pouvoir de l’éducation quand on la revitalise, contextualise et qu’on la rend pertinente. Plus précisément, nous voyons comment Gaur Radebe amène à une compréhension de l’Histoire, et c’est par cette compréhension que naît la capacité d’analyse et de la mise en pratique.

Dans les années 1950, à l’époque où Mandela est mis à ban, il élabore une série de cours politiques pour les membres de l’ANC : « Il y avait trois grands cours : « Le monde dans lequel nous vivons », « Comment nous sommes gouvernés » et « La nécessité du changement ».Dans le premier cours, nous discutions des différents types de systèmes politiques et économiques dans le monde et en Afrique du Sud » (p. 133). Ces cours de politique et d’économie sont complétés par des cours sur l’histoire et la culture africaine, dispensés par des activistes de l’ANC emprisonnés en 1952 et en attente de jugement (p.

234). Robben Island devient connue sous le nom de « l’Université » à cause de la richesse des échanges d’idées qui circulent parmi les prisonniers politiques : « Nous étions devenus notre propre faculté, avec nos professeurs, nos programmes et nos cours » (p. 23). Les cours sur le marxisme, l’économie politique, l’histoire de l’ANC, l’histoire de la lutte des Indiens sont décrits comme un cursus ; « la pédagogie était de nature socratique; les idées et les théories étaient analysées par questions et réponses « (p. 424).

L’éducation informelle de cette période n’a pas seulement lieu parmi les membres de l’ANC, Mandela saisit toutes les opportunités pour éduquer les Sud-Africains blancs sur l’histoire de l’organisation et sur ce qu’il défend, et ses longs discours dans le box des accusés lors du procès de trahison et celui de Rivonia sont extrêmement historiques et didactiques. Sur Robben Island, au sujet des gardiens de prison, il déclare : « Je voulais démythifier l’ANC, détruire leurs préjugés » (p. 414) ; « La politique de l’ANC consistait à éduquer tout le

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

23

monde, même nos ennemis : nous pensions que tous les hommes étaient susceptibles de changer et nous faisions tout notre possible pour les faire basculer » (p. 381). Le premier jour des pourparlers avec le gouvernement nationaliste en 1990 sont décrits comme ressemblant « plus ou moins à une leçon d’histoire ». (p. 525), Mandela expliquant que « dès sa création en 1912, l’ANC avait toujours cherché à ouvrir des négociations avec le pouvoir (p. 525). Ces citations montrent comment l’éducation en dehors de l’école et de l’université a joué un rôle crucial dans la lutte contre l’apartheid. Plus spécifiquement, la connaissance de l’Histoire, que la propagande et la censure avaient supprimée, a tenu une place centrale dans la formation des opinions et réaffirme chez Mandela son « vieux principe selon lequel l’éducation était l’ennemi des préjugés » (p. 458).

Le thème de l’éducation en tant que pouvoir ressort dans Un long chemin vers la liberté d’une autre manière : Mandela est un véritable apprenant tout au long de sa vie et son étude continuelle du droit lui permet d’acquérir une connaissance du système légal qui lui sera d’une utilité sans pareil pour lui et tous ceux qu’il a représenté en tant qu’avocat, en liberté et en prison.

Tout au long du procès de Rivonia, Mandela continue ses études par correspondance avec l’Université de Londres pour l’obtention de son bachelor en droit (p. 445). Reconnaissant l’importance des études, les prisonniers politiques de Robben Island s’inscrivent à des cours par correspondance et, bien que ne pouvant étudier dans des conditions décentes, « en l’espace de quelques mois, presque tout le monde étudiait. Le soir, nos cellules ressemblaient plus à des salles de cours qu’à des cellules de prison » (p. 375). Cette tournure des événements s’avère cruciale car elle permet aux hommes de lire du matériel auquel ils n’auraient pas eu accès autrement : « Les autorités essayaient de nous imposer un black-out total ; elles ne voulaient pas qu’on apprenne quelque chose qui puisse nous redonner le moral ni qu’on sache qu’on pensait encore à nous à l’extérieur » (p. 377). La connaissance du droit en particulier est considérée comme synonyme de pouvoir car elle permet de connaître le système légal et de défier les gardiens de prison : « Mac avait fait des études de droit et était expert pour mettre les autorités sur la défensive » (p. 394).

En prison, la lecture des œuvres de Nadine Gordimer, John Steinbeck et de Léon Tolstoï (p.

446) pousse Mandela plus loin dans ses réflexions philosophiques sur les notions de commandement et de justice sociale, tandis que ses efforts constants pour apprendre les différentes langues d’Afrique du Sud sont soutenus par des pensées profondes sur l’identité et la culture : Sans langue commune, on ne peut parler à un peuple ou le comprendre ; on ne peut partager ses espoirs et ses aspirations, saisir son histoire, apprécier sa poésie et ses chansons. Je me suis à nouveau aperçu que nous n’étions pas des peuples différents avec des langues différentes ; nous ne formions qu’un peuple avec des langues différentes. (p. 77) Dans Un long chemin vers la liberté, l’éducation représente le pouvoir dans les domaines sociaux, idéologiques, historiques et culturels. C’est un esprit d’apprentissage tout au long

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

24

de sa vie que Mandela incarne et propage au sein et hors de tout cadre éducatif formel et qui caractérise non seulement son développement personnel et celui de sa famille (ses enfants échappent à l’éducation bantoue en étant scolarisés dans le privé [p. 198], puis en dehors d’Afrique du Sud dans un pensionnat du Swaziland [p. 388]), mais aussi de manière générale la lutte contre l’apartheid : le massacre du 16 juin 1976, connu sous le nom des émeutes de Soweto, a lieu après que des écoliers descendent dans la rue pour protester contre le programme de l’école secondaire qui était pour moitié en Afrikaans, la langue de l’oppression.

Les passages que j’ai regroupés sous la thématique « l’éducation, c’est le pouvoir » trouvent un écho chez les théories d’Antonio Gramsci, de Paulo Freire et de Frantz Fanon : l’éducation favorise l’autonomie quand elle est dispensée loin des organes institutionnels de la propagande idéologique ; c’est là qu’elle offre à l’opprimé une alternative à la narration du maître qui le réduit à l’esclavage. Que cela signifie échapper à l’enseignement bantou en s’auto-éduquant ou en organisant des systèmes pédagogiques clandestins, l’éducation est le fil conducteur qui permet à la résistance de garder des liens avec ses racines historiques.

Il est particulièrement important d’y réfléchir aujourd’hui, dans un monde où les médias exercent une forte influence dans la formation des opinions en normalisant des constructions telles que « économie de libre marché », « monde en développement », immigration illégale », « anti-démocratique » ou encore « terroriste », pour ne citer que quelques exemples. Ces formes narratives officialisées, si elles ne sont pas remises en question, constituent une réalité pour des millions de gens. Ce sont les formes d’opposition employées par des dénonciateurs tels que Julian Assange et John Pilger qui font contrepoids et donnent une vision de rechange. Le thème de l’éducation dans Un long chemin vers la liberté est un dépositaire précieux du régime de l’apartheid, mais qui nous rappelle également l’histoire de peuples peu représentés dans les livres d’histoire, tels que les Aborigènes, les Indiens d’Amérique, les Arméniens, les Palestiniens, les Birmans – pour n’en mentionner qu’un petit nombre – ou encore l’histoire de la traite des esclaves et de la colonisation.

Haakon Lim, La Châtaigneraie

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

25

L’éducation et la transmission de la culture Alors, qu’est-ce qui fit de Nelson Mandela un dirigeant si exceptionnel ? Cette question qui nous hante en parlant des grandes figures de l’Histoire peut se poser le concernant ; est-ce la manière dont il fut élevé, ses origines ancestrales, les circonstances, son éducation? La Troisième Partie d’Un long chemin vers la liberté, « La naissance d’un combattant de la liberté », débute avec un remarquable passage où Mandela parle de sa décision de consacrer sa vie à la lutte. Le point de départ reste flou : Je suis incapable d’indiquer exactement le moment où je suis devenu politisé, le moment où j’ai su que je consacrerais ma vie à la lutte de libération. […] Je n’ai pas connu d’instant exceptionnel, pas de révélation, pas de moment de vérité, mais l’accumulation régulière de milliers d’affronts, de milliers d’humiliations, de milliers d’instants oubliés, a créé en moi une colère, un esprit de révolte, le désir de combattre le système qui emprisonnait mon peuple. Il n’y a pas eu de jour particulier où j’aurais dit : à partir de maintenant je vais me consacrer à la libération de mon peuple ; […]. (p.86) Ainsi, il est difficile de situer exactement quand a émergé la conscience politique de Mandela ; en revanche, ce que son autobiographie dit au lecteur est à quel point les expériences qu’il a vécues durant son enfance passée dans le Transkei rural furent formatrices. En effet, l’éducation africaine traditionnelle qu’a reçue Mandela a clairement tracé la voie qu’il empruntera et qui le mènera jusqu’à la présidence de l’Afrique du Sud. Dans la Première Partie (« Une enfance à la campagne »), en parlant du système hiérarchique clanique, Mandela écrit : « L’idée que je me ferais plus tard de la notion de commandement fut profondément influencée par le spectacle du régent et de sa cour. J’ai observé les réunions tribales qui se tenaient périodiquement à la Grande Demeure et elles m’ont beaucoup appris » (pp. 20-21).

Dans ces réunions, « c’était la démocratie sous sa forme la plus pure. […] Le gouvernement avait comme fondement la liberté d’expression de tous les hommes, égaux en tant que citoyens ». Le jeune Mandela observe les différents orateurs et il est clair qu’il en tire de précieuses leçons oratoires : Je remarquais que certains tournaient en rond et ne semblaient jamais réussir à dire ce qu’ils voulaient. En revanche, d’autres abordaient directement le sujet et présentaient leurs arguments de façon succincte et forte. J’observais que certains orateurs jouaient sur les sentiments et utilisaient un langage dramatique pour émouvoir leur public, tandis que d’autres restaient simples et sobres, et fuyaient l’émotion. (p. 21) Il poursuit et précise à quel point ces observations furent essentielles pour son éducation, dans un fameux passage : En tant que responsable, j’ai toujours suivi les principes que j’ai vus mis en œuvre par le régent à la Grande Demeure. Je me suis toujours efforcé d’écouter ce que chacun

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

26

avait à dire dans une discussion avant d’émettre ma propre opinion. Très souvent, ma propre opinion ne représentait qu’un consensus de ce que j’avais entendu dans la discussion. Je n’ai jamais oublié l’axiome du régent : un chef, disait-il, est comme un berger. Il reste derrière son troupeau, il laisse le plus alerte partir en tête, et les autres suivent sans se rendre compte qu’ils ont tout le temps été dirigés par-derrière. (p. 22) Il est en effet utile de se rappeler à quel point le style de commandement de Mandela est distinctement africain, ce qui tord le cou à certaines idées reçues selon lesquelles la société africaine traditionnelle n’est pas adaptée à la démocratie du fait de ses structures organisationnelles d’obédience tribale et clanique, alors que ces passages montrent assez nettement que cela n’était pas du tout le cas dans la société xhosa traditionnelle. C’est dans son discours au procès Rivonia que Mandela exprime clairement en quoi son héritage culturel contribue à sa vision du monde : La structure et l’organisation des premières sociétés africaines de ce pays me fascinaient et elles ont eu une grande influence sur l’évolution de mes conceptions politiques. La terre, principale ressource à l’époque, appartenait à la tribu tout entière et la propriété privée n’existait pas. (pp. 297-298) Outre des modèles de commandement, les expériences de jeunesse dans le Transkei ont également exposé Mandela à l’Histoire, selon une perspective africaine. Le plus âgé des chefs, le chef Joyi, éduque Mandela sur les Thembu, les Pondo, les Xhosa et les Zoulous : « Le chef Joyi se lançait dans une pantomime, il tirait son épée et rampait sur le veld en racontant les victoires et les défaites » (p. 26). Il parle également à Mandela de la venue de l’homme blanc (« abelungu ») : Je ne savais pas encore que la véritable histoire de notre pays ne se trouvait pas dans les livres britanniques qui affirmaient que l’Afrique du Sud commençait avec l’arrivée de Jan Van Riebeeck au cap de Bonne-Espérance en 1652. Grâce au chef Joyi j’ai commencé à découvrir que l’histoire des peuples de langue bantoue commençait bien plus au nord, dans un pays de lacs, de plaines et de vallées vertes, […]. (p. 24) La circoncision de Mandela à l’âge traditionnel de 16 ans est décrite en détails (pp. 25-30).

C’est par ce rite de passage que, selon le rituel xhosa, il devient un homme, mais le chapitre se clôt pourtant sur cette réflexion : « Quand j’y repense, je sais que ce jour-là je n’étais pas encore un homme et que je ne le serais pas encore pendant de nombreuses années » (p.

30). Des années plus tard, sur Robben Island, Mandela accepte que soient effectuées des circoncisions secrètes sur les jeunes codétenus xhosa. Il commente que la circoncision était « un rituel culturel […]. Il s’agissait d’un rite qui renforçait l’identification du groupe et qui inculquait des valeurs positives » (p. 511). C’est une étape importante dans l’éducation des hommes xhosa et dans Un long chemin vers la liberté, la discussion concernant l’école de circoncision est importante, alors qu’il nous est montré que les valeurs traditionnelles sont transmises dans la société en tant que valeurs éducatives fondamentales.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

27

Les enseignements profonds que Mandela reçoit de son éducation traditionnelle ne le quitteront plus. Au lieu de laisser cet héritage culturel créer des divisions tribales entre lui et les autres Africains, ce qui aurait épousé la stratégie consistant à diviser pour mieux régner et grâce à laquelle le gouvernement de l’apartheid a prospéré, principalement avec la création des homelands et la gestion des mines, Mandela voyait dans les histoires des autres groupes ethniques des points communs et une certaine humanité africaine. Un passage puissant qui décri un cours sur la musique zoulou donné par un prisonnier de l’ANC à l’époque du procès de trahison fait écho à ce sentiment de nationalisme africain : Yengwa s’est drapé dans une couverture, il a roulé un journal en guise d’épée, et a commencé à marcher de long en large en déclamant les vers. Nous étions tous subjugués, même ceux qui ne comprenaient pas le zoulou. Puis il a fait une pause avant de déclamer : « Inyoni edlezinya ! Yathi isadezinye, yadiezinya ! » Ces vers comparent Chaka à un oiseau de proie qui tue impitoyablement ses ennemis. Une clameur s’est élevée. Le chef Luthuli, qui jusque-là était resté silencieux, s’est dressé en hurlant : « Ngu Shaka lowo ! » (Voici Chaka !) et il s’est mis à danser et à chanter.

Ses mouvements nous ont électrisés et nous nous sommes tous redressés. […]

Soudain, il n’y avait plus de Xhosas, de Zoulous, d’Indiens, d’Africains, de responsables de gauche ou de droite, religieux ou politiques ; nous étions tous des nationalistes et des politiques liés par l’amour de notre histoire, de notre culture, de notre pays et de notre peuple. A cet instant, quelque chose s’animait au plus profond de nous, quelque chose d’intime et de fort, qui nous liait les uns aux autres. A cet instant, nous sentions le passé immense qui nous avait faits tels que nous étions et le pouvoir de la grande cause qui nous réunissait. (p. 183) C’est ici que nous expérimentons l’un des moments des plus électriques de l’éducation au long cours de Mandela, non dans une classe ou dans un livre, mais à travers la mémoire vivante du passé lointain qui s’exprime dans la danse et le chant traditionnels. C’est l’un des passages les plus importants d’Un long chemin vers la liberté, non seulement parce qu’il pénètre au cœur de l’esprit d’unité qui caractérise Mandela en tant que figure politique et qui a conduit à la libération de l’Afrique du Sud, mais aussi parce son contenu nous donne à voir les graines de ce qui pourrait un jour libérer davantage le pays, afin de rassembler les cultures noire et blanche en l’honneur d’une culture et d’une histoire africaine commune.

Le message d’unité que Mandela exprime dans ce passage est parlant non seulement pour l’Afrique du Sud, mais également pour tout le continent africain, car c’est par cette unité que le continent pourrait trouver un répit aux guerres intestines, à l’exploitation des ressources, aux dictatures et à la corruption qui entravent le continent de leurs chaînes et qui barrent la route à l’harmonie qui lui est nécessaire pour fédérer et consolider sa richesse naturelle.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

28

Victoria Vassileva, Campus des Nations

Conclusion Par le regard qu’il porte sur l’éducation dans Un long chemin vers la liberté, Nelson Mandela énonce des constats d’une grande profondeur sur la seule question réellement importante : à quoi sert l’éducation ?

L’éducation a clairement le pouvoir de libérer l’individu socialement, politiquement et philosophiquement, d’ouvrir et d’aiguiser son esprit et de développer sa personnalité. Dans un contexte où il n’y a pas de liberté et/ou d’accès à la connaissance, c’est la volonté de se construire une éducation propre qui déterminera le succès de cet objectif. Les récits de Mandela sur l’éducation désinstitutionalisée, sur la connaissance comme étant source d’autonomie et sur l’éducation traditionnelle ont tous en commun sa volonté d’apprendre, de retirer des leçons bénéfiques à partir des événements et des expériences vécues et d’en généraliser des principes. A cet égard, la motivation de l’éducation est l’apprentissage de toute une vie : elle crée les conditions qui font qu’un individu est passionné par la vie, qu’il est déterminé à continuer face à l'adversité et qu’il est toujours prêt à réévaluer, repenser et réajuster. Qu’une école ou un programme d'études puisse créer de telles conditions pour que cela soit possible, cela reste à voir, mais on est quand même tenté de mentionner cette citation d’Oscar Wilde, désinvolte certes, mais toutefois inquiétante : « l’éducation est une chose excellente, mais il faut bien se souvenir de temps en temps que rien qui vaut la peine de savoir ne peut être enseigné ».

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

29

En même temps, nous voyons l’énorme influence des récits du passé et de la structure d'organisation sociale antique qui s’exerce sur la vision du monde de Mandela. À cet égard, le but de l’éducation est de transmettre le passé au présent pour les générations futures. Il nous est rappelé à quel point l’Histoire est une matière importante, pas seulement l'Histoire africaine antique pour Mandela ou le récit officieux du passé historique de l'ANC, dont la survie était si importante dans la lutte contre l'apartheid, mais aussi la valeur historique inestimable d'un livre comme Un long chemin vers la liberté, pour le riche héritage qu'il laisse. Dans une ère où les discours sur l'éducation, en particulier dans les médias populaires, met un accent significatif si ce n’est disproportionné sur les nouvelles technologies et les processus cognitifs d'un ordre supérieur comme la créativité, la pensée critique et l'apprentissage pour apprendre, on entend moins de bruit et de fureur à propos de l'Histoire. A présent que Nelson Mandela est décédé, la responsabilité de transmettre son histoire aux jeunes générations nous revient ; un objectif clair et vital d'éducation demeure également, celui, tout simplement, de raconter l'Histoire.

Un long chemin vers la liberté est un livre plein de sagesse et d'humilité, ce qui rend son discours éducatif à la fois beaucoup moins complexe et beaucoup plus exigeant que ceux du monde encombré des manuels, des sites Web, des devoirs et des examens qui passent entre les mains des étudiants pendant les millions de minutes qu’ils sont à l'école. L’ultime message que le livre laisse au lecteur dans ses dernières pages, des pages miroitant la vision et la lumière d'un des leaders les plus inspirants du monde, est l’objectif véritable et durable de l’éducation : la liberté, qu’elle soit psychologique, philosophique, économique ou politique. C'est l'héritage de Nelson Mandela qui nous inspirera sûrement pour agir pour notre propre liberté et celle des autres personnes avec qui nous partageons notre vie, que ce soit par des actes courageux pour la vérité, par des actes de générosité désintéressée ou des actes modestes qui reconnaissent simplement la dignité d'une autre personne. Le plus grand message éducatif que nous possédions est le souvenir de Nelson Mandela lui-même et pourquoi il s’est battu. En tournant la dernière page du livre, la pensée qui nous envahit, d’un enseignement profond, est que si chacun d'entre nous pouvait agir comme il l’a fait, même à la plus petite échelle, il y aurait plus de légèreté dans le monde, plus de paix, plus de liberté.

Livre cité Mandela, Nelson (1994). Un long chemin vers la liberté. Paris: Fayard, Le livre de Poche.

Traduit de l’anglais (Afrique du Sud) par Jean Guiloineau.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

30

The Charterhouse-Ecolint Exchange Liz Waldman The recently published “What is an IB Education,” states that the objective of an IB education is to “create educational opportunities that encourage healthy relationships, individual and shared responsibility and effective teamwork and collaboration” (IBO: 2013, 3) The issue of community building is often discussed at Ecolint, both within campuses and across the entire foundation. We have such a diverse community of languages, cultures and nationalities not to mention the physical distance which separates our schools that at times community building seems to be a near impossible task. However, despite these obstacles there is a clear “esprit de corps” amongst the members of our community, although it may not be as strong as we may desire. In fact, the issue of community building at Ecolint is so significant that it has been identified as one of the key objectives in “Focus for the Future,” specifically, the aim is “to increase opportunities for students and staff to come together in their school communities to share expertise, take more initiative, celebrate achievements, and benefit more from belonging to one Foundation.” (Ecolint, 2013: 28) I recently was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to observe an example of very successful community building in a school environment. In November I participated in a teaching exchange with Charterhouse School in England where I spent a week teaching history, immersing myself in activities and observing the school community. It is true that the environment at Charterhouse is vastly different to that at Ecolint in that Charterhouse is predominantly boarding, runs from Year 9 through Year 13 only, and is less diverse both in staff and student composition. However, there are also a number of similarities including an emphasis on academic rigour combined with a developed extra-curricular programme and a focus on education for the whole person. Therefore, despite the differences between the two school environments, Ecolint could benefit from adopting a number of the methods used at Charterhouse to strengthen our community spirit.

Charterhouse is particularly successful in creating environments, both formal and informal, where students and staff come together as members of the school community. In the most striking example, during morning Chapel, the entire school gathers for ten minutes three times per week. The brief service consists of a reading, hymn, short message and a prayer all of which are conducted before the first lesson. I found that attending Chapel set a positive tone for the day and provided me with a sense of community and belonging despite being only a visitor to the school. Assemblies are not missing from Ecolint and do in fact happen on a regular basis across all campuses and schools. But perhaps what we are missing is a secular version of Chapel, a regularly scheduled, school-wide meeting that takes a very brief amount of time but provides the opportunity to us to meet, share a common experience, and then continue with our different days. Given the limitations of physical space this may not be possible with an entire school, however, it should be feasible to gather together sections of each campus. The beauty of the Chapel service at Charterhouse is that is a regular, structured and inclusive, however, it takes a only a small amount of time. It seems clear from this example that successful community building does not need to consume significant periods of the time or calendar year but rather needs to be integrated into school day.

Additionally, lunch time at Charterhouse is also a very important opportunity for community building and could be used to more effect at Ecolint. At Charterhouse students eat in their boarding houses and the teachers associated with that house eat with the students. As a visitor it was quite clear that sitting together in the dining room gave staff and students the opportunity to interact on a less formal basis than that found inside the classroom. The sense Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

31

created was that the dining room at lunch time was Charterhouse on a smaller scale, students of all age groups were represented along with teachers from a wide variety of subjects and the focus was on social interaction. It is true that our lunch times at Ecolint are precious and under pressure. We use them for rehearsals and auditions, academic and department meetings, and revision sessions in addition to the numerous activities which use lunch as their only meeting time. However, perhaps it would be possible to “protect” one lunch time per week as time for the community to slow down, sit down and eat together. The logistical issues will be different at each campus and at each school, however, this an opportunity that we could take greater advantage of without significant disruption and to a great advantage.

Charthouse is also successful in creating a strong sense of community amongst teaching staff which has the benefit of promoting “teamwork, collaborative planning, and sharing of best practice.” (Ecolint, 2013: 28) The most impactful ways in which this is achieved are through a morning coffee break, held in the staff room each day, as well as a shorter coffee break after lunch, held in the sitting room of the house master. These coffee breaks are attended by the majority of the teaching staff and have the benefit of bringing together colleagues from different subjects, who often teach in different buildings, in an informal and relaxed setting. During the course of my visit these coffee breaks gave me the opportunity to meet with a wide range of teachers, to learn about their activities and interests, to discuss specific students with Year Heads and Tutors and to discuss discipline procedures. In its attempt to promote more interaction among the teaching staff Ecolint could, perhaps model Charterhouse, in providing more regular and informal opportunities for staff to come together across disciplines to discuss common issues and ideas. This is not to suggest an extension of the existing breaks already built into the teaching day or added expense for the

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

32

Foundation but rather that the existing staffrooms and catering service provided by the cafeteria could be utilised to greater benefit and again without significant disruption.

In his book Building Community in Schools Thomas Sergiovanni argues that “reformers and theoreticians alike should recognize that schooling is first and foremost about relationships between and among students and teachers, and that community building must be the basis for school reform efforts that seek to improve teaching and learning; all else will come more naturally when authentic communities flourish.” (Westheimer, 1996) It could be easily to minimise the importance of shorter assemblies, lunch time and coffee breaks and too suggest that these are too insignificant. I would argue that that it is because these ideas are fairly small that they can actually make a difference. These ideas could be easily implemented, without significant impact or disruption on our pre-existing schedules and therefore are achievable. These are not “pie in the sky” dreams but rather practical proposals to help us move forward immediately towards improving relationships within our community.

It is a testament to Charterhouse’s success at community building that I was so warmly welcomed and so immediately integrated despite the short duration of my stay and we should take the opportunity to learn from their expertise.

References International Baccalaureate (2013) What is an IB Education (Cardiff, International Bacculearate LTD Peterson House.)

International School of Geneva (2013) Our Focus for the Future: Steps Ahead (Geneva, International School of Geneva.)

Sergiovanni, Thomas (1994) Building Community in Schools (San Franciso, Jossey-Bass) in Westheimer, Joel (1996) Building Community in Schools, Harvard Educational Review, Winter 1996.

Michael Gillespie In November 2013 I was lucky enough to take part in an exchange with Liz Waldman, a History teacher from the International School of Geneva. I had an immensely enjoyable and rewarding week in Switzerland, and feel that it was very useful for my own professional development.

In effect I only spent five days at Ecolint, so I should make clear at the start of this report that my comments are based on only limited experience and perspective….

To start I think it would be useful to offer my thoughts on Liz’s report, in which she focused a great deal on the extent of ‘community’ at Charterhouse. There is indeed a notable difference between the two schools, and something I became conscious of by the second day. The rest of the History Department were very friendly and useful, but I didn’t get to meet as many other staff as I would perhaps have liked to have done. I noticed that quite a few ate lunch at their desk and the ‘staff’ room at the top of the chateau was rarely used.

(One afternoon I spent an hour or so in there preparing a lesson, and was undisturbed throughout). In short I did, to an extent, miss a little of the staff interaction, but appreciate that five days is too short a time to make anything other than tentative observations.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

33

I also found Liz’s comment about pupil/staff interaction an interesting one. This is because I found virtually all the students I taught to be friendly, engaging and honest in their dealings with me. In fact I could imagine that the relationship with students at Ecolint could easily become more open and genuine than my relations with Carthusians. I say this because Carthusians are very good at saying ‘yes sir’ at the drop of a hat, tucking in their shirt and then walking away with a smirk on their face. In a sense I wonder whether too much emphasis has been placed at Charterhouse on outwardly conforming at the expense of engineering a questioning environment. When I put this somewhat casual observation to the Headmaster in a brief chat outside the dining room he agreed, and argued that students at Ecolint will happily do as they are told, if something is explained to them in a reasoned manner. Why this made such an impression on me is that it is an issue I had already thought about in relation to Carthusians. At times students antagonise staff at Charterhouse because the adult concerned has mis-read the situation, and over-reacted to understandable teenage behaviour.

From a professional perspective the most important thing I have reflected on has been on the need for me to integrate a greater variety of tasks in the classroom. Having to teach ninety minute lessons was completely new to me, and forced me to adapt my usual technique of dominating the class from the front. With this in mind, over the last few months I have tried to integrate a greater number of tasks into my usual routine, and know that this is something I should continue to work on over the next year or so. Therefore even just a week at Ecolint has encouraged me to reflect on my classroom teaching – not least the crucial point that learning can still take place when I am guiding rather than talking!

When Dr Conrad Hughes very kindly took me out for dinner he asked me to make a few suggestions for future reference. Having reflected on my experience in Geneva I must admit that an exchange for just one week is bound to have its limitations. However, extending the exchange to two weeks would no doubt create a different set of difficulties. One thing which would probably have made a difference is if I had read some of the work produced by Liz’s classes in advance. This would have enabled me to gauge the level of her various divisions a little more reliably. For example the work I originally prepared for the Year 9 division was too advanced, forcing me to completely change my plans when out there. Of course all teachers need to be responsive to the students in front of them, but I wonder whether a selection of just a few pieces of marked work from each class would have been useful. It would be interesting, of course, to hear Liz’s thoughts on this point.

Both before and during the exchange Liz and I discussed the issue of whether we should do some marking of our own. Looking back at my week in Geneva I am not sure how much time I realistically had to mark a set of essays for example, but I think it would have been a good idea if I had assessed some short answers, or marked a quick test etc. This would have maintained the usual rhythm and routine of the academic week, and allowed me to set some differentiated tasks in the classroom.

My final point is perhaps a touch bold, it could well be unrealistic and I am not sure how in favour of it I really am! However I wonder whether the best way to get something from an

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

34

exchange is to do it all over again! I felt, for example, that my best lessons with the Year 13 were at the end of the week when I had got to grips with how they liked to be taught, and I had had the time to prepare hand outs and the like. Having acquired some idea of how the lunch/timetable/tram system/photocopier (the whole school experience, in other words) worked, it was then time to go home again.

Liz and Rodger made me very welcome when I was in Geneva – not least through the cooking which Liz did in advance – and I am very grateful for all the help and advice they provided. I will certainly encourage other members of Brooke Hall to take advantage of anything similar in the future and, although working in a day school is perhaps not for me (at least at this stage of my life), I hope the link between Ecolint and Charterhouse can be maintained.

Nicolas Evans-Dale, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

35

Value-Centred Education Les valeurs au centre Alejandro H. Rodriguez-Giovo If our school has an ideological or – better still – a spiritual heart, it is surely Article 4 of our Charter. Whereas the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” Ecolint’s Charter goes further, boldly and famously asserting the “equal value of all human beings” (my italics).

This philosophically fundamental concept is easier to affirm than to explain and understand fully – which is perhaps why the United Nations shied away from it in 1948, and settled for a worthy but less radical formula. That human beings differ, sometimes considerably, in individual attributes, characteristics and qualities – physical, intellectual, artistic, moral – is too obvious to deny (and so much the better – Vive la différence! – one might add). “How is it, then, that we are all worth the same?” a student might not unreasonably wonder. As you will find when you reflect on the matter, the most satisfying, compelling answer is not empirical, nor even rational, but rather it springs from a metaphysical certainty. That all men are created equal is a “self-evident” truth, as the United States’ Declaration of Independence puts it.

Il va de soi qu’affirmer, justifier et appliquer cette conviction centrale de notre école, et les valeurs morales qui en découlent, devrait être une mission essentielle pour tous ses enseignants. Mais la remplissons nous pour autant, ou sommes nous trop distraits par des théories pédagogiques d’avant-garde et tout le charabia néophilique et pseudo-scientifique qu’elles génèrent pour assumer notre rôle comme source naturelle de repères cognitives, philosophiques et éthiques pour nos élèves et étudiants?

An implicit dogma of trendy education during the last three or four decades seems to have been that whenever a moral or ethical issue, rather than a strictly factual or scientific one, is raised in class, the teacher ought immediately to withdraw into the role of passive, “nonjudgemental” listener, and merely monitor the responses of his or her students. At most, he may chair the discussion with detached and dispassionate objectivity, lest by revealing his views he should short-circuit the students’ self-discovery. Practised diligently over the years, this technique may successfully drain every last molecule of moral assertiveness from the teacher, turning him into a human jellyfish, content to drift on the random swell of groupgenerated babble in his class. But the demotion of educators to the role of “facilitators” is not my prime concern here.

Not much importance is attached these days to what teachers actually know about the subject they teach; all the emphasis is on methodologies and skills, often at the expense of content. Even so, few self-respecting instructors of Biology, “facilitators” or otherwise, would stand by passively while their students developed an unquestioning faith in the evolutionary theories of Lamarck or Lysenko. History teachers too circumspect to quash the hypothesis that Thutmose III, using a papyrus raft propelled by a primitive form of nuclear energy, was

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

36

the first explorer to circumnavigate our planet would doubtless be regarded as hopelessly pusillanimous. An English teacher who studiedly maintained a non-judgemental expression while his students debated among themselves whether Heathcliff kept a mad wife or a mad dog locked up in the attic at Pemberley might reasonably be criticized for abdicating his professional duties. But as soon as the discussion shifts to a moral plane, such as eugenics in Biology, imperialism in History or the propriety of incarcerating an insane spouse in English, it is widely assumed that an educator’s role must shrink to the point of invisibility.

The implication is that, since there are few, if any, moral certainties, teachers should scrupulously avoid imposing their own prejudices on their students.

This tacit assumption is exacerbated within the context of an international, secular, multicultural education, such as the one we aim to provide. Affirmations of value are bound to be subjective, conditioned and ethno-centric, and are liable to tread on someone’s toes. Given these constraints, is it not prudent and wise for educators to be consistently non-committal and systematically to eschew moral definitions?

Prudent, perhaps, if never to ruffle any feathers is an educational priority. Wise, I think not, if as international educators we genuinely wish to contribute, however modestly, to making mankind less irresponsible, insensitive, cruel and unjust than it is. What humanity shares, in terms of moral assumptions and convictions (never mind how much they are disregarded in practice), is incomparably greater than what divides it. To be able to recognize this common ethical fund and draw from it, as the circumstances may require, is surely a desirable skill for a teacher in an international milieu, and one that we should be encouraged to cultivate.

I would be hard put to justify through argumentation the validity of these universal values to which I am referring, as I take it to be axiomatic. However many exceptions different peoples have devised, over the centuries, to fundamental precepts such as “Thou shalt not kill,” and regardless of the particular cultural trappings with which they are accoutred, the essential truth of such principles has always been, and remains, “self-evident” (as Thomas Jefferson regarded the equality of all human beings) to everyone, on a par with 1+1=2 – barring a tiny minority of psychopathic individuals who genuinely suffer from an innate moral deficiency.

The appendix to C. S. Lewis’ famous essay, The Abolition of Man, usefully compiles essentially similar precepts and maxims from a broad chronological and geographic range of cultures and civilizations. Although they often sound very different, having been uttered by men and women continents and millennia apart, what is remarkable is the common thread that runs through them.

Lewis’ affirmation of “natural law” is part of a great philosophical tradition that stretches back to Plato and notably includes Aristotle, the Stoics, Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant (“The moral law, Kant argues, is addressed to all rational beings, in the form of a categorical imperative: it has not changed through the centuries, nor could it change.”) and, more recently, Jacques Maritain in Les droits de l'homme et la loi naturelle.

This is the thread that we should enable our students to grasp firmly and follow through life’s labyrinths. As Aristotle emphasized in The Nicomachean Ethics, moral virtue must be

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

37

practised habitually if it is to take root. Since automatic moral relativism is the zeitgeist that young people today seem to have suckled with their mother’s milk (“Everything is a matter of personal opinion,” “There are no absolutes,” “All points of view are equally valid,” and so on), it is all the more necessary to begin by identifying moral standards that cannot be tailored to suit the circumstantial convenience of a particular society or person. Fortunately, there are still some philosophers today who do not hesitate to affirm the universality of certain values, such as Roger Scruton and John Finnis. In Natural Law and Natural Rights, the latter asserts, for instance, that there are “exceptionless or absolute human claim-rights – most obviously, the right not to have one's life taken directly as a means to any further end,” which echoes Kant's principle that humanity must never be treated as a means only, but always as an end in itself. It was perhaps Marcus Tullius Cicero, however, who defined most clearly and vigorously the notion in question: True law is Reason, right and natural, commanding people to fulfil their obligations and prohibiting and deterring them from doing wrong. Its validity is universal; it is unchangeable and eternal. (...) Any attempt to supersede this law, to repeal any part of it is sinful; to cancel it entirely is impossible. (...) There will not be one law at Rome, one at Athens, or one now and one later, but all nations will be subject all the time to this one changeless and everlasting law (...)

Sophocles, through his mouthpiece Antigone, had expressed much the same conviction some three and a half centuries earlier.

I am still haunted by the memory of one of my Geography teachers at Ecolint in the late 1960s who, when we were studying South Africa, could not bring himself to condemn apartheid. He was surely a decent man, untainted by any racist leanings, but all he could say on the subject to the class was: “This is a complex issue that one day you will probably make up your own minds about.” I remember being acutely disappointed at this spineless evasion, but then again, sound attitudes had already been inculcated in me at home. Other children in the class may have been left with the enduring impression that there was more than one valid side to the issue.

To be sure, not all my teachers were so faint-hearted; some, such as the legendary Robert J. Leach (who, more than anyone, can be credited with the genesis of the IB), more than compensated by charging with gusto into moral minefields that angels feared to tread. And long before my time, Marie-Thérèse Maurette, who guided our school’s destinies between 1929 and 1949, held daily assemblies during which she expressed robust political opinions, which over the years drifted increasingly towards an apology of communism. Controversial though such teachers may have been, they provided a salutary stimulus by demonstrating a vigorous and essentially sound involvement in moral matters. They very obviously cared about rights and wrongs, and their concern permeated the roots of their students’ awareness, from where it could emerge at crucial moments later in life.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

38

Marie-Thérèse Maurette

I vividly recall Michael Quin, a wise and gentle Latin teacher, deprecating violence in the wake of the May ’68 demonstrations. “I might boo, hiss, shout, wave banners, hand out leaflets, lie down in the road…” he stated firmly but with the faintest of smiles – it was, indeed, difficult to imagine him, with his pipe, three-piece tweed suit, horn-rimmed glasses and walking stick doing any of this – “but it would be quite wrong to throw stones or bottles or to try to hurt anyone.” Many years later, when, as part of an unruly protest march in Buenos Aires, I faced a thick cordon of threatening policemen, I remembered his pronouncement – and, as it happens, momentarily dismissed it. But that is beside the point.

The point is that I was aware, partly thanks to what my Latin teacher had said in class all that time ago, of what was morally at stake. Even in the heat of the moment, I was able to make an informed decision and, however briefly and breathlessly, ponder its consequences.

En tant qu’éducateurs internationaux, c’est notre devoir d’expliquer, cultiver et promouvoir cette conscience morale, dans la mesure où notre sagesse et expérience nous le permettent. Bien entendu, nos élèves et étudiants seront libres de faire leurs propres choix dans la vie, et c’est très bien ainsi. Mais au moins nous leurs aurons fourni les outils intellectuels et – n’ayons pas peur du mot – spirituels pour qu’ils puissent juger eux-mêmes si leurs décisions se conforment à ce que l’humanité a toujours considéré comme vrai, bon et beau, selon la célèbre formule de Platon.

References Roger Scruton, Modern Philosophy (London: Mandarin, 1996), pg. 460 John Finnis, Natural Law and Naural Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), pp. 223 -226

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

39

Marcus Tullius Cicero, “Right and Wrong”, in Roman Readings, edited and translated by Michael Grant (Harmondsworth: Pelican Books, 1967), pp. 42 and 43

Freya Stratton, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

40

Nouvelles de l’Institut de l’Enseignement et de l’Apprentissage Alison Ball, Frédéric Mercier Nous vous souhaitons à tous une belle année 2014 avec plein de projets, pédagogiques ou non.

Les cours de langues, Anglais, Français, ont commencé en septembre et les demandes augmentent. Nous avons opté pour des cours intensifs de 2 fois trois semaines avec environ 1 mois 1/2 entre les deux sessions. Les premiers retours sur cette formule sont très positifs et nous encouragent à poursuivre dans ce sens.

Plusieurs cours auront lieu de janvier à juin et nous préparons déjà ceux de l'année 2014/2015.

Cours d’anglais Cours intensif d'anglais, A2, Nations, session janvier 2014 / Inscription Cours intensif d'anglais B1, à Nations en mars et mai 2014 Cours intensif d'anglais B2, LGB, session mars et mai 2014 / Inscription

French courses French, B1, Nations Campus, January 2014

Tests de langue Les tests de niveau de langue en anglais (TOEIC Bridge) ou français (TFI) auront lieu une fois par mois. Si vous voulez vous inscrire cliquez sur le lien suivant : Inscription TFI Inscription TOEIC Bridge Pour plus de renseignements, contacter : frederic.mercier@ecolint.ch

LE MASTER EN EDUCATION INTERNATIONALE a maintenant 13 personnes inscrites, dont 7 de notre fondation. Le premiers module aura lieu en février 2014.

La conférence d'ouverture du jeudi soir est ouverte gratuitement à tous.

Pour les inscriptions merci de contacter l’assistante de l’institut : barbara.johnson@ecolint.ch

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

41

Conférence 27 février – de 17h15 à 19h15 Campus des Nations Salle Rousseau

Recherche, pratique d’enseignement et réflexivité EJUProf. B.Wentzel, HEP BNE

Conférence, en savoir plus...

“S.O.S. I.T”. …….Une nouvelle organisation Lancé en septembre 2013, “S.O.S. I.T.” se révèle être une bonne idée. Grâce à vos remarques et propositions, nous avons transformé cette offre informatique, afin de vous permettre d’en profiter encore plus facilement.

A partir de janvier 2014 Nous proposons une journée de disponibilité helpdesk dans un campus. Catherine Moreno pourra se rendre entre 9h et 18h à votre place de travail (votre bureau, salle de classe ou lieu commun : centre multimédia....)

Pour cela, il vous suffît d’inscrire votre nom dans les horaires qui vous intéressent, ainsi que le lieu, dans le formulaire en ligne dont voici le lien : SOS IT 2014 Vous pouvez aussi envoyer un e-mail à Catherine Moreno qui prendra directement rendezvous avec vous.

Nous espérons que cette nouvelle formule répondra encore mieux à vos demandes.

THE DURHAM MASTERS IN ITERNATIONAL EDUCATION https://www.dur.ac.uk/education/postgraduate/taught/ma-int-geneva/ We welcomed Professor Stephen Gorard to the first session of the year last November, looking at Research Methods in Education. For those unable to be at this very interesting and stimulating session a copy of his latest book, Research Design: Creating Robust Approaches for the Social Sciences, is now available in the secondary library at Campus des Nations. This is a very readable book and highly recommended for anyone wishing to design classroom research.

A reminder that the Durham Masters in International Education sessions can also be taken as professional development modules, with no follow on assignment. The next module takes place from Thursday evening to Sunday lunchtime 27th February to March 2nd and is entitled: Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through Creativity and Productive Thought: It will be taught by Professor Lynn Newton who provides us with this overview:

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

42

This module will explore the nature and purposes of kinds of thinking and behaviours that enhance the processes of learning and teaching and result in productive thinking on the part of the learners. The over-arching aim is that, by the end of the module, you should have acquired a critical understanding of issues relating to each of these in relation to teaching and learning for the fostering of productive thought in the classroom.

There are professional development spaces remaining on this module and if you are interested please contact Alison Ball for further information.

The Ecolint Research Journal 2014 We are busy preparing the second Ecolint Research Journal and once again we would like to include a summary of any research recently undertaken by Ecolint colleagues. If you are involved in postgraduate degrees and can send us an abstract of any recent work please get in touch.

Forthcoming event JoAnn Deak http://www.deakgroup.com/our-educators/joann-deak-phd/ will be visiting the Foundation in March, details of this event will be announced after half term. Her new book The Owner's Manual For Driving Your Adolescent Brain will also be on our library shelves soon.

JoAnn Deak

PGCE – Thanks Finally, can we take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been working with our PGCE trainees this year in the PGCE classroom. Thank you also to colleagues who have helped and supported the trainees during their first school placement and those who will be doing so in the second school placement beginning in February. Your help and support is much appreciated.

With best wishes and we look forward to hearing from you, Alison Ball and Frédéric Mercier

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

43

STEM Learning Mike Winter I am very excited to be part of a large group of people working with EPFL on a cross curricular STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) project.

At the beginning of October teachers from across the foundation and across the science, technology and maths disciplines travelled to the very impressive Rolex building at EPFL to meet with a team of people who had designed and built an educational robot. The Thymio robot https://aseba.wikidot.com/en:thymio is an inexpensive and easy to program robot which is designed for use in primary and secondary school (and if you have a child between the ages of about 7 and 15 would make an excellent birthday present!). The team at EPFL were not just offering to show us what the robot could do but were offering to work in partnership with the foundation to help to develop cross curricular materials. I went away from the meeting very impressed with what the robot could do but unsure as to how we were going to proceed to build a unit of work to fit with our curriculum requirements.

Inspiration came later in the month at the October PED day where a small group of the team met to discuss ideas and with recent news reports of the Mars rover programme fresh in our minds came up with the idea of developing a cross curricular unit called ‘A mission to Mars’.

The idea being that work in maths, science and ICT in year 9 will culminate in students controlling their Mars rover (Thymio robot) to explore the surface of Mars. Unfortunately EPFL are unable to transport their robots to Mars (yet) and so we will have to settle for setting up a room to simulate the surface of the planet. The students will program their robot to explore the planet from a different room and then take the data from sensors on the robot to map the planet. The way that this will be implemented will be different on the three different campuses. As a member of La Chataigneraie it has been particularly interesting to hear how Nations (with their greater experience of cross curricular work through the MYP programme) are going about this and I think one of the best features of this project has been the chance to talk with colleagues from across the foundation.

As we are currently rewriting our year nine curriculum In the science department at La Chataigneraie we have decided that we will build a large unit around the mission to Mars idea which will, as well as the exploration of the planet with the robots, bring together ideas from the three main branches of science to investigate the challenges of how we might travel to and live on the planet in the future.

The project for La Chataigneraie will be run with students for the first time next year.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

44

CoWriter: supporting writing acquisition through human-robot interaction Shruti Chandra, Séverin Lemaignan EPFL-CHILI The CoWriter project (carried out as a partnership between Ecolint and EPFL) explores new ways to support children with writing acquisition through human-robot interaction. We aim to find out if robots may trigger interesting novel interactions to complement the teacher/learner relationship, and more concretely, which modes and styles of child-robot interactions may lead to effective learning gains for children with different levels of writing skills.

Le projet CoWriter s'appuie pour cela sur des petits jeux pendant lesquels enfants (4-5 ans, reception class) et robot écrivent des lettres, soit ensemble (peer-learning condition), soit en attribuant des rôles (teacher/learner condition). En juin dernier, nous sommes ainsi venus mener une première expérience "enfant-enfant" (sans robot, donc) à l'École Internationale, d'une part pour évaluer la pertinence de ces deux conditions, d'autre part pour identifier les difficultés spécifiques rencontrées par les enfants.

In the peer-learner mode, two children play the role of learners. The experimenter shows a letter both learners write on their respective sheets. They then exchange their sheets and suggest corrections on each other’s sheet. In the teacher-learner mode, one child plays the role of a teacher: the teacher-child asks the learner-child to write a letter by showing a premade model, and then assesses the produced letter suggesting corrections, verbally or manually. Roles are then reversed.

Nous avons mené cette première expérience avec 20 enfants, en collectant leur production sur papier, tablette tactile et vidéo. L'un des résulats important pour la suite du projet est la construction d'une taxonomie des difficultés rencontrées par les enfants lorsqu'ils tracent des lettres. Nous avons ainsi identifié une quinzaine de catégories (topologie de la lettre incorrecte, tremblements, découpage de la lettre en sous-parties indépendantes, etc.) que nous espérons pouvoir affiner avec les retours des enseignants. Ces catégories devraient nous permettre d'adapter le comportement et les capacités de reconnaissance du robot.

Another significant outcome is a better understanding of the interaction modalities when children comment on each other's writing attempts. Deictic and verbal interactions mix with backchannel communication (like nodding). These are important cues to build a natural interaction between the robot and the children.

Il apparait aussi que l'identification des imprécisions/erreurs d'écriture commises par le partenaire est plus difficile que ce que nous anticipions: certaines erreurs qui semblent, à première vue, saillantes (comme une lettre écrite en "mirroir") ne sont ainsi jamais identifiées. Ceci pourrait suggérer que les difficultés de certains enfants à écrire seraient liées à une difficulté à correctement Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

45

appréhender les éléments topologiques et morphologiques essentiels des lettres. Nous espérons approfondir cette hypothèse dans les premières expériences enfant-robot prévues à l'École Internationale dans les prochaines semaines.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

46

Les ateliers d’échanges de pratiques de la Journée pédagogique de la Fondation Conrad Hughes Merci aux facilitateurs des échanges de pratiques (« Job Alike ») pour les comptes-rendus de ces réunions. J’ai été très impressionné par la passion qu’ils vouent à l’idée d’une bonne pédagogie et qui a clairement dirigé la grande majorité des discussions. Toute l’idée derrière ces moments de partage est l’exploration des stratégies, le partage des ressources et des expériences, et la discussion philosophique sur l’éducation entre collègues de la Fondation.

Voici quelques-unes des lignes directrices qui ressortent de ces discussions :

-

-

-

Les professeurs de la Fondation bouillonnent d’idées et d’expériences et nous avons beaucoup à partager et à apprendre des uns aux autres.

Nous devons continuer de chercher à creuser les potentiels de nos élèves avec les opportunités mises à notre disposition mais aussi parfois, malheureusement, en dépit des obstacles considérables (logistiques, organisationnels, etc.).

Le développement de la créativité et la pensée critique est parfois menacé par la pression qu’exercent le curriculum et les examens. Nous devons avoir le courage de nos convictions pédagogiques et ne pas tomber dans le piège qui consiste à penser qu’une pédagogie pauvre qui donne l’impression du progrès (exercices multiples et répétitif sans le temps nécessaire pour des retours correctifs, détaillés ou qualitatifs) mènera à un meilleur apprentissage.

Nous continuons à nous heurter à un manque de ressources en langue française, surtout en année baccalauréat.

Il y a bien plus encore dans ces notes, qui sont lues et considérées avec soin pour nos directeurs d’écoles.

Merci encore pour vos bonnes idées et partages.

Victoria Vassileva, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

47

Lanterna & Ecolint Hugo Wernhoff Lanterna As a newly registered IB student in a small state school, far out on the Swedish countryside, I first heard about ISG as the school where the IB over 10 years ago. Today, it is with great joy that I see forces joined between Lanterna Education, a company I co-founded shortly after my IB studies, and that very school.

Lanterna Education, and our learning tool Lanterna Online, has as its purpose to bring technology into learning. We believe in doing this not by trying to radically alter how teachers work, nor telling students how they should learn. Rather, we want to empower what is already going on in schools.

Lanterna Online is an online learning tool used by IBDP Schools on five continents. For students, it adds interactivity and adaptivity to the independent studying. For teachers, it automates parts of formative assessment and let them spend more time on doing what they do best – interact with students.

The newly launched partnership between ISG and Lanterna means that the two organizations will co-develop Lanterna Online. ISG’s teachers and students will help oversee that everything that is in the tool and that everything that is being developed is in fact valuable, simple to use, and purposeful. The insights we gain from developing an online learning tool in such proximity to a school are very valuable. Beyond providing feedback, teachers at ISG will also assist in creating pedagogic material for the tool.

The partnership also means that Lanterna Online will be co-branded with the ISG brand.

With this, we hope to further strengthen ISG’s recognition in the IB community as being in the forefront of education and the programme’s development.

In conclusion, at Lanterna we have high hopes for a long and mutually beneficial partnership that can strategically strengthen both Lanterna and the International School of Geneva.

Alexander Vassileva, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

48

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

49

SEN Conference Teresa Nunn Saturday May 3rd 2014 Title:

New Technology, New Learning?

Using the new technologies to improve the learning and integration of students with special needs

Speakers:

Carol Allen is the Advisory Teacher for ICT and SEN in North Tyneside, UK. She has taught since 1980 in both primary and secondary mainstream schools and schools for students with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties. The major focus of her work is on the creative and engaging use of technology to support communication in its widest sense. Mrs Allen will focus on the use of technology to support language development and communication skills Ian Bean is a leading technology consultant working with schools around the world to maximise the potential of new and existing technologies to support the teaching, learning and communication needs of students with special needs. His work has made a significant contribution to understanding the use of technology in overcoming barriers to learning for children and young people with special needs. Mr Bean will focus on Ipads – their potential and their limits.

Dr Sarah Parsons is Head of the Research Centre for Social Justice and Inclusive Education in the School of Education, University of Southampton, UK. She has significant research experience in disability related projects and particular interests in the use of innovative technologies for children with autism , and in the views and experiences of disabled children and their families. Dr Parsons will focus on issues of research in this field and on methods of properly evaluating the introduction of new technologies.

To find out more please contact charlotte.johnson@ecolint.ch

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

50

Annexe VI reports Odyssey of the Mind – LGB LGB has nine teams (Primary, Middle, Secondary) each working on resolving a long term problem: Driver’s Test (designing and building a vehicle that will attempt to complete tasks), The Not-So Haunted House (creating an original performance that includes a “pop-up-style” environment with four special effects), and It’s How We Rule (creating and presenting a humorous performance that includes a recreation of an actual historic royal court, a teamcreated court, student created puppets, a team-created instrument, and a song).

Spontaneous Fun Saturday, February 1, 2014; LGB Primary This event provides the opportunity for teams to have fun practicing all types of Spontaneous Problems. Volunteers work one of the stations and judge, based on set criteria, each team’s performance at that station.

Four OotM teams from Bern and two from the school Anhugar School at La Rippe will join Ecolint teams for this event.

After the competition each child will receive this year’s Odyssey of the Mind Switzerland Tshirt. The T-shirt was designed by one of our parents, an artist, Mr. William Linthicum.

Regional Tournament, March 1, 2014, LGB Primary The Regional Tournament is the showcase for teams of up to 7 students to present their creations to panels of judges. The team will also compete in a Spontaneous Problem with other teams in their division and Long Term Problem. Three scores will be added for a total score.

Following the Regional Tournament, some teams will have the opportunity to compete at either Odyssey of the Mind Eurofest, April 24 – 29, 2014 at Liptovsky Mikuláš in Slovakia, or at the World Finals May 28 – 31 at Iowa State University, USA. Marcia Banks Odyssey of the Mind in Nations Y3-4 We started our Odyssey of the Mind (OoTM) club meetings at the beginning of November, and the activities of the club will come to fruition at the Swiss Association’s national competition on March 1st. This means that we are roughly at the half-way stage of our project this year. We have just reached a turning point in the focus of the group’s activities, as the children start the process of producing their own original solutions for the Long Term Problems.

Our aim for the first phase of club meetings was to establish the club membership, and to start to build on the members’ team-working skills through giving them a Spontaneous Problem to work on each week. The children tackled these problems with gusto, for example:

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

51

At the same time the coaches started to introduce the children to the Long Term Problems from which they would have to choose. This proved difficult at times, since allowing a relatively free choice meant that compromises had to be made later, when not enough children wanted to do one of the problems to enable a team to be formed. Eventually two teams were formed, each working on one of the problems outlined below -

While the children are developing their brainstorming, team-working and critical thinking skills, the adult coaches are learning how to encourage and support their efforts without suggesting solutions or telling them how to do things. It’s a fundamental tenet of OoTM that the work is owned completely by the children, and this is sometimes as hard as it sounds!

Sandra Simpson, one of the coaches, is undertaking piece of research for a Masters dissertation about how the programme affects the creativity of its participants. Whatever the results of her study, I think that all the coaches agree that we have been bowled over by the enthusiasm and excitement of the children, the abundance of their ideas and the energy they are bringing to the club meetings.

Coaches: Andree Bercin, Laurence Martin, Sandra Simpson and Nicola Vickers

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pĂŠdagogique February / FĂŠvrier 2014

52

Musique a La Chatiagneraie

Ce qui a été accompli: 1. Nous avons rencontré des spécialistes de théâtre, de sport, de langue B et de FAL dans le but de récolter du langage spécifique pour nos chants.

2. Nous avons créé les paroles et la musique de quatre chansons qui sont maintenant prêtes à être enregistrées. Nous avons d’autres chansons en cours………

3. Nous avons contacté notre administration sur des questions relatives aux droits d’auteur et à la diffusion du livre électronique final.

4. Nous avons contacté le ICT Training Manager pour des questions de multimédia.

5. Nous avons rencontré notre technicien du son pour établir des modalités à suivre pour enregistrer notre travail. Préparation avant les vacances de février, et enregistrements après les vacances de printemps.

6. Nous avons filmé un enfant en train de chanter.

7. Nous avons commencé le travail des illustrations.

Ce qui reste a faire: 1. Terminer les chansons en cours.

2. Relancer les questions des droits d’auteur, de diffusion, ainsi que de multimédia pour lesquelles nous n’avons pas encore de réponses.

3. Continuer les illustrations, photos, dessins et films.

4. Faire les enregistrements 5. Créer le livre électronique

Janet Bouwmeester et Annie-Marie Tizou Elaboration et coordination du curriculum de français PYP / Campus des Nations Dans un premier temps, le processus d’élaboration du curriculum a commencé par une collaboration avec tous les enseignants de français du primaire pour identifier ce qui était actuellement enseigné en classe de français selon les niveaux et les âges des élèves.

Suite à cet état des lieux, un travail de recherche documentaire autour des différents curriculum de français existants (entre autre ceux fournis par les autres campus ) nous a permis de mieux appréhender la particularité du programme de français proposé aux Nations et le fait que seul un programme « sur mesure » est envisageable.

En parallèle de cette recherche, beaucoup de discussions ont été engagées lors de réunions de professeurs, notamment avec le département d’EAL qui se retrouve dans une position similaire, pour déterminer quelles seraient les solutions les plus adaptées à notre public d’élèves et aux particularités de notre programme de français, à savoir un enseignement de matières par l’intégration d’une langue étrangère (CLIL/EMILE) tous niveaux confondus, ainsi que des cours de français plus technique par niveaux de langue.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

53

Il est vite apparu que, dans un désir d’optimiser l’apprentissage du français et afin d’établir un document de travail pratique pour les enseignants, il était impératif d’établir des objectifs de langue par niveau pour les cours EMILE. Et donc l’orientation logique pour l’élaboration du curriculum serait non seulement de suivre les unité de recherche effectuées dans les classes régulières, mais plus encore de prendre comme centre des objectif de langue détaillés par unité par niveau - le but étant de déterminer quelle partie de ces d’objectifs devrait être conduite durant les cours EMILE et quelle part devrait être enseignée en cours de « langue technique ».

En conclusion, un premier format pour l’élaboration de ce curriculum a été proposé et est en cours d’être testé pour une des unités de recherche. Suite à ce travail, des questionnements ont commencé à émerger par rapport à l’alignement du programme de français entre le primaire et le secondaire et des réunions sont prévues avec tous les professeurs (du secondaire et du primaire) pour élargir cette question.

Charlotte Noring, Campus des Nations

Online course development Thus far the project has concentrated on planning and developing online course content.

Meetings have also taken place with DP IB Computer Science teachers from the International School of Zug and Luzern. This has provided additional information to further refine the requirements of students and test prototypes on a broader scale.

Finally, a collaboration with Lanterna Education has been set in place providing a platform for the online course.

Owen Davies Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

54

Teaching ESL (FSL) students in the mainstream classroom redux: language support at La Châtaigneraie Secondary School As bilingual education develops at La Châtaigneraie secondary school, so does the discussion of how best to deliver our course content when a large number of our students do not have the language of the mainstream (English or French) as their native language and are at varying stages of mainstream language proficiency.

As language learners ourselves we know all too well that the best way to learn a language is not through a language course, per se, but through doing some kind of activity in the target language. If you want to learn Japanese, take a flower-arranging course that is conducted in Japanese. If you want to learn French, join a local Swiss football club. If you want to learn Italian, take a cooking course delivered in Italian. Whatever the (stereotypical) activity, if you are engaged and interested, the language used to convey the information will be acquired much faster.

It is precisely this premise which underscores the Teaching ESL (and FSL, I might add) Students in the Mainstream Classroom (TESMC) course. Training content-area teachers in the facilitation of language learning is a key component of language support at La Chât secondary.

Whether it is the language of Science or History or the language of Maths, Music or Art, we are all either using language to communicate and connect with our students or teaching them how to use content-specific language to show us, the teacher, the extent of their understanding of what we have covered in a given unit. As teachers, we often forget that language is the vehicle to student understanding. Once reminded, we become more conscious of how we use language and what our expectations are regarding its use as it relates to our subject-area.

As we reach the midway point of the TESMC course at the secondary campus, I find myself reflecting on our monthly discussions; discussions on how we can: better understand the language learners in our classrooms through language profiles; scaffold language learning in a systematic way; and offer opportunities to develop a variety of speaking registers.

What I have most observed and learned from my colleagues by delivering the course is the value it offers us as teachers: the opportunity to simply sit with a group of colleagues and discuss best teaching practice around a very pertinent and practical topic. Through the stimulus of the course content, we are able to rehash educational ideas from our past, consider new ideas from a different perspective and, most importantly, discuss and share best practice in teaching in general. As teachers we all know how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day grind of teaching, administrating, organizing, managing that it is worth reminding ourselves why we got into the profession in the first place (the students!) and what makes quality teaching.

As I see it from this mid-point, there are two main benefits this course has offered so far. One is the variety of practical activities which have direct relevance to our daily teaching; and two

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

55

is the realisation that good language teaching in our classrooms is really just good teaching in our classrooms. The activities and concepts we discuss benefit the literacy development in all our subjects. In fact, I think the course’s name should be changed to Teaching Literacy in the Mainstream Classroom.

The next half of the course will focus on scaffolding writing, assessment and whole-school language support. Indeed, La Châtaigneraie is experiencing exciting times in terms of language support on the secondary campus. While La Châtaigneraie has always offered English and French language support at the secondary level, in addition to the TESMC course, we are also developing a more structured format to language scaffolding. A formal English-as-an-Additional-Language (EAL) program in Years 7-9 is currently being established with in-roads being made in the areas of language assessment, primarysecondary transition and moving towards more standardised language support in both English and French. With the introduction of a new Bridge English class (within mainstream Language A lessons) and specific in-class language support broadening throughout these middle school years, we are beginning to better meet the language needs of our bilingual clientele.

Our work in language support is far from over, and many challenges lay ahead, but I, for one, am excited to be a part of such a dynamic development at the school.

Xanthe Cobb Recueil d’exercices mathématiques en français Quatre facteurs imposent une rationalisation de l’ordre des chapitres du recueil d’exercices prévu : les ressources existantes, le besoin de pré-acquis pour nombre des chapitres, l’harmonisation avec les textes anglophones, et l’utilisation aisée avec notre ordre d’enseignement. Ils sont bien sur tous liés, et demandent donc une réflexion poussée avant de choisir un ordre donné.

Progrès :  



Les ressources qui vont être utilisées sont classées ensembles, dans un ordre logique.

L’ordre des chapitres est en voie de finalisation, de même qu’un cadre de mise en page dans lequel insérer les ressources, au fur et à mesure de leur mise au nette Nombre de ressources sont réécrites dans Word, prêtes à être utilisées

Reste à faire :  Finalisation de l’ordre des chapitres  Réécrire les ressources qui ne sont pas encore sous format Word (p.ex. manuscrites, photocopies, numérisations)  Harmonisation de la présentation  Vérification/recherche éventuelle des réponses

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

56

 

Vérification de la version finale (orthographe, numérotation, etc) Collation des documents Word en un seul PDF avant l’impression Charles Savory Ecolint Outreach Program

The goals of the Outreach Program focussed on offering pedagogical expertise and teaching resources to areas where there are defined needs. Not only would recipients of the Ecolint Outreach benefit from the experience of a world leader in international education, but the reciprocal benefits to our school in terms of professional development, community service and exposure would be immense.

Currently there are teachers and administrators throughout the campuses of the Foundation who coordinate a number of programs involved in teacher training and school development in less advantaged areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America. These programs are run by individuals with wonderful intentions; but often the people involved work in anonymity, the project is largely dependent on the efforts of a few or even a single individual, and there is little recognition, let alone formal support, by way of the Foundation.

I have begun to catalogue the work being done by Ecolint staff in this area. Although there are a large number of humanitarian projects planned or in progress, the Outreach Program is specific to educational support through teacher training or school development. I will shortly be able to publish a synopsis of projects that fit this criterion. The hope is that the catalogue will do three things: 1. Foster a synergy between different projects 2. Give a public platform for projects that fall under the radar 3. Act as a catalyst for further educational projects to be developed.

To date I have communicated with or met a number of individuals leading wonderful initiatives in education. One such person lead a team of administrators to Zambia where she organised a number of teacher development workshops and will do so again next summer.

I have discussed with a teacher from La Chat his support for educational programs in Latin America and Palestine. This teacher and another from Nations are involved in helping a school in Venezuela, building a music school in Nicaragua, and supporting an NGO that guides parents in education, healthcare and children’s rights.

I will be meeting further with the Swiss director and a Board member of an organisation that supports a school and orphanage near the border of Bhutan and northern India.

I am discussing the work of teachers who lead projects in Africa (Zambia, Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania) as well as India.

Lastly I am liaising with the director of a grassroots NGO who is supporting educational programming in Kenya.

Keith Browne

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

57

Areesha Ibrar, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

58

Le site internet en espagnol de La Grande Boissière (LGB) Le site internet en espagnol LGB que j’ai créé au début de l’année 2013 a été officialisé lors de la dernière rentrée des classes.

Son objectif était multiple :    

Offrir un matériel didactique à disposition des élèves.

Présenter un média en langue espagnole.

Promouvoir les activités en espagnol du département.

Faire connaître le site du département des Langues (limité pour le moment aux activités en espagnol) à l’ensemble de l’école.

Bien que le site soit très récent, l’objectif que nous nous étions fixé a été atteint.

On y trouve les informations suivantes :  La composition du corps professoral  Des activités telles que le concours de tapas, le décernement du prix du Jeune public du festival « FILMAR EN AMERICA LATINA » et le concours de microfictions : Brevísimo.  Le compte-rendu des voyages à Valence, Séville, Grenade, Cordoue et Pays Basque, avec des vidéos et des photos pour qu’élèves et parents puissent avoir une idée des activités réalisées lors de chaque voyage.  Des liens avec des sites interactifs didactiques qui sont un point de référence d’abord pour les élèves et en suite pour ceux qui visitent le site. 

Le site offre également des outils pédagogiques autant pour les enseignants que pour toute personne intéressée par le sujet.



Le lien « projet » permet aux élèves de voir les travaux qu’ils ont réalisés en cours.

Ces travaux vont ainsi rester en ligne comme exemple de travaux proposés par les enseignants sous forme écrite et visuelle ce qui permet d’avoir un historique des activités.



Les vidéos, qu’elles soient réalisées par les professeurs ou par les élèves, sont un témoin de toutes les réalisations de l’année. Elles concluent les processus pédagogiques.

Ce site doit être dynamique et pour cela il doit être actualisé: il sera remanié et adapté régulièrement afin d’accompagner et stimuler les activités de notre département.

Lien du site : http://lgbspanish.wix.com/mundohispano Hernan Hoyos

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

59

Implementing sustainable development across the Foundation In the past months my efforts have been focussed on two major projects: 1. Implementing mindfulness 2. Introducing Goodwall Ad 1.

Although mindfulness and sustainability may not seem immediately related, they are indeed within our educational context. Allow me to explain. Within the ten Principles of One Planet Living formulated by WWF, that have been adopted as a guideline for introducing sustainability, the tenth principle is Health and Happiness (see image below). The foundation has recently published its guidelines on Mindfulness and Health and we see that the overlap in titles focusses on health. Health and sustainability thus go hand in hand, and mindfulness provides the bridge within our school community.

For those not familiar with mindfulness in an educational context, I refer to the work of the Mindfulness in Schools project (www.mindfulnessinschools.org). This project is based on the work of John Kabat-Zinn, which adapts the benefits of the program he developed within a medical context, to the school environment. The full name of the program is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which suggests, correctly, that the benefits of the program lie in the reduced levels of stress experienced by the practitioner of the program. Stress is a tangible phenomenon within our school environment and applies to students, teacher and administration alike. Not only does stress influence the well-being, or perceived quality of life, negatively, but it also has a negative impact on student performance. With the introduction of mindfulness at the foundation, we expect to be able to raise well-being as well as academic performance.

The preliminary exchanges I have had with colleagues and students indicate that there is a wide interest across the foundation. I have applied some strategies within my classes and students have generally responded positively, as have the colleagues with whom I have been in contact. The next stage is to organize training by the mindfulness in schools project, establish quiet spaces within every school and organize meeting among those interested in these preliminary stages.

By the time I write my next report I hope to be able to describe when the training took place and how many participated, as well as how teachers have started to implement practice within their classes. For now I can say that I have been most encouraged by the wide interest and support I have received from colleagues and students. As a result, I am confident that a constructive implementation of mindfulness can be established across the foundation in years to come. Positive effects we can expect as a result are raised levels of well-being for the wider community, as well as raised levels of academic performance for those students currently suffering from stress.

Finally, there is a strong relationship between mindfulness and reflection, deep thinking and has been demonstrated to raise levels of creativity and critical thinking, but I will write more

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pĂŠdagogique February / FĂŠvrier 2014

60

about that in my next report. I intend to compile a reader of research articles in which these results are discussed for the interested reader.

Fig.1: The 10 Principles of One Planet Living as formulated by the World Wildlife Fund.

Ad 2.

The goodwall is an initiative of endignorance, an organisation started by young entrepreneurs in Geneva, including an alumnus from La Châtaigneraie. The goodwall profiles itself as ‘the social network to do good’ and can be found at www.goodwall.org. The potential of this platform is vast, as it will allow students to connect in initiating and organizing projects.

At La Chat that starts in year 6 with the end of Primary project on sustainable matters and can be used by students in years 12 and 13 to organize CAS projects, as well as posting reflections they wish to share with a larger audience. The aim is to create a continuity from year 6 to year 13, making service learning and integral part of the educational experience at our school.

I have been in close contact with the developers to discuss the requirements for our students and teachers to be able to use it optimally. Discussions have been had with teachers, ICT and CAS coordinators as well as senior management at La Châtaigneraie. A meeting has been planned with the LGB sustainability coordinator and hope to meet with Conrad Hughes to discuss the possibilities of implementation across the foundation (where appropriate). For now we hope to be able to pilot a closed version of the network (so only to be used within the school) with year 6 in Primary and the Green Committee in Secondary at La Chat. In the next report I hope to be able to share our evaluations. It is very much hoped that once we are more familiar with the platform, it will allow us to connect to schools worldwide, creating educational benefit for all parties involved.

Jan Dijkstra

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

61

Online Apps The Bring Your Own Device Program (BYOD) student 1:1 computing initiative is currently having a staggered implementation across the Foundation. The Strategic Plan, appraisal process and Our Focus for the Future commit us to implement a strategy for digital learning which makes the most creative and worthwhile use of ICT'. I will be using this Annexe VI opportunity to find 'cross-platform' Apps (preferably for little to no cost), websites and online activities that encourage this ambition to be fulfilled. The aim will be for students in terms of general ICT use but with a focus on Mathematics ICT. Given the vast array of devices we will have in our classrooms, I will be checking (depending on access to such devices) the compatibility of such ICT across as many devices/operating systems as possible including Windows OS, IOS, OSX, and possibly others as well.

Having looked at many Apps, I had the dilemma of trying to decide ‘Is this an educational app?’ I placed a few to the side deciding they were not. Later however I decided that for me to classify any App as educational or not would be a bit arrogant on my part. It would also be an insult to the creativity of teachers in the Foundation. I therefore include them all in hope someone may find it a spark for pedagogy.

I am afraid that I have only just received an ipad and hence have not tried many of these on that platform. I have mostly chosen Apps that are multi-platform but some seemed too good not to include.

Below are links to Apps and a brief description of what they do. ●

Google sky - Android only, cost: free ○ Sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky….this app uses the location function of your device to show on the screen a map of the stars and planets based on where the phone is pointing. Yup, that’s Jupiter! ○ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid

●

Duolingo - iOS and Android. Cost: free ○ Learning another language on the move. This is giving Rosetta Stone some competition and is picking up good reviews, nominations, awards as an educational app. ○ http://www.duolingo.com/mobile

●

Today’s meet - Any device. Cost: free ○ Chat room with a time limit before it self deletes ○ possibly good for internet safety/ anti cyberbullying tool as people have less time to get in contact with the vulnerable. ○ Can’t be extended nor closed early. ○ Today’s meet does not participate in rooms so that you know if you are contacted by them, it is not authentic. ○ Discussion not public (unlike twitter) - only those with permission can use it..

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

62

○

○

Real time feedback on your presentation, allows for audience questions and audience trends to be detected, allows you to be in control of which questions you wish to answer. Probably not a replacement for real human audience member to presenter questioning http://todaysmeet.com/

●

Keep - Any device. Cost: free ○ Googles version of an all round notebook ○ Seems more effort than what you get out of it but may suit some ○ https://drive.google.com/keep/

●

IFTTT = If This, Then That - iOS only (for the moment) ;( . Cost: free ○ Literally as it says on the tin…. ○ Great for automating actions ■ If someone tags a photo with me in it on Facebook, then upload that photo to my Instagram account.

■ If I log into my gmail, create an event in my calendar to log my work hours on email.

■ If it rains, send me an sms to pack an umbrella. ○ https://ifttt.com/

●

CoLAR - iOS and Android. Cost: free ○ allows you to print and color in a picture and then point your devices’ camera at the picture. The individualised picture comes to 3D life preserving the colour. Rather magical actually. ○ http://colarapp.com/

●

Aurasma - iOS and Android. Cost: free ○ similar to coLAR but this superimposes a predesigned cartoon over a photo such that whenever you again point the camera of your device at the same scene the cartoon appears on the screen. The cartoons are still in their infancy but lots of potential here. ○ http://www.aurasma.com/ TED - Android only. Cost: free ○ For watching your favourite TED talks ○ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ted.android

●

●

Vine - any device. Cost: free ○ Youtube meets Twitter perhaps. ○ Looping videos of 6 seconds or less ○ https://vine.co/

●

Daltonizer - Android only. Cost: free ○ a color blindness simulator application that uses the camera device. ○ It can be used to illustrate how the color blind see the world or to ensure that

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

63

the colors you choose for a work can be seen by a color-blind person. ○

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.nghs.android.cbs&hl=en

Here are two links to some Apps news ● ●

London gets smart parking sensors - hopefully reducing carbon emissions! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25727117 iDoctor - some interesting medical apps (unfortunately with some sensationalised reporting) Steve Cormack

Helena Zivkovic, Campus des Nations

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

64

Mathematical concepts The goal of my project is to facilitate the experience of looking at student work together, which will allow Nations’ PYP (Early Years and Primary) teachers to develop a shared understanding of our students' key mathematical ideas at the year levels. With this shared understanding, we will be able to agree upon more explicit assessment criteria and benchmarks.

My first step was to analyze assessment materials from the First Steps Math Resource Book and Exemplars materials to propose assessments to be used at specific year levels in line with the PYP Scope and Sequence Phases and current units of inquiry. I have proposed First Steps assessments to four of the year levels and we are in the process of administering/moderating these assessments.

Some teams have met to look at student work together while other teams have plans to meet in the near future. I have looked at aligning the assessment tasks to avoid redundancy of tasks and to further reflect on year level expectations. We have started to talk about what assessment materials could be passed along to the child's teacher for the following year. We have also looked at results from the assessments to guide instruction and plans for future assessments.¨ Melissa Sundquist European Student Film Festival 2014

The European Student Film Festival is in full preparation. The doors will be opening on the largest festival of its kind in Europe, March 19-23. The International School of Geneva will be welcoming 150 students across 15 schools and 13 countries. We will also be hosting filmmakers representing all aspects of the film industry to deliver cuttingedge workshops for the participants.

Many goals have been met thus far, and many more on their way. With two months to go the push for excellence will be going until the final minute. The festival’s organization is three-fold.

The first will be to showcase the competition films, which many of our students and students from around the world, are in the middle of producing. These will be showcased in a top cinema i the region and will accompany a night of celebration, with a representatives from the foundation, alumni and the film community contributing to the event. Each school has the opportunity to submit five seven minute films, of which 25 will be chosen from the possible 75 submissions. The international jury will decide the final winner.

Secondly, the festival will host 1o different workshops lead by filmmakers that represent the full range of film. These will be cover all aspects of production that a film undergoes. Each of the participants will choose three of the workshops to engage in a deep level the meanings constructed by the facets of film. Workshops range from storytelling, scriptwriting, directing cinematography, sound design and montage development. We are still working on filling these roles, and high priority is given to this, as learning is at the heart of the festival.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

65

Finally, the students on the last day will take part in the 24 hour film challenge. The groups will be a mix of the schools and participants with guidance from the professionals. This event is complete submersion and will prove to be an event that challenges the students’ abilities to work as a team and at a demanding professional level.

I have also set a network of teachers across the foundation that will be helping in the event. Michael Shevlin, and Chris Hambley from La Chataignerie; Julian Parry, and Giles Shirley at Campus des nations; and I am still waiting to hear from LGB regarding students and Teachers, but contact has been made early last year. So far we have 38 students in the foundation attending the festival and hopefully many more to come.

We will be hosting the festival in Annecy at the Balcons d’Annecy for the workshops, boarding and the 24 hour film festival. The evening of showcase, will either take place in Geneva, or Annecy, we are still waiting to hear back from Cinemas. The event had to be held in Annecy, due to cost and space, as we do not have the facilities to host over 200 people at once.

I am proud to announce we have also top sponsors signing on, including Sony Software, dartfish and Visuals, an International Film rental house. We expect many more to sign on board before the lights shine on the event.

The challenges, at the moment are completing the list of workshop leaders, locating more sponsors, IT infrastructure, and finding a Key-note speaker for the event.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will also attach a schedule once we get closer to finalisation.

Benjamin Bottorff Introduction des TICE en cours de sciences – bilan au premier trimestre La pédagogie en lien avec l’introduction des TICE reste un domaine relativement nouveau dans les écoles du degré primaire et MS. Elle pose un nombre important de questionnement et nécessite des compétences diverses : pédagogiques certes mais également technologique. La dimension recherche-action dans un nouveau domaine semble également faire sens pour ne pas, comme je l’avais déjà exposé dans mon premier compte rendu, faire simplement du neuf avec du vieux. Il faut donc impérativement se mettre en équipe pour mieux définir quels objectifs constituent une réelle plus-value lorsque l’on opère un croisement entre enseignement d’une matière-utilisation des TIC. La triangulation suivante est enfin née, au terme de ce premier semestre ! Il va sans dire que cela implique une volonté de faire un travail d’équipe et de dégagé du temps commun à cet effet.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

66

L’enseignant de L’enseignant la discipline TICE de la MS (B. Bichsel) M. Mandel L’enseignant projet TICE (recherche-action) E. Sullo

Mais qu’en est-il des élèves ?

Les élèves ont effectué deux cyberquêtes, durant ce premier semestre. Une première imposée par les enseignants autour du thème de la lumière blanche. Les sites de recherche avaient été donnés, il s’agissait d’un travail de groupe où chacun avait un rôle défini. Cette première cyberquête qui aurait pu constituer une sorte d’évaluation formative sous une forme originale, n’a pas fonctionné et nous n’avons pas atteint les objectifs fixés.

En effet, la décomposition de la lumière est un sujet dense, les sites où ces phénomènes sont expliqués sont complexes. L’information vulgarisée est rare. Autrement dit les contenus n’étaient clairement pas à leur portée.

C’est pourquoi, nous avons changé notre projet initial (recherche orientée) et débuter une deuxième cyberquête en partant du questionnement des élèves, sans imposer de sites. La dimension travail de groupe a également été abandonnée pour cette deuxième expérience.

Les résultats étaient meilleurs et les productions finales des élèves nous ont conduit à faire les observations suivantes : o

La majorité des élèves se sentent tout à fait habilité à chercher des sites, ils n’aiment pas être orientés.

o

La moitié des élèves consultent un seul site pour répondre

o

Un quart en consulte au moins deux, le dernier quart visite entre 3 à 4 sites par question.

o

64% des élèves consultent des sites appropriés (visées éducatives ; partage d’informations référenciées etc.)

o

19% des élèves trouvent des sites partiellement appropriés (parfois trop complexe mais bien référencié ; information correcte mais sans source ; site publicitaire mais sans trop de spam etc)

o

17% des élèves s’appuient sur des sites inappropriés à visée commerciale envahis par des spams de toutes sortes, sans références etc.

o

29% des élèves donnent une réponse paraphrasée correcte.

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

67

o

32 % donnent une réponse correcte mais incomplète.

o

32% répondent de manière erronée ou ne parviennent pas du tout à répondre.

o

7% répondent par un copier-coller.

Ce pourcentage a été calculé sur les élèves d’une seule classe. Cependant, il est intéressant de voir que ce qui pose davantage problèmes n’est pas la recherche de l’information mais l’extraction et la reformulation de cette dernière.

En tenant compte des ces résultats et de la difficulté que les élèves ont eu à travailler en groupe, je suis parvenue à dégager les objectifs suivants pour notre deuxième semestre :

Objectifs généraux RECHERCHER DE L’INFORMATION = Utilisation et analyse des ressources internet COLLABORERPARTAGERECHANGERCOMMUNIQUER = Initiation au travail collaboratif à distance.

Moyens Google ou autre moteur de recherche Application i-pad

PRESENTATER = produire des travaux sur différents supports issus des technologies.

Mind mapping Power point Vidéo Cyberquête (site web)

Mails GoogleDocs Cyberquête Balados

Apprentissages Apprendre à trianguler les informations (trouver deux autres sources à l’appui).

S’approprier quelques critères d’évaluation des sites internet.

Apprendre à communiquer par mail poliment de manière concise avec ses camarades et ses professeurs. Différencier l’usage des TICE pour l’école = requiert quelques critères de savoir-faire et de savoir être.

Collaborer avec tous les élèves (même ceux que l’on « n’aime pas » en partageant ou échangeant de l’information) Maîtriser des outils de présentation = savoir concevoir une carte heuristique, un power point, une vidéo etc.

Il faut ajouter à ces objectifs « TICE » l’objectif linguistique : reformulation ou paraphrase.

En effet, si les élèves comprennent bien pourquoi le copier-coller ou le plagiat est une pratique interdite à l’école, ils n’en sont pas moins démunis lorsqu’on leur demande de paraphraser un paragraphe. Il faut donc penser à enrichir leur vocabulaire à l’aide d’un lexique ciblé à développer en classe de français ou d’anglais ou les deux !

Finalement ci-dessous voici :

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

68

 

La cyberquête des élèves de 6ème que nous devons encore compléter avec des balados (brèves réponses audio.)

La grille-outil pour valider les sites choisis que chaque élève devra s’approprier.

A noter qu’en fin d’année l’ensemble des productions sera partagé avec les autres élèves de 6ème. et constituera une activité collaborative entre les classes de sciences. Ces productions représenteront je l’espère une synthèse originale du cursus en sciences des degrés 6.

Ces questions t’intéressent ? Clic sur les liens, ils te conduiront directement vers une réponse simple et fiable. Pour t’assurer d’avoir bien compris ce que tu as lu, tu peux écouter nos mini-conférences audio.

Questions

Les sources internets

Combien de muscles comprend l’œil ?

http://le_corps_humain.juniorwebaward.ch/ http://www.dummies.com/Section/Content-Search.id324209.html?query=eye+muscles http://www.nanosweb.org/files/public/thyroideyedisease.pdf

Comment voit un daltonien ?

http://www.podcastscience.fm/dossiers/2010/09/22/dossier-ledaltonisme-les-daltoniens/ (pour écouter au lieu de lire, va à la 15ème minute directement) http://www.fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperm%C3%A9tropie http://www.futurasciences.com/magazines/sante/infos/dico/d/biologiehypermetropie-11860/

Qu’est-ce que l’hypermétropie ?

Qu’est-ce que la myopie ?

Myopie : Qu'est-ce que c'est - Santé - Le Figaro http://www.nei.nih.gov/healtheyes/myopia.asp http://www.cliniqueoeil.ch/page-154/lasik-operation-de-lamyopie.html www.nhs.uk http://www.laser-lasik.fr/MyopieExplications.html http://www.patient.co.uk/health/short-sight-myopia

Comment fonctionnent les illusions d’opique ?

http://psychology.about.com/b/2012/01/09/how-do-opticalillusions-work.htm Les illusions d'optique | Espace des sciences http://fr.wikimini.org/wiki/Illusion_d%27optique http://www.espace-sciences.org/sciences-ouest/archives/lesillusions-d-optique http://www.clg-galaberte-sthippolytedufort.acmontpellier.fr/spip.php?article453 http://www.ask.com/question/how-does-an-optical-illusion-work

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

Nos Réponses audio CETTE PARTIE DOIT ÊTRE COMPLETEE !

69

Comment ça marche « un trompe l’œil »

http://www.iptrucs.com/article-comment-fonctionne-un-trompe-loeil-118759344.html

Qu’est-ce qu’un mirage et comment se produit-il?

http://fr.vikidia.org/wiki/Mirage http://www.linternaute.com/science/divers/pourquoi/06/pour quoi-mirage/mirage.shtml

Pourquoi a-t-on les yeux rouges quand on prend une photo avec un flash ?

http://lasciencepourtous.cafesciences.org/articles/lesyeuxrougessurlesphotos/ http://laestlaquestion.tfo.org/question_humain_pourquoi_avons_ nous_les_yeux_rouges_sur_les_photos_200

Education Newsletter / Bulletin pédagogique February / Février 2014

70