May 2022 UWCSEA WHITE PAPERS 1–6: Learning to shape the future
Building the Future of Education, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2021
“We are not the victims of change or its powerless spectators; we constantly shape the future ourselves. The future is always in the making, and it is our work.”
Global Footprint Networkdefinition of Sustainable Development adopted by UWCSEA “When we learn how to kayak, that’s not what outdoor education is about. That’s the foundation that supports us to get to ‘How do I become resilient? How do I support my team members? How do I get close and connected to the natural world?’ It’s a vehicle to get to all of those other things.”
Andrea Strachan, Head of K1 and Infant School Curriculum Coordinator, UWCSEA Dover
“It’s not just us doing things for others, but that it’s actually an exchange. By being open minded, we can learn from others as much as they can learn from us.”
Ellie Alchin, Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
“Peace education is what we do and how we do it, not just what students learn.”
Elizabeth Bray, Head of UWCSEA Dover “Wellbeing for all, within the means of nature.”
“Our Mission is about the system of education we have, and our system of education says everything you’re teaching and learning is about how you turn what you’ve learned and understood and practised into an action.”
Chris Newman, Head of Outdoor Education, UWCSEA East
03 EDUCATING FOR PEACE: UWCSEA’s Mission for future peacebuilders White Paper 1: September 2021 15 UWCSEA CHANGEMAKERS: placing sustainable futures at the heart of a school White Paper 2: March 2022 01 SharingFOREWORD50years of learning at UWCSEA 47 LEARNING IN NATURE: connecting learning to life through outdoor education White Paper 4: May 2022 73 EDUCATION AS A FORCE: equipping changemakers for purposeful futures White Paper 6: May 2022 29 BRINGING SERVICE LEARNING TO LIFE: UWCSEA’s commitment to care White Paper 3: May 2022 59 ENACTING A MISSION: individual competencies for a lifetime of peace White Paper 5: May 2022 83 UWCSEAAPPENDIX:GUIDING STATEMENTS 2021 WHITEUWCSEA PAPERS
Over decades, we have gathered the unique perspectives of teachers past and present, conducted internal and external research, drawn on the expertise of our own UWCSEA community and the other UWC schools
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• Mission
The importance of the role that this mission plays in shaping education at our College cannot be understated. It is an ambition we share with 17 other UWC schools and colleges around the world, rooted in the beliefs of German educationalist Kurt Hahn whose experience living through two world wars shaped his vision for what an education should strive to Theachieve.UWC Mission is both guide and goal; our north star and a call to action that grows in relevance and urgency alongside the mounting challenges facing current and future generations. Climate change, geopolitical tensions and socio-economic imbalances are all at an inflection point, following a period of unprecedented change and uncertainty brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. We recognise that the need for solutions grows exponentially. Our goal is to prepare students to embrace challenge and to take responsibility for shaping a better world. It is the product of 50 years of reflection and action to realise the UWC Mission by providing a K-12 education that not only equips young people to be ethical actors striving for peace and a sustainable future but cultivates in them a lifelong desire to act in this way.
• Peace • Sustainability • Service • Outdoor
FOREWORD 1 | UWCSEA White Papers
In this first-ever collection of white papers, published in honour of the College’s 50th anniversary, we bring to the fore the result of our efforts and learnings, focusing on key strategic areas: Education Competencies The Future World of Work
The collection is a detailed overview of how the different parts of our holistic education come together, through a mission-aligned learning programme and concept-based curriculum, to build competencies in students that will prepare them for the unknown future.
After half a century of educating children from over 100 different countries, in the culturally diverse city-state of Singapore, UWC South East Asia (UWCSEA) has acquired a wealth of knowledge about how to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.
Carma CollegeElliotPresident 2019–2022
UWCSEA White Papers | 2
and colleges, and consulted educational specialists and policymakers at the forefront of the industry. We believe that the best answers come from a diversity of views, and a process of learning through trial and iteration. Thus, we have welcomed collaborations on many levels, and have innovated in incremental steps so as not to disrupt the delivery of our world-class education. You will find many of these efforts, ideas, people and organisations referenced in the pages that follow.
It is important to note, however, that the College does not claim to have found all the answers. We remain committed to pushing the boundaries of education in order to meet the demands of an evolving, uncertain world. As one of the largest international schools in the world, UWCSEA is able to dedicate necessary resources towards this work, thus ensuring that we live the UWC Mission, making education a force for peace and a sustainable future.
It is in this spirit that I invite you to read these white papers–as cementing a moment in time in the journey thus far, to mark a significant milestone of 50 years of mission-driven education in Singapore. There is still much work to be done.
White Paper 1: September EDUCATING2021 FOR PEACE: UWCSEA’s Mission for future peacebuilders
Competencies.3Amissionfor
UWCSEA MISSION COMPETENCY: PEACEBUILDING Peacebuilding means students possess a competency in building peace in both local and global contexts.
UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE | 4 Peacebuilding is a core Mission Competency at UWCSEA that underpins the school’s curriculum, its philosophy of learning, and its community engagement.
peacebuilders Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021 UWCSEA Mission Competencies
One of Kurt Hahn’s aims when he conceived of Atlantic College, the first of the 18 United World College (UWC) schools and colleges in the now-global Movement, was to foster greater peace in the world. As a German educator who was profoundly impacted by the First and Second World Wars, his experiences helped shape his vision for a school that “fosters world citizenship; an interconnected leadership of people who have experienced a collective life of active dialogue and peacemaking service.”1 In one his earliest speeches, titled Education and Peace: The Foundations of Modern Society, Hahn explicitly outlined his vision for the way education can be designed to help increase understanding between people of different cultures and backgrounds.2 “Nothing but goodwill between nations and classes can save this generation from wars and revolutions. And education can help to build this bedrock of goodwill as a foundation of the society to be,” he Sincesaid.its founding in 1971, UWC South East Asia (UWCSEA) has placed Hahn’s philosophy at the centre of its approach. Explicitly stated in the UWC Mission, which is to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future,3 peacebuilding is now identified as one of the school’s five Mission
“There are lots of definitions of peace. And the most common idea is that peace is the absence of war, that idea of negative peace. But I would say that when we think about peace at UWC, and when we talk about peace education, we’re really talking about positive peace,” says Alchin.
This in turn can result in a peace deficit, where the peace a society has gained can’t be sustained in the future by its internal socio-economic development and the institutions and support networks needed to maintain peaceful societies.4
DEFINING PEACE
BUILDING PEACE IN LOCAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXTS
Broader than a single subject, UWCSEA’s peace education programme aims to instil a deep understanding of what peace is, the different ways peace can be achieved through small and large actions and to embed peace throughout a wide range of learning opportunities in the school and its community.
“Peace education is what we do and how we do it, not just what students learn,” explains Ellie Alchin, Director of Teaching and Learning at UWCSEA Dover. “Peacebuilding is not a standalone curriculum because it influences so many different areas of the school. There are elements of peace education in the Personal and Social Education curriculum, there are conceptual understandings relating to peace in the Humanities curriculum. It’s explicitly taught in Global Citizenship and Global Politics, and in IBDP and (I)GCSE History. It’s also built into our Service curriculum, and is anywhere that students learn about sustainability.”
5 | UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE Peacebuilding as a competency
At UWCSEA, peacebuilding is something that is explicitly taught and considered to be critical to the foundations of a healthy community and society. While it is an act of service, it is also recognised as a core understanding and disposition that helps people achieve peace both personally and in complex, real-world situations. Hearing the voice of youth in peacebuilding is necessary for any future global lasting peace.
The first fundamental aspect of determining how peace education is built into UWCSEA starts with a definition. This may seem a simple step, but peace can occur across many levels. There can be peace within yourself or in your family, peace within a community and, at its largest consideration, peace between countries, cultures and Peacepeoples.mayalso take many different forms in practice. Positive peace is when the attitudes, structures and institutions that underpin peace are in place and function well and a society is free of violence. Negative peace is “the absence of violence and the absence of fear and violence”, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, a non-profit think tank. However, in this state, while a society may be free from violence, its peace structures are still fragile and lack the necessary frameworks to support it into the future.
At UWCSEA, students examine all potential aspects of peace, but the focus is on giving students the understanding, skills, and knowledge to help them build the structures and relationships that can help support peace into the future.
Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
“The most common idea is that peace is the absence of war, that idea of negative peace. But when we think about peace at UWC, and when we talk about peace education, we’re really talking about positive peace.”
UWCSEA from United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals
Five P’s Framework Modified
LINKING WITH GLOBAL CONCEPTS
UWCSEA’s programme is designed to link to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Peace is one of the Five P’s that the UN uses to conceptualise sustainable development, together with People, Planet, Prosperity and Partnership. More specifically, UN SDG 16 is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” As a pillar of the school’s educational philosophy, this broader understanding of the concepts of peace helps guide the teaching approach across the different year groups, including Primary, Middle and High Schools, and enables peacebuilding to be woven into many different subject areas in all grades. It also ensures that peace education is interlinked with other the Mission Competencies, such as Sustainable Development, and Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding.
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PEOPLEEndpoverty and hunger in all forms and ensure dignity and equality FPEACEosterpeaceful, just and inclusive societies PLANET Protect our planet’s natural resources and climate for future generations harmonyandPROSPERITYEnsureprosperousfullfillinglivesinwithnature PARTNERSHIPImplementtheagendathroughasolidglobalpartnership
UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE | 6
The third and outer ring is the concept of global peace, which includes resolution of international and intercultural conflicts, the role of youth as agents of change and advocacy, and peacebuilding in the wider global sense, including how we build the systems and structures that might lead to a more peaceful future.
Starting from K1, these concepts guide curriculum development and each student’s experience of the Learning Programme throughout their time at the school.
• GLOBAL PEACE • Internationalconflict • htuoYsastnegafoegnahcycacovdadna • Peacebuilding •INTERPERSONAL PEACE• Relationships • secnereffidfoecnapeccAt•noitaicerppalarutluC • HumanRights • PERSONAL PEACE • ytIdenti • gnieblleW•enerawafleSss Modified from Crawford and Shelit (2012) for UNICEF UWCSEA rings of Peacebuilding From definition to practice
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The definitions of peace have an important impact on the way that peacebuilding is incorporated into the UWCSEA curriculum, according to Alchin. The programme begins with the definitions, and then explores three key layers—or rings—of building peace. These layers help shape the way that peace is taught from the Primary School through to the senior years, and they intertwine with the five elements of the Learning Programme to contribute to the development of Peacebuilding as a Mission Competency.
The first concept, forming the inner core of the peacebuilding rings, is personal peace, which starts with the ideas and concepts of identity, including an understanding of who a student is, their cultural self and a sense of self awareness.
The next ring is the concept of inter-personal peace. This relates to inter-personal relationships and the acceptance of differences, including an ability to appreciate different cultures and perspectives, so that people know how to interact with each other and can understand each other’s different ideas of community peace.
UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE | 8 FOUNDATION FOR PERSONAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION
“In order to connect with and give service to others, you have to have an understanding of yourself. It’s about looking inside ourselves and asking how we become at peace with ourselves by identifying what’s important to us and who we are.”
Andrea Strachan Head of K1 and Infant School DoverCoordinator,CurriculumUWCSEA
these aspects of personal and interpersonal peace education apply to different parts of the Learning Programme, like Service, as explained by Andrea Strachan, K1 Head of Grade and Infant School Curriculum Coordinator at Dover Campus, “In order to connect with and give service to others, you have to have an understanding of yourself. It’s about looking inside ourselves and asking how we become at peace with ourselves by identifying what’s important to us and who we are.”
Strachan points to a newly developed K1 unit of study called Peace Begins with Me which introduces these concepts in an age appropriate way starting in the earliest year of school. Peacebuilding education expands to the concepts of Global Peace through the understanding of historical conflicts, through global politics and global citizenship courses, and again through the Activities and Service programmes. Students who choose to focus on peacebuilding in High School can participate in the Initiative for Peace (IfP), UWCSEA’s flagship peacebuilding education programme (refer to page 11), as well as the more widely-known Model United Nations conferences. The IfP focuses on creating conditions for development of Mission Competencies in Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding and Sustainable Development as well as Peacebuilding.
The Personal and Social Education (PSE) element of the UWCSEA Learning Programme gives students opportunities to develop personal and interpersonal peace in all grade levels by focusing on understanding the self, understanding others and transferring understanding across environments. Learning happens explicitly in PSE lessons, morning meetings, through mentor or advisory time and grade-level assemblies, and implicitly through one-on-one and group interactions. PSE helps students to develop their identities by learning to manage emotions, understand their changing bodies and develop approaches to personal challenges. They learn how to manage relationships, make decisions and communicate in a culturally diverse environment. Illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of the learning, this also supports student development in the Mission Competencies of Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding, and Self and Community Importantly,Wellbeing.
EDUCATING FOR PEACE
Frameworks for peace education
LEVERAGING
This is achieved by a framework that incorporates three interrelated opportunities for learning. The first is an understanding of peace, that helps students and the community appreciate that peace is not just an absence of conflict, but spans social and legislative concepts including social justice, equality, and human rights.
Peacebuilding is not something that is learned overnight. It’s about a deep understanding of the concepts and skills, developing a mindset about being a constructive contributor to peace, as well as about embedding peace into the written curriculum. Peacebuilding is woven into the ethos of the school and aims to educate students and help teachers and the broader UWCSEA community grow their peace education and advocacy.
Embeds peace education across the school’s curricula, teacher training and community engagement.
INTERRELATED OPPORTUNITIES
PARTNERSHIPSFORPEACE
UNDERSTANDINGOFPEACE
Definitions and appreciation of the social and legislative concepts of peace.
The second is the promotion of peace, which embeds peace education across all aspects of the school, from subject curricula to teacher training, through to parent interaction and community engagement. This leads to the third strand, partnerships for peace, which sees UWCSEA work with like-minded organisations in the pursuit of peace, whether that be at an intra-school level, within the Singapore community, or globally through the Service programme or the IfP.
Working with organisations to develop partnerships to create a global network of peacemakers.
UWCSEA Peacebuilding: opportunities for learning PROMOTIONOFPEACE
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“Peace is embedded in UWCSEA’s curriculum in a lot of different ways. I have a son in Grade 5, and he has completed a unit on peace, which he really loved. And the way peace is defined at that level is not dissimilar to how we define it and look at it in the High School.
Wilson gives an example of how the UWCSEA IBDP Global Politics course looks at the theoretical foundations of peace education to understand where peace and politics intersect, and says that this also helps shape the school’s approach.
Melanie Wilson Head of High School Global Politics, UWCSEA East Melanie Wilson, Head of Global Politics at UWCSEA East, says embedding peace into the school in this way ensures deeper learning experiences for the students. The first principles of peace are learned throughout Primary School and provide the basis for more complex learning in the High School, while the community approach ensures teachers and the community alike help reinforce the learning.
UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE | 10
“What UWCSEA is hoping to individually foster in students is that understanding and ability to be a peacemaker in a positive peace sense.”
What UWCSEA is hoping to individually foster in students is that understanding and ability to be a peacemaker in a positive peace sense,” she explains.
Using the background research and skills they develop in the year-long conference preparation, UWCSEA students help facilitate interaction between the delegates with the aim of developing personal harmony and increasing understanding of opposing situations among the groups. The end goal is to inspire the participants to continue with the work of reconciliation post-conference, using their new knowledge, understanding and appreciation of both sides of a conflict. Modelled on a process run in Argentina at the end of the Falklands War, the first IfP ran in 2002. Titled Initiative for Peace – Focus on Kashmir, the meeting brought participants from India and Pakistan, aged 16 to 19-years-old, to Singapore and employed trust- and team-building activities and workshops to dispel misconceptions and build understanding between the groups. The conference culminated with development of a Mission Statement and Statement of Common Ground that was the basis for the conference participants to return to their respective homes and continue to work upon building peace between the two sides by fostering greater understanding among their communities. Subsequent programmes have run in Bali, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste and Thailand, with delegate participants selected from schools, refugee camps or youth groups in the impacted communities who are already involved in peace building efforts within their country.
Peace building in action: UWCSEA’s Initiative for Peace
11 | UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE CASE STUDY
Now a cornerstone of UWCSEA’s peace building programme, and a flagship experience for many High School students and teachers, the Initiative for Peace (IfP)5 began in 2001 as a means to gain experience in conflict resolution in action. Initially developed to extend an existing Peace and Conflict Seminar Series, IfP today begins with extensive planning and preparation, and culminates in a multi-day conference that brings together young people (delegates) from different sides of a conflict.
LONG-TERM COMMITMENT
PRACTICAL AND PERSONAL APPLICATION Louie Barnett, a teacher and former facilitator of the IfP programme at UWCSEA East, says that for the UWCSEA students, the conferences are the practical culmination of a year of learning about peacebuilding while developing parallel skills in facilitation and diplomacy. IfP conferences provide students with
“What the school is trying to do with this toolkit is to create programmes, and systems and frameworks, which can be adapted and changed in multiple contexts. If you’re running peace education in a post conflict society, versus a conflict society, versus a society where you have the absence of conflict, each IfP should be completely different,” Wilmink adds. “So it’s about the principles, how we put them together, and how these can be transported into different contexts. It’s about sharing the frameworks for peace building, so we can build a bigger IfP community globally.”
a High School English teacher on the Dover Campus who graduated from UWC Atlantic before completing a Masters in Peace Education as part of her teaching degree, now helps coordinate Dover’s IfP programme. She says that the most important skill that students learn through the peace education curriculum and the conferences is to listen and really hear what people are saying, along with organisational and project management skills that come from the students having to organise all aspects of the conferences themselves.
EXTENDING THE OPPORTUNITY: UWCSEA IFP TOOLKIT
The most recent IfP development is the launch of the UWCSEA IfP Toolkit which gives educators, students and other organisations the information and tools they need to develop their own Initiative for Peace programmes or conferences that are relevant to their own specific contexts.
The comprehensive toolkit includes an overview of what the IfP programme and conferences are, including examples, an outline of how to design and implement both IfP approaches, information on supporting facilitators of the conference, and a wide range of supporting resources.
“For the participants, it’s further developing their knowledge of peacebuilding, because a lot of them are already involved in that type of work. But the most powerful part of these conferences is the connections that are made. Coming out of their home environment and making connections with UWCSEA students,” he Anishaexplains.Wilmink,
“UWCSEA students have gone on to run IfP programmes in their own countries. They not only have the ability to talk about peace and facilitate and listen, but also the hard skills of how to organize a conference,” Wilmink says. “And I think that’s massively empowering for them to be able to do something concrete, as well as to listen. Those are the two biggest things they walk away with.”
UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE | 12 an opportunity not only to use their skills for good but also to develop a deep understanding of the complexities involved in conflict. For the invited delegates who are hosted at the conference, it’s about further developing their existing skills while enhancing their support network, and developing new contacts, so they can further their work when they return home.
Shared through a Creative Commons copyright license, UWCSEA’s IfP Toolkit aims to enable schools and other youth-focused organisations throughout the world to begin peace initiatives in their own communities and to create a connected global community of young peacemakers.
Learn more about IfP Access the IfP toolkit
We have deepened our understanding of other practices and honed what we know to be powerful learning,” Alchin says of this development.
FURTHERING PEACE THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
This growth in peacebuilding learning at UWCSEA included a formal mapping of the peace education curriculum, which combined experience from existing programmes with outside research. The process included an Educating for Peace Conference run by UWCSEA that helped equip educators at the school and in the region with the knowledge and understanding they need to better teach youth peacebuilding.
Board of Governors, Professor Kishore Mahbubani,8 Distinguished Fellow at the ARI, is well versed in the difficulties involved in peace building. Having served as a Singaporean diplomat for 33 years prior to moving to academia, his career included time as the permanent secretary of the Singapore Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998 and two postings as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN. Both of Mahbubani’s children attended UWCSEA and he says the most important skills students learn through the peace education programme Building bridges
In addition to developing the UWCSEA IfP Toolkit, the College is also moving to formalise partnerships with external groups that will provide further educational and development opportunities for students and the community. This includes a partnership with Amala,6 a not-forprofit education provider founded by two UWC alumnae that provides High School certificate programmes for displaced youth and refugee communities around the world, and the Asia Peace Programme in conjunction with the Asia Research Institute7 (ARI) at the National University of Singapore.
The goal of this was to not only develop the teachers at the school, but also to develop a regional conversation about what peace education is and to provide resources to other organisations that may want to embark upon their own peacebuilding education.
“I think our understanding of peace education, and what it means has really evolved radically in the last five years.
The Asia Peace Programme partnership included the establishment of a one-year UWCSEA fellowship at the ARI to focus on peace, peace building and conflict in ASEAN, and a policy essay competition for UWCSEA students, the winners of which were published by the Asia Peace Programme. Longer term, the partnership also aims to help foster a global network of like-minded institutes focused on the role of youth in Formerpeacemaking.ChairofUWCSEA
Professor MahbubaniKishore Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
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“Making peace is not necessarily about having a certain skill. It’s more about having a commitmentcertainto try and bridge the gaps in towhatviewdifferenttotryingwithinunderstandingpeople,andtoreachoutunderstandapointof…Andthat’sUWCSEAtriesdo.”
“This is important because it means we can articulate the programme to people. And a lot of people who think, ‘well, if I’m not learning about conflicts, am I really doing peace education?’, we’re able to say ‘yes, you are’, because even the idea of the democratic classroom, the idea of developing self, of recognising linguistic identity, and validating that—even that is peace education. We don’t think we should be teaching anything unless we can really explain and justify why it’s important.”
[6] Amala https://www.amalaeducation.org/ [7] Asia Research Institute https://ari.nus.edu.sg/ [8] Kishore Mahbubani https://mahbubani.net/
“Making peace is not necessarily about having a certain skill. It’s more about having a certain commitment to try and bridge the gaps in understanding within people, and trying to reach out to understand a different point of view. That’s critical. And to see how you can build across those bridges. And that’s what UWCSEA tries to do. To make you aware that there are many diverse societies, diverse cultures, and that you can bridge them, and you can make friends across different communities,” he says.
UWCSEA White Paper 1: EDUCATING FOR PEACE | 14 is the ability to appreciate opinions and cultures that are different to your own, and to build them into your perspective of a situation.
[2] Education and Peace: The Foundations of Modern Society, Kurt Hahn., March 24th, 1936 https://www.kurthahn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ed_peace.pdf
[3] Guiding Statements, UWCSEA website, 2022 https://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/about/guiding-statements/uwcsea-mission-competencies
[1] “Kurt Hahn and the Aims of Education, Thomas James, 2000 https://www.kurthahn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/james_final.pdf
[4] Positive Peace Report 2020: Analysing the Factors that Sustain Peace, The Institute for Economics and Peace, 2020 https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PPR-2020web.pdf [5] Initiative for Peace https://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/our-big-ideas/educating-for-peace/ifp
White Paper 2: March heartplacingUWCSEA2022CHANGEMAKERS:sustainablefuturesattheofaschool
PlacingDevelopment.”sustainable futures at the heart of a school from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021
Throughout its 50-year history, UWC South East Asia (UWCSEA) has used education to empower students to become positive contributors to a peaceful and sustainable future for all. A core principle of the teaching and learning is the understanding that peace is engendered by healthy societies, and that successful peace is only possible through solutions that are sustainable for all. Whether teaching students to embrace peacebuilding through cultural understanding, or building their awareness of the importance of connecting with nature and being conscious of their impact, the concept of sustainable, reciprocal relationships has been foundational to the school’s philosophy. As UWCSEA has developed and grown, so too has its focus on sustainability. Building sustainable futures is an integral part of the school’s Mission, with educational strands embracing economic, political, social and environmental sustainable development topics woven throughout the holistic Learning Programme. Operational practices across the College are similarly shaped by the foundational consideration of sustainable practice. The College also works to share and collaborate on wider sustainability goals within Singapore and the broader international school community to drive sustainability learning into the future. “UWCSEA is now focused on a path pursuing a net zero future, together with the global UWC Movement as we seek to harness our collective initiatives and insights and create opportunities to amplify our impact. A UWC Movement-wide group is setting targets, working together and sharing information and tools to drive this agenda,” explains Carma Elliot, College President of UWCSEA. “We also continue to contribute to the Singaporean ecosystem for mutual benefit, furthering the sustainability agenda of our host nation while providing our students with powerful opportunities to develop the skills and understandings they will need to fulfil our Mission Competency for Sustainable
UWCSEA MISSION COMPETENCY: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Engaging with complexity, understanding multiple futures, taking the role of steward and developing sustainable solutions within environmental, social, economic and political systems.
UWCSEA Mission Competencies
Extracted
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UWCSEA teachers have continued to contribute to the review and development of ESS, including co-writing the Higher Level course curriculum being piloted by the IB from 2022.
EVOLVING TRANSDISCIPLINARY COURSE DESIGN
At the time, UWCSEA High School teachers, including Ellie Alchin, who is now Director of Teaching and Learning at Dover, were invited to an IB workshop to write and then pilot a new IB subject based on the Ecosystems and Societies course which has been developed by Dover Campus High School faculty. This course would eventually be adopted as a new type of transdisciplinary IB subject. ESS has since grown in popularity, reflecting the increasing importance of these concepts and skills for students who will join the workforce of the future.
EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY TOPICS
This decades-long experience in transdisciplinary curriculum development has meant that sustainability topics have been successfully embedded throughout the UWCSEA Learning Programme from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
In 2005, as the science and understanding of the extent of the world’s environmental challenges grew and the economic consequences of rising inequality became visible to all, UWCSEA urged the international UWC Movement to adopt sustainability as one of its goals. Although always implicit in the school’s approach to education, a sustainable future was officially named in the UWC Mission just over 15 years ago, widening the UWC Movement’s aim of promoting peace through young people who would contribute to building healthy societies. These dual challenges made it clear that sustainability would have to be incorporated into both the education and operations at the College as a more explicit aim. In 2007, the College developed its first Environment Policy in order to drive the integration of sustainable development into the school’s operational governance in addition to the education. However, concepts underpinning sustainable development were not new to the College. In the decade before this, teachers had already made a start by designing an integrated Humanities course called Grade 6 Global Concerns. At the time the College was a secondary-only school, and this introduction to History and Geography for new students joining the College set out to explicitly link learning with a deep understanding of the development challenges facing communities throughout Asia, the same communities the students would be engaging with throughout their time at the College.
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The subsequent evolution of the course into the Middle School ‘EngHum’ (integrated English and Humanities) programme of today is a hallmark of the College’s pioneering approach to curriculum development. This early adoption of concept-led, place-based learning proved to be foundational for the College’s future. The transdisciplinary, holistic course design was an early model which informed the multi-year K–12 curriculum articulation project, which in turn led to the adoption of a concept-based model for teaching and learning. In 1999, UWCSEA was at the forefront of the development of the transdisciplinary Environmental Systems Societies (ESS) course, an IB Diploma subject that is now recognised globally as an exemplary model for learning in sustainable development. The ESS course explores highly academic concepts like applied systems thinking as a core topic, challenging students to understand how each part of an ecosystem interacts with and impacts other parts, as well as the nature of the entire system. This provides a framework to understand the ethical and sociopolitical aspects of societal issues, evaluate and measure their impact on people and the environment, and grow students’ understanding of ecological footprints and systems thinking.
“Within the formal written curriculum and the taught curriculum, there are explicit and implicit ways that we Sustaining a long-term commitment
UWCSEA White Paper 2 : UWCSEA CHANGEMAKERS | 18 teach sustainability. This could be a whole course, a unit within a course, or even a conversation within a unit where you can pull out concepts that are related to sustainability in a topic that isn’t necessarily explicitly about that,” explains Alchin. “But we don’t just have the Academic curriculum, we also have the Service curriculum, Activities, Outdoor Education and, in fact, the entire way the school is run.”
“Getting kids to be really engineers,goodand to factor in sustainable thinking when they’re making decisions about design projects is going to make a much differencebiggerthan an individual switching off the tap when they brush their teeth.”
In 2019, after years of curriculum development, sustainability initiatives and student activism, Sustainable Development was named as one of the five Mission Competencies which the College aims to develop in students through the holistic Learning Programme. The UWCSEA Sustainable Development Mission Competency is demonstrated by individuals ‘engaging with complexity, understanding multiple futures, taking the role of steward and developing sustainable solutions within environmental, social, economic and political systems.’
The approach continues to evolve, but the results of the programme so far have seen UWCSEA become a leader in sustainability in the international education community, as well as in Singapore through its operational commitments, where its building and facilities management are regularly shared as case studies in how local organisations can adopt a comprehensive approach to sustainability.
Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
Reflecting this holistic understanding, UWCSEA came to use a definition of sustainable development derived from the 1991 UN report Caring for the Earth: “improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems.”3 This definition is measurable and achievable, both of which are important for a school setting, and epitomises the approach UWCSEA takes to the challenge, which is to offer a way forward and to consider how to make sustainable choices when weighing up decisions across all areas of education.
19 | UWCSEA White Paper 2: UWCSEA CHANGEMAKERS In 2015 UWCSEA’s first Director of Sustainability, Nathan Hunt, began a process of gathering data and input to outline a dual campus approach that defined and professionalised the sustainability programmes across the College. The result is based on the United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s),1 employing a Five P’s2 framework to set goals around the impact of College programmes on People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnerships. Aligning with a global framework SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PEOPLEEndpoverty and hunger in all forms and ensure dignity and equality FPEACEosterpeaceful, just and inclusive societies PLANET Protect our planet’s natural resources and climate for future generations harmonyandPROSPERITYEnsureprosperousfullfillinglivesinwithnature PARTNERSHIPImplementtheagendathroughasolidglobalpartnership UWCSEA Five P’s Framework Modified from United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals
“Many people think of sustainability in terms of environmental factors. But it includes economic factors, natural factors, social factors and political factors, all coming together. They’re interconnected in terms of how we look at sustainability at school,” says Andrea Strachan, Head of K1 and Infant School Curriculum Coordinator at UWCSEA Dover.
The concepts of sustainable development now embedded at UWCSEA encompass all three domains identified by the UN: environmental, social and economic. These are understood to be interlinked, contributing factors in creating lasting peace. This agenda encapsulates the broad application of sustainable development adopted by the College, provides tangible recommendations by which progress can be measured, and links sustainability through other Mission Competencies, like Peacebuilding and Self and Community Wellbeing.
ADOPTING A CONTEXTUAL DEFINITION
FUTURE-FOCUSED LEARNING
To do this, Claire Psillides, the Head of Environmental Sustainability and Middle School and High School Environmental Stewardship Coordinator at UWCSEA East, says a holistic approach ensures that all teachers can help students develop the core skills they need to be active changemakers when they graduate. “You need somebody who’s willing to dig in and deepen their understanding by applying their knowledge in action.”
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As the world’s understanding and appreciation of the sustainability challenges facing the planet has grown, UWCSEA’s sustainable development mission continues to evolve, responding to changes in communities and the environment, and to advances in technology and knowledge. The written curriculum, which specifies benchmarks in Academics, Outdoor Education, Service and Personal and Social Education, is wellestablished. The focus at present is to give teachers outside of the core sustainability subjects expertise in building direct connections to the Five P’s and the UN SDG’s. The College is also working on finding more ways to engage students in sustainability learning that is meaningful in their lives.
Development“Sustainable is improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of ecosystems.”supporting United EnvironmentNationsProgramme, International Union for Conservation of Nature and World Wide Fund For Nature in Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living, 1991
One College, two campuses: a singular commitment
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Dover Campus—which underwent extensive retrofitting—received the award for the entire site, rather than for an individual building—a remarkable achievement for a campus that’s 50 years old, while the East Campus became one of very few buildings in Singapore that has been re-awarded Green Mark Platinum status at each stage of its life cycle, from planning and design, through construction and opening, to the energy efficient operation and maintenance of the campus. This recognition is a testament to UWCSEA’s commitment to educating for a sustainable future, and also a practical example of how the College is enacting the UWC Mission.
DOVER CAMPUS: RETROFITTING FOR THE FUTURE
As a College, UWCSEA itself is putting its knowledge into action as it seeks to achieve its own net zero goals while also providing students a learning environment filled with real-world examples of sustainability in practice. And the school has won recognition for its efforts. In December 2020 both the Dover and Tampines sites were awarded Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy certification by the Singapore Building and Construction Authority.
The Dover Campus, parts of which date back to the 1960s, was not originally designed with sustainability top of mind. However, an extensive campus rejuvenation spanning 2009–2016 began with sustainability as a guiding principle. Whether designing new buildings or retro-fitting others, the efforts were extensive, including implementation of recycled water strategies, a retrofit of the air conditioning chiller plant to make it energy saving and efficient, establishment of a dedicated tree nursery that is managed in conjunction with Singapore Botanic Gardens, and a rethinking of food waste management to recycle oil and turn fruit and vegetable waste into compost that is used to fertilise the trees and gardens. Dover Campus has also installed over 1,500 solar panels, which together generate approximately 500,000 Kilowatt Hours of electricity per year, or enough to power 125 four-room Housing Development Board apartment units for a year.
MEASURING WHAT MATTERS: DATA DRIVEN OPERATIONS AND STUDENT LEARNING
UWCSEA White Paper 2 : UWCSEA CHANGEMAKERS | 22 EAST CAMPUS: STARTING WITH SUSTAINABILITY
Monitoring and continuously improving the operations of a green campus—whether it was designed and purpose built, or created through innovative and thoughtful retrofitting—requires consistent, reliable data. In this, UWCSEA’s Facilities team has again led the way through a collaboration with Singaporean firm MNV to design and build its own data dashboard, with the goal of bringing all the data from an individual campus under a single umbrella. The dashboard tracks water management, electricity, waste management, solar, and other live data points. This allows the Facilities team to identify and correct inefficiencies with the goal of increasing the sustainable operations and enhancing the school’s capacity to manage both short-term problem-solving and long-term development planning. More than just a barometer of sustainability efforts on campus, the dashboard is a sustainability tool used by students and staff alike. Students have access to the dashboard and data through a new Campus Case Studies programme. In this, Middle and High School students visit the Facilities and Operations Centres to see first-hand how the dashboard works, what the various data points are, and to learn more about and contribute to decisions on sustainability projects on campus.
The East Campus, which opened in 2008 after being constructed on a green-field site in Tampines, was designed as a showcase for sustainability from the start. The hard work here came in the pre-planning to demonstrate that building a sustainable structure can prove to be more cost effective than a traditional approach. The facility was constructed to Green Mark Platinum Standards, making it one of the first such buildings in Singapore, has solar-powered energy efficient water and air conditioning systems, makes use of architectural solutions like wind funnelling and sun shading to assist with these efficiencies, and has extensive green learning spaces and programmes, such as composting, biodiversity work in the rainforest nursery, water recycling and an extensive student-initiated Solar for East installation programme, all of which are used by students from K–12 in their learning.
“The environmentnatural is key to the foundations of understandingthatcarechildrenyousustainability,aboutifeducationsustainabilitybecauseyou’retalkingenvironmentalcannotteachorpeopletoforsomethingtheyhavenoof.”
School is fortunate to be able to offer students regular access to green spaces and nature-based learning opportunities on campus and across Singapore. Students play and learn outdoors in the gardens, investigating the natural world through the accessible landscaping, helping to tend herb and sensory garden beds, and there are regular nature walks and excursions to parks and gardens. These activities—some of which happen as part of the Outdoor Education and Service strands of the Learning Programme—equip students with skills to navigate and keep themselves safe in the outdoors, as well as learning about their environment and how to care for it. Strachan explains this approach as a foundation of sustainability education because, “if you’re talking about environmental sustainability, you cannot teach anybody to care for something that they have no understanding of.”
Through Primary, Middle and High Schools, sustainability continues to be taught explicitly through the Academic programme and implicitly through the Service, Outdoor Education, Personal and Social Education and Activities programmes. The facilities on both campuses provide multiple opportunities for real-world, hands-on learning in collaboration with the Facilities and Operations teams. This can be through simple things such as students learning about environmental principles by gardening, or understanding the principles underpinning waste management systems in the canteen and composting, or using sustainable products at school events and fairs. It can also be more complex, with many of the school’s Service groups working with non-government and volunteer welfare organisations that aim to build a more sustainable environment, local economy, or socio-political system for the communities they serve.
CREATING CONNECTIONS
Layered learning
In the Infant School, the approach starts with building awareness of the different types of sustainability, based on the UN SDG’s. These are then linked to many experiential learning activities, from Service learning actions to the books they read and discuss. They also link behaviours, like being aware of plastic usage, with learning how to live a sustainable lifestyle, focusing on human rights and global citizenship and building an appreciation of the “Weoutdoors.lookforthose little ‘aha’ moments. That’s where our play-based programme, rich in inquiry and exploration and deliberately incorporating outdoor learning opportunities becomes important,” says Strachan. “We’re teaching the intellectual skills that children will need to be sustainable citizens in terms of critical reflection on their own actions. UWCSEA has a concept-based curriculum, and this focuses on powerful conceptual understandings that remain the same across time, place and culture. So things like systems thinking are embedded in the learning in age-appropriate ways, and that’s going to be just as important 20 years from now, as it is UWCSEA’stoday.”Infant
BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS
Andrea Strachan Head of K1 and Infant School DoverCoordinator,CurriculumUWCSEA
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“They learn project management, they learn collaboration and this learning by doing helps them develop a growth mindset.”
“We thedirectlybehavioursstewardshipenvironmentalforhandcurriculumlearningthatdevelopmentoftheconnectingbyexperientialprioritiselearningdeliberatelyconceptssustainablestudentsareaboutinthewithfirst-opportunitiesthemtoadoptthataddressissues.”
Claire Psillides Head of UWCSEAStewardshipSchoolMiddleSustainabilityEnvironmentalandandHighEnvironmentalCoordinator,East
BRINGING LEARNING TO LIFE
“It’s understanding the bigger picture,” says Alchin of the approach. “In IB Geography, in an oceans and coasts unit, we teach about fishing. A lot of people think fish farming is a great alternative to wild fisheries because overfishing is a big problem. But the evidence is pretty clear that aquaculture can be even more damaging than wild fishing, it just depends on how it’s done. So it’s teaching that understanding of nuanced, critical thinking, to look deeper and not just accept things at face value.”
“Students learn empathic strategy, and develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to be agile. They learn to be flexible and to be adaptive in pursuit of a goal,” explains Psillides.
Throughout Middle and High School, sustainability concepts feature in subjects like Mathematics, Art, and Languages and are taught using scenarios that present applied sustainable development challenges. The aim is to teach students the hard skills they need to make a difference in the future, while also developing soft skills, like agility and an understanding of how they can build sustainable practices into their own lives and careers after school.
EQUIPPING CHANGEMAKERS
Explicitly, there are also multiple opportunities where sustainable development is taught within an Academic course while students develop the Qualities and Skills needed to address challenges. The concepts required to find solutions to sustainability challenges are introduced in Primary School through Units of Study. They are then expanded throughout Middle School, in subjects like the UWCSEA-designed SEED (Social, Environmental and Entrepreneurship Development) and EngHum courses, as well as in Design Technology and Science. This provides a lens for students to focus their thinking, challenging them to deepen their understanding of local and global problems within different contexts.
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These learnings are further explored throughout High School in subjects including Economics, Enterprise, Geography, History, Global Politics, Design Technology and the Sciences, where the courses provide opportunities to build Conceptual Understandings, with practical opportunities for students and teachers alike to explore topics and issues from multiple standpoints. For example, in Design Technology, the unit that explores design thinking may have an assessable assignment to develop a social enterprise idea or to create an energy efficient design that uses recycled materials. Finding solutions for waste materials generated by a project is also part of the assignment, with students tasked to explore ideas of how they can be reused, thereby learning about concepts like the circular economy.
“At the moment I conduct solar tours for Grade 12 students, and we bring Grade 5 classes for energy tours. There are around 12 student tours that we have structured, with a Facilities staff leader answering student questions and making presentations. We show our students how we use water more effectively, how we use electricity more effectively, and how they can help us,” he says.
A school focused on sustainability ensures that lessons aren’t confined to the classroom. At UWCSEA, the physical facilities and the way they are designed, built, lit, cooled, managed and cleaned ensure that students are surrounded by real-life examples of sustainability in action, and can bring their classroom learning to life across the two campuses.
One of the key factors in this approach is that the operation of the facilities is viewed not as a background function, but rather as something that can contribute to education itself. Students are involved in planning and development of any refurbishments and continually learn from and contribute to the sustainable operation of their campus. At Dover, for example, the Solar for Dover student group designed a live dashboard to help monitor the solar fields on that campus, while the Solar for East team have made over 80 classroom presentations on environmental management. Both campuses also have a live solar lab, which supports hands-on environmental engineering and science lessons.
25 | UWCSEA White Paper 2: UWCSEA CHANGEMAKERS CASE STUDY Place-based sustainability learning
CREATING AWARENESS AND OPPORTUNITY
Students are also key to the success of numerous operational initiatives, from managing the composting systems, to helping the canteens become zero waste. It has been a conscious effort to build educational opportunities into as many aspects of the day-to-day operations on each campus as possible, and it’s something that Aman Chauhan, the Head of Facilities and Operations across both campuses, is working to grow even further.
TAKING ACTIVISM TO THE WORLD Sustainability learning doesn’t end at the gates of the school, however, and staff, often working together with engaged students, collaborate with suppliers to help them understand their impact and improve their commitment to sustainability, and hence that of the school. This includes the stationery suppliers who have moved to forest-friendly paper, food wholesalers who have stopped using unsustainable palm oil in products they supply through the canteen, uniform manufacturers who now source more environmentally friendly fabrics, and the bus company, who now wait until all students are boarded and ready to leave before they start the engines.
Aman Singh Chauhan Head of Facilities and Operations, UWCSEA
If students are doing a unit on thermodynamics in Physics, for example, one component will involve learning about transformers, with lessons on the physical campus buildings with a member of the Facilities staff. All units are backed by UWCSEA-created teaching resources, so that the Facilities staff are supported and can explain complex concepts in the context of the Academic curriculum and how the infrastructure was designed to help the buildings stay as sustainable as possible.
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This ‘whole of school’ approach defines the way UWCSEA describes developing a Mission Competency, which is that their education is a way for individual members to develop approaches that can be extended throughout the community. To this end, UWCSEA will be working with other schools and organisations for mutual benefit, including the Singapore Green Plan, contributing to improvements in the sustainability of construction and building management across Singapore, as well as staying abreast of new developments that may help the College to further reduce its environmental impact. “The learning is not only in the classroom, but also happening as you walk on the campus. There are infrastructure.”throughopportunitiesbrillianttolearnsystemsand
On the operational side, the school is also continuing to expand its unique work with staff on both campuses to develop new teaching and learning units based on case studies connected to UWCSEA’s buildings, operations and location in Singapore. This practical approach to placebased learning provides students with the opportunity to develop their knowledge of how applied theoretical concepts might contribute to a sustainable future.
The Facilities team has been working with the Director of Teaching and Learning on Dover Campus, Ellie Alchin, and curriculum leaders across both campuses to build nine sustainability modules into the Academic curriculum and Service and Outdoor Education programmes. These modules are based on learning that can be done using on-campus facilities and operations and will be launched in 2022. “The learning is not only happening in the classroom, but also happening as you walk on the campus. There are brilliant opportunities to learn through understanding the systems and infrastructure all around us,” Chauhan adds.
Sustainability cannot be achieved alone. One of the key focuses for the future will be for UWCSEA to continue to share its lessons widely, with organisations in Singapore, and the broader international education Advocacycommunity.is one of the cornerstones of education at UWCSEA, and the school teaches and models this through community engagement. Everyone at the school—facilities, administration and teaching staff as well leadership and governors—takes responsibility to help educate the wider community, including parents and carers of the students. Advocacy is incorporated into partnerships with local and global organisations that work with the school through its Service and Outdoor Education programmes. NURTURING PARTNERSHIPS
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College President Carma Elliot says UWCSEA’s advocacy is critical to the school growing its impact as the College leans into the future. Drawing on the College’s success in embedding a sustainability focus across the holistic Learning Programme and in the successful reduction of the environmental impact of operating the two large campuses, Elliot worked with the UWC International Board to create a joint commitment to COP264 outlining how all 18 UWC schools and colleges aim to work together to become net zero.
“I thought it was important for all the schools to make a commitment to COP26 as we share a Mission and a holistic approach to building sustainable futures,” explains Elliot, adding that leadership and advocacy has encouraged other organisations to develop their own net zero commitments, and to seek partnership opportunities.
BRINGING COMMITMENTS TO LIFE
“Achieving peace and a betterourcanwholecollectively,experience.theirbecomesclassrooms;theyasdon’tK–12.taughtDevelopmentpurpose.futuresustainableisourdefiningSustainableisthroughoutStudentsjustseethissomethingthatlearnintheiritpartofwholeUWCAndasacommunity,wereallystarttoliveMissiontoshapeaworld.”
At a school level, this will include expanding student-led projects that capture data across both campuses to provide a baseline from which the sustainability programme over the next 50 years can be measured and guided (refer to page 21). The data project will also identify where further improvements in contributions to the carbon footprint from electricity usage and utilities can be made. Other projects involve creation of a sustainable decision-making framework to be used in planning all overseas trips and the Outdoor Education expedition
For example, UWCSEA is implementing workshops, students’ groups, and Science programmes at both campuses to support a new partnership with Conservation International to develop opportunities for marine conservation education over the next five years. The long-running Rainforest Restoration Project has seen students actively raising endangered rainforest species on both campuses in a College partnership with Singapore’s National Parks Board. A more recent collaboration on Singapore’s Million Trees project is supporting their need for saplings through the on-campus nursery managed by students.
Advocates for change
Nathan Hunt UWCSEA’s first Director of Sustainability
UWCSEA White Paper 2 : UWCSEA CHANGEMAKERS | 28 programme, as well as work with procurement and IT as the school identifies places where UWCSEA’s carbon footprint can be reduced.
In Singapore, UWCSEA is sharing its advocacy with the government and aims to find ways for the voice of youth to make a positive difference to the national response to sustainability challenges. By working with the Singaporean ecosystem for mutual benefit, Elliot believes the school can leverage its role as an education thought leader and share information and experience that will contribute to Singapore’s own impressive sustainability leadership. Already, a mapping exercise plotting the College’s activities against the SG Green Plan 20305 shows significant progress which can continue to be used as a benchmark for other organisations in Singapore and the region.
Building on its international advocacy work which started with the UWC COP26 statement, the College is in the early stages of developing resources to share with other schools and educational organisations that provide practical guidance, based on its own experience, to reduce carbon footprints, facilitate economic sustainability and advocate for systemic change. The tools provided will be designed to help any school, regardless of its location or curriculum structure, to adopt simple, practical sustainability strategies and to support its community in doing the same.
[4] https://president.uwcsea.edu.sg/thought-process/a-commitment-for-cop26
“UWCSEA is focused on working together with other schools and organisations to pursue a net zero future by harnessing our programmes and the UWCinternationalMovement. We are setting targets, working together and sharing information and tools through a UWC Movement— wide group.”
“We will be sharing our lessons but also learning from others so we can continue to grow our sustainability programme into the future,” promises Elliot.
A recently developed Sustainability Assessment Tool will be used to frame decision-making as the College re-starts the extensive programme of student trips and expeditions, supporting the continued delivery of rich learning for students, while aligning more intentionally with the College’s Mission.
[1] United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment [2] Five P’s https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda [3] Caring for the Earth : a strategy for sustainable living, UNEP; International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; World Wide Fund for Nature, 1991, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/491317?ln=en
[5] SG Green Plan 2030 https://www.greenplan.gov.sg
Carma Elliot College UWCSEAPresident,
White Paper 3: May BRINGING2022 SERVICE LEARNING TO LIFE: UWCSEA’s commitment to care
And so, decades after appearing in one of the earliest yearbooks, MJ. Behennah’s words were realised and can today be considered a demonstration of the fact that Service sits at the heart of a UWCSEA education, having been a defining aspect of learning from the very beginning.
Those words, concluding a page dedicated to social education and published just six years after the founding of the College, proved prescient.
The curriculum extends beyond service as an action, using a framework that emphasises the importance of students first being aware, and then being equipped to serve before taking action, which should be mutually beneficial and sustainable. Such is the strength of the programme that UWCSEA Service programme leaders are often contacted by institutions and educators who are seeking to understand how the programme works and to get some guidance in developing their own service programmes. Parents of UWCSEA students were so inspired by the growing programme that in the year 2000 they formalised their own involvement in service by starting a group called Parents Action for Community and Education (PACE).
A CURRICULUM
Over 50 years of exploration, learning, and trialling, UWCSEA has evolved Service into a fully articulated K–12 curriculum designed to shape students who self-identify as capable global citizens, who have a sense of agency and an understanding of their individual ability to enact meaningful positive change in the world.
In the 1976–1977 edition of Interscol, a yearbook of the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), MJ. Behennah, Staff Co-ordinator of the College Council Social Services Committee writes: “United World College has a major commitment to Social Service; there is a strong undercurrent of support and a potential that awaits further exploration by pupils, staff and parents.”1
At the time the social education programme was compulsory only for senior (A-Level) students and consisted mainly of action-oriented activities such as fundraising events and regular visits with a handful of communities supported by local charities. The introduction of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma the following year served to further cement the idea and activity of service as a core part of the schools Learning Programme. 50 YEARS IN THE WRITING
“United World College has a major commitment to Social Service; there is a strong undercurrent of support and a potential that awaits staffexplorationfurtherbypupils,andparents.”1 MJ. Behennah Staff Co-ordinator, College Social Service Committee Service: a defining aspect of being a UWC
The holistic approach incorporates three dimensions that include service within the College, service within Singapore and finally, global service. The curriculum is delivered both inside and outside the classroom, with many staff also taking up roles as Service leaders and facilitators as additional responsibilities to their teaching.
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“We became conscious that even though there were lots of good things about what we were doing, we were missing the learning component to some extent,” says Frankie Meehan, Head of Local and College Service at Dover Campus, of his early days as a Service Leader in the late 1990s. “Students were almost jumping on a treadmill and there was no break at any point to reflect … and we were expecting students to understand what effective service was.”
As one of 18 UWC schools and colleges, the Mission guides every decision made at the College. It is based on the philosophy of distinguished German educator Kurt Hahn who was an early pioneer in experiential learning, or learning in real-world contexts. He founded several schools including Atlantic College in Wales, the first UWC, and was a proponent of education that builds character, one of its key facets being “readiness for service at all times.”3
FROM ACTION TO INTENTION But the world of Service education was not so sophisticated in 1977, when UWCSEA became the first school in Asia to offer the IB Diploma. While its implementation cemented both College and local service for senior students who needed to satisfy the Diploma requirements, the idea that there was further potential awaiting exploration drove UWCSEA to continuously seek ways to improve Service.
Service grew from being heavily action-based, informal at times, and focused on outcomes like funds raised and hours spent helping, towards a more integrated programme that starts with a deeper understanding of issues, equips students with tools to make sustainable, mutually beneficial plans and allocates time for them to reflect on their actions.
Shelley H Billing Service and ServiceLearning in IB High Schools, 2017
UWCSEA’s commitment to Service and its continuing work to embed service into the K–12 curriculum finds its roots in the UWC Mission: to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.2
And so, the College began to develop its own philosophy about Service education, and what emerged was the idea that the programme should empower students to be aware, able and active.
The roots of Service in school
“The strength of these outcomes was improved if the students perceived their activities as meaningful, linked to reflectionelementsandvoiceincludedcurriculum,studentandchoice,incorporatedofin-depth…”
In the years since, Hahn’s beliefs have been borne out by research. In a 2017 study of IB Diploma students in Canada, the United States, Central and South America researchers measured the self-perceived outcomes of 962 students completing the service requirement of the IB Diploma, and concluded that the group “reported that they developed some personal and leadership skills, had more positive civic attitudes, developed some civic skills, and were somewhat more likely to develop an ethic of service.”
The study went on to point out that “the strength of these outcomes was improved if the students perceived their activities as meaningful, linked to curriculum, included student voice and choice, and incorporated elements of in-depth reflection..,”4 all of which are key features of UWCSEA’s Service programme today.
This approach has a key aim of developing students into systems thinkers, capable of grasping the complexity of issues and recognising that sound solutions require the consideration of multiple perspectives, collaboration, problem-solving and adaptability.
“With conceptbased teaching and learning we are trying to make sense of our world in its facechallengesthehappenlearningcomplexity.authenticOurjustcan’twithinsilos…complexityofthethatwerequiresthat.”
Susan Edwards Head of Global Concerns, UWCSEA Dover
APPLYING SYSTEMS THINKING TO SERVICE LEARNING
This way of thinking is a big departure from a “just jump in and do it approach,” says Susan Edwards, Head of Global Concerns at Dover Campus of how Service used to happen when she joined the College in “With1997.concept-based teaching and learning we are trying to make sense of our world in its authentic complexity. Our learning just can’t happen within the silos of academics, service, activities and identifying skill sets. The complexity of the challenges that we face requires that all those elements intermingle,” Edwards says.
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“We have our curriculum which focuses on being aware, being able and then deciding and taking action. The ‘able’ part is where we’re seeing most growth because we’re learning that students need the tools and the habits to embrace complexity and to understand that being a part of the solution to a lot of these issues is complex,” says Rick Hannah, Chair of Service and Sustainable Development on East Campus.
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Extracted from UWCSEA Statements 2021 Service plays an equal part
Service carries equal weight alongside Academics, Activities, Outdoor Education and Personal and Social Education in its contribution to students achieving the UWCSEA Mission Competencies; the knowledge, skills, understanding and dispositions that enable students to enact the UWC Mission. Of the five Mission Competencies that the College aims to equip its students to bring to their lives after UWCSEA, Service is most closely aligned with Sustainable Development and Self and Community Wellbeing.
Now one of the five elements that make up the UWCSEA Learning Programme, UWCSEA’s Service curriculum, both written and in action, is intentionally designed to connect with the four other elements of the Learning Programme to ensure that, as students move through the UWCSEA education experience, they always have a platform through which they can exercise their agency, which is the key to breathing life into the UWC “StudentMission.agency is so important,” says Hannah, “The ideas, passion and interest in issues needs to start with the students. If they really care about the issues and they want to see change, it’s our job to give them the toolkit and the Qualities and Skills needed to bring about that change and to do it in a sustainable way.”
UWCSEA Mission
Extracted from UWCSEA 2021
CompetenciesUWCSEALearning Programme
Guiding
Guiding Statements
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An example of how students enact this competency can be found in the story of two High School students who approached Meehan with a recycling idea they called a “Really Really Free Market.” They wanted to collect usable items that people were discarding and offer them to others who would find them useful, but weren’t sure how restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic would affect their ability to attract their intended clientele of students and parents. They also asked for advice on the best location and setup. Meehan responded by giving them email addresses for the campus health and safety officer, and for the events manager.
“What I liked was that they were taking ownership of the service and showing leadership,” Meehan says, “I avoided the trap of doing it for them.”
ACCESSING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
SUSTAINABLE
UWCSEA’s Service learning programme enables students to develop these essential Qualities and Skills because it provides them with a breadth of growth opportunities and real-world experiences that equip them to lead by example, embrace challenge and take responsibility for shaping a better world.2 DEVELOPMENT
Modified from United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals
PEOPLEEndpoverty and hunger in all forms and ensure dignity and equality FPEACEosterpeaceful, just and inclusive societies PLANET Protect our planet’s natural resources and climate for future generations harmonyandPROSPERITYEnsureprosperousfullfillinglivesinwithnature PARTNERSHIPImplementtheagendathroughasolidglobalpartnership UWCSEA five P’s framework
Designed to support the UN’s Sustainable Agenda—whichDevelopmentfocuseson the five P’s of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership—the UWCSEA Mission Competency in Sustainable Development requires that students engage with complexity, understand multiple futures, take the role of steward and develop sustainable solutions within environmental, social, economic and political systems.5
Building agency starts at the earliest stages of a UWCSEA education. Drawing on a philosophy of developing ‘aware, able and active’ global citizens, the College has developed three areas of learning, called Standards, that underpin the written Service learning curriculum. The Standards, informed by the College Mission, Values and Educational Goal, provide a constant reference for the development and delivery of learning experiences across both campuses and at all grade levels. The universal nature of the Standards ensures a singular understanding of the concepts underpinning the Service learning curriculum for everyone involved.
35 | UWCSEA White Paper 3: BRINGING SERVICE LEARNING TO LIFE Shaping changemakers
UWCSEA SERVICE STANDARDS FOR K–12 LEARNING
Taking Action –Being a Changemaker Taking ‘action’ sees the UWC Mission come to life. Students on both campuses are offered an array of ways in which to take purposeful, informed action, whether in the classroom, on campus at the College, in the Singapore community with a local service partner or at a global level through the Global Concerns programme and Focus Groups. Actions can focus on the environment, social issues or both, and can take different forms. Students can act individually or as a group, sometimes across gradelevels, or even in another country. The actions must contribute to lasting positive impact. And students are encouraged to reflect on their actions to further enhance their learning.
Awareness – Preparing to Act Becoming ‘aware’ calls on students to seek out a deeper understanding of issues, by developing and using qualities and skills outlined in the UWCSEA Profile such as critical thinking and a commitment to care. Using knowledge gained in the classroom, and in other parts of the Learning Programme, and through direct, intentional interaction with our service partners, students learn about issues from multiple perspectives. Once this understanding has been established, students are then asked to consider alternative responses, connecting with learning in the other two Standards. Able–Systems Thinking for Sustainable Development Being ‘able’ takes the form of adopting a systems-thinking approach to planning action, recognising that social and environmental issues at the College, local or global level are complex, layered and made up of interconnected parts. Planning action requires a kind of thinking that can take all of that in and make meaning in order to create solutions that are sustainable and mutually beneficial. We ask students to consider the type of response in a framework of: • direct action • indirect action • advocacy • research for action
“We do it out of our shared humanity,” says Andrea Strachan, Head of K1 and Infant School Curriculum Coordinator, Dover Campus, about how she approaches Service with her students, “and this idea that it’s not just us doing things for others, but that it’s actually an exchange. By being open minded, we can learn from others as much as they can learn from us,” she explains.
At all grade levels, case studies from the service programme link to the academic curriculum through subjects such as Humanities, Sciences, the Arts and Design. This gives students a means by which to apply their academic knowledge, skills and conceptual understandings to real-world scenarios, deepening their learning. It also functions to reinforce student agency, by offering the students “Inchoice.academics, we got to choose what essay we wanted to write sometimes, but it was very structured,” Cohen says about her educational journey. “Service was one of those areas where I was able to decide what I wanted to do. It was a place to be creative and to explore. You can really choose a service that links to what you’re interested in.”
Equipping Middle School students to effectively address the complexities of an issue like period poverty, for example, can seem daunting. The College has crafted its curriculum and programme so as to equip students to engage with complex, systemic issues in age appropriate ways. There is awareness and understanding that, if implemented poorly, service activities can adopt the characteristics of saviourism, and unintentionally promote divides like “us and them.”6
By Middle School, outcomes can be sophisticated and lasting, as evidenced by the work of Brooke Cohen, a 2021 graduate of East Campus who, at the age of 11 stared the now long-running Focus Group Generation. Education. Period. (G.E.P.) (refer to page 38).
Brooke Cohen ‘21 Service and UWCSEADevelopmentSustainableIntern,East
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BRINGING ACADEMIC CONCEPTS TO LIFE
So, starting with the youngest learners, Service is introduced as a reciprocal activity—a key concept continually reinforced throughout a student’s K–12 service journey.
At the Primary School level, the outcome of these Standards can be seen in countless stories about young students who approach their teacher without any prompting from a parent, to ask how to donate the birthday money they received from a grandparent to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) they studied in their class.
“Service was one of those areas where I was able to decide what I wanted to do. It was a place to be creative and to explore.”
CURRICULUM IN ACTION
Since 2018, all students in Primary and Middle School have been engaged in Service learning as part of their school timetable, and have options to further their learning and individual interests by participating in lunchtime and after school Service activities. In Middle and High School, elements of Service are also embedded in many of the Outdoor Education programmes and leadership Activities on campus.
Countries linked to the Service programme Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon*, China, Eswatini, Greece*, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Jordan*, Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago*, Uganda*
*Activities in these countries are linked to UWCSEA’s partnership with Amala 25 Service in action
At a wider, community level, the College has partnerships with organisations across Singapore who address a range of societal needs such as caring for the elderly, empowering people with disabilities, serving low-income families and marginalised migrant workers, and ensuring the welfare of animals and the environment. At least 210 different student groups engage with these organisations, either via off-campus visits or by welcoming clients from these service partner organisations to the campuses.
Through College Service, some 228 student groups offer activities that range from helping out in a classroom, or coaching a sports team to being involved in environmental projects like taking care of green spaces, growing trees, installing solar panels and more.
On a global level, over 100 Global Concerns (GC) and Focus Groups facilitate student-led action on initiatives that address development, social and environmental issues beyond Singapore. Some groups have built enduring relationships with grassroots NGOs in developing countries, which receive College support through fundraising, reciprocal student participation and in other ways.7
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COLLEGE, LOCAL, GLOBAL
Over 50 years, UWCSEA has established many varied service opportunities for students on both campuses, and through student-led initiatives these opportunities continue to grow.
STUDENT-LED ACTION GENERATION. EDUCATION. PERIOD.
The long-running East Campus G.E.P. Focus Group was borne out of a classroom programme with dual social and environmental aims: reducing menstrual stigma, combating period poverty, and reducing menstrual waste. It was inspired by conceptual learning in the Academic programme which used these issues to illustrate the concepts being taught in the combined EngHum (English and Humanities) programme which is a unique feature of the UWCSEA Middle School Academic programme.8
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“Our school does a very good job of talking about how a lot of children don’t have access to education or to water. But the thought of not actually having products to manage your period, was something new to me,” Cohen remembers. She described how she and her friends brainstormed the idea of sewing reusable sanitary pads at the College’s design technology labs, only to realise after six months that it would be more effective to partner with Green Umbrella, a Cambodian NGO and East Campus service partner, who were able to offer employment to women to sew the pads and to help with their distribution. Cohen and her team could then focus on raising funds for the endeavour, and expand their reach through more partnerships.
Eight years on, having gone through a number of tactical changes in response to the needs of their partner organisations, the group is still in operation and has created a number of new partnerships, while adding rural Nepal to their outreach. They have further extended their reach in Singapore and beyond, by partnering with Freedom Cups, a business in Singapore that sells reusable menstrual cups that also donates them in lesser economically developed countries. The students have also organised to sell Freedom Cups, which have a life-span of 15 years, via the College Shop.
Stage 1: Investigation - Students do research at their desks, in the field, by talking to service partners and listening to guest speakers to understand the systemic issues that impact their chosen cause, and to identify their own relevant interests and skills.
Stage 5: Demonstration - Students share their experience through storytelling, presentations, blogging, podcasts, multimedia presentations, learning journals and news stories. The aim is to solidify learning while raising awareness among peers, family and friends and inspiring others to act.
Stage 2: Preparation - Students receive training in skills they may have identified and also set measurable learning goals for their planned course of action.
Catherine Berger Kaye, a pioneer and expert in the field of Service Learning whose work has influenced UWCSEA’s model, writes, “We follow these stages in the development of many learning experiences, albeit primarily for learning. When we add the critical and valued element of service, we elevate the learning with purposeful application.”10
CASE STUDY
Two service programmes are open to students in Grades 9–12, many of whom stay with the service for a number of years. The ‘Monday group’ focuses on activities that assist with cognitive rehabilitation, while the ‘Friday group’ has evolved to provide a programme of music therapy which both enhances the quality of life of the resident participants, while contributing to ongoing research into the impacts of music on persons living with dementia. Regardless of the focus of their activities, both groups follow the same learning journey.
In order to ensure a thoughtful and considered approach to such a wide range of Service learning activities, the College uses a five stage model to guide students through every project.
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Stage 4: Reflection - This happens both within and at the end of their service engagement and involves feedback from service partners, and self-reflection on their journey. This stage can lead to renewed or new action.
Stage 3: Action - Students enact their plan for six weeks and then take a pause to do a SWOT analysis to measure their progress against their goals, and identify areas for improvement.
The five stages of Service UWCSEA’S LEARNING JOURNEY WITH APEX HARMONY LODGE
APEX Harmony Lodge, opened in 1999, is a purpose-built home for people in Singapore with dementia, which also offers day and community care programmes. Since 2012, UWCSEA has connected with the organisation via two long-running weekly service programmes, and was named an outstanding synergistic partner during APEX Harmony Lodge’s 20th anniversary celebrations in 2019. The collaboration provides two-way benefits: APEX Harmony Lodge is seeking to empower persons with dementia to enjoy the same quality of life as everyone else, bringing together partners to provide a holistic care programme. UWCSEA students gain a deeper understanding of the issues of an ageing population, the importance of creating a more inclusive society and the challenges faced by people with dementia and their care givers. Students also have valuable opportunities to develop communication and collaboration skills with peers, and with the residents and staff at APEX Harmony Lodge.
In this example, students may have musical skills, be interested in working with elderly patients or have personal experience of people living with dementia.
Students then research the systemic issues that impact on people living with dementia and their families e.g., issues of inclusion, diversity, inequality and social integration, and learn more about the service partner and their needs. This includes hearing directly from Nikki Goh, who works at APEX Harmony Lodge.
Students visit Apex Harmony Lodge to conduct research, including interviewing staff, observing spaces and cataloging availableStudentsresources.identify and receive training in any skills they need to be effective, e.g., OERS, mindfulness, body relaxation, personal enhancers, ways to show respect. They also learn about any restrictions on their activity e.g., compliance, regulations and any legal frameworks that govern their interactions.
At this stage, students identify individual interests and skills they can offer to service partners.
Using available data and understanding, students write their SMART service goals, including setting measurable KPIs using a UWCSEA-designed framework and template.
Students solidify their learning through demonstration: by sharing their stories in person and through multimedia such as blogs, news stories, learning journals, and presentations to friends, peers and family—all these raise awareness of the impact of service and inspire others to believe that they can make a difference in their communities.
Many students choose to re-enrol in the service over multiple years, building on the learning of previous years and deepening the reciprocal connections they have with the service parters.
HarmonyvisitStudentsApex Lodge at least once a week. On Monday’s the group leads games and activities with the residents designed to contribute to cognitive rehabilitation, while the Friday group supports the music therapy programme with residents by listening to and making music with them. After six weeks, students complete a SWOT analysis which helps measure progress and to identify areas for improvement and additional support or training needed.
Connected directly to, and informing their ongoing action, students complete two cycles of SWOT analysis during the year, with the aim of adjusting the programme so as to implement changes, watching for indicators and measures of improvement.
CASE STUDY
At the end of the school year, students review their SMART goals and KPIs, obtain feedback from Apex Harmony Lodge staff and reflect on their journey, identifying questions and considering improvements for the following year. This reflection often leads to new action.
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BRINGING SERVICE LEARNING TO LIFE
By Middle School, students are engaging in regular Service activities at lunchtime or after school at the College, local or global level.
Implementing five stages at every grade level
An example of this is in the Grade 3 unit called Blue Planet. Students on Dover Campus learn about the challenges, issues and necessity of having access to a clean and reliable water supply by studying Water Warriors, a GC partner that works to implement health and sanitation projects serving rural communities in Eswatini. This project is part of the Community Service Programme at UWCSEA’s sister college, UWC Waterford Kamhlaba.
“We recently created a new unit called Peace Begins with Me, based on the idea that we can’t really be of service to others until we are at peace within ourselves. This is really important for young learners because, for example, how can you help somebody else unpack their bag if you don’t know how to unpack your bag yourself?” Strachan says.
The five stages of Service learning help students to develop a deep understanding of issues, building confidence and leadership qualities that allow them to critically evaluate their actions and initiate their own student-led projects. They are able to join the Service or Global Concerns Executive student-led committees that assess and approve new Service groups.
Students also explore to concepts linked to Service through the Academic element of the Learning Programme with courses like the Middle School SEED (Social, Environmental, Entrepreneurship Development) designed by East Campus curriculum leaders, or on the Dover Campus, the Grade 6 Development Unit and Grade 7 Systems and Sustainable Development Unit, which integrates English and Humanities.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
As students progress through their K–12 journey at UWCSEA, Service learning expands in breadth and depth.
INFANT SCHOOL
JUNIOR SCHOOL
Grade 3 students are then able to take action to support Water Warriors GC through Service activities such as fundraising for the construction of a safe and reliable water supply.
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When it comes to the youngest students, activities in the classroom or within the College help students to start developing qualities like fairness, kindness and respect.
Concerns, Infant students on both campuses learn about schools in other countries that support children from marginalised communities, which often leads to students wanting to take action.
In the later years of Primary School, UWCSEA students are introduced to systems thinking and follow through on the five stages of Service through units of study which embed these concepts into the Academic curriculum.
In UWCSEA’s Primary Schools, all students also embark on a regular Service activity with a local Singaporean organisation which is incorporated into their timetable, and they have the option of volunteering for a lunchtime Service activity in another area such as animal welfare or green campus initiatives.
At a local level, from Kindergarten 2, regular visits with Singapore-based organisations aim to introduce students to the idea that the experiences of others are different from their own. They might meet children who are from families of different income levels, or those who may have different learning abilities, or they may visit a home for the Throughelderly.Global
Service at this stage encourages leadership, with students given access to training and tools to take themselves, their peers and younger students through the five stages of Service learning. Teachers step back into a supporting role at this point.
So while Service may be most closely aligned with Sustainable Development as a demonstration of a Mission Competency, the ability to put this competency into meaningful action is grounded in achieving understanding of the competencies of Self and Community Wellbeing, Peacebuilding, and Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding.
Finally, in High School students must make a long term Service commitment to fulfil the requirements of the UWCSEA High School Diploma. In Grades 9 and 10 this is for half the school year, extending to the entire Grade 11 year.
EMBODYING THE MISSION COMPETENCIES
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Strachan describes the Service learning journey at UWCSEA as building an understanding of self and personal identity, and then expanding beyond that. “We start with who is the child and then who is the child within their family, within their classroom, within our grade level, within our school community, and then greater Singapore. And then, where do we fit in the world? It’s building that understanding,” she says. “[The] Peace Begins with Me [unit is] based on the idea that we can’t really be of service to others until we are at peace within ourselves.”
High School students might also join or lead a GC or Focus Group. In Grade 11 this often leads to students travelling overseas to work with a partner NGO during Project Week—a highlight for students, and the culmination of the Outdoor Education element of the UWCSEA Learning Programme. They can also opt to participate in the Initiative for Peace (IfP).9
HIGH SCHOOL
Andrea Strachan Head of K1 and Infant School Curriculum UWCSEACoordinator,Dover
At the College level students might lead or support other students undertaking their own service programmes, provide sports or language coaching or take up a sustainability project working with younger students. They also volunteer with a local Service partner once per week after school, investigating, planning and executing a sustainable action in collaboration with the organisation, and then reflecting on the outcomes and adapting their engagement accordingly.
Alice Whitehead, Founder of Orenda Learning which consults with schools on implementing their own Service programmes, observes that what sets UWCSEA apart is both the emphasis placed on Service, and the capacity put behind it. “There is a whole team representing service from each part of the school … and very clear systems and processes,” she says.
“There’s a group of teachers who care so much about service that they’ll always put their hand up. And once they do it they stick at it for as long as they’re in the College,” says Meehan whose work includes fostering relationships with local service partners. He shared that the record for longest service with a local partner is held by a French language teacher who has been visiting St Joseph’s Home for the Aged for more than 30 years.
‘Doing service well’
In addition to a growing body of Service learning tools, such as research, resources and workshops to support teachers and students in their practice, there are those who themselves are instrumental in spurring the programme on.
from different worlds,” says Child@Street 11 Founder Nirmala Murugaian. “The UWCSEA world is a lot more visible. Then you have the families that we look after in Child@Street 11. Unless you are there and you work with them, they are largely invisible. Only when you work closely with them and you go beneath the surface do you start to see the reality of the home or job situation, the kind of food they eat—or they don’t even get to eat. It’s very, very complex. ”
“The point wasn’t to evoke sympathy, but this is the value you bring to a partnership and relationship. You impact and change a person’s life.”
As the former Head of Global Concerns for Primary School on Dover Campus, Whitehead recalls, “Part of that job description was putting checks and balances in place, creating material for teachers to support them to further integrate Global Concerns, by bringing themes and projects into their classrooms, and supporting them to run activities such as fundraisers.”
This speaks to another key aspect of the Service programme—the importance placed on relationships. Not only are some of the relationships with both local and overseas organisations decades long, they have helped to make sure that Service activities meet genuine community needs while remaining mutually beneficial. They also serve to enhance connections and understanding between the UWCSEA community and the wider Singapore community. One example can be found in UWCSEA’s 20-year partnership with Child@ Street 11 which provides high quality preschool education to children of low-income families. As part of their Service commitment, groups of students visit on a weekly basis and carry out planned activities with the “Thepreschoolers.childrencome
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PRIORITISING RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPS
The coordination of the Service programme happens on both campuses through dedicated Service Offices and a network of teachers who are given time to focus on its implementation at a class, grade, school and project level. Those teachers are in turn supported by administrative staff who assist with the crucial but time-consuming support required to support the delivery and operation of the Service programme’s logistics, and to manage resources and funds.
Nirmala Murugaian Founder, Child@Street 11
She described an occasion where, at the urging of Meehan, they arranged a trip for students to visit a block of rental flats for low income families. “It was such an eye-opening experience for the students,” says Murugaian. “The point wasn’t to evoke sympathy, but this is the value you bring to a partnership and relationship. You impact and change a person’s life.” Strachan, who accompanied the students, says the relationship with Child@Street 11 is deep and meaningful. “Connections to service organisations can be superficial, but I don’t feel like ours are. We’ve been working alongside this preschool for 20 years. We know the children and we’ve seen them grow up. We are invited to do really wonderful things as much as they are invited to connect with us.”
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As part of UWCSEA’s strategic vision, work is ongoing to further integrate Service with the other elements of the Learning Programme that include Academics, Outdoor Education, Personal and Social Education and Activities.
the Covid-19 pandemic halted Service activities in 2020, it forced everyone to think creatively about how to adapt in order to keep the programme active. “When we weren’t able to go off campus we were able to do some things via Zoom or Google Meet … But we had to find lots of other things to do on campus,” says Meehan. It led to several new initiatives related to Sustainable Development including expansion of the Rainforest Restoration Project, establishment of groups growing edible plants, another that recycles old uniforms by turning them into grow bags for the nursery, and many others.
In the 50 years since its inception, Service has evolved into an element of the UWCSEA Learning Programme that equips students with the Qualities and Skills needed to address both development and environmental issues on a global, local and community level.
One area under consideration is weighing the benefits of students flying overseas for learning experiences—whether it be as part of participation in the Outdoor Education, Service or Academic element of the Learning Programme—against the College’s commitment to environmental stewardship. Edwards says of the pause, “It’s not about doing everything the way we did it before [Covid-19], it’s about doing things better … The Service programme is constantly evolving based on the realities in the world.”
Elliot points out that the school now has a responsibility to not only restore its support to local and global service partners after significant disruptions, but to build back in a way that ensures resilience in the face of challenges. There is more to be done
RECALIBRATION FOR MISSION-ALIGNMENT
RESPONDING TO A CHANGING WORLD UWCSEA also continues to develop Service to keep pace with a changing Whenworld.
“I feel very positive about a lot of these … When we’re in a position to resume our vibrant local service programme, I hope that we won’t lose a lot of the on-campus sustainability efforts. I think it deserves to be fostered,” says Meehan.
“The waitpandemic],[duringlevelmaintainhasthatus.beentellminutesconnect,o’clock,theyknowresidentsit’sFriday,knowit’sthreeandwhenIifI’mtwolate,theymethatthey’vewaitingforI’mverypleasedtechnologyallowedustoacertainofrelationshipthebutIcan’ttogoback.”
Building on the lessons learned from the pandemic is now a priority says Carma Elliot, UWCSEA College President. “What the last couple of years have shown is that we can do things differently and still do them well. We are not ignoring the fact that the disruption has actually brought some benefits.”
The pause created by the pandemic has also given the College an opportunity to think about the Service programme overall, and the aspects of it that could be further aligned to the UWC Mission, especially when it comes to sustainability.
Michèle Pirson Teacher of French and 30-year volunteer with St Josephs Home for the Aged, UWCSEA Dover
[6] HER Journey: A best practice service project by students at United World College of South East Asia, Alice Whitehead, https://www.orendalearning.com/blog/2021/4/19/her-journey-a-best-practice-service-project-by-students-at-united-world-college-of-south-east-asia2021
[11] The Future of Education And Skills: Education 2030, OECD, https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/contact/E2030%20Position%20Paper%20(05.04.2018).pdf2018
Cohen, who became the first graduate to intern for the Service and Sustainable Development Department at East Campus before she starts university in 2022, is an example of how an education at UWCSEA prepares students to enact the Mission to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future throughout their lives.
[1] Interscol 1976/1977, UWCSEA [2] Guiding Statements, UWCSEA website, 2022 https://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/about/guiding-statements
The idea is in line with the UWC Mission which mandates for a sustainable future. Fifty years into UWCSEA’s contribution to the Movement, Elliot says, “we need to be holding ourselves accountable for the expression of our Mission in the current day and age as well.”
[3] The Work of Kurt Hahn, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Volume: 4 issue: 3, page(s): 197-203 Issue published: December 1, 1958
[8] Generation. Education. Period. LEAP Initiative website, 2020 https://www.leap-initiative.com/post/generation-education-period-gep-1 [9] Initiative for Peace, UWCSEA website, 2022 https://stories.uwcsea.edu.sg/promoting-international-understanding/index.html
[7] Service, UWCSEA website, 2022 https://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/learning/service
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[5] Reimagining Learning, Our Big Ideas, UWCSEA website, 2022 https://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/our-big-ideas/reimagining-learning
[4] Service and Service-Learning in International Baccalaureate High Schools: An International Comparison of Outcomes and Moderators by Shelley H Billing. International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Volume 5 Issue 1 p.57] | 2017 | ISSN: 2374-9466
Indeed, Whitehead who is also an alum of UWCSEA Dover, says her service experiences while at school more than 20 years ago have had a profound impact on her life and work. “It actually makes me emotional even talking about it because it was that inspiring and impactful for me,” she says.
A recent OECD position paper on its vision for Education by 2030 says, “We are facing unprecedented challenges—social, economic and environmental—driven by accelerating globalisation and a faster rate of technological developments … Education needs to aim to do more than prepare young people for the world of work; it needs to equip students with the skills they need to become active, responsible and engaged citizens.”11
As the world becomes more cognizant of the issues facing future generations, the value of a robust, intentional and thoughtful Service Learning programme in schools cannot be underestimated.
[10] Five Stages of Service Learning, Education Week, Catherine Berger Kaye, https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-five-stages-of-service-learning/2013/062013
“I really want to go into humanitarian work when I’m older,” she says, “so, at university, I’m going to be studying development. The idea to major in that has come from all the service work I’ve been doing at UWCSEA.”
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Carma Elliot UWCSEA College President
“What the last couple of years have shown is that we can do things differently and still do them well. We are not ignoring the fact that the disruption has actually brought some benefits.”
White Paper 4: May LEARNING2022 IN NATURE: connecting learning to life through outdoor education
Beluntu may not have looked like much, with its small collection of simple thatched-roof buildings, but it was a purpose-built facility with the ethos of Outdoor Education and the UWC Movement at its heart: a place that allowed students to experience the natural world and take on the experiential challenges that build resilience, collaboration and leadership.
Beluntu, a UWC South East Asia (UWCSEA) off-site facility in the jungles of Johore, Malaysia, opened in 1975 as an alternate learning environment for students. Groups came out for visits travelling by bus, boat, land rover and foot. Time at Beluntu, with its beach walks, boating expeditions through mangrove forests and orienteering in the dense jungle, became an integral part of the UWCSEA experience for the next decade, as departments from Drama to Maths, and Biology to English made regular visits to the site.
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Following the belief of Kurt Hahn, the founder of the UWC Movement, that “expeditions can greatly contribute towards building strength of character”, learning is taken well beyond the four walls of the classroom at UWCSEA. Outdoor Education is woven into the education of all students regardless of their year level, as one of the five inter-linked elements of the UWCSEA Learning Programme, together with Academics, Activities, Personal and Social Education and Service. “Expeditions can greatly character.”strengthtowardscontributebuildingof Kurt Hahn Founder, UWC Movement Learning
Although forced to close in 1984, the spirit of Beluntu has endured. The Outdoor Education programme remains central to a UWCSEA education, and the College now runs one of the most extensive programmes of any school in Singapore. This activity is supported by an articulated written Outdoor Education curriculum which spans Kindergarten to Grade 12; the first of its kind in the world.
Connecting through resilience UWCSEA
Programme Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021
Measuring impact
UWCSEA
“Over time you see this big boost of feeling connected to the otherwellbeing,psychologicalseewellbeing.predictsenvironmentnaturalthatastudent’sWeincreasesiningrit,andconstructs.”
Dr Christopher Wolsko Associate Psychology,Professor,Oregon University–CascadesState Profile
More recently, UWCSEA has sought to better understand the impact of the Outdoor Education programme on students through a longitudinal research partnership with Oregon State University–Cascades. A seven-year study that began in the 2013/2014 school year has helped the College to evaluate the outcomes from its Outdoor Education programme, providing clear evidence of the benefits and positive impact of the programme on overall student education, on individual student wellbeing and on their development of a number of the Qualities and Skills identified in the UWCSEA Profile.
Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021
LONGITUDINAL STUDY
Conducted by Oregon State University–Cascades faculty researchers Dr Michael Gassner, an outdoor education specialist, and Dr Christopher Wolsko, an educational and eco-psychologist, the study has successfully explored the benefits from this learning approach through multiple cohorts of students. The researchers have collected results from hundreds of interviews and surveys of Middle and High School students, including two groups who have participated from Grade 6 through Grade 12. This data explores both the incremental and longitudinal effects on the students. The findings so far affirm the transformational impact that a well-structured Outdoor Education programme can have on children. The study’s findings are now being used to help other educational organisations incorporate more intentional Outdoor Education into their own curriculums.
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RESPONSIVE PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
The data collected is invaluable for its ability not just to measure outcomes in the longer term, but is being used to adjust and adapt the Outdoor Education programme to better respond to changing environments and the needs of current students. An evening activity on the Grade 6 Tioman expedition, for example, was modified in response to data which showed it was pushing students further than intended beyond their comfort zone. The Grade 8 Chiang Mai expedition, one of UWCSEA’s flagship trips, was also adapted following analysis of student feedback and trip observations by the researchers. In response to evaluation work from the research, the 10-day trip is now a ‘continuous journey’ rather than a trip split into two very different halves.
“The Oregon State University–Cascades study shows that UWCSEA is delivering all of these profile Qualities and Skills, right the way through the Outdoor Education programme,” says Oliver Sampson, Head of Outdoor Education at UWCSEA Dover. It has also helped the College adapt to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although not all aspects of the programme have been able to be replicated within the restrictions, the data and analysis provided guidance on how to restructure the programme so that it delivers similar outcomes through Singapore expeditions and campus-based activities that can accommodate the unique requirements of a pandemic, like social distancing.
“A key component of our research design is that it’s longitudinal, so over time you see this big boost of feeling connected to the natural environment that predicts a student’s wellbeing at the baseline for the next year, and two years later, controlling from the previous two years,” says Dr Wolsko of the findings. “We see increases from pre- to post-expedition in all of the elements of the learner profile of the students in psychological wellbeing, in grit, and other constructs.”
UWCSEA White Paper 4: LEARNING IN NATURE | 50 INITIAL INSIGHTS
3. What are the specific knowledge, Skills, and Qualities that graduates of UWCSEA leave with that may be attributed to the Outdoor Education programme?
UWCSEA Longitudinal Outdoor Education Study
1. Does Outdoor Education make a difference in a student’s Academic performance and personal lives?
4. Which expeditions instil what Qualities and Skills from the UWCSEA Profile?
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The UWCSEA–Oregon State University–Cascades study is unique in many ways. Designed to understand the impact of UWCSEA’s Outdoor Education programme, the study aimed to answer questions around the effect on student wellbeing by examining the impacts, both immediately after a particular expedition of experience and in the longer term.
RESEARCH DESIGN
By following cohorts of students as they progressed through the Outdoor Education programme, the study has explored four main questions:
2. What do students perceive Outdoor Education contributes to their overall learning?
• Development of the UWCSEA Profile on an expedition in the 2018/2019 school year correlated with higher psychological wellbeing at baseline in the 2019/2020 school year
• Students from the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 cohorts who were measured for cultivation of resilience demonstrated a higher measurement of personal grit at the beginning of the 2019/2020 school year
• The UWCSEA Profile, as well as other psychological characteristics such as psychological wellbeing and connectedness to nature, continued to increase from pre- to post-expedition
UWCSEA White Paper 4: LEARNING IN NATURE | 52 Through student surveys and in-depth interviews, the study measures what students learn through Outdoor Education, whether it has an impact on their personal wellbeing and Academic performance, how the students value the experiences, and the specific Skills, knowledge and Qualities that graduates of UWCSEA leave with that have been enhanced by their participation in the Outdoor Education programme over Duringtime.the research period, the researchers also conducted field observations by accompanying the Outdoor Education expedition programme trips with students and staff.
KEY FINDINGS
In open-ended reflections, many students commented on building tremendous self-confidence after meeting the substantial challenges of their expeditions. Topline findings from the most recent study in the 2021/2022 school year also illustrate the connection between the skills and lessons learned through Outdoor Education and an increase in psychological wellbeing. For example, students who attended an outdoor expedition in the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 school years that were focused on a connection to nature reported higher wellbeing at the beginning of the 2019/2020 school year. The study also demonstrates a clear link between outdoor education and growth of several of the Qualities (and Skills) of the UWCSEA Profile, with students who develop more of the UWCSEA Profile reporting higher psychological wellbeing, as well as higher Academic achievement, as measured by International Schools Assessment (ISA) scores.
“It’s not so much about the individual activities and is much more about a journey. And sticking with that journey - socially, emotionally and physically. And that leads to resilience, and that’s a result that is coming towards the top consistently, since we started this study,” says OtherGassner.keyfindings include:
•
Over the past two years, a student’s capacity for becoming a self-manager was the one profile trait that maintained a consistently positive and unique relationship with higher overall Academic achievement “It’s not so much about the individual activities and is much more about a journey, and sticking with that journeyleadsphysically.emotionallysocially,andAndthattoresilience.”
Dr Michael Gassner Program Coordinator, Tourism, Recreation and Adventure Leadership, Oregon State University–Cascades
The Outdoor Education curriculum outlines a gradual learning process that presents more complex Conceptual Understandings and provides more challenging experiences as students’ maturity and understanding grows. The four curriculum Standards are: 1. Personal Identity - discovery of self and others 2. Healthy Relationships - building community and supporting wellbeing
Through the process of K–12 curriculum articulation, the College identified four areas of learning, called Standards, that underpin the College’s written Outdoor Education curriculum. These overarching Standards inform the grade-level Conceptual Understandings (things students should know and be able to do) and in turn inform Benchmarks (age-appropriate goals for demonstrating attainment) for each year level. Demonstration of these Benchmarks are used to assess an individual students’ learning.
Grade-level Benchmarks are then attached to Conceptual Understanding linked to each of these Strands. These provide a framework for the expected learning outcomes, by grade.
AREAS OF LEARNING
INTENTIONAL LEARNING LINKS
Following the articulation project, the Heads of Outdoor Education worked with curriculum leaders to develop a planning and evaluation framework for outdoor experiences as a way to build capacity in Outdoor Education across the College. The original reflection tool, used by the Outdoor Education team to align the learning goals of Outdoor Education trips more closely with the Mission and curriculum Standards, is now used by teachers and curriculum leaders to “When students are on a hike through the jungle in Tioman, Malaysia, and they see rubber tapping, the hike leaders can talk about the rubber industry. They can talk about the science of oframificationsuses.thatthetheyvulcanisation,cantalkaboutcarbonflowofmoleculeanditsIthasmassiveintermslearning.”
UWC Founder Kurt Hahn was convinced that putting two young people from opposite sides of a cultural divide together onboard a small boat, perhaps in a northeasterly gale, would result in better interpersonal understanding and trust as they necessarily found ways to work together in order meet the challenges of bringing the boat, and all in it, to safety.
Cameron Hunter Middle School Principal UWCSEA Dover
3. Connectedness to Nature 4. Expedition Skills - developing skills for life Within the Expedition Skills Standard for example, there are four discrete Strands that students work towards in age-appropriate ways: 1. Travel 2. Navigation 3. Camp craft 4. Personal and group safety
It is not hard to see the mirror to the UWC Mission in the above belief, and Outdoor Education has been a feature of the UWC experience since the movement’s inception. The urban setting of Singapore has required careful evolution of the programme over the past 50 years, and increasing levels of educational rigour have been applied as adjustments have been made.
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So that learning is appropriately balanced, the overall student experience of the Learning Programme across time is also considered as part of the reflection process.
MISSION COMPETENCIES
UWCSEA White Paper 4: LEARNING IN NATURE | 54 guide planning of outdoor learning experiences across Kindergarten to Grade 12. In guiding teachers to identify and strengthen links with other elements of UWCSEA’s Learning Programme (Academics, Activities, Personal and Social Education and Service), staff planning trips are asked to self evaluate the proposed learning experience or trip against these criteria: • Adventure • Collaborative learning • Connection with place • Creativity • Environmental stewardship • Excitement in discovery • Exploration with the senses • Immersion in nature • Transdisciplinary learning • Learning by doing • Personal challenge • Problem solving • Self reflection
Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021 UWCSEA Mission
Outdoor Education curriculum
TRANSDISCIPLINARY
“When students are on a hike through the jungle in Tioman, Malaysia, and they see rubber tapping, the hike leaders can talk about the rubber industry,” explains Cameron Hunter, Middle School Principal at UWCSEA Dover. “They can talk about the science of vulcanisation, they can talk about the carbon flow of that molecule and its uses. And humanities teachers can talk about the business and economic flows from rubber trade, and the history of colonisation. It has massive ramifications in terms of learning.” CompetenciesTO
The Standards are interwoven throughout five UWCSEA CommunityDevelopment,Peacebuilding,InterculturalLiteracies,Competencies—EssentialMissionInterpersonalandUnderstanding,SustainableandSelfandWellbeing.
CONNECTING
the
Developmentally appropriate challenges for each age group are applied and the Outdoor Education programme encourages problem solving and risk negotiation, which are important to the development of the UWCSEA Profile. Learning occurs year-round through intentional links to subjects like Humanities or Science that develop interrelated skills in these areas. This holistic approach provides students with consistent opportunities to develop linkages and transfer their learning between experiential Outdoor Education and many other subjects, so the learning becomes both transdisciplinary.
LEARNING FOR LIFE
UNLOCKING LEARNING
Extended overnight expeditions such as those that require hiking through the jungles of Malaysia, rafting in rivers in Thailand or trekking high passes in Nepal are a cornerstone of the programme and are designed to expand an individual’s learning outside of their traditional comfort zones. These compulsory trips facilitate intense periods of intercultural and outdoor learning, allowing students to face new challenges in unfamiliar environments. Students’ opportunities for learning and growth increase as they progress through the grade levels. These experiences can be times of profound self-discovery, selfexpression and satisfaction that accelerate a student’s personal and social development. Grade-level Benchmarks attached to each Conceptual Understanding provide a framework for the expected outcome of each learning stage.
“There was so much emotional and technical development during our trips to Tioman and Chiang Mai,” says Adam Mertens ’12, who also worked with the UWCSEA Outdoor Education team during a gap year after graduation. Mertens, who is now part of a non-profit organisation that offers immersive environmental learning programmes in the Canadian Rockies, continues, “I think those skills that come with outdoor education are really a conduit for learning bigger ideas like resiliency and collaboration.”
By creating experiences in the outdoors, UWCSEA strives to develop a set of personal Qualities and Skills that are sought after in schools, universities and modern workplaces. Deliberate development of in-demand qualities such as resilience, self-management and collaboration have become the hallmarks of adventure programmes around the world and are increasingly important for graduates to demonstrate.
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“When we learn how to kayak, that’s not what outdoor education is about,” says Chris Newman, Head of Outdoor Education at East Campus. “That’s the foundation that supports us to get to the struggles with ‘how do I become resilient? How do I support my team members? How do I connect to the natural world?’ Activities in Outdoor Education are the vehicle to get to all of those other things.” “I think those skills that come with outdoor education are really a conduit for learning bigger ideas like resiliency and collaboration.”
A foundation for personal growth
Adam Mertens ’12 Environmental Educator, The Howl Experience
A framework for success Just as teamwork and collaboration is one focus of outdoor learning, UWCSEA’s diverse team of Outdoor Education professionals work across both campuses to develop and implement the curriculum at the College. As a vital part of the education journey, each campus has an Outdoor Education Department, with the experienced Heads of Outdoor Education supported by a team of Outdoor Education specialists. This provides the College with greater control over the learning outcomes, and a depth of thinking and intention not as readily available from programmes run by a series of third party providers. By funding the Outdoor Education Department internally and not outsourcing its staffing for individual trips and expeditions, UWCSEA provides a safe and familiar network of trusted adults for students as they are asked to progress through an increasing level of challenge. In turn, this supports them to focus fully on their learning and to develop Mission Competencies. Importantly, the College is also able to make continual well-informed adjustments in order to develop the Outdoor Education programme so as to deliver the best learning outcomes for students. Together with curriculum leaders, the Outdoor Education teams incorporate findings from the longitudinal study and the best available external approaches to develop a curriculum that supports overall wellbeing. Having dedicated Outdoor Education Departments enables the College to articulate the learning each part of the curriculum is designed to deliver and the Qualities and Skills of the UWCSEA Profile that are progressively grown from Kindergarten to Grade 12. “It’s important that what they’re learning supports the learner Profile and that it supports the UWCSEA Mission. And Outdoor Education supports it in so many different ways, with sustainability being a key element of that,” says Newman. “The evidence is there, you need to do Outdoor Education, it’s a vital part of education.”
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“It’s about risk tolerance and getting a fine balance. It’s being able to take risks, having the student understand how to manage and look after themselves and still take risks. That’s a massive part of what we’re doing. And we’re doing it in a world that’s really, really risk averse,” adds Sampson. “It’s a fine balance. It’s having the student understand how to manage and look after themselves and still take risks.” Oliver Sampson Head of Education,OutdoorUWCSEA Dover
Fine tuning for the future
Adam Mertens ’12 Environmental Educator, The Howl Experience
For instance, Outdoor Education Department Heads Newman and Sampson collaborated with the campus sustainability leads in the development of an Overseas Trip Sustainability Assessment Toolkit, which gauges the depth of learning and helps to align learning experiences on trips more closely with the College’s Mission.
GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS
“We have this challenge in society where we often see ourselves as separate from the natural world, but we’re really just another piece of this whole puzzle. Outdoor Education helps connect us to natural spaces, and build the concepts of stewardship and reciprocity.”
The original Outdoor Education-specific checklist was adjusted in order to extend its applicability beyond the expedition programme, and all trip planners are asked to self evaluate their proposed itinerary against the similar criteria.
The ultimate goal is to increase the positive outcomes that are already evident from the programme, as well as share the results of the research with other schools in Singapore and internationally, so that they can have an evidence-based approach to developing their own Outdoor Education programmes.
“What’s important looking at education going forwards is that we start connecting students to real experiences,” says Sampson. “In Outdoor Education, we’re actually getting out and doing it, and we’re living the learner Profile, developing the Qualities and Skills.”
Data also supports greater cross-integration with more traditional Academic subjects, with strong evidence that interdisciplinary learning from the Outdoor Education programme can be increased. If the activity is sailing, for example, it can incorporate learning about physics and motion through the pulleys and levers. Or if there is a Humanities Unit of Inquiry, the topic under investigation can relate back to the planned expedition for that year.
Into the future, UWCSEA will continue to draw on the results from the Oregon State University-Cascades study to further refine the Outdoor Education Post-pandemic,programme.theCollege
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will inevitably bring back the residential aspect of the programme; long experience and the research results indicate that multi-day, overnight experiences are vital for optimal development of the grit and resilience aspects of the learning. A decisionmaking process that factors sustainability into trip design as well as the educational takeaways will be an increasingly important part of Outdoor Education in the future. The result will be a more mindful balance between heading off on far-flung overseas expeditions and the learning that is available to students from similar experiences conducted in Singapore, or closer to home.
APPLYING A LENS OF SUSTAINABILITY
While the checklist was originally developed to guide the Outdoor Education experiences across K–11 using the Outdoor Education curriculum Standards (refer to page 53), further development of the tool proved necessary during the ‘hyper-local’ phase of the Department’s response to Covid-19, informing the creation of campus and Singapore-based itineraries for students in Grades 1 to 11.
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“It’s important that what they’re learning supports the learner profile and that it supports the UWCSEA Mission. And Outdoor Education supports it in so many different ways. The evidence is there, you need to do Outdoor Education, it’s a vital part of education.”
Chris Newman Head of Education,OutdoorUWCSEA East
When Beluntu was first built by students and staff 47 years ago, its concept was simple: provide a space where students could learn from and in the outdoors, interact with each other and build skills in the natural world. The experience of UWCSEA students may have looked quite different then from what happens now, but the spirit Beluntu—of connection to nature, of resilience, collaboration and leadership—remains the same.
White Paper 5: May ENACTING2022 A MISSION: individual competencies for a lifetime of peace
Enacting a Mission: individual competencies for a lifetime of peace
Sixty years later the Mission guides the 18 schools and colleges that make up the UWC Movement to deliver a transformational education that aspires to the very highest ideals of peace and sustainability, making education a force that not only enables students to discover that change is possible, but that they can make it happen.
The United Nations’ latest report on climate change has found that some impacts of global warming are now irreversible. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called it an “atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed leadership.”2
The world has experienced the most unprecedented levels of disruption in recent times brought about by crises in global health, the climate, geopolitics and more.
A UWC education aims to prepare young people to be ethical agents of change who see the challenges, and are equipped to identify and act on the possibilities that are hidden within them.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused global economic growth to plummet, leading to increasing poverty levels and accelerating inequality between and within countries. It has been called an “economic wrecking ball with intergenerational consequences,” with observers noting that, “surging inequality is dangerous, with knock-on effects on everything from rising crime to reactionary nationalism.”1
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As UWC South East Asia marks 50 years of making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future, the UWC Mission has taken on new urgency.
“Our Mission is at the forefront of many people’s minds at the moment around peace, but also around sustainable futures. Not just sustainability in an environmental sense but also with regard to the climate crisis and the nexus of so many other conflicts and disrupted relationships in the world today,” says Carma Elliot, UWCSEA College President. He made the dire assessment in the days after Russia invaded Ukraine, shocking the world and igniting Europe’s largest war and ensuing refugee crisis since World War II.3 Indeed, it was witnessing the cooperation between former adversaries of World War II at a NATO conference that inspired German educationalist Kurt Hahn to open Atlantic College in Wales in 1962, giving life to the UWC Mission.Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021 UWCSEA Mission Competencies
For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic catapulted advancements in biotechnology and in the way we communicate and work. The UN has said that although it is brief and shrinking, there is still a window in which humanity can act to secure a livable future.4 And while it is under tragic circumstances that millions of people have had to flee their homes in Ukraine, they have been met by unprecedented measures of warmth and support from neighbouring countries and people around the world.5
At UWCSEA the call to action that is implicit in the UWC Mission is made manifest through its Mission which were first identified and then embedded into the College’s Guiding Statements in the 2020/2021 school year. Beginning with the end in mind
UWCSEA Guiding Statements
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Competencies
The educational pathway starts with the Mission and Values, and the Educational Goal to educate individuals to embrace challenge and take responsibility for shaping a better world, which they can achieve by developing the Mission Competencies. These prepare students for life’s challenges, and stay with individuals into adulthood, enabling them to enact the Mission.
The Mission Competencies emerge when students and alumni mobilise their learning in complex, real-world situations in service to the Mission.7
“Competency has this action orientation which reflects our Mission’s desire to have students be doing something in the world as local and global citizens. And it’s a way for us to conceptualise the active nature of the learning that we create for our students,” she says.
“Competency is more than just knowledge and skills. It involves the ability to meet demands, by drawing on and context.”inskillsresourcespsychosocialmobilising(includingandattitudes)aparticular6
“Our Mission is about the system of education we have,” says Elizabeth Bray, Head of UWCSEA Dover, “And our system of education says everything you’re teaching and learning is about how you turn what you’ve learned and understood and practised into an action.”
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“For an organisation like ours with education as the expression of our Mission and the day-to-day living of our Mission an expression of our success, it is important to define for our students what competencies we’re helping them to develop, both within the curriculum and within the school context,” says Elliot.
The notion of a competency is often easily mistaken for possessing a skill. For example, identifying a person as digitally competent can be taken to mean that they are adept at using a computer. But in actual fact a competency is a much more complex construct.
UWCSEA’s five Mission Competencies appear in the last stage of the Guiding Statements, which are used as a reference point for all decision-making at the College. The Guiding Statements bring together the school’s Mission and Educational Goal, the elements of the Learning Programme, the principles that define the environment necessary for learning and the Qualities and Skills that students have the opportunity to develop through their educational journey.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and (OECD)Development
In the context of a UWCSEA education Carla Marschall, Director of Teaching and Learning at UWCSEA East explains that if a learner has had a range of experiences, and attained a range of learning goals they are demonstrating a competency when they are able to select the knowledge, skills, understanding and dispositions that are appropriate in the context in which they are about to take action.
The OECD—a global policy forum—describes a competency as “more than just knowledge and skills. It involves the ability to meet demands, by drawing on and mobilising psychosocial resources (including skills and attitudes) in a particular context.”6
An example would be a student who is doing a local service activity with young children. In that context, the student would be demonstrating and strengthening their competencies in Self and Community Wellbeing, Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding and Essential Literacies.
INTERPERSONAL AND INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
A Mission Competency in Peacebuilding is self-evident. It derives directly from the UWC Mission which aims for peace and a sustainable future. Students are given opportunities to develop this competency in a variety of contexts. In High School they might take part in the Initiative for Peace, an experiential programme that covers the theory and practise behind peace, conflict and violence which culminates in a student-led peace and conflict resolution conference involving youth delegates from other countries.
The UWC Mission’s focus on uniting people, nations and cultures led to the embedding of a Mission Competency on Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding in the College's Guiding Statements. An example of how the College facilitates the development of competency in Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding can be found in its comprehensive Languages programme, which exposes students to other cultures while they acquire skills in another language, and also supports students whose first language is not English by offering options to maintain their literacy in their home language (mother tongue), recognising that it is an important part of their identity.
Peacebuilding means students possess a competency in building peace in both local and global contexts.
A Mission Competency in Essential Literacies encompasses what students learn in the Academic programme and extends to abilities like critical thinking and problem solving. This competency focuses on the way that literacies can be used for a purpose. It includes both formal literacies like reading, writing and mathematics but extends to informal literacies like media, digital and data literacy. Students build their competency in Essential Literacies primarily through the Academic curriculum, but like all of the other four competencies students exercise and strengthen it in different contexts and at all stages of their educational journey.
PEACEBUILDING
UWCSEA’s five contextual competencies Essential Literacies sees that students are able to critically and creatively integrate and adapt literacies essential to supporting communication and problem-solving in local and global contexts. Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding equips individuals to engage with cultures, politics and identities of self and others including the norms and values that underlie one’s actions.
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In tandem with Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding, a competency in Self and Community Wellbeing recognises that knowing oneself is fundamental to understanding and connecting with others effectively. It is linked with the UWCSEA Wellbeing and Learning Principles and the UWCSEA Profile. This competency aligns closely with Personal and Social Education, a foundational element of the UWCSEA Learning Programme. Some of the topics included in this curriculum are personal development, self management and responsibility, interpersonal relationships, digital citizenship and safe behaviours. Sustainable Development reflects an individual’s ability to engage with complexity, understand multiple futures, take the role of steward and develop sustainable solutions within environmental, social, economic and political systems.
In the Infant School the concept of peace is introduced through units such as the K1 Peace Begins with Me focusing on the idea that in order to connect with and understand others we must first have an understanding of our own identity and what is important to ourselves.
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SELF AND COMMUNITY WELLBEING
Self and Community Wellbeing is about building wellbeing in self and others, whilst supporting a sense of connectedness and autonomy.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
As with Peacebuilding, a Mission Competency in Sustainable Development also links directly to the Mission. The knowledge, skills and attitudes that make up this competency are starting points for many of the concepts explored in the Academics element of the UWCSEA Learning Programme, equipping students to pursue their own understanding in age-appropriate ways. However, it also links directly to the service curriculum. Service projects happen through environmental and other campus-based initiatives within the College, in partnership with community organisations in Singapore or NGOs around the world take a five-stage approach. Designed to help students learn how to understand complex realities, develop relevant, sustainable plans of action, and be capable of assessing and adapting their methods, each service learning journey provides opportunities for students to strengthen and develop their capacity in this competency at every age.
She gives the example of the Service programme as providing a tangible way for students to demonstrate their learning in another element of the programme like Academics, by reading to children or teaching them to read, for example; noting that service in turn teaches topics like systems thinking, and builds knowledge about issues like gender inequality or climate change in an action-oriented way.
As the Guiding Statements imply, students are only able to develop Mission Competencies when the UWCSEA Wellbeing and Learning Principles are enacted—because they provide the appropriate environment—and when the educational approach is holistic, providing the opportunities. This means taking a concept-based approach to teaching and incorporating a balance of disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning, and age-appropriate experiential learning.
“Competency has this action orientation which reflects our Mission’s desire to have students be doing something in the world as local and global citizens.”
In older students, a group might demonstrate competencies in Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding, Self and Community Wellbeing, Sustainable Development and Essential Literacies when they collaborate to launch a service project like “Generation. Education. Period.” a student-led initiative which takes sustainable action on the issue of period poverty by organising awareness-raising activities within the College, by designing relevant products for remote communities of women, and by creating supply partnerships to be able to reach them.8
Developing an ability in students to transfer their learning is key, and is the outcome of a concept-based “Whatcurriculum.isabsolutely
central to concept-based understanding and learning is that it’s about developing transferable understanding that can be applied in new contexts,” says Ellie Alchin, Director of Teaching and Learning at UWCSEA Dover, “It is about students being prepared for the unexpected and new situations, using what they’ve got to help them navigate the world.”
“It’s not that students are 18 years of age before they have developed competencies. Four and five-year-olds can also demonstrate these competencies. Really, it’s around the application and transfer of learning from various areas of our Learning Programme to situations and contexts, whether that be local or global,” she says.
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Marschall says competencies are like muscles, “The muscle needs to be strengthened over time. We can’t just do lots of learning with the students, push them out of the school gates and then say, ‘now do something with your learning.’ The competency piece is about the intentional use of that learning for a purpose.”
“We want to have a balance between disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning because the disciplines act as these interpretive lenses that help us gain new perspectives on issues, just as much as bringing them together and synthesising them can help us to find solutions to them,” says Marschall.
In a student as young as four, a Mission Competency in Sustainable Development and Self and Community Wellbeing may emerge in acts like rescuing an insect in the playground because it’s about to be squashed under another student’s shoe.
Carla Marschall Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA East
Intentional transdisciplinary learning
APPLYING CONCEPTS TO TRANSFER LEARNING
“I see it in the way they value education, in the way they talk about what they want for their own children,” says Bray, “All those jobs matter. It’s about what it looks like in the end, how they are living. It’s about looking out for more than just themselves, but for a wider community.”
“Central to conceptbased understanding and learning is that it’s about contexts.”canunderstandingtransferabledeveloping,thatbeappliedinnew
To illustrate this notion, Bacchoo explains how the Mission Competencies have influenced how the East Campus High School responds to parents and students asking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “My job is to educate for peace, not to lobby for peace. It’s not for me or the school to reflect on what will make a difference. But it’s for me to provide the platform and the conditions for the student to act by saying ‘I can see your passion, I’d love to know what you would like to do. What do you need? Which competencies do you need for you to take action?’”
Competencies are not unique to UWCSEA. Many schools define competencies as part of their Educational Goals but where UWCSEA stands apart is in its alignment with the UWC Mission.
Bacchoo says schools typically focus on competencies like critical thinking and collaboration which are geared towards equipping students with so-called 21st century skills for university and the workplace, thus making them very individualistic.
Alchin describes the progress the College has made in promoting linguistic diversity as an example. It is important because languages are a way for students to understand and shape their cultural identities, helping to build a strong sense of self and gain a sense of agency and confidence to tackle life beyond school and as a global citizen.
In addition to guiding outcomes for students, the Mission Competencies are a guide for teachers to provide opportunities for competencies to “It’semerge.aboutstrategy and structure,” says Damian Bacchoo, High School Principal at UWCSEA East. “Only when the conditions are set can the competencies flourish. That means setting the right conditions for the right type of learning and the right type of experiences.”
“You will not find schools that say our Mission is to make education a ‘force.’ That’s not a typical Mission,” says Bray who for many years led the K–12 curriculum articulation programme at the College. She says that it’s important to acknowledge that enacting the Mission takes many forms.
Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE
Being clear on the Mission and having a framework helps to navigate these “highly teachable moments,” says Bacchoo, “We have to lean on the Mission Competencies to guide both our action and our inaction.”
“I can point to all the amazing alumni who are doing fantastic things, working for NGOs and starting up interesting sustainable companies all over the world. It’s easy to see the competencies at work in them,” she says, but adds that they also emerge in students who go on to become bankers, teachers and parents.
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ALIGNING WITH THE MISSION
“Our Mission is around sustainability and peace. They’re grounded in the planet as opposed to the individual. Our Mission is actually asking for world-centred learning,” he says, citing the work of educational theorist Gert Biesta who has inspired his belief that rather than being childcentred or curriculum-centred, “the point of education is to encourage and equip the new generation for their life ‘in and with’ the world.”9 “The point of education is to encourage and equip the new generation for their life ‘in and with’ the world.”
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Damian Bacchoo High School Principal, UWCSEA East
In 2011 the College embarked on an ambitious project to articulate the K–12 curriculum in order to cement the pedagogical knowledge that had evolved within the College over many decades and to ensure consistency across a recently expanded school that had established a second campus.
“It was an exciting time,” says Bray who spearheaded the effort with another colleague.
Unlike British or American international schools that can draw on curriculums from their home countries, she explained, UWCSEA is part of a global movement and doesn’t have that option. “We really wanted to go back to first principles. So we said, ‘we’re not touching the Mission.’ But how do you teach that? What does it mean in terms of your pedagogical practices or the learning environment that you create?”
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The College’s curriculum articulation project involved years of internal and external research, consulting with education experts and referring to institutions like the IB Organisation (IBO). The team brought UWCSEA teachers together from all disciplines to poke holes in their proposed ideas. One of the first comprehensive pieces they created was the UWCSEA Profile and the UWCSEA Learning Principles. These remain key parts of the UWCSEA Guiding Statements.
“That was a massive piece of work. But they’ve stood the test of time and they’ve been adopted by other schools, which is a great compliment,” says Bray whose work as an accreditor for the Council of International Schools (CIS) takes her into schools around the world.
UWCSEA has a rich tradition in educational innovation. The first UWC in Wales, Atlantic College was instrumental in developing the International Baccalaureate Diploma which was established in 1968 and is now offered in 159 countries.10 This involvement ignited a spirit of innovation within the UWC Movement as a whole, which was deeply embraced by UWCSEA from the very beginning.
In the years that followed, the College continued to expand its knowledge, test theories and implement new ideas. Being the biggest of the 18 UWC schools and colleges with a large staff—many of whom consider themselves lifelong learners—and with a funding model that ensures the resources, UWCSEA has been able to embed into its DNA a commitment to reimagining learning to better equip students to navigate complex and challenging futures.
It is through this commitment that the Mission Competencies were realised. They were derived from early efforts by UWC International to create a UWC Diploma, in which they were seeking to create a qualification with academic rigour while also being tailored specifically to the UWC Mission.
With the movement-wide effort temporarily paused, UWCSEA chose to continue the work, propelling it forward to arrive at the five Mission Competencies in which the UWC Mission is implicit, and that lead to action. Students realise the “force” of their education by acting in service of people and the planet and not simply by using it as a vehicle for personal success.
Reimagining learning through innovation
ARTICULATING A K–12 CURRICULUM
“I think we really are thought leaders in terms of curriculum,ourof how we think about and apply concept based teaching and learning, how we connect it to our Mission and how it’s Competencies.”throughexpressedtheMission Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
The final competency to be agreed upon was Essential Literacies and is the one that often prompts questions because it is not self-explanatory. It links directly with Academics, and while academic achievement is inherent in any educational system, it was important to ensure that it received equal (but not greater) recognition alongside the other four Mission Competencies.
UWCSEA started with the idea of the Mission concepts that students would need to encounter during their school experience to be able to enact the Mission. But the idea of naming concepts lacked the action orientation that “makes education a force” as aspired to by the Mission.
Carla Marschall Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA East
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At around this time, the OECD identified three “transformative competencies that students need in order to contribute to and thrive in our world, and shape a better future.” These were the ability to: 1. create new value 2. reconcile tensions and dilemmas 3. take responsibility11
If this sounds familiar to the UWCSEA community, its because UWCSEA leaned into this research as it evolved its Mission concepts into Mission Competencies. “What we tried to do was look at the Mission and pull out the things that we felt were supporting it,” says Marschall who played a key role in the process.
Hence, the Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development competencies derived directly from the Mission, which names both peace and sustainability as its ends. As its means, however, it calls for uniting people, nations and “Whencultures.youlook at the idea of different nations, cultures and the idea of uniting, we need to have two competencies focused on uniting different people from different backgrounds. Then also something about Self and Community Wellbeing. Because if our goal is to be a united community and have harmony, we need to build structures to be able to support individual and community wellbeing as part of that,” says Marschall of the competencies in Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding and Self and Community Wellbeing.
“If you don’t feel that you have those fundamental or foundational literacy skills to be able to understand and read the world around you through mathematical thinking, historical thinking, media literacy, language, then it’s very hard for you to be able to apply your knowledge, skills and understandings for purpose within those other four competency areas,” says Marschall. Once they were identified, tested within the UWCSEA community and agreed upon by the Board of Governors, the Mission Competencies were embedded into the UWCSEA Guiding Statements and are now the basis for much of the work being done to further develop the curriculum.
From concepts to competencies
“I think we really are thought leaders in terms of our curriculum, of how we think about and apply concept based teaching and learning, how we connect it to our Mission and how it’s expressed through the Mission Competencies. It really articulates us putting our money where our mouth is, walking the walk and not just talking the talk. That’s what the Mission Competencies is all about,” says Alchin. “What we tried to do was look at the Mission and pull out the things that we felt were supporting it.”
One of the ways in which this is happening is by auditing existing curricula to see where opportunities to develop competencies already exist, and where they could be added or enhanced.
The Mission Competencies are also influencing the design and implementation of new courses at the College. In the 2021/2022 school year, the East Campus launched its own programme for Grade 9 and 10 that consists of courses designed and assessed solely by UWCSEA. The UWCSEA Courses give students an opportunity to align their subject choices with their strengths, interests, desire and aptitude and offer more variety in the way they are assessed.
Similar options were also piloted by the English and Languages Departments at Dover, and in the 2022/2023 school year dozens more will follow as teachers on both campuses bring new mission-aligned courses into the classroom after going through a rigorous internal design process.
“I think we really are thought leaders in terms of curriculum,ourof how we think about and apply concept based teaching and learning, how we connect it to our Mission and how it’s Competencies.”throughexpressedtheMission Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
“If a course is more disciplinary, many teachers are thinking about ways that they can develop projects which ask students to pull from different elements of the Learning Programme,” says Marschall, giving the example of the new Essential Mathematics course for Grades 9 and 10, “they really want to connect it to issues in the world and have students look at mathematics through that lens.”
It is important to note that Mission Competencies were never intended to be an educational outcome that is assessed.
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Erin Witthoft, Head of Curriculum Development and Research across UWCSEA says that because they take time to develop in students and because they’re not just about knowledge and skills but incorporate attitudes and values, they are not meant for evaluation.
In undertaking this process, Witthoft, who joined the College after the Mission Competencies were defined, observed that in many instances the opportunities already existed, just informally. Now with the competencies included in the Guiding Statements, “it gives us language to surface that it has been happening, how it’s been happening and how we want to capture it.”
CURRICULUM DESIGN WITH COMPETENCY IN MIND
“It allows us to really take the time to talk with teachers about the ways that we could build competencies into our programmes, allowing students the freedom to grow without it being a rigid requirement that we have to check for,” she says.
She says it’s a tool to make sure it’s now documented in the curriculum and in other areas of the College and that it “opens up dialogue for people who are new to our community.”
As part of the requirements, course designers are asked to connect their thinking with the development of Mission Competencies and the Qualities and Skills in the UWCSEA Profile. They must consider the relationship between disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning and are also tasked with getting student input at various stages of the course development process.
MISSION COMPETENCIES
However,purpose.that
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Marschall explains that identifying and embedding the Mission Competencies into the Guiding Statements has served to illuminate the pathway from the Learning Programme to enacting the Mission in a way that helps students, teachers and the UWCSEA community see the relationship and understand how to apply their thinking for a doesn’t mean that the competencies will not be revisited. As with other parts of the Guiding Statements that have evolved over time, the College will reflect upon the Mission Competencies and continue to question how well they are leading students and alumni to enacting the Mission. This would mean bringing stakeholders together over the next few years to answer questions like, “‘Are these the right words? Do we need to tweak them? Is there something here that isn’t quite doing what we want it to do?,” says Bray. This sentiment is in line with UWCSEA’s broader approach to the Mission which acknowledges that it requires continual reflection.
The notion of education as a force remains a key area of focus of the UWCSEA Strategy. Work on Vision 2030 is now starting. Which is appropriate, since, as Elliot points out, “2030 is also the year by which the United Nations aims for the Sustainable Development Goals to be met and for all people to enjoy peace and prosperity”.13
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[1] COVID-19 is increasing multiple kinds of inequality. Here’s what we can do about it, Ian Goldin & Robert Muggah 2020 https://www.weforum.org/ agenda/2020/10/covid-19-is-increasing-multiple-kinds-of-inequality-here-s-what-we-can-do-about-it/
“A sense of possibility and a sense of agency: that things can be done, and I can do something about those things. Anyone who encounters UWC should come away with those two ideas.” Faith Abiodun Executive Director, UWC International, speaking at the KMSS event: Celebrating the UWC Mission on 13 December 2021
[3] Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, The Economist, 2022 https://www.economist.com/briefing/2022/02/26/russias-invasion-of-ukraine
[2] REMARKS TO PRESS CONFERENCE LAUNCH OF IPCC REPORT, The Secretary-General, United Nations, 28 February 2022 https://www.ipcc.ch/site/ assets/uploads/2022/02/UN_SG_statement_WGII_Pressconference-.pdf
Vision for the future
[4] REMARKS TO PRESS CONFERENCE LAUNCH OF IPCC REPORT, The Secretary-General, United Nations, 28 February 2022 https://www.ipcc.ch/site/ assets/uploads/2022/02/UN_SG_statement_WGII_Pressconference-.pdf [5] Europe’s embrace of Ukrainian refugees, explained in six charts and one map https://www.vox.com/22983230/europe-ukraine-refugees-charts-map [6] The Definition and selection of key competencies, Executive Summary, OECD.org https://www.oecd.org/pisa/definition-selection-key-competenciessummary.pdf [7] Mission Competencies Primer, UWCSEA, 2021 [8] Generation. Education. Period. LEAP Initiative website, 2020 https://www.leap-initiative.com/post/generation-education-period-gep-1 [9] ‘A World Centred Education: A View for the Present’ by Professor Gert Biesta, https://youtu.be/7n02xPFIiEY [10] https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/facts-and-figures [11] Transformative Competencies for 2030, OECD competencies/in_brief_Transformative_Competencies.pdfhttps://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/transformative[12] Experts Optimistic About The Next 50 Years of Digital Life, Pew Research Center, 2019 https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/10/28/expertsoptimistic-about-the-next-50-years-of-digital-life/ [13] The SDGs in Action https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals
Just over half a century ago around the time when the UWC Movement was first conceived, the future pioneers of the internet connected the first computer network, and humans first walked on the moon. In less than one lifetime, rapid advancements in science, technology and our interconnectedness have brought a sense of hope about meeting the many unprecedented challenges that the world is facing12 and the unpredictable change that they bring. The only certainty is that the need for individuals empowered to act for peace and sustainability will continue to grow.
White Paper 6: May EDUCATION2022 AS A FORCE: equipping changemakers for purposeful futures
At the climax of celebrations to mark 50 years of UWC South East Asia (UWCSEA) in Singapore, the College convened a forum of students, teachers, alumni, parents, working professionals and thought leaders in education from around the world to share their thinking on the topic of Learning to Shape the Future. The aim was to seed conversations about the next 50 years of teaching and learning at UWCSEA by honouring a long-held belief that a diversity of viewpoints is at the heart of shaping an inclusive holistic education.
There is an urgent need for the workforce of today to upskill and reskill to close a growing gap created by technology, according to advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The company’s Global Chairman, Bob Moritz says the future of work is the “biggest societal challenge” of our time.2
TRENDS SHAPING SOCIETAL CHANGE
It’s a period of change that Schleicher compares to the 18th-century Industrial Revolution when mechanisation and large-scale manufacturing rendered obsolete the craft-production skills of many workers in Europe and the United States. “It created so much social pain,” Schleicher says, “because they were not prepared for the new ways of working.”
“The future will always surprise us,” Schleicher says. “We don’t know the future, but it’s very clear; we understand the broad trends that influence that future, and that these could shape different futures. The better we become at imagining alternative futures and understanding their consequences, the better we will be prepared for the future that eventually arises.”1
“The better we become at eventuallythebethetheirandalternativeimaginingfuturesunderstandingconsequences,betterwewillpreparedforfuturethatarises.”
Andreas Schleicher Director for Education and Skills, OECD
Experts agree that the world is changing fast. Some of the jobs once sought after by baby boomers, millennials and Generation Z are starting to morph or disappear entirely, and new types of jobs are constantly being created.
In his keynote address at the UWCSEA Forum Learning to Shape the Future in April 2022, titled Learning for a High Tech Era, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) outlined several macro-level drivers of change. Among them, how climate change will disrupt our lives a lot more than the Covid-19 pandemic already has, and how advancements in artificial intelligence will lead to a growing number of jobs being automated; meaning that many of the skills that were once considered essential for a given career could soon become obsolete.
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He highlighted a trend in economic growth drivers away from tangible assets, to intangibles like knowledge— which can be attributed to the rise of big technology firms like Facebook and Google. He also pointed out that companies are no longer created by big industry, but rather by big ideas.
An unknowable future
EDUCATION AS A FORCE
Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Dover
“The whole idea of our navigategotusingthebeingcurriculumconcept-basedisaboutpreparedforunexpected,andwhatyou'vetotohelpyoutheworld.”
The changing way of work
While multiple trends point to the fact that the world of work is in rapid flux, they can only go so far in revealing what the future might actually hold. Of course, it is unpredictable. The demand for different types of technical knowledge and skills will continue to evolve along with the approach to work itself. Traditional linear career paths in a single industry will continue to make way for zigzagging pathways consisting of multiple roles and industries, and rounds of reskilling and upskilling.5
Alongside a changing job landscape is a significant shift in the way people approach work. The Covid-19 pandemic mainstreamed remote and hybrid work and the disruption drew employers and employees to question—like never before—what it means to have a more balanced and holistic approach to an individual's professional life that accounts for wellbeing, inclusion, equity, purpose and values.
In response to this pivotal shift in mindset, the World Economic Forum created the Good Work Alliance, a partnership which aims to leverage a “post-pandemic reset” opportunity to establish new work standards that ensure “a healthy, resilient and equitable future of work.”4
“To educators and education policy makers, this is a troubling message. How can they educate learners for jobs that have not yet been created, to use technologies that have not yet been invented, or to solve social problems we cannot yet imagine?” wrote the OECD in its 2021 report Building the Future of Education. “But we are not the victims of change or its powerless spectators; we constantly shape the future ourselves. The future is always in the making, and it is our work.”6
The CEO of LinkedIn, Ryan Rolansky calls it the Great Reshuffle: “a moment of change unlike anything we’ve seen before in the history of work … a time when everyone is rethinking everything.”3
MAKING SENSE OF THE FUTURE
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In order to navigate the unknown, business leaders and, more recently, educators have taken a view that has proven to be a reliable constant since it was first conceived in the late 1980s: that the world is volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous (VUCA).
UWCSEA Profile
Alchin says that while UWCSEA has always been teaching these skills, articulating the curriculum led to an important development. “We realised that traditional subject areas could be the vehicle through which we develop transferable skills. So while we, of course, teach for conceptual understanding, we also teach so that students will be learning collaboration in a Maths classroom or empathy in a History classroom,” says Alchin, who has had a 25-year relationship with the College. This holistic, interdisciplinary approach has allowed for teaching to be adaptive and responsive to world events where appropriate, so that content remains current. For example, studying the war in Ukraine as a way of
“Our decision to move from content to concept-based is directly about preparing kids for life beyond school. What's absolutely central to concept-based understanding and learning is that it’s about developing transferable understanding that can be applied in new contexts. The whole idea of our concept-based curriculum is about being prepared for the unexpected, and using what you've got to to help you navigate the world,” says Ellie Alchin Director of Teaching and Learning, Dover Campus.
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Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021
Educating for a VUCA world
FUTURE-PROOF QUALITIES AND SKILLS
The curriculum articulation project led to a more intentional focus on developing social and emotional Qualities and Skills that would prepare students to navigate challenges throughout their lives. These were embedded into the UWCSEA Profile ensuring that students would have the opportunity to learn and practice them in all five areas of the Learning Programme, and to reinforce this learning through participation in the College community. The Qualities and Skills identified in the Profile converge strongly with those unveiled in a 2021 study by the OECD that showed qualities such as curiosity, responsibility, sociability, empathy and emotional control were as important as cognitive skills in providing children a “fully packed tool box” to help them navigate the world as adults.8 Nick Alchin, Head of East Campus, describes them as timeless skills that will remain relevant regardless of how the world changes. “Being a decent human being, a critical thinker, being able to communicate your point while being an active listener; these skills are not going out of fashion, and they never will.”
In 2011 UWCSEA got to work on a significant undertaking to articulate its K–12 curriculum, bringing a more deliberate approach to empowering students to live the UWC Mission throughout their lives. It was this six-year process that led to the embedding of the College’s Educational Goal, Values and Mission Competencies, and the wide adoption of a concept-based approach to teaching and learning in which students are introduced to concepts and conceptual understandings as they engage in knowledge and skill learning.7
The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030: “Future-ready students need to exercise agency, in their own education and throughout life. Agency implies a sense of responsibility to participate in the world and, in so doing, to influence people, events and circumstances for the better. Agency requires the ability to frame a guiding purpose and identify actions to achieve a goal.”
Carla Marschall, Director of Teaching and Learning at East Campus, says agency and ownership is a key piece that will continue to define a UWCSEA education regardless of what the future might look like. She describes the teaching of systems thinking in many different parts of the learning programme as a good example of why, because being effective in a VUCA environment stems partly from understanding the interconnectedness of the world and the complex interplay of systems.
Another key piece, she says, is helping students to understand their own likes, dislikes, passions and values. “We realised that traditional subject areas could be the vehicle through which we transferabledevelopskills.”
77 | UWCSEA White Paper 6: EDUCATION AS A FORCE understanding conflict. “Why did it happen? What are the historical roots? And it's not to say that this conflict is more important than, say, what's happening in Syria or parts of northern Kenya. We're responsive to world events because they allow us to motivate and inspire and allow students to see the real-world relevance of their studies,” says Alchin.
“Agency implies a sense of responsibility to participate in the world and, in so doing, to influence people, events and circumstances for the better.”
Nick Alchin Head of UWCSEA East
AGENCY AND OWNERSHIP
The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2018
“If we help students to be able to recognize systems, understand how parts can connect in non-linear ways to produce unintended consequences, and equip them to be able to develop a toolkit of ways to influence systems, then we can help them ride the wave of complexity that they may encounter when they leave school.”
A concept-based approach also gives students agency and ownership over their thinking, which is essential for navigating a VUCA world and the constant demands posed by a rapidly changing world of work. UWCSEA’s approach is mirrored in the work of many educational futurists, but perhaps best described by the OECD in the 2018 report
Helping students to develop these Qualities and Skills in addition to gaining knowledge and understanding is a key facet of a UWCSEA education as it strives to equip individuals not just for university but to mobilise their learning to shape a better world throughout their lives.
BUILDING CHARACTER STRENGTHS
This building of character happens in many different ways. One entire strand of the five-part Learning Programme, Personal and Social Education, is dedicated to how students come to understand themselves and their relationships.
As the founder of a multi-billion dollar business, Li’s remarks underscore how much the world of work has expanded from rewarding technical skills and know-how to placing importance on values, behaviours, attitudes and dispositions as an indicator of future success.
Getting to know oneself
At UWCSEA’s Forum Learning to Shape the Future Forrest Li, Founder, Chairman and CEO of gaming and e-commerce company Sea, offered three pieces of advice to students which point to the importance of knowing oneself in the world of work: “When you enter the working world, I hope you will do so with your values intact, I hope you will work more on your soft skills, not only worrying about your hard skills, and I hope that you will take every chance you get to use new technologies to uplift others.”9
Importantly, students learn to transfer their understanding to different environments and other parts of the UWCSEA Learning Programme. They might draw on or further develop their Qualities and Skills during an excursion as part of the Outdoor Education programme or when making choices and commitments to external organisations in the Service programme. The Activities they choose might help them hone in on their desires and passions, and find their tribe. “When you enter the working world, I hope you will do so with your values intact, I hope you will work more on your soft skills … and I hope that you will take every chance you get to use new technologies to uplift others."
Forrest Li Founder, Chairman and CEO, Sea
Through age-appropriate group activities and mentoring, students learn how to communicate feelings and needs, solve conflicts, navigate relationships and take responsibility. They learn about self-management, wellbeing and leadership. Building confidence and resilience are key parts of the programme that set them up to take on challenges not just in their life at school, but also beyond.
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This interdisciplinary course explores identity and belief systems through the frame of Sustainable Development.
Nick Alchin, Head of East Campus, says there is a deliberate moral aspect to the design of courses and programmes developed by UWCSEA. “SEED is not just about running a business or thinking of an idea. It's about what effect a business will have on society and on other people. If that's built into the students’ assumption and their basic view of how they see the world, you're producing students who will go on and make the world a better place.”
3. Change Makers, Grade 7, Dover Campus
A project-based learning initiative in which students work collaboratively with some 17 partner organisations—from the Singapore Zoo to Mercy Relief—and emerge with inventions and ideas that challenge old ways of thinking.
It’s important to note that the strong focus on morals and ethics stems from the UWC Mission which advocates for peace and sustainability, but it does not mean that graduates of UWCSEA are expected to take up jobs in NGOs or charities. Rather, it is about developing a disposition in students to feel responsible for shaping a better world in their future endeavours—whatever they may be—and to empower them to embrace the challenges this will pose by cultivating a strong sense of self, an adaptable and flexible mindset, an ability to think critically and consider diverse views and opinions.
Nick Alchin Head of East Campus Courses for a better world
2. Social and Environmental Entrepreneurship Development (SEED), Middle School, East Campus
As Li described in his talk, it was his love for gaming that led him to start Garena the company that eventually grew to become Sea. Its success validated his belief that ideals and dreams should drive careers. “If you try, you will always be able to find a way to work on things you care about,” he says, adding that when the company evaluates talent it values qualities like commitment, discipline, responsibility, collaborative skills and a willingness to learn over pure technical ability. “Because every industry is a team sport. No individuals can achieve great heights alone.”
“SEED is not just about running a business or thinking of an idea. It's about what effect a business will have on society and on other people.”
This course teaches students about business and the importance of its impact on people, societies and the environment.
The most recent course and programme developments in the Grade 9 and 10 High School programme on both Dover and East campuses build on decades of work in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary course and conceptbased curriculum design, some of which is outlined in the UWCSEA White Papers 1 through to 5.
Students’ skills, values, qualities and dispositions are also developed in indirect ways through unique interdisciplinary courses and real-world scenarios as evidenced in the below three courses designed by UWCSEA:
1. Critical Perspectives, Grade 9 and 10, East Campus
EFFECTIVENESS IS INDIVIDUAL
At UWCSEA students get an early and structured introduction to aligning their passions, skills, values and beliefs with possible career pathways. In High School, they are asked to think more seriously about how they see themselves shaping a better world, as they are given more freedom to tailor their remaining education and they embark on choosing universities and potential careers.
Pamela Kelly Wetzell Head of Advising,UniversityUWCSEA East
At the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Psychologist Professor Howard Gardner and his colleagues at The Good Project have been researching the question “What is good work?” for more than 25 years. One of their most important findings is that “good work” is composed of three E's:
“In Grade 10 we start telling students that you are not going to university just to get a career and that there are jobs that don't even exist yet in the world. So they start exploring their skills and thinking about the question: What problems do I want to solve in the world? In Grade 11, it becomes more individual where students examine their values and how they link with their skills, and then think about the problems they might want to solve,” says Shruti Tewari, Interim Head of University Advising at Dover Campus. Students receive guidance on fulfilling any practical requirements related to their choices while also learning how to prepare for uncertainties they might encounter at university and beyond.
Passion, purpose and good work
“We're trying to equip students with skills to navigate whatever they come across. So it is not about opening their heads and pouring new information in. It's really about lighting a fire or building capacity for them to go out and do things that we can't even imagine,” says Pamela Kelly Wetzell, Head of University Advising at East Campus. “It's about lighting a fire and building capacity for students to go out and do things that we can't even imagine.”
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• Excellence - the worker knows what they’re doing • Engagement - they care about their work and it has meaning for them
His research, while predominantly US-based, revealed that in secondary and tertiary education “few outlets allow students to grapple with ambiguity, complexity, and their own opinions and beliefs.” These are essential components in preparing students to flourish in their work lives according to The Good Project, an initiative setup to fill this education gap.11
• Ethics - workers have a sense of what it means to be ethical and behave in an ethical way10
ENACTING A MISSION: individual competencies for a lifetime of peace.
As a College that’s committed to innovating in education, work to iterate the curriculum is ongoing. There’s a clear focus on being able to give students more choice in their educational pathway to match their different ways of learning. This sort of agency can lead to greater motivation to learn according to the OECD which says that, “These students are also more likely to have ‘learned how to learn’ – an invaluable skill that they can and will use throughout their lives.”12
ALIGNMENT THROUGH INTENTIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
In the past, conversations that suggested what was necessary for an education to prepare young people for the future world of work have tended to revolve around discussion of whether the curriculum would include topics like coding, AI, blockchain and frontier technologies. This expectation was driven, understandably, by the immediate need for skilled professionals who were able to create and navigate these new technologies. And while there is space for those topics to be explored in the curriculum, it is the timeless traits, the knowledge, skills, qualities and dispositions that allow students to excel in futures that are unknown. At UWCSEA these are captured in the Mission Competencies which are expressed when students mobilise their learning in complex, real-world situations in service of the Mission. For more detailed exploration of the Mission Competencies, please refer to UWCSEA White Paper 5
CONTINUOUS ITERATION
EDUCATION AS A FORCE
“We're looking at partnerships with NGOs, industry, universities and, of course, what matters to us as a school,” says Damian Bacchoo, High School Principal at East Campus. “For students to lead fulfilling and relevant lives we have to provide different ways to flourish, and work-aligned course development is going to be a real feature for us.”
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The Future Extracted from UWCSEA Guiding Statements 2021 UWCSEA Mission Competencies
The College has already launched UWCSEA-designed Courses for Grade 9 and 10 that align with the UWC Mission and offer an alternative, modular learning pathway to the examination based two-year (I)GCSE. As it looks to do the same for Grades 11 and 12 in the future, co-creating with entities outside of the educational world is likely to play a part.
Damian Bacchoo High School Principal, UWCSEA East
[9] World of Work - Towards the Future, with Forrest Li, UWCSEA Forum To Shape The Future, 2022 https://youtu.be/3svUozzK2es
[3] Navigating the Great Reshuffle, Ryan Roslasnsky, CEO at LinkedIn, September 2021 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/navigating-great-reshuffle-ryanroslansky/ [4] Good Work Alliance, World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/projects/partnership-for-new-work-standards
[10] Good Work For Our Time: From Ideas to Impact. Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education, UWCSEA Forum To Shape The Future, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0xJvDIcKY8
[12] Student Agency for 2030, Concept note. OECD, 2019 agency/Student_Agency_for_2030_concept_note.pdfhttps://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/student[13] DEI Gets Real, Dagny Dukach, Harvard Business Review, Feb 2022 https://hbr.org/2022/01/dei-gets-real
“This is an area where we need to be working in partnership and having our thinking informed by employers: for teachers to engage directly with employers who are already in some of the areas that are going to influence the world of work for the future, with the idea of co-creating specific curriculum. And, listening to students as to what they want to see reflected in the curriculum.”
It’s about maintaining a dialogue with all the stakeholders, says Elliot, while keeping the Mission in mind.
[2] Upskilling: Bridging the Digital Divide, PwC https://youtu.be/8HE43CFLiag
[11] Lesson Plans, The Good Project https://www.thegoodproject.org/lesson-plans
Efforts are also underway to evaluate how to bring more diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into the curriculum and to the College itself, following several watershed events in recent years and a renewed global effort in the world of work and beyond to finally implement DEI in a way that brings about real change.13
[5] Why Today's Professionals Are Taking The Career Road Less Traveled, Anant Agarwal, Forbes 2018 anantagarwal/2018/10/31/why-todays-professionals-are-taking-the-career-road-less-traveled/?sh=262846ea466bhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/ [6] Building the future of education, OECD, 2021 https://www.oecd.org/education/future-of-education-brochure.pdf
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“For students to lead fulfilling and relevant lives we have to provide different ways to flourish and work-aligned course development is going to be a real feature for us.”
[7] Concept-based Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Website https://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/our-big-ideas/cbtl [8] OECD Findings: Learning that drives Student Success, Nick Alchin, October 2021 http://nickalchinuwcsea.blogspot.com/2021/10/oecd-findingslearning-that-drives.html
[1] Learning for a High Tech Era, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) speaking at the UWCSEA Forum Learning to Shape the Future, April 2022 https://youtu.be/GLYE11AnO0Y
With a 60-year old Mission that has an orientation toward action, describing education as a force and defining peace and sustainability as enduring concerns that will lead to a better world, it could be said that UWCSEA was set up from the beginning to approach education with a focus on the future. But as the world of work continues to evolve through innovation, the impact of humanity and the forces of nature, education has to continue to adapt. “There is a role for schools to play. And I think we're on the cusp of that,” says Carma Elliot, UWCSEA College President.
The Mission of the UWC Movement is to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. As both the starting point and the end goal of a UWCSEA education, our Mission guides every decision made at the College. The diagram describes UWCSEA’s Guiding Statements, illustrating how our Educational Goal springs from our Mission and Values. By creating a learning environment underpinned by Wellbeing and Learning Principles, our holistic Learning Programme provides multiple opportunities for learners to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding that will support each student to develop the Mission Competencies that will enable them enact our Mission throughout their life.
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Our Learning Principles are based on the understanding that learning is a life-long process in which the learner engages with and reflects upon information and experiences to construct new or modify existing understanding as well as develop and apply Qualities and Skills. We know that learning is effective when learners: • construct new understanding by activating prior knowledge and experience • use timely and goal directed feedback
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• collaborate • are challenged • feel secure and supported • construct meaning by seeing patterns and making connections • actively process and reflect • apply meta-cognitve skills
Competent: a sense of competence arises when we feel effective and that we can continually develop
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Connected: we feel connected when we feel known, heard and cared for by others
UWCSEA LEARNING PROGRAMME
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UWCSEA
UWCSEA WELLBEING PRINCIPLES
Autonomous: we want to feel we can self-regulate our actions, where possible, and make our own meaning of events
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Self-managerCommunicatorCollaborativeCreativethinker
Our culture of care creates a shared commitment to cultivate wellbeing for all members of our community. While we know that feelings of wellbeing are personal and vary between individuals, the College is responsible for providing the conditions for community wellbeing to flourish. This includes opportunities to feel connected, autonomous, and competent—for students, staff and parents alike—as described here:
UWCSEA LEARNING PRINCIPLES
Self-awareResilientPrincipled Skills Critical
Our Learning Programme consists of five interlinking elements: Academics, Activities, Outdoor Education, Personal and Social Education and Service. Delivered through a carefully crafted K–12 concept-based curriculum, the elements are combined to provide our students with a holistic education that develops them as individuals and as members of a global society.
• understand the purpose of the learning have ownership of their learning
UWCSEA PROFILE
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Ultimately, we hope that when they leave the College our students will be equipped with these competencies so that they are able to enact our shared Mission to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future throughout their lives: • Essential Literacies Interpersonal and Intercultural Understanding Peacebuilding Sustainable Development Self and Community Wellbeing
Students are given multiple, age-appropriate opportunities to develop the following Qualities and Skills we have identified as required to help to fulfil our Mission: Qualities Commitment to care
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UWCSEA MISSION COMPETENCIES
craftsmanship around our work
Dover Campus 1207 Dover Road, Singapore 139654 T +65 6774 2653 | E uwcsea@uwcsea.edu.sgUWCSEA’swww.uwcsea.edu.sgWhitePapers can be downloaded, and additional resources accessed via the College website under Our Big Ideas. Scan the QR code to explore: East Campus 1 Tampines Street 73, Singapore 528704 T +65 6305 5353 | E uwcsea@uwcsea.edu.sgOOTP-2122