education
CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL Rebecca Simpson finds out how this school is facing up to the education revolution
T
here’s been a lot of talk about ‘innovation’ in education in recent years. Educators across the globe are discussing the changes required to deliver a modern education and leading schools are evolving their offerings to match. These changes are often framed to us as technology-driven. More and more we hear about innovation labs, maker studios or technology centres in schools—impressive, modern additions that excite students and parents alike. It’s also fair to say that when I say ‘innovation’, you’re likely to think ‘technology’. It’s a natural association when much of the innovation in our world is driven by technology. We’re constantly learning about the latest and greatest tech advances like automation, robotics and so forth. However, it’s important to distinguish that innovation and technology are not interchangeable terms, especially when it comes to education. The leadership team at the Canadian International School (CDNIS) is well versed in innovation and technology, having delivered a tangible history of innovation since the school’s inception in the early 1990s. CDNIS was indeed the first Apple Distinguished School in the region, and it’s been a proud tech-savvy community for many years, with established one-to-one iPad and laptop programmes. This forward-thinking approach to technology is well supported by a resource called One Door, a service centre located at the school that helps students and parents manage the technologies embedded into school life. That support itself is innovative, but more about that later.
46 | SOUTHSIDE.HK
Project Innovate The school has launched Project Innovate for the 2017-2018 school year. It’s a framework that aims to help students develop the skills and dispositions to be successful in an ever-changing world. “It’s about providing students with the opportunities they need to be future–ready,” says Helen Kelly, CDNIS Lower School principal. Kelly is a leading educator at CDNIS and one of the leadership team that has trained in Design Thinking and used its principles to craft this latest iteration in the school’s educational approach.
It’s about providing students with the opportunities they need to be future
Future-ready learning encompasses three pillars. Pillar One is the foundation skills of literacy, numeracy, science, information and communication technology and civic and cultural literacy. Next, the school adds Pillar Two, the 21st century competencies of collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking. Finally, Pillar Three covers character building: resilience, initiative, curiosity, empathy, leadership and adaptability.
Creating leaders At its heart, Project Innovate is about creating a new generation of leaders. As Kelly explains, “the World Economic Forum is referring to what it calls the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where there is going to be change beyond what we can possibly imagine. In order to be ready for that, our students need to have certain sets of skills, mindsets and dispositions that will enable them to cope with the world they’ll find when they leave school.” It’s a tough brief for modern educators— prepare a generation of young minds for a future we can’t yet comprehend. David Baird, CDNIS Head of School, muses on this role. “What jobs can we foresee five years from now? We have to create students with a willingness to be flexible. The jobs they may go into may not exist 15 years from now.”