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A school of constant innovation TEXT: ARNE ADRIAENSSENS | PHOTOS: SINT-LODEWIJKSCOLLEGE
Although the history of learning takes us back millennia, there is always room for new ideas. Today, innovative schools like Sint-Lodewijkscollege in Bruges are replacing the archaic principles of unidirectional learning with modern, immersive methods to transfer knowledge. Just as high as they set the standards for their own pupils, the staff at Sint-Lodewijkscollege strive to improve themselves every single day. “Sint-Lodewijkscollege has always been a reputed secondary school,” says headmaster Koen Seynaeve with pride. “To maintain this high standard, we keep innovating our methods. To us, the most important question is: ‘How can we allow our pupils to understand the material 44 | Issue 63 | March 2019
in a better way?’. We believe the secret is to show them different ways to think and learn. They don’t just listen to their teachers explaining things to them all the time. Instead, we trigger them to immerse themselves in the matter by looking up information themselves and distilling it into a presentation, a text or even a game. This creative approach makes them more involved in the learning process, which motivates them and reduces their studying time at home.” This philosophy translates to the pupils’ timetables in the shape of many challenging projects. Among other things, the school organises a special activity for its pupils once a week. This can be a lecture from a politician, a visit from a writer,
an interesting film, or an hour of spiritual reflection. “Another project we are particularly proud of is the introduction we give to the world of academic writing. From the first grade onwards, our pupils learn how to read comprehensively and research thoroughly. All of this comes together in a paper they write in the sixth grade. They pick a subject, formulate a research question, immerse themselves