IB World Oct 2018

October 2018 | Issue 76 Free to IB World Schools

www.ibo.org @iborganization

The magazine of the International Baccalaureate

Celebrating 50 years of the IB

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF THE IB

EDITOR’S LETTER When the International Baccalaureate was founded back in 1968, there were just seven schools worldwide. Fifty years on, there are almost 5,000 IB World Schools in more than 150 countries. That’s an impact you would have to describe as exceptional, and one that shows that the IB’s relevance is increasing as the world changes.

To celebrate this 50th anniversary, we bring you a special souvenir issue of IB World. Combining ideas from IB students, educators, and other inspiring minds in the wider field of international education, we cover subjects as diverse as student motivation, classroom technology, teaching climate change, Finland’s school system, and artworks symbolizing the IB learner profile.

Yes, we look back fondly on the past 50 years of the IB, but more importantly we are also looking to the future.

Sophie-Marie Odum, Editor

The programmes of the International Baccalaureate have a long-standing reputation for their academic and personal rigour, challenging students to excel in their studies and in their personal growth, and develop a lifelong thirst for learning.

The IB aspires to help schools develop well-rounded students who respond to challenges with optimism and open minds, are confident in their own identities, make ethical decisions and join with others in celebrating our common humanity, and who can apply what they learn in real-world, complex situations.

We now work with almost 5,000 schools (both state and privately funded) that share our commitment to international education. More than one million students in over 150 countries study our four programmes, which are designed to: help students develop the skills and attitudes they need for both academic and personal success be student-centred, promoting personal challenge offer a broad curriculum with significant content explore globally significant ideas and issues

Primary Years Programme (PYP) For students aged 3 to 12, the Primary Years Programme focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside.

Middle Years Programme (MYP) For students aged 11 to 16, the Middle Years Programme provides a framework of academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world.

IB Diploma Programme (DP) For students aged 16 to 19, this is an academically challenging programme with final examinations that prepare students for success at university and beyond.

IB Career-related Programme (CP) For students aged 16 to 19, the Career-related Programme consists of DP courses studied alongside a unique CP core. The CP is designed to increase access to an IB education and provides a flexible learning framework tailored by the school to meet the needs of their students and the wider community.

4,900+ IB World Schools

© International Baccalaureate 2018. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. Every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, but neither Haymarket Network nor the International Baccalaureate can be held responsible for the accuracy of the information therein, or any consequence arising from it. Views expressed by contributors may not reflect the views of Haymarket Network or the International Baccalaureate. The advertisement of products and services does not imply endorsement by either Haymarket Network or the IB. Prices and offers are correct at time of going to press and are subject to change. All offers are subject to manufacturer’s terms and conditions.

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Read more stories online

IB World magazine is published annually. You can read more features and community stories online, at blogs.ibo.org. If you would like to contribute feature ideas or tell us about your inspiring community projects, please: email editor@ibo.org or Tweet us @iborganization. ibo.org

CONTENTS

50 YEARS AND COUNTING 4

IB World Editor Sophie-Marie Odum Acting Editor Dominic Bliss

A timeline of the IB’s visionary half-century

“EDUCATION IS THE SPARK THAT STARTS IT ALL” 8

IB Editors Jane Wynn Freddie Oomkens Production Editor Ilana Harris

What should tomorrow’s learning look like? IB students and alumni around the world take part in a virtual debate

Designer Sandra Marques Picture Editor Dominique Campbell Senior Account Manager Steph Allister Account Director Justine Loehry Head of Creative Martin Tullett

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A HOT TOPIC: CLIMATE CHANGE 20

IB educators and students on positive, meaningful approaches to covering global warming in the classroom

SOLVING HUMANITY’S GREATEST CHALLENGES 24

Group Production Manager Trevor Simpson

Spotlight on #generationIB, showcasing students’ solutions to the world’s most pressing problems

Managing Director, Haymarket Network Issie Peate Printed by Stephens & George Print Group, UK

REALITY BITES 28

Have VR and AR technologies got a future in schools?

Published on behalf of the IB by Haymarket Network, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3SP, UK Tel +44 (0)208 267 5000

INSPIRING VOICES 31-53

Interviews with five inspiring thinkers in international education:

AGA KHAN IV 32

Educating tomorrow’s leaders

Richard Carey/stock.adobe.com; Simon Stanmore; Gabriele Paar; Sydney Sabbota

DANIEL PINK 36

No more carrots, no more sticks?

YONG ZHAO 41

Teaching in the machine age

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PASI SAHLBERG 46

The Finnish line

SIVA KUMARI 51

The IB’s Director General PEFC/16-33-254 PEFC Certified This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources www.pefc.co.uk

THE GALLERY OF GOOD THOUGHTS 56

Student artworks put the IB learner profile in the picture

THE BEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE 64

Haymarket is certified by BSI to environmental standard ISO14001

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Alumni from the past five decades on how an IB education has helped them become lifelong learners

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50 YEARS & C HISTORY When the International Baccalaureate was founded in 1968, just seven schools offered one programme, the Diploma Programme. Fifty years on, there

1968 1971 1983 1987 FIRST OFFICIAL IB EXAMS

7 SCHOOLS

THE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE IS FOUNDED IN GENEVA In the 1960s, a group of educators saw a need for an international approach to education which would equip young people with the skills, values and knowledge to build a more peaceful future. Their challenge was to create an academically rigorous education system with a school-leaving qualification accepted by the best universities.

The IB launched its very first IB Diploma Programme (DP) exam session in 1971. Ever since then, it has designed its curriculums so that students build a deep understanding of how their studies fit into the wider context of our world, no matter what stage of their education they are at.

SPANISH BECOMES THE THIRD OFFICIAL IB LANGUAGE

Spanish joined English and French as an official IB language. The IB has a serious commitment to developing multilingualism. It views languages not just as a subject, but as a fundamental part of its educational ethos – in order to foster international mindedness in every student.

228 SCHOOLS

GRADUATES IN ACTION Back in 1987, Marina Catena (above) graduated from the DP at the United World College of the Adriatic, in Italy. Nowadays she serves as Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, and is also a Lieutenant in the Italian Army, embodying the IB mission through her humanitarian work on the front lines and courageous approach to life.

ADVANCES IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PC 1974 

CALCULATOR 1970 The world’s first pocket calculators are introduced in Japan, spreading quickly throughout the world.

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Although PCs were developed earlier in the 20th century, it wasn’t until 1974 that they first became commercially available.

WORLD WIDE WEB 1989 The invention of the World Wide Web by scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee paves the way for internet usage in the classroom.

ibo.org

50TH ANNIVERSARY

& COUNTING

rs on, there are almost 5,000 schools and four programmes. Here are our highlights along with developments in educational technology during that period

1994 1997 2001 2005 THE MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME MYP IS LAUNCHED The MYP encourages students aged 11 to 16 to make practical connections between their studies and the real world. Using global contexts, MYP students develop a deep understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet.

THE PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME PYP IS INTRODUCED

The PYP helps develop a wider range of learning in the minds of younger students aged 3 to 12. It addresses students’ academic needs and their social and emotional wellbeing in a carefully balanced way, ensuring a resilient preparation for the challenges of secondary education.

GRADUATES IN ACTION

1,746 SCHOOLS

In 2001, Japanese IB graduate Akihiko Hoshide (above) qualified as an astronaut. He graduated from the DP in 1987 at the United World College of South East Asia, in Singapore. Also in 2001, former IB student Vin Diesel appeared in The Fast and the Furious, the Hollywood movie franchise that was to make him a household name.

AGA KHAN ACADEMIES ADOPT THE DP The IB’s partnership with the Aga Khan Academies is one of many global partnerships it has developed. “We hope the network of Aga Khan Academies will become an effective bridge for extending the IB Programme more widely into the developing world,” said His Highness the Aga Khan in 2008.

C Willson, DPA, K deWitt, NASA/Alamy Stock Photo; Getty Images/iStockphoto

481 SCHOOLS

VR HEADSET 1991 The Sega VR Headset prototype was a forerunner to the modern VR products, which are now used in many schools to create immersive experiences.

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WHITEBOARD 1991 Canadian company Smart Technologies launches its Smart Board interactive whiteboard.

Other manufacturers follow suit, allowing classrooms all over the world to benefit.

GOOGLE 1998 The world’s most popular search engine is founded in 1998, helping students to research on the internet.

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2006 2007 2009 2012 1,951 SCHOOLS

GRADUATES IN ACTION

THE IB LEARNER PROFILE IS LAUNCHED

Irish author Anne Enright (above) won the Man Booker Prize for her novel The Gathering in 2007. A year later, the same book won the Irish Novel of the Year. Enright is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and is an IB graduate of Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific, in British Columbia, Canada.

The IB learner profile describes the aspirations of a global community that shares the values underlying the IB’s educational philosophy.

It encourages students to become inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective. Embedded in all IB programmes, this ethos has had real-world impact, lasting long after students graduate.

THE IB EDUCATOR NETWORK IBEN IS LAUNCHED

The IB is the only international education system with a global network of educators who support and professionally develop colleagues across the world.

In 2009, this was formalized into the IB Educator Network.

Today the IBEN has over 20,000 members who contribute to IB programmes as curriculum developers, examiners, workshop leaders, authorization visitors and consultants.

3,530 SCHOOLS

THE CAREERRELATED PROGRAMME CP IS LAUNCHED The Career-related Programme allows students to combine their academic choices with their passions, for example, sport or the arts.

The programme provides practical, real-world approaches to learning.

The CP partners with major providers of careerrelated qualifications.

SKYPE 2003 WIKIPEDIA 2001 Wikipedia is launched on 15 January 2001, and is quickly adopted as a popular research medium for students.

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Skype goes online on 29 August 2003, enabling students to communicate internationally for free via voice calls and video chat.

YOUTUBE 2005 YouTube launches on 14 February 2005, enabling students to watch and share videos for free. ibo.org

2014 2015 2016 2018 4,095 SCHOOLS

GRADUATES IN AC TION In 2014, IB graduate Lupita Nyong’o (above) received the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the harrowing historical film 12 Years a Slave. She studied the DP at St Mary’s School, Nairobi, Kenya.

A PILOT IS LAUNCHED FOR THE MYP eASSESSMENT

A ground-breaking assessment system for MYP students was piloted in 2015.

The eAssessment is a reliable, globally consistent and highly innovative assessment model that helps students to achieve, and provides quality assurance for schools. Also in 2015, IB graduate Justin Trudeau (above) was inaugurated as Prime Minister of Canada. He attended Collège Jean-deBrébeuf, in Montreal.

GRADUATES IN ACTION

4,900+ SCHOOLS

In 2016, Hindi-language film Neerja received critical acclaim for its portrayal of a real-life airline hijacking. The actress who played the protagonist was Sonam Kapoor (above), a former IB student at the United World College of South East Asia, in Singapore.

IB 50TH ANNIVERSARY The IB marks its 50th anniversary and celebrates with educators and students around the world.

IPAD 2010 XO LAPTOP 2006 American company One Laptop per Child launches its affordable and durable XO laptop, allowing students in the developing world to benefit from computer technology.

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Apple launches its iPad tablet computers, which are quickly adopted by schools all over the planet.

MERGE CUBE 2017 The palm-sized Merge Cube uses augmented reality technology to create holograms, which help enhance students’ learning.

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Mike McGregor/OLPC, Inc.; G Lewis, PSL Images, C Jones, WENN, Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo; Canadian Press/PA Images

50TH ANNIVERSARY

DINA MUSSABAYEVA IRENE FANNING THOMAS PEWTRESS

SACHA WINTER HOSSAM KALADA

MATTHEW FERBY

ILAAN BALAGANGADHARAN

ESHA MARDIKAR NATHAN CHAN DANIEL RAI CHUARDY

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FATIMA SULEIMAN

ibo.org

THE BIG DEBATE

“EDUCATION IS THE SPARK THAT STARTS IT ALL” IB students and alumni from all over the world join together to discuss the burning issues in international education. The results are enlightening

S Illustrations: Paddy Mills

HARSH SADARANGANI

IBWorld October 2018

ome of the greatest ideas on education come from those receiving it. Using video conferencing, we brought together 12 IB students and alumni from all four corners of the globe, and asked them to analyse the key issues in education.

Our volunteers champion the IB’s holistic approach to learning, and the contagious passion of teachers and other students. They stress the need for

students to look beyond their national boundaries, and to learn valuable lessons from global cultures. They describe how the IB has encouraged them to be confident and more creative, to take risks, to manage their time effectively, to embrace technology, and to think independently. They highlight how it’s imperative that young females the world over receive access to education.

As one alumna says: “Education is the spark that starts it all.”

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1. WHY IS INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SO IMPORTANT? Thomas Pewtress The fundamental purpose of education is to prepare the next generation of thinkers and leaders to manage the challenges we are going to face as a planet in the future. As we focus more on space exploration and global politics, it’s important we work in a more cohesive way than we have done in the past, where our focus has been more on protectionism. It’s so important we have an understanding of how other cultures operate, and what’s culturally acceptable elsewhere.

Irene Fanning Education has to be inclusive, regardless of your [social] background and the place you live. We should try to expose ideas to children early on so that they’re not excluded from progress or from the personal adventure of learning. This will help us become a global community.

Education is the spark that starts it all.

Matthew Ferby On an international level, our problems are becoming more complex and are going to require teamwork to solve them. That teamwork isn’t going to be with someone living across the street from you, it’s going to be with people from other countries with different backgrounds. So we need to teach students how to work with people who might not necessarily have the same beliefs as them.

Daniel Rai Chuardy Thanks to social media and globalization, the world is getting smaller. We will experience a lot more diversity from other countries.

Therefore we must learn how to coexist, and to work together with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

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DP STUDENT

THOMAS PEWTRESS SCHOOL: Wesley College LOCATION: Melbourne, Australia KEY INSIGHT: “The number of females denied education because of cultural or historical traditions is disgraceful. We need to ensure that every single girl in the world has access to education.” ibo.org

THE BIG DEBATE

2. HOW HAS THE IB BENEFITED YOU? Esha Mardikar When I started the IB, I arrived from an academic, exam-based school. It was difficult to adjust to the IB. I think the main reason I clicked really well is because I’m surrounded by so many passionate souls and people who are so driven, and that has rubbed off on me. In school, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, it’s very difficult to strive for academic success.

The non-academic component is the core of the IB. It gives you a more holistic approach to learning. I feel it’s given me a greater love of learning both inside and outside the classroom. I’m learning how to think. The learning experience makes me want to wake up and go to school every day.

Irene Fanning I was an IB student in the 1970s and now I’m an IB teacher. That drive and passion hasn’t changed. The IB allows young people to feel passionate about their learning. It’s so lovely to see that the ideal continues after so many years, and that there are so many more years to come.

Dina Mussabayeva My experience of the IB is amazing.

Of course, there are a lot of tasks and projects, and they seem to never end.

But we are free to set ourselves our own tasks. I think the IB creates great conditions for our self-expression and for all students to show their talent.

I feel I’ve become more confident, and more motivated to study.

Ilaan Balagangadharan I’m only six months in but I already feel like the IB has helped me develop as a person. Compared to my friends in other countries, I can pick the subjects I want to follow. I find it’s more conducive to learning. I don’t have to follow a specific stream of just humanities or just mathematics. I can take economics at the same time as art, for example.

IBWorld October 2018

Fatima Suleiman At [normal] high school in Canada, all your courses are chosen for you until grade 12. In the IB programme there’s more freedom to choose courses that interest you. That allows you to be a lot more creative. For the extended essays, for example, you can choose your own topic. You also learn to think independently because often you can’t rely on other people to give you the answers. And you learn to cite proper sources in your work.

Harsh Sadarangani If you know what career you want, the IB Career-related Programme (CP) helps you prepare for that earlier than other students. This gives you an advantage when you get to university.

The CP gives me the chance to study accounting. My knowledge of accounting might prove to be greater than that of my friends at university since I’ll have studied it before them.

This can give you a competitive advantage. The IB is great for people who want to pursue their careers from a young age. It also gives me the chance to do an internship in a company for one month. Some of the things you learn during an internship cannot be learnt in a classroom.

DP STUDENT

ESHA MARDIKAR SCHOOL: IGB International School LOCATION: Sungai Buloh, Malaysia KEY INSIGHT: “With the IB, education moves away from just grades and numbers and letters on a paper, to a situation where we’re holistically developing ourselves.”

IB GRADUATE

IRENE FANNING

The CP leads students on to further/higher education, apprenticeships or employment

SCHOOL: St. Catherine’s Moorlands LOCATION: Buenos Aires, Argentina KEY INSIGHT: “It’s important to listen to students and let them take control of their learning so that they’re on the same team as the teachers, rather than being in opposition.”

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3. WHAT’S BEEN THE MOST MEMORABLE LESSON YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM YOUR IB EDUCATION SO FAR? Harsh Sadarangani In our CP accounting class, we had a professor from Bangalore who flew to Jakarta for 10 days to teach us [the basics of ] accounting. That was memorable since he taught us really well. He was both an accounting teacher and an IB teacher.

my self-confidence. It helped me achieve IB learner goals such as risk-taking and being balanced because I had to divide my time between studies and play practice.

Sacha Winter My most memorable lesson has been my theory of knowledge (TOK) lesson.

I was able to participate in discussions, and add constructive points. It was really rewarding because it expanded my thinking.

captain, I do rowing and I’m involved in the international club.

Fatima Suleiman The way my teacher taught the TOK class was really interactive. He used video and discussions, which helped the concepts stick in my head. I realized I’m an interactive learner rather than someone who enjoys being lectured at.

Dina Mussabayeva The most memorable lesson I’ve learned is how to be organized. I’ve started practising multi-tasking. It’s impossible to get everything done if you don’t learn time management skills.

Daniel Rai Chuardy Our school staged the play Fiddler on the Roof, and I was given the lead role.

The experience developed me as a person. I used to be very timid but performing the play greatly boosted

Thomas Pewtress Although the primary focus of the IB tends to be academic, it’s still important to break away and do activities outside of the classroom so that you’re following your passions.

That is the true beauty of the programme: you are rewarded for doing things you really love. Although my main focus is the academic side, I also enjoy debating, I’m involved in stage productions, I’m the school

CP STUDENT

DP STUDENT

IB GRADUATE

SCHOOL: The Gandhi Memorial International School Jakarta LOCATION: Jakarta, Indonesia KEY INSIGHT: “The IB CP is great for people who want to pursue their careers from a young age. It also gives them a chance to get an internship at a company.”

SCHOOL: The Gandhi Memorial International School Bali LOCATION: Denpasar, Indonesia KEY INSIGHT: “A challenge is how to improve financial literacy. We should help people manage their money to create a generation of young entrepreneurs with financial freedom.”

SCHOOL: Presbyterian Ladies’ College LOCATION: Perth, Australia KEY INSIGHT: “Student-teacher relationships have changed. Teachers used to just lecture you but now you are both able to explore learning together. Teachers are there to help students think about what they are learning.”

Ilaan Balagangadharan Last year, in the Middle Years Programme (MYP), my geography teacher was talking about earthquakes, and how to deal with natural disasters.

Then an earthquake in Italy occurred.

Within a day we were adapting what we were learning to real-life situations.

HARSH SADARANGANI DANIEL RAI CHUARDY SACHA WINTER

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ibo.org

THE BIG DEBATE

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGES IN EDUCATION IN RECENT YEARS? Dina Mussabayeva The biggest changes in education are the high expectations that teachers and parents have, and the high standards that society demands. Education needs to prepare good citizens who will be intelligent, will develop society, and change the world.

Irene Fanning The biggest change I have seen is how important it is to listen to the students and let them take control of their learning so that they’re on the same team as the teachers.

Matthew Ferby There’s less time where the teacher is directly speaking to the students. It’s a lot more activity and technology-based.

When I found out that all the TOK students have laptops in class, I was floored by that; but also excited because I realized it gives them another research tool to tap into.

Sacha Winter Student-teacher relationships have changed. Teachers used to just lecture you, but now you are both able to explore learning together. The teachers are there to help the students think about what they’re learning.

Nathan Chan Information is now so accessible. A lot of subjects can be researched on the internet. Social media also helps students learn about their subjects.

Esha Mardikar With the IB, education moves away from just grades and numbers and letters on a page to a situation where we’re holistically developing ourselves.

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MYP STUDENT

DINA MUSSABAYEVA SCHOOL: Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Astana LOCATION: Astana, Kazakhstan KEY INSIGHT: “It’s impossible to get everything done if you don’t learn time management skills. The IB teaches you that.”

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Grow inquiring minds We know why you came into teaching; you wanted to improve the lives of young people. As part of one of the world’s greatest universities – we share that mission with you. It is why we help to invest back into education and research, championing a love of learning across the world.

We have been publishing in cooperation with the IB for over a decade, creating resources that fully reflect the IB approach to teaching and learning, to ensure that your students are supported and engaged throughout their academic journeys, and ready for whatever comes next.

THE BIG DEBATE

5. HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE EDUCATION SECTOR TO BE CHALLENGED OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS? Hossam Kalada I think students should be encouraged more to explore the type of industries they want to eventually go into. That’s the good thing about learning the IB CP: it allows you to gain both knowledge and the experience you need [in your chosen field].

Matthew Ferby The biggest challenge in the future could be the tug of war between private education, public education and home schooling options for students. If a child pursues a different type of education, we must determine whether that child is getting what they really need, and whether they are competitive with everyone else.

so that, even if they are not financially secure, they can still send their children to school.

Fatima Suleiman My dad grew up in Somalia in Africa.

He had to leave his village and travel long distances to go to his school.

He had to stay there overnight. With modern technology you could have entire curriculums on laptops and give it to children in [remote] villages [bringing education to them]. No, it might not be the same as having a teacher you can talk to, but it would allow children to be educated without having to leave their villages for long periods of time and compromise their cultures.

Irene Fanning As a teacher, I would say that recruitment is going to be a very big problem in the next 20 years. There’s got to be a rethink on how to train teachers, how early their training should start, and how teachers should be rewarded for their work. Perhaps we should change teaching from being a vocation to being a profession, as it is with lawyers or doctors?

CP STUDENT

HOSSAM KALADA SCHOOL: Westminster Academy LOCATION: London, UK KEY INSIGHT: “I think students should be encouraged more to explore the types of industries they want to eventually go into. The IB CP allows you to gain both knowledge and the experience you need [in your chosen field].”

Thomas Pewtress In Australia at the moment there’s a big debate over the importance of students’ overall wellbeing. How do we integrate the wellbeing of students into the structure of a school day?

There are schools in Melbourne which are introducing yoga into their programmes, for example, so that students can relieve the stress of school life.

Harsh Sadarangani I feel that one of the challenges is to ensure more people around the world get access to education. In the rural areas of India, for example, there are many people suffering from poverty. Some parents feel it’s better if their children skip their education and start working at a much younger age. That may help the families survive in the short term, but they’re not looking at the benefits of an education in the long term. We must make general education more affordable for people IBWorld October 2018

IB GRADUATE

MATTHEW FERBY

Yoga classes can help children be more mindful and relaxed in their daily lives

SCHOOL: Harding University High School LOCATION: Charlotte, USA KEY INSIGHT: “The biggest challenge in the future could be the tug of war between private education, public education and home schooling options.”

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THE BIG DEBATE

6. WHAT’S YOUR ONE EDUCATIONAL IDEA TO CHANGE THE WORLD?

Jon Parker Lee, ZUMA Press, Friedrich Stark/Alamy Stock Photo

Ilaan Balagangadharan If we focus on educating people in developing countries, I feel new ideas will surface; ideas which could really change the world. People in developing nations have seen the world in a different light but have never been able to express themselves. Once educated, they will be able to offer their solutions to some of the big problems we have right now.

Fatima Suleiman We need to make education a reality for everyone, even if they live in an area where education is not valued.

Then, when we have discussions about how to tackle global issues, everybody’s advice is included.

Thomas Pewtress Look at the whole world, right now. The number of females denied education because of cultural or historical traditions – it’s quite frankly disgraceful. We as a civilization need to place much greater focus on ensuring that every single girl in the world has access to education.

Right now we are not giving females, especially in developing countries, as much access to education as they rightly deserve.

Around three million girls in Pakistan still do not attend primary school, according to Unesco

Nathan Chan I feel performing arts is looked down upon as a subject in our school. Many people consider it to be weird. We need to change this attitude.

Daniel Rai Chuardy A great challenge is how to improve financial literacy. In countries such as Indonesia, there are many

people tied to a chain of poverty.

There’s not much knowledge on how to invest or save money. People get their wages and immediately spend them. I think we should help people manage their money so that we can create a generation of young entrepreneurs who can enjoy their own financial freedom.

CP STUDENT

DP STUDENT

IB GRADUATE

NATHAN CHAN SCHOOL: The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts LOCATION: Hong Kong, China KEY INSIGHT: “I feel performing arts is looked down upon as a subject in our school.

Many people consider it to be weird. We need to change this attitude.”

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ILAAN FATIMA SULEIMAN BALAGANGADHARAN SCHOOL: Colonel By Secondary School SCHOOL: Munich International School LOCATION: Munich, Germany KEY INSIGHT: “Once educated, people in the developing world will be able to offer their solutions to some of the biggest problems we have right now.”

LOCATION: Ottawa, Canada KEY INSIGHT: “With modern technology you could have entire curriculums on laptops and give it to children in [remote] villages [bringing education to them]. Then they could be educated without leaving their homes.”

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C E N T E R F O R T H E A D V A N C E M E N T A N D S T U D Y O F I N T E R N AT I O N A L E D U C AT I O N

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM A G LOBAL VI EWPOI NT

CASIE has been an authorized IB workshops provider for almost 20 years.

Are you aware of our other quality professional development services for educators: • Customized in-school consulting focused on a wide array of teaching and learning topics • Project Zero Perspectives conferences offered jointly with the Harvard Graduate School of Education • Learning Labs that explore particular aspects of pedagogy and practice in an intimate, two-day setting.

Registration for our 2019 International Baccalaureate Workshops opens autumn 2018!

Middle Years Programme: June 11-13 Primary Years Programme: June 18-20 Diploma & Career-related Programme: July 9-11 IB Fall (MYP, PYP, DP & CP): October 10-12

For information about us, please visit

www.casieonline.org

A HOT TOPIC: CLIM

ENVIRONMENT Global warming is having devastating consequences for the planet, but how do you meaningfully cover it in the curriculum? IB teachers and stude

“C

limate change is so often taught in a very negative way.

The messages are always: we mustn’t do this; we can’t do that; we must use less energy; we must never use aeroplanes,” says Dr Sylvia Knight, Head of Education at the Royal Meteorological Society, a British charity which promotes the understanding of weather and climate. When it comes to teaching climate change, she worries that schools spend too much time browbeating their students into feeling guilty about climate change instead of accentuating the solutions.

“Climate change should be seen as an opportunity for scientific innovation,” she adds.

“The development of sustainable energy is an example of this.

Otherwise, as soon as students leave school and have the pressures of consumerism imposed upon them, they forget about all the good intentions they had at school, and the message gets lost.”

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges faced today and in the future, so inevitably educators are keen to find meaningful ways to engage students with it.

David Shandley, Principal at The Chalfonts Independent Grammar School in the UK, teaches climate change as part of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) science curriculum.

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Recent topics have included the construction of energy-efficient housing, solar energy and global population.

“The thing I enjoy about teaching the IB is the interrelatedness of the subjects, and the way they relate to the world around us,” he says. “I think it’s important for students to look at all the impacts of climate change on the world, whether that’s environmental, social, financial or political.”

Most importantly, Shandley encourages his students to be rigorous in discerning between fact and fiction when researching climate change. “We want children to learn how to think critically about what they read online, and to check facts against multiple sources. They need to understand the difference between editorial opinion and fact. That’s something which a lot of people don’t understand.”

Storytelling success Primary Years Programme (PYP) teacher Matthew Friday, from Dresden International School in Germany, believes the most effective way to teach global warming is through storytelling.

“The age-old way to hook anybody is through narrative with relatable stories and images to create wonder and awe,” he says. “Telling the story of our planet and its current situation can be done through folk tales about

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TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE

LIMATE CHANGE

rs and students share inspiring ideas and projects that bring this subject to life

the relationship between humans and nature, all the way to the honest facts about what is happening now.”

He says storytelling fully engages students. “If you have a good narrative and the resources to tell it, students will be more interested in finding out about what you teach, and will tend to come up with great ideas for action.”

David Saddington is an academic and public speaker who campaigns for climate change to be included on more school curriculums. He insists that the subject needs to be taught in a cross-curricular way, rather than simply as part of the science curriculum.

“It is right that students learn the fundamental scientific principles, such as the greenhouse effect, that underpin climate change,” he says.

“But they should also learn about the consequences of climate change for society and the options for managing it. This will help students to understand and engage with decisions that they will have to make in their own lives as citizens and consumers.”

IBWorld October 2018

When studying climate-induced flooding, for example, he believes students ought to focus on the scientific impact, of course, but also on “practical issues around home insurance, public health, flood defences, early warning systems, and the politics of who is and isn’t protected”.

The interdisciplinary approach of the MYP and Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) in the IB Diploma Programme (DP), as well as the transdisciplinary curriculum of the PYP, all facilitate this. And IB students are encouraged to consider a range of environmental value systems and the cultural differences that influence these.

Student activism IB programmes inspire students to be internationally minded and consider issues such as climate change, on a local and global scale.

Heather Amin is a senior at Land O’Lakes High School, in Florida, USA. A self-confessed “climate-change activist”, she has written a book of poetry, which focuses on environmental issues. She also delivers lectures to her fellow students. “The feedback has been so positive and supportive,” she says, explaining how she illustrates her lectures with scientific evidence she collected while hiking near glaciers in the Rocky Mountains. “I try to make the lecture

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TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE experience more interesting by including personal experiences about hiking. I explain the large impact of small environmental actions such as shorter showers and reusable grocery bags.”

Across the other side of the Atlantic, two other IB students are playing their part in combating climate change. Sofia El-Rass and Anna Zaske, DP students at Copenhagen International School, in Denmark, are working on the youth council of an ocean conservation charity, which organizes World Oceans Day. As part of their creativity, activity, service (CAS) project, the students are campaigning against plastic pollution in the oceans.

“Working together with other passionate young people opens up so many new ideas, challenges and opportunities for us,” says Anna.

Don Mennig, Tom Wang/Alamy Stock Photo

Future decision-makers Back at The Chalfonts Independent Grammar School, Shandley is optimistic about his students’ understanding of the threats imposed by climate change. He feels that teaching the subject to young people now, and arming them with the scientific understanding, is key to solving the problem in the future.

“I would like to think that, when I’m in my dotage, there will be people who know about climate change making decisions on my behalf. The children of today will be the decision-makers of tomorrow.”

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10 tips on tackling climate change in the classroom Use the latest and best scientific information The global scientific consensus is that human activity is causing climate change. Regular reports are available from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is made up of hundreds of scientists from around the world.

Allow your students to disagree Good students should always question what they are learning. Ask them to support any assertions they have with scientific research.

Evaluate climate change in the media Get students to evaluate information from different sources.

Play environmental science games Involve students in classroom games linked to the subject.

Organize field trips Museums, exhibitions, zoos and parks are excellent for environmental field trips. Setting climate change in a local context will make it seem far more relevant.

Invite climate change scientists into class Environmental scientists from local universities or agencies may well be keen to discuss their field of research with your students.

Spark debate Ask students who are keen environmentalists to debate from the opposite perspective of a climate change sceptic. Encourage students to discuss the different issues with their parents.

Inspire student agency Suggest students act locally on long-term projects, for example as part of CAS. Keep things positive The study of climate change can make us feel guilty for energy usage, travel, etc.

Try looking at the many solutions to problems, as well as the causes.

Make climate change interdisciplinary Encourage students to investigate climate change through different disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses.

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Interactive Textbooks

Kognity offers curriculum-aligned intelligent textbooks for the IB. In our digital platform we couple interactive high-quality content with data-driven formative assessments. Assign homework and reading tasks, prepare students for tests and interact digitally in a shared platform. This allows teachers to see their students’ progress and differentiate teaching based on each student’s needs.

More than 500 schools have already chosen Kognity.

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SOLVING HUMANITY’S GREATEST CHALLENGES #GENERATIONIB As part of its 50th anniversary year, the IB teamed up with the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network for #generationIB, a campaign which showcases creative, collaborative, student-led solutions to the planet’s most pressing issues

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#GENERATIONIB

“W

e are determined to end poverty and hunger; to protect the planet from degradation; to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives; and to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence.”

These are some of the opening words in a resolution adopted three years ago by the United Nations called Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It’s a bold plan of action aimed at helping the planet and the people who live on it. A total of 193 world leaders signed up to it, committing their nations to achieving the

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UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by the Students tackled global issues at year 2030. the IB World Student Conference The 17 goals focus on crucial forces to highlight student-led subjects such as poverty, hunger, solutions to some of the greatest gender equality, energy, the challenges faced by humanity with environment, industry, the climate the #generationIB campaign, and education. which launched earlier this year.

As such, they chime perfectly Siamak Sam Loni works for the with the way the IB encourages all SDSN and is responsible for its students to study complex and educating and mobilizing young interconnected global issues in the people around the world to help classroom, and then engage in realize the UN’s plan of action. activities that help their local “The mission and ethos of the communities and beyond.

IB aligns perfectly with the The IB and the United Nations’ philosophy of the UN’s Sustainable Sustainable Development Development Goals,” he explains.

Solutions Network (SDSN) joined “IB World Schools offer their students an education that is global, multidisciplinary and strives for a better world. Similarly, our goals are a universal and holistic agenda that aim to create more prosperous and inclusive societies by the year 2030.”

Thanks to the IB’s million or so students and its huge alumni network across more than 150 countries, says Loni, the organization has the potential to make a significant contribution to the UN’s worldwide initiative.

“The innovative programmes and dynamic learning environments of IB World Schools create the ecosystem for true impact,” he adds. “By aligning #generationIB with the goals, we are helping to give student solutions a clear framework of action, making it easier for students to understand and evaluate the impact of their solutions on their 25

#GENERATIONIB

Making a real difference Students at Mountain Creek State High School, in Queensland, Australia, have chosen to address mental health, a rising concern across the world.

They are using an anonymous online programme called Kids helping Kids to aid their efforts.

At the English International School of Padua, in Italy, students were

At the IB World Student Conference, students spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals shocked by reports that there are an estimated 140 billion kilograms of plastic littering our oceans. So they arranged clothing sales to help fund marine conservation organizations working to protect the planet’s oceans.

And at Henry J. Kaiser High School, in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, students celebrated the annual environmental event known as Earth Day by cleaning up their local beaches.

Loni says he has been truly impressed by the student-led projects he has seen so far. “Each time I look at these solutions, I can’t help but get a rush of

Students have addressed mental health issues as part of #generationIB

excitement and a strong feeling of hope.

If these projects could be replicated in other parts of the world and scaled, the impact would be significant.”

He admits that the Sustainable Development Goals are complex and not easily achieved. He stresses that they need support from society as a whole, in particular from businesses, academic institutions and young people. This is where education organizations such as the IB come in, since they are in such a strong position to engage young people.

“Young people have the biggest stake in the situation. It’s their future and they must all fight to protect it,” Loni says. “They have capabilities such as creativity and qualities such as idealism, which are essential for achieving an agenda as transformative and ambitious as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

“More than half the population of the planet is currently under the age of 30, the biggest generation of youth the world has ever seen,” he adds. “If we don’t equip this generation with the necessary knowledge, training and tools to face the challenges of the 21st century, then achieving our goals will prove very difficult.”

Educators who want to help their students engage with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals can fi nd lesson plans and teaching guides at globalschoolsprogram.org To see #generationIB in action, visit ibo.org/50years/this-is-generationib/ generationIB-in-action/

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Somchairakin, Antonioguillem, Richard Carey/stock.adobe.com

local society and, most importantly, to report their outcomes against global objectives.”

Many of the student solutions have been truly inspiring, with exciting, innovative and practical ways to solve global problems. Students have used social media to engage with the world around them, setting up Twitter and Instagram accounts, using their chosen theme and their school name to create account handles. And projects have featured creative posters, graphs, sketches and planning documents.

REALITY BITES TECHNOLOGY Virtual reality and augmented reality are inspiring students in classrooms around the world. Are they here to stay or just a passing fad?

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AR/VR IN EDUCATION

ZUMA Press/Alamy Stock Photo

T

he six-year-olds at Renaissance College Hong Kong (RCHK) have all visited the International Space Station.

They’ve watched astronauts conducting scientific experiments in the laboratory. And they’ve gazed in wonder out of the space station window as the sun rose above the curvature of the Earth.

This was all from the comfort of their own classroom. As part of its Primary Years Programme (PYP), the school has embraced the use of virtual reality headsets.

According to the teachers, it has been a great success.

“There were a lot of oohs and aahs,” says Steven Heere, Year 2 teacher at RCHK. “The kids were getting up, walking around, and trying to reach for the things they saw in virtual reality. The students really got immersed in it.”

VR is a computer-generated experience that lets students interact with a virtual world via an audio and video headset. A similar technology called augmented reality (AR) sees students augmenting their experience of the real world using computergenerated sounds and images, often using a smartphone or tablet.

RCHK has bought 30 sets of smartphones and VR headsets for its students, at a cost of around US$130 per set, while the software is all provided by Google for free.

(Some manufacturers offer much cheaper versions of the hardware.)

As well as taking virtual field trips into space, students have used the devices to fly along the Great Wall of China and walk around the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. They have also created 360-degree video

IBWorld October 2018

tours of their school, which they shared with their parents.

RCHK is just one of the IB World Schools investing in VR and AR technologies to support learning and teaching. At KIS International School, in Bangkok, Thailand, PYP students have studied human biology by wearing AR T-shirts and using iPad software to look inside the human body in 3D (pictured right).

At IGB International School, in Malaysia, Middle Years Programme (MYP) students use an AR device called a Merge Cube in conjunction with a smartphone or tablet. This allows them to explore virtual images such as the inside of a skull, or a beating heart.

An active processs Mark Steed, Director of JESS Dubai, a school in the United Arab Emirates, considers VR a crucial learning tool. “The most obvious difference between VR and simply watching television is that VR is an active rather than a passive process,” he explains. “Because the viewers are controlling where they look and what they focus on, this inevitably leads to greater engagement. With VR it feels like the real experience and can elicit an emotional response, fostering empathy and helping to develop mature responses at a deeper level than would ever be possible from watching a video.”

Steed says he realized just how powerful VR could be when he observed his IB Diploma Programme (DP) students conducting a psychology experiment using VR headsets.

It was called ‘walking the plank’, and involved riding a virtual elevator up to the 30th floor of

an office block. “The elevator door opened, not onto a corridor, but onto a plank extending out over the void from the building,” he says.

“The students were then expected to walk along it. Although they knew that there was no immediate danger, since they were in reality walking across the floor of a classroom, they still experienced fear. This manifested itself in physical symptoms such as sweating and hands shaking.”

So popular are VR and AR with students that it’s not unreasonable to suggest they might soon become as ubiquitous in the classroom as TV, video and internet already are. Yes, of course, there are technical problems still to be ironed out, but as hardware prices decrease, more students are likely to benefit.

Steed envisages a time when students will be able to wear VR headsets and participate in virtual lessons conducted from classrooms on the other side of the world. “In such trials at JESS Dubai the experience was so real for the remote students that they kept on raising their hands to answer questions,” he says.

“VR teaching has the potential to provide access to the best teaching in the world for some of the 263 million children currently not in education.”

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New book celebrates 50 years of international education To celebrate our 50th year, the IB is proud to present a new book to commemorate how the IB has helped shape a new world of global education that has benefitted students from all backgrounds around the world—and look to the future.

The International Baccalaureate—50 years of education for a better world contains accounts written by educators who have been involved with the IB from its earliest beginnings in Geneva to its successful expansion across the world, taught at variety of schools in 153 countries.

The book is available in English, French and Spanish on the John Catt website.

bit.ly/IB50AnniversaryBook

INSPIRING VOICES

INSPIRING

VOICES IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

T

Sharon Haridas /ITP Images

o celebrate the IB’s 50th anniversary we are bringing together inspiring thinkers in international education. From His Highness the Aga Khan to Daniel Pink and the IB’s own Director General Dr Siva Kumari (pictured), they explore the key challenges that educators will face in the future.

IBWorld October 2018

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AGA KHAN IV | INSPIRING VOICES

AGA

KHAN IV MY VISION The Aga Khan Academies are based on the belief that home-grown intellectual leadership is the best driver of a society’s destiny, explains their founder

EDUCATING TOMORROW’S LEADERS

H

is Highness the Aga Khan is the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). He is the 49th hereditary Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.

In the context of his hereditary responsibilities, His Highness has been deeply engaged with development for the past 60 years through the work of the AKDN, a group of private, international, non-denominational agencies that work to improve living conditions and opportunities for people in the developing world. One of the AKDN’s key education programmes is the network of Aga Khan Academies – IB World Schools which are being established in 18 locations across 14 countries. They select students based on merit, regardless of their socio-economic background, ethnicity, religion or gender.

“WHAT STUDENTS KNOW IS NO LONGER THE MOST IMPORTANT MEASURE OF THE QUALITY OF THEIR EDUCATION” 32

When you set out your vision for the Aga Khan Academies, why did you opt for an IB curriculum?

We could see several key areas of alignment with the International Baccalaureate. First was in the kind of education we wanted to offer and its underlying purpose. We also needed a curriculum that could help us develop home-grown leaders who are both globally aware and locally rooted, and a framework through which we could immerse our students in a pluralistic learning community.

We knew that the IB could ensure the highest academic standards to prepare diverse students for the best universities worldwide.

We believe that any educational endeavour must prepare young people for the world that lies ahead and its inherent uncertainties. It is clear that what students know is no longer the most important measure of the quality of their education. The true test is their ability to engage with what they do not know and to devise solutions, using their capacity for inquiry, critical thinking and problem solving.

As students develop the ability to make informed judgements, they can begin to grapple with the most important and difficult step: learning to place such judgements in an ethical framework. These capacities, over the longer term, will be critically important to the developing world.

How has the IB curriculum helped the academies develop locally grounded, internationally minded leaders?

The Aga Khan Academies aim to help students combine a cosmopolitan spirit on the one hand, with a strong sense of cultural identity on the other. The IB allows us to connect our students to global perspectives, while providing a framework through which we can expose them to their own history and culture. One way this takes shape is through language. Each academy operates a bilingual programme that includes English, for global connection, and a national language, to ensure that students can access the richness of their own heritage.

Our students also have access to service opportunities and units of inquiry that give them insight into issues faced by people within their communities. For example, for the Primary Years Programme (PYP) Exhibition, students in Mozambique investigated ways to reduce waterborne diseases in their community.

These local insights build lasting connections to the students’ home environments and eventually will allow them to develop solutions to problems that are suited to their own contexts.

Within the curriculum, we have infused areas of special emphasis that we consider to be essential in the countries in which we operate. This ibo.org

IBWorld October 2018

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AGA KHAN IV | INSPIRING VOICES includes an explicit concern for the value of pluralism, a strong emphasis on the ethical dimensions of life, knowledge of how economic systems work to achieve development, a broad study of world cultures (including Muslim civilizations) and a focus on comparative political systems. Nuanced understanding of these themes helps prepare students to deal with issues in their local environment while linking ideas from a local to global scale.

Pluralism is of particular significance in our current times.

In a world that is being challenged by globalization, on the one hand, and fragmentation and confrontation among peoples on the other, pluralism is the indispensable foundation for human peace and progress.

However, mutual understanding and respect do not come naturally; they must be taught and experienced.

The academies work to create an integrated global community that encompasses economic, ethnic, religious and geographic diversity.

We believe that students draw valuable life lessons not only from learning together but also from living together – especially if the mix of students is diverse.

The IB’s global standards facilitate this community, and allow student and teacher mobility across our academies. Enabling movement between academies requires a residential school system, and the consistency achieved through the Middle Years Programme (MYP) supports academic compatibility throughout our academies.

What are the challenges in educating students today? How can the Aga Khan Academies and the IB help to meet those challenges?

Two challenges I see are to do with developing teachers. One involves equipping teachers with the skills, knowledge and resources to address concepts and issues in ways that draw authentically on their local contexts and cultures. The other is developing teachers in countries where they, themselves, have not received an inquiry-based education. We need to reframe the role of the teacher, develop students’ ownership of their learning and support teachers in using multidisciplinary teaching methods.

This requires an emphasis on appropriate recruitment and robust professional development.

The academies provide ongoing teacher education for local teachers through our professional development centres. We partner with the IB, and the University of British Columbia in Canada, to certify IB teachers through an innovative training programme.

Teachers who benefit from this and other programmes also share their skills with government schools, which helps to raise local standards of teaching.

Good collaboration has been achieved between the IB and the

Aga Khan Academies. What might we aim for in the next 10 years?

Together, we can help reshape the very definition of a well-educated global citizen. Human society is essentially pluralist, and awareness of the diverse contributions of people across times and cultures to global civilization is essential in engendering respect and understanding. An IB learner in Britain should know as much about the Fatimid Caliphate and Malian Empire as a student in Kenya knows about the Greeks and the Romans. And an Indian student reading the epic poetry of Sri Aurobindo, or the Manas, should also encounter the works of great literary figures such as the Czech-born French writer Milan Kundera or Canada’s Margaret Atwood.

We can also examine how the AKDN’s experience in the Muslim world and developing societies – together with the expertise of the Global Centre for Pluralism, our universities and our schools – can contribute to the IB curriculum and in educating teachers. The AKDN has roots in communities where the IB traditionally has not been present; in time, the academies will be serving local communities in 14 countries and can help expand the reach of the IB.

We are seeing some promising results.

Graduates from all backgrounds are able to access the 100 or so top-ranking universities worldwide, many with notable scholarships. Parents are seeing their children develop leadership skills and the desire to have a positive impact on their society. Many alumni are returning to support their home regions, with almost half of those in employment working in the developing world, including within our institutions.

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His Highness the Aga Khan speaks with students at the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India

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DANIEL

PINK MY VISION When it comes to motivating students, educators should reject the carrot-and-stick approach, favouring self-direction instead, says American thinker Daniel Pink

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DANIEL PINK | INSPIRING VOICES

NO MORE CARROTS, NO MORE STICKS?

A

merican author Daniel Pink is a world authority on the motivation of students and employees.

He is a former speech-writer for Vice President Al Gore and has hosted a TV series about human behaviour on the National Geographic Channel called Crowd Control.

His 2009 TED Talk on the science of motivation is one of the most watched TED Talks of all time.

In his best-selling book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction in school and in the workplace is the human need to direct one’s own life, and to improve oneself and the world by learning and creating new things.

Pink lives with his wife and three children, all of whom attended IB World Schools, in Washington DC. “I went to a pretty conventional public school in central Ohio,” he says of his own education. “But, amazingly enough, my elementary school recently adopted the IB.”

Motivating children in the classroom can be difficult.

What can educators do better?

The fi rst thing is to gain a fundamental understanding of motivation itself. One of the great scholars in the field, Professor Edward Deci of the University of Rochester, explains it well. We have to understand that motivation is not something one person does to another, but something that people do for themselves. Skilled educators know that their job isn’t to motivate students. It’s to create conditions in which students are able to motivate themselves.

IBWorld October 2018

Is motivation tougher to achieve in certain education systems?

Not necessarily. But, of course, every country, every system, even every school has its own culture which itself can either foster or thwart genuine motivation.

Here in the US, we have this odd mantra that we should ‘run schools like a business’. But the truth (which every educator, though very few legislators, know) is that schools aren’t businesses. Even the people who advocate this approach can never tell me whether students are the product or the customer or the raw material!

This leads to ideas such as paying teachers bonuses for students’ scores on standardized tests. The problems with this are almost too many to recount. Firstly, teachers in these systems spend too much of their time on test preparation and not enough on actual learning. One of the most important lines of research in education psychology in the last two years is that performance goals (ie. test scores) often don’t lead to learning goals (actually mastering the material). So teachers focus on performance while students risk learning less.

Second, as we’ve seen in my town of Washington DC, high-stakes rewards for test scores can lead to outright cheating, as well as subtler scheming such as principals encouraging lowperforming students to miss school on test days.

Third, this can be deeply unfair to teachers. How an 11-year-old scores on one test on one particular day is hardly within the teacher’s control – so there’s a degree of randomness in the results and in the pay that corrodes a sense of fairness and camaraderie.

But don’t get me wrong. Money should matter to teachers. And most of all, teachers should be paid better – much more commensurately with other professionals. But that should come in the form of hiring great people and paying them healthy base salaries, not constructing elaborate pay-for-performance schemes.

Fifty years of behavioural science tells us that, for complex tasks, the best use of money as a motivator is to pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table; to pay people fairly and well so that they’re not focused on the money, but instead on being the best professionals they can be. For years I’ve been suggesting a grand bargain of sorts: raise the base pay of teachers and make it easier for school districts and independent schools to get rid of underperforming teachers.

What are the classic mistakes some educators make when trying to motivate their students?

One of the worst classroom ideas I’ve encountered is assigning points for classroom participation. That is, if

“THE WORST CLASSROOM IDEA I’VE ENCOUNTERED IS ASSIGNING POINTS FOR CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION” 37

DANIEL PINK | INSPIRING VOICES

Can you explain your theory that the carrot-and-stick system of motivation fails in a student environment, and destroys creativity?

Organizations – businesses and schools alike – use a variety of rewards. The mainstay, though, is what psychologists call a “controlling contingent reward”. I prefer to call these rewards “if-then” rewards, as in: “If you do this, then you get that”.

Fifty years of research in behavioural science tells us that if-then rewards are extremely effective for simple tasks with short-time horizons. Why? Human beings love rewards. They get us to focus.

And that narrowed focus is effective when we know exactly what we need 38

You often write about autonomy, mastery, purpose… and how these motivation factors can be applied to the classroom. Can you expand on this?

Students and teachers both need autonomy. When students have a bit more self-direction in what they

learn and how they learn it, they engage more deeply and learn more.

Or take mastery. There’s considerable research showing that the most powerful day-to-day motivator is making progress. But progress depends on feedback. So when students have frequent and robust feedback on how they’re doing, rather than just a grade at the end of a term, they’re more likely to learn and grow.

And then there’s purpose. Again, the research is clear: people, whether middle-aged folks on the job or middle-school students in a classroom, perform better when they know why they’re doing something. Parents (and sometimes teachers) bristle when students ask why they’re covering what they’re covering in the classroom or why they have to do homework. But if adults can’t answer those questions clearly, they’re letting kids down.

Do you think an IB education motivates students better than other education systems?

I’m a fan of the IB approach for several reasons. I like the Primary Years Programme (PYP) because it’s so strongly inquiry-based. Instead of frog-marching elementary school students from one subject to another, the PYP allows kids to explore across disciplines and to seek answers to their questions. This fosters greater self-direction and goes a long way to addressing the purpose of what they’re learning. I like the IB Diploma Programme (DP) because it goes deep: two years of study in a particular subject. Depth is how people build genuine mastery. Even better, the rigorous DP curriculum allows for considerable self-direction in the form of the extended essay and the many individual assessments. danpink.com ibo.org

Nina Subin; Fototext/Alamy Stock Photo

a student raises their hand and says something, then they earn a point that will be helpful to their grade.

This disadvantages introverted students. Worse, it reduces the quality of class discussions because students become focused on saying something to earn a point rather than contributing to the class discussion.

If students in class aren’t participating, good teachers should ask themselves why that’s happening. They shouldn’t resort to bribes.

to do and we can see the fi nish line.

If the task is algorithmic (that is, you can reduce it to a recipe or a set of rules), that narrowed focus improves our performance and that close fi nish line sustains our motivational energy.

However, the same body of research tells us that if-then rewards are not very effective at all for more complex tasks with longer time horizons.

Why? It’s precisely the same reason: contingent rewards narrow our focus.

But for creative, conceptual tasks, a narrowed focus works to our disadvantage. For those, we want a more expansive perspective. It’s the same for the temporal dimension.

Contingent rewards are like a sugar high: good for sprints, less good for marathons.

The trouble is, we rely on if-then, carrot-and-stick rewards for all tasks, rather than just for the narrow set of tasks for which they’re effective. And when they fail, as they inevitably do, our response is often simply to increase the number of carrots, or sharpen the pain of the sticks, rather than more broadly to re-evaluate what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

Also, we sometimes miss the main point: the problem with if-then rewards for complex, longer-term tasks isn’t the rewards, it’s the contingency. If-then is a form of control. And human beings have only two responses to control: they comply or they defy. We don’t want compliant students. We don’t want defiant students. We want engaged students.

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IB PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPING LEADERS IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

PROFESSOR YONG ZHAO | INSPIRING VOICES

YONG

ZHAO MY VISION When should students learn from machines and when should they learn from human teachers?

Professor Yong Zhao believes he has the answer

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PROFESSOR YONG ZHAO | INSPIRING VOICES

TEACHING IN THE MACHINE AGE

“O

ver the last 100 years or so, we have gone through many cycles of hope and then disappointment: from film to radio, from radio to TV, from TV to computers, and from computers to the internet. Every cycle started with amazing euphoria and then ended with disappointing outcomes. But somehow, we managed to forget the failures.”

Professor Yong Zhao wants schools and teachers to change the way they use technology in the classroom. Born in a small village in China’s Sichuan province, he now lives with his wife in Lawrence, Kansas, USA, where he is a professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. He is co-author of the book Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job: Correcting the Top 5 EdTech Mistakes.

Here he shares his ideas on the use of technology in the classroom.

needs much more than just the acquisition of pieces of information Remember that computers are also sometimes introduced into schools for marketing purposes. Schools want to give the message: “We’re advanced and high-tech.” There is always a new wave of shining objects to seduce students and parents, some of which represent a huge waste of money.

When did you first start to think schools were getting it wrong?

In the late 1990s, I saw there was a rush to equip every school with internet access and a handful of computers.

Teachers were not prepared. I fell for that idea, too, but then I began to realize it wasn’t going to work. We were

trying to make teaching a mechanical thing, forcing teachers to learn technological skills they didn’t want to learn. I’ll give you an example from my home country. In China we are famous for doing demonstration classes in schools. Teachers would spend a lot of time preparing to deliver lessons using this technology; tech companies would often sponsor the demonstration. It would take place once and then the technology would never again be used in the classroom.

Which educational jobs should technology be doing, and which should human teachers be doing?

We should allow technology to do the repetitive, routine and

Where are schools going wrong with the use of technology?

We have had this view of technology as a replacement for human teachers.

Also, we keep replacing one educational technology with another, without understanding the educational implications. In the last 30 years alone, we’ve seen PCs, tablets, smartphones, the internet, multimedia, social media... Every wave of new technology gives us grand hope. By chasing this hope, we forget to analyse which jobs in the classroom should belong to technology and which should belong to human beings.

Technology may be able to deliver instruction, but it cannot deliver education. Instruction is the transmission of knowledge and content but education is the cultivation of the human being. And a human student 42

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PROFESSOR YONG ZHAO | INSPIRING VOICES

Can you give an example of poor use of education technology? mechanical jobs in teaching – such as multiplication tables, language vocabulary, grammar, conjugation, the fundamental concepts of science – and we should let human beings be the real educators.

Teachers should spend time meeting with individual students, discovering their passions, and finding out where they want to grow. The machines can do the boring stuff.

Machines can help in other areas, too. For example, schools now use virtual reality to take a virtual tour of a museum on the other side of the world. Students can learn a lot from TV, radio and online newspaper articles. Grading can also be done much better by machines than by teachers.

“WE LIVE IN A DIGITAL WORLD AND IT REQUIRES DIGITAL LITERACY. THIS CAN’T BE TAUGHT; IT NEEDS TO BE EXPERIENCED” 44

Language laboratories. They were an absurd, expensive invention. We had students sitting in little consoles, headsets on, separate from each other, as if they were in restroom cubicles.

Language laboratories were valuable for practising vocabulary and conjugation, but we used them wrongly. Learning a foreign language requires a social, emotional connection between human beings, and the opportunity to apply it in social settings.

I’ve made technology mistakes myself. In 2006, I designed an online game for learning Mandarin. It did not work. One of the main reasons was because there was no sense of social companionship to it.

What type of technological hardware are we going to see in classrooms in the future?

There might be more wearable technology: devices embedded in students’ palms, or in eyeglasses which connect with other devices.

Google Translate will become much more powerful.

We will see a lot more artificial intelligence; smart tutors, let’s call them. Perhaps there will be robots in classrooms, dressed as human teachers. But I don’t think they’ll be

very popular with the students. Take the case of Michigan State University, which has tried robots in class. This is an interesting idea.

What if we invented a robot a bit like the Ancient Greek pedagogue?

It could be a machine that would stay in your child’s bedroom, wake your child in the morning, do some maths training, teach foreign languages, have synthetic conversations about the school day ahead.

It could accompany your child to school, carry the school bags, get on the school bus with your child. An all-round companion, a bit like C-3PO from Star Wars.

What’s your opinion of students using smartphones and other distractive devices in the classroom?

Technology has changed our society.

Our children have to find a way to live with new technology and manage the distractions that come with it – especially with social media.

I’d advise schools not to ban these devices from classrooms but to teach children how to manage the time they spend on them. It’s like developing an immune system.

In my house, we never had any device control. We’ve had Wi-Fi since 1996. I have two sons, now 27 and 20.

We didn’t ban them from video games, for example, and we never controlled smartphone usage. We had all sorts of iPads, phones and devices in the house. We told them: “You have a responsibility and you have to learn how to cope with it.”

We live in a digital world and it requires digital literacy. Digital literacy can’t be taught; it needs to be experienced. Teachers should help children use technology productively, and teach them that it’s not an enemy as long as it’s used properly. ibo.org

Andy White/University of Kansas

Here’s an example of how a school can use both machines and human teachers for the same subject: say you’re learning about photosynthesis.

Why not get computers to explain the basic scientific concepts, and later the teacher can hold a big class discussion about the finer points? The teacher could run experiments in the classroom, and widen the topic by discussing how climate change and evolution is linked to photosynthesis.

PASI

SAHLBERG MY VISION An advanced access and inclusion policy and clever use of small data are just two ways in which Finland is leading the charge in education, but its system can’t merely be copied, says Professor Pasi Sahlberg

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PROFESSOR PASI SAHLBERG | INSPIRING VOICES

THE FINNISH LINE

F

inland’s education system is consistently praised for its excellent standards. Its teachers are highly trained and are given autonomy to perform their jobs. Finnish students are assessed rather than tested. They also have lots of break time between lessons. Homework is minimal. Preschool facilities are free and universal; children don’t start school until the age of seven. Add to this the fact that in Finland all children are entitled to quality education regardless of their ability to pay or their academic achievement or aptitude.

Educationalist Pasi Sahlberg is well placed to explain the reasons for the Finnish model’s success. He has advised on education reforms at institutions such as the World Bank, Finland’s Ministry of Education and Harvard University, and he is Professor of Education Policy at the Gonski Institute for Education, University of New South Wales, Australia. Having worked both in his native Finland and abroad as a schoolteacher, teacher trainer, researcher and policy advisor, he is also the author of the awardwinning book Finnish Lessons 2.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?

Why is Finland’s education system considered so effective?

Finland became famous for its education system in the early 2000s after The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its fi rst Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. First, there was general confusion regarding Finland’s unexpected high performance in PISA. The Finnish school system had not been explored by foreign IBWorld October 2018

researchers, policy analysts or international organizations, and people outside of Finland knew very little about what its schools and teaching systems were like. Finland’s own researchers and education community had not paid attention to comparative aspects of its own school system because most people within the country thought the Finnish school system was fairly average. However, international data on student achievement, the equity of educational outcomes, the efficient use of resources, and the overall participation in education, all reveal that Finland compares very well to all other countries in the world.

Especially important is the fact that the performance of students in Finnish schools is less affected by the social or domestic background they come from, than it is in other countries. This means that all schools in Finland are good schools.

Can you detail which aspects of Finnish teaching are, in your opinion, most effective?

First, Finland created, early in the 1970s, an effective system of identifying and supporting children who have access and inclusion needs that may prevent them from succeeding in school. This means that most children receive individual support in the early years of education, often before starting school at the age of seven. All schools have trained personnel and proper resources to serve children who have access and inclusion needs. The number of children receiving individual support in school is much higher in Finland compared with other countries.

Second, the Finnish approach to learning is more collaborative than

Regular break time at Finnish schools helps wellbeing and learning

“THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN RECEIVING INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT IS MUCH HIGHER IN FINLAND THAN IT IS IN OTHER COUNTRIES”

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PROFESSOR PASI SAHLBERG | INSPIRING VOICES

What could other countries’ teaching systems learn from the Finnish system?

I need to stress that no one should try to imitate Finland’s school system. Education systems are very complex. Adopting elements of the Finnish school system in other countries would probably not lead to 48

expected changes in teaching and learning. However, there are some important ideas within the Finnish school system that have the power to improve things, if applied properly and with care.

In my recent book FinnishED Leadership: Four Big, Inexpensive Ideas to Transform Education, I suggest some of those ideas, including: 1. Make daily break time a basic right for all children in every school. This will enhance children’s wellbeing, health, social capital, learning and overall school life in general.

2. Direct more attention to, and investment in, equity in every school.

This includes better strategy and funding to help children with access and inclusion needs; the establishment of student welfare teams in every school to prevent and deal with difficult issues; and the adoption of a whole-child approach in the curriculum.

3. The use of small data as a complement to the growing role of big data and external statistical and correlational data.

Matt Luciuk; Damir Klaic-Kljuc; Markku Ulander/REX/Shutterstock

in most other countries. The absence of elements that would lead to competition between schools, between teachers or between children makes professional collaboration and school networks more normal. Teachers in Finnish schools have a strong sense of collective responsibility that manifests itself very differently to the test-based accountability that is common elsewhere in the world. Collective autonomy and professional collaboration in Finnish schools have created an environment where teachers and children feel safe, trusted and encouraged to do their best for themselves, rather than for the school, their parents or for others.

Finally, Finland invests heavily in getting the right young people to enter the teaching profession.

Initial education of teachers takes place in academic research universities; all teachers are required to have a research-based master’s degree; and education has a strong clinical aspect during the initial training. All student teachers extensively study child development, social psychology, cognitive psychology, pedagogy, classroom management and other subjects required in the profession.

Young teachers enter their first posts in schools with a strong sense of professional identity, self-efficacy and moral purpose. As a consequence, teachers are trusted by society and they feel that their work is highly valued by the community.

What else could schools take from the Finnish system?

An idea might be to use evidence to improve teaching and learning in schools. Small data is about tiny clues found in schools that may reveal big trends and relationships.

One important and often hidden relationship in schools is the link between teaching and learning.

Research shows that, surprisingly, this link is often weak. To strengthen the power of teaching, it’s important to discover the invisible aspects of learning, such as student beliefs about the issues they are about to learn. ibo.org

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DR SIVA KUMARI | INSPIRING VOICES

D

r Siva Kumari, the seventh Director General of the IB, took up her post in 2014. In this 50th anniversary year, she says she cherishes the organization’s rich history and laudable mission, built on the belief that education can and does create a better world.

After joining the IB in 2009 as Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, she was quickly appointed Chief Operating Officer, with global responsibility for research, university recognition, worldwide school services and professional development. Today, on top of running the organization, setting the strategy and objectives, managing divisions in five offices and the Board, she travels the world meeting with IB educators, education experts, governments and foundations.

Before joining the IB, Dr Kumari was an Associate Provost at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. She has won several awards and

SIVA KUMARI MY VISION The IB Director General on the crucial role of the IB and how it is preparing children for the future

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funding for her research and project work. Specializing in learning and teaching on the web, she was named Outstanding Doctoral Student in 1999 for pioneering work studying USAwide pedagogical practices of higher education faculty in online education, when the internet was nascent.

Here she reflects on the IB’s impact after its first 50 years, and where we might see it heading in the next 50 years.

In today’s increasingly complex world, what role does the IB play?

“IB STUDENTS ARE TAUGHT THAT THERE ARE MANY PERSPECTIVES WE DON’T UNDERSTAND BUT THAT WE MUST ATTEMPT TO DO SO”

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The IB today is as relevant for today’s complex world as it was for yesterday’s complex world. We teach children from age three all the way to university to help them make sense of the world and develop a set of valuable personal management and learning management tools that prepare them for any situation. That’s why the IB has remained relevant and continues to do so.

What we teach includes selfreflection, the ability to read well and deeply, the ability to communicate to a variety of audiences. But within all of this is the notion of deep humanitarianism; a philosophy that says, regardless of what our job is, we should be able to think deeply and make sense of the world at large.

The world’s current geopolitical situation is troublesome and stressinducing for most of us. In this hyper-connected world, the IB teaches children to think through what the alternatives are; what facts are, and hone independent critical thinking skills. IB students are taught that there are many perspectives we don’t understand but that we must attempt to do so.

How is the digital revolution influencing the IB vision?

I’m worried about children who have access to so much media right from an early age. Traditionally you want your child to develop their cortical brain activity, and to develop their sense of curiosity, and their love of play.

Childhood is a critical time in our lives when we learn many life lessons.

I am quite worried that our children are being given so many digital devices.

My own research background is in educational technology so this might sound counter-intuitive, but I don’t think that technology should be the only thing that children play with. It should be just one of the tools.

It’s about making sure children are not just consumers of what someone else has programmed, and that, instead, they use their own mental capabilities to make sense of the world, and touch and feel more than screens and develop empathy and perception.

My current obsession is how children are giving away more information online than they should, without knowing what it’s doing to them now and in the future.

I’m speaking to students and Heads of schools about this.

What other major challenges is the IB facing?

Despite our best efforts, the IB cannot get rid of the label of being ‘elitist’ and expensive. Yes, we want the best education and standards delivered to schools. If that is elitist, so be it. But if you look at the facts, we prove that we can succeed in diverse school settings from funded state schools to private schools with substantial resources.

Maybe it’s simply a problem of marketing? The other challenge is dealing with a very diverse set of schools all over the world, and ensuring standards are maintained. How do we learn from this diversity, so that we get better all the time?

Where do you see the IB in another 50 years?

It’s not about the number of schools we have; it’s about maintaining the quality of education we have, and about demonstrating the IB’s viability as an alternative among many education systems across the world. Our footprint right now, in the grand scheme of things, is not huge: around 5,000 schools. It’s important for the IB to be experimental in its nature and to serve as an exemplar for the world.

That exemplar is solely focused on and governed by the desire to focus on education which is about the child, the ibo.org

DR SIVA KUMARI | INSPIRING VOICES teachers and learning. Maintaining this kind of exemplar in 150 countries is quite a privilege.

It’s difficult for me to say how the IB will change. Fifty years is a long time, and I’ll be long gone by then. I tend to think of the IB not just as a curriculum and an assessment body, but also as an implementation body. We create a theory of change and then we spend a lot of time with schools making sure this theory of change works. And if it doesn’t work we tweak it. We have assessment that only we can provide.

Besides that, I see the IB as a body that has created a worldwide community of inspired teachers and learners who think and know how to apply learning to create a better world.

What else can we do for the betterment of education? We can create possibilities and directions. We are constrained only by our imagination.

What’s the trend in education that you’re most excited about?

Why is the IB learner profile crucial for students ?

The IB learner profile gives children ‘meta-tags’ or signposts for their learning. I often meet IB alumni and they still use the learner profile attributes. The IB learner profile gives students and parents a common language so they remember the learning journey, which becomes a life journey for them. All of us need some

guiding principles to carry us through life. For students, the learner attributes and IB ethos become part of their toolkit for life.

IB students often remember a teacher who inspired them. Was there a teacher who inspired you?

I don’t single out one teacher from my schooling days. I have a composite of people who were caring enough to further my learning. One of my best learning experiences came when I was doing my doctorate. I took an educational philosophy course. My teacher made the philosophy personal about the philosopher; it was such an interesting way to think about what we were studying. That stuck with me since I realized that these philosophers are, after all, human.

The reason I work at the IB is because I have a deep, deep appreciation of the teaching profession in the pre-university space. These are our heroes. They work day in day out with the challenge of 25 or so children in a class, and they still want to shape the next generation of human beings.

I admire anyone willing to do that with all the performance reviews they undergo. I have never taught in the pre-university space myself. I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t survive.

Gabriele Paar; Jeni Meade

The ability of technology to provide learning analytics that help students to learn better. The really exciting part is where artificial intelligence in web-based programmes assists where children are not able to answer certain questions, and helps them with the deficit content where needed. This has

huge implications for children who want to learn but don’t have access to good teachers.

Artificial intelligence means we can share good lessons all around the world. There are so many examples of this. You don’t need a museum next door to your school to enable students to experience great artists or scientists.

You can now find amazing images online from museums all over the world, or you can experience a virtual tour.

In the developed world this might be through tablets in the classroom.

In parts of the world where they are catching up on technology, students might simply use their mobile phones, which are cheaper. Those devices exploded in popularity. The hunger for learning in those countries will be great and now can be met.

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THE GALLERY OF GOOD THOUGHTS

To celebrate the IB’s 50th anniversary, students from all over the world were encouraged to create artworks that symbolized an attribute of the IB learner profile. Here we showcase a selection of the students’ work BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF HOUSTON, USA

RISKTAKERS

by Bridget Curtis

The picket sign held by the people in this photographic collage symbolizes how activists have espoused various causes to effect social and political change, often risking their lives in the process.

“The phrases: ‘What do we want?

A future. When do we want it? Now!’ represent what people want from their government, culture and society,” Bridget explains.

“The many people holding the sign are representative of various cultures, religions and ethnicities, showing that being a risk-taker and speaking out for people’s desires and needs crosses all societal and cultural lines. No single person can bring about change. We, as risk-takers, must work together to improve the world and our future.”

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ibo.org

IB STUDENT ARTWORKS METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF PANAMA, PANAMA

CARING

by Barbara Hernandez This digital collage features two telephones, one very modern, the other much older; but both used as tools of communication.

“In a way, it symbolizes the future of technology’s role in the act of caring,” Barbara explains. “Even as scientific innovations continue to develop around us, we’re still encouraged to be empathetic, respectful and compassionate through our own mediums.”

THE AGA KHAN ACADEMY, NAIROBI, KENYA

CARING

by Aariana Shah

GOKKUSAGI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, TURKEY

THINKER

by Selma Fejzullaj

“In every stage of his existence, man has been challenged by the ability to think, and thinking is an important part of being a student,” says Selma.

“By facing this eternal challenge, man has improved himself and has continuously changed the world around him.”

IBWorld October 2018

HANOI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, VIETNAM

INQUIRER

by Seonyeong Jung

Seonyeong’s work focuses on themes of creativity, enthusiasm, initiative and progressive spirit as an inquirer. She believes the most important attribute of the IB learner profile is inquiry.

“It forms an initiative for students to persist and achieve their goal,” she says.

“It has enabled me to explore my natural curiosity and enjoy learning with enthusiasm.”

INSTITUTO EDUCACIONAL JUAN XXIII, VENEZUELA

OPENMINDED

by Manuela Isabel Lomeña Agudo “An open mind keeps us aware. It opens our eyes, our ideas and our dreams,” says Manuela. “We stop being ‘me’ and we become ‘us’. It moves us away from ignorance, mistakes and prejudices. Ultimately it helps us create a better society.”

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IB STUDENT ARTWORKS

NORTH BROWARD PREPARATORY SCHOOL, USA

CARING

by Vanessa Barchuk Vanessa says the caring attribute in the IB learner profile makes her think of compassion, love, nurturing and helping. “In my artwork I depicted the need for help by showing one girl reaching for another girl’s hand, showing that the girl cares.” She also used the colours gold and pink, the heart and the lotus flower to represent caring and compassion.

INSTITUTO EDUCACIONAL JUAN XXIII, VENEZUELA

OPENMINDED

by Victoria Alejandra Brito Pacheco “I want to present my idea of the brain of an open-minded individual in 50 years’ time,” says Victoria. “I consider open-mindedness a fundamental trait, allowing our society to become better, more understanding and more accepting of people. It also helps us include individuals who were previously rejected because of their way of thinking or because of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.”

IBWorld October 2018

NORTH BROWARD PREPARATORY SCHOOL, USA

BALANCE

by Andrew Lyew

In order to symbolize the IB learner profile attribute of being balanced, Andrew chose his red-eyed tree frog riding a unicycle on a tightrope, all against a backdrop of objects suggesting physical, emotional and intellectual balance. “The frog also emphasizes adaptability as amphibians are known for the changes that occur throughout their lifetime to achieve balance within their mixed environment,” he adds.

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BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF HOUSTON, USA

BALANCE

by Lucy White

Lucy’s painting depicts the four classical elements – air, earth, fire and water – linking it to the IB learner profile attribute of being balanced.

“There are often associations between nature and balance, with all the elements working in harmony and creating a cycle that sustains living beings,” she says.

VICTORIOUS KIDSS EDUCARES, INDIA

OPENMINDED

by Pruthvish Dangat

INSTITUTO EDUCACIONAL JUAN XXIII, VENEZUELA

OPENMINDED

by Jesús Varela

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ibo.org

IB STUDENT ARTWORKS

THE AGA KHAN ACADEMY, NAIROBI, KENYA

CARING

by Anushka Pathania

NORTH BROWARD PREPARATORY SCHOOL, USA

COMMUNICATORS

by Sydney Sabbota

NORTH BROWARD PREPARATORY SCHOOL, USA

OPENMINDED

by Rakeb Asres

For this work, Rakeb photographed his classmates’ shoes, making use of their different sizes and styles.

“I feel the word ‘open-minded’ is especially relevant today, amidst global conflict and division, where the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes remains a unifying human experience,” he explains. “I chose to portray the new possibilities created by open-mindedness as it is the focus of every progressive society.”

IBWorld October 2018

You can see more student artwork on Instagram @iborganization

“Communication is what keeps our world thriving,” says Sydney. “It’s important to recognize how language is used between people with different mindsets.”

Sydney has used string to suggest visual communication and tin cans to suggest verbal communication. The maths symbols, meanwhile, represent the language of maths. “This sense of communication allows people to make a difference to the world in a variety of ways,” he adds.

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London, ON, Canada 1-800-265-4406 kings.uwo.ca

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KARIMA LADJIMI Age: 58 Copenhagen International School, Denmark Graduated: 1978

THE BEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE

IB students are inspired to become lifelong learners.

Here we talk to alumni from the past five decades and discover how an IB education gave them a head start

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Because we graduated in 1978, this year is a 40th anniversary for the handful of students who took the IB Diploma Programme (DP) then. We will be celebrating with a reunion in Copenhagen. I am in touch with most of my friends from school, thanks to social media.

And some of them still live nearby.

I’ll never forget the school trips that took us to other cities with the same IB programmes.

I particularly remember travelling to Berlin in 1977 when it was a split city. The sensation of going through East Germany was impressive. We went there to play basketball against the John F. Kennedy School, and we won.

My IB education helped me learn tolerance, first and foremost. It has also helped me to be open-minded and accepting of all cultures.

I blend in easily, I think, thanks to that. It has made me curious about the ‘other’.

We had a history and anthropology teacher called Mr Vadala who helped us open our eyes to the world. He called us “third culture kids”, or TCKs because we had parents from one culture, living in a second culture, and going to school in a third culture.

Having an IB education opened doors to many colleges and universities around the world.

I currently live between Morocco and Tunisia, working as a production manager on films. My greatest achievement was working on The Hurt Locker, a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow, which went on to receive six Oscars in 2010.

She was the first woman director to ever receive an Oscar.

I wasn’t supposed to work in films at all because I studied finance at university.

I was planning to go into international banking. It was pure chance that I happened onto a film set in 1983. I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do.

ibo.org

ALUMNI THROUGH THE DECADES

NATANYA DESAI

AKIKO URIU

Age: 46 Eugene International High School, Eugene, USA Graduated: 1989

Age: 45 Vienna International School, Vienna, Austria Graduated: 1991

I enrolled in the first class at our high school to go through the DP. The first big challenge – and a brief moment of doubt – came only a few weeks later when we were presented with a blank map of the world and expected to fill in all the country names. I had never got a D grade before. That exercise taught me a valuable lesson that I now pass on to my own kids: when you are faced with a problem, first break it down into the smallest pieces.

Then solve it.

In high school, I was shy and didn’t speak much (my thoughts came out better on paper), so I was shocked when a staff member asked me to give a speech at our graduation. It was June 1989, Tiananmen Square was just behind us, and the fall of the Berlin Wall (right) just ahead.

Giving that speech changed my life: it erased any fear I had of public speaking and gave me a lot of confidence.

After graduating I travelled, and studied at universities in the USA, Germany and France. Then I worked as a teacher in several countries abroad, and as a trainer for international interns.

Today I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and love the wide variety of cultures and languages my children are exposed to. I still speak German, French and Spanish on a regular basis and travel whenever I can. Our house is a hub for friends and family from around the world.

When I look back now, I see clearly how the IB sowed seeds that have grown into an incredibly rewarding life.

I found the opportunity to study IB subjects in great depth exhilarating. My education was not limited to just my favourite subjects. I studied maths, chemistry, history and three languages to mother-tongue level.

Researching for my extended essay entailed visiting public libraries around Vienna where I learned how to find the sources I needed.

It forced me to leave the school building and connect with the city at large; to see there was a world beyond the classroom. I also practised drama, dance, horse riding, and teaching skills.

International schools generally seem to foster communication skills. There is so much coming and going that we students had to get to know one another quickly, skip the small talk and move straight on to the conversations that made our friendships so meaningful.

We also had fantastic school trips.

Every year we went skiing and I remember singing John Denver and Simon & Garfunkel songs at the annual ski week talent show.

I’ll never forget the IB history trip to Poland and Berlin. We were moved by the visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and terrified by border guards in Berlin who threatened to haul students off the bus – then awed by our teachers who courageously stood up to the armed men. A few weeks later, the Berlin Wall fell and our IB history trip became part of the fabric of history.

After school I lived in the UK for 15 years, eventually teaching at several schools.

Now I am in Vienna, working at an IB World School – Amadeus International School Vienna – as a mathematics teacher.

Now I can be a role model for the next generation of students.

“THE IB SOWED THE SEEDS FOR A REWARDING LIFE”

IBWorld October 2018

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ALUMNI THROUGH THE DECADES

AARON GOH QI YANG

Age: 25 Trinity High School, Euless, Texas, USA Graduated: 2009

Age: 21 Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Singapore Graduated: 2015

I loved high school overall, but the DP made it a particularly rich experience. There were 45 or so of us, and the feeling of camaraderie is something I’ve rarely encountered since then.

Our teachers were world class. We had the most spectacular IB counsellor, Dr Kamin.

I remember having every lunch in her office with my classmates. There was a cafeteria but most of us crammed into her office because the atmosphere was so lively and welcoming.

To me, she’s one of the hallmarks of what the IB is about: she showed us how to be a kind human being, devoted to people and their craft.

Some of the best times were when we got to combine fun with our work. For our IB biology class we had to collect flowers and insects. Our class actually had a bug swap in the school parking lot. When most of us were getting stuck finding certain flowers to collect, our biology teacher Ms Norris invited us all over to her farm to collect flowers together.

We made a day of it and it felt like family.

For me, that’s what made potentially nerve-racking situations much more peaceful.

For example, we each had to perform Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” monologue in front of our English class.

I remember how supportive each of us was towards our classmates as they performed.

I’m now studying at a medical school in Poland.

Learning about the global healthcare experience is a passion of mine, so I thought: “Why not experience life someplace else while in school?” It’s challenging, but I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything.

The DP I pursued gave me a well-balanced education, an incredible bunch of friends, and a deep appreciation for this world we live in. Those two years were the most challenging of my education but pivotal in influencing the course of my life. I’m now a medical student in Singapore, on my way to completing my Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery.

From an early stage, in the DP, we were made to work in teams – be it for the Group 4 project, or for our creativity, activity, service (CAS) projects. This is particularly relevant to my current field of study, as team-based learning is the mainstay of teaching at my medical school.

The IB also helped me to be a better communicator. Countless essays and presentations have taught me to express my ideas clearly, both in written and spoken form.

This is no different in medicine where interacting with patients requires excellent interpersonal skills. Often you can reach a diagnosis just by talking to the patient.

The IB taught me the need for balance in life. Just as I entered university, a fellow DP senior handed me some useful advice: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull medical student.” So, when I’m not in class or studying, I’m going for a run or swimming, learning a new piano score, playing in a bagpipe band, or returning to my school to mentor juniors in the DP. The friends I made studying the DP are truly a diverse bunch. We had dancers, artists, botanists, academics, a horse rider, national swimmers and a photographer.

Everyone was incredibly talented in their own right.

My class comprised students from all over the world, which made for interesting discussions during theory of knowledge (TOK) classes (and over lunches, of course). I’m in touch with many of them and still regard them as my closest friends today.

“TEACHERS SHOWED US HOW TO BE A KIND HUMAN BEING”

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David Cooper/Toronto Star via Getty Images; Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

LAYO OBAMEHINTI

ibo.org

EYÜBOĞLU SCHOOLS Education for a Global Future Eyüboğlu Schools Istanbul, have been making a difference to education in Turkey for the past 47 years.

As an IB authorised continuum

and CIS accredited school, we believe in an education that will pave the way for students to thrive in their further educational endeavours by

encouraging independent inquiry in a learning environment geared towards high academic achievement and personal growth.

Academic Excellence Outstanding Facilities Internationally Accredited World Class Education

For further information regarding student enrollment contact: admissions@eyuboglu.k12.tr For more information about teaching opportunities contact: hr@eyuboglu.k12.tr