3 minute read
by Selina Shang 53
different classroom cultures compared to other teachers in school. For example, making eye contact in most European countries in very common in schooling, and this is an essential part of the non-verbal communication. However, this is not the case in many Eastern cultures. For instance, eye contact in Asia is more likely to be interpreted as aggressive or unapproachable and avoiding eye contact is a way to be respectful. These different practices can come from the lack of cultural awareness of teachers, which is important ( Raeburn, 2018). Hence, the choice of international teachers plays a crucial role in pedagogical efficiency.
A globalized national curriculum that is inadaptable to teachers will minimize the beneficial outcomes. This particularly applies to the transformation of national curriculums. The most difficult step is not adopting the policy or teaching methods, but to let teachers to agree and adapt to the transformation. One case study used in Clever Land, written by Lucy Crehan, shows an example of teachers in Finland not able to adapt their education reform. Finland used to have a system in which children were selected in year 5 for university or vocational training. After this selection, children could not change their pathway during the whole education journey. Then, Finland changed the selection age to 15 years old which is deemed to be the age that students are well developed and can be the drivers of their education. Even though this appears to be the right movement for students, lots of secondary teachers find it hard because now everyone can go up to secondary schools, so the ability gap enlarged. Thus, with the new reformation, teachers need to think new ways of teaching which they find difficult at the beginning.
Tom Franklin, the ‘Think Global’ executive has said that ‘because we live in such a globalised world today, our mission should be to ensure every young person in school feel more confident and able to live in that world’ (Sutcliffe, 2012). Therefore, changing and reforming the education system to focus more on the global awareness is essential. By adding language studies, borrowing education policy and curricula, and bringing international perspectives, teaching, students can benefit not only academically but also culturally and developmentally. Nevertheless, educating students to fit well in the world as a global citizen will face lots of difficulties in the process. These come from both teaching and the selecting suitable systems in every country.
BIO Selina Shang is a former student at Berkhamsted school. She was School prefect and deputy house captain. She is interested in Education equity in particular and going to study Education Studies at UCL.
Inspiring intellectual curiosity: for students by students
What is the Davies Society?
The Davies Society is an enrichment opportunity for the most driven and capable Year 9 pupils. We meet every half term for a combination of academic talks given by Sixth Formers, discussion groups, and academic mentoring sessions. Since its founding in 2019, it has had 2 years of success led by Dr. Cutler, (Head of Research and an English teacher). As of last year, a new committee of Year 12 students was formed, (Hugo L, Orlando A, Rebecca E, Millie H, George C, Ismay H and Jonah T), who play a key role in planning the content of the meetings and are part of a mentoring system to support the younger pupils in their pursuit of intellectual curiosity.
What are our aims?
The purpose of the Davies Society is to provide an opportunity for students to explore their wider academic interests outside of the constraints of the curriculum. Often school is viewed as a place where you learn things for exams, where ‘academics’ is just about good grades, but our focus is rather different. As A-level students, we realise that learning is so much more than obtaining qualifications. As our own university applications near, we see the huge benefit of reading around subjects and thinking beyond GCSEs and A Levels, not least because this is what the top universities and employers highly value.
There are benefits of developing this mindset well before A Level. As such, we are really passionate about developing intellectual curiosity in younger pupils, and we aim to both inspire and support each pupil in finding their unique interests. We see the utility in nurturing these skills from an early age, and we are motivated to do this partly because, looking back, we wished we had something like the Davies Society when we were in Year 9. That is why our work is focused on preparing the younger students for the future, because we know the journey begins now.
