People and places
Canterbury Primary School students climbing Mt Huangshan, China
Sister schools and study tours – a passport to the world Such trips are more important than ever, writes Brendan Hitchens If the world is a classroom, then education must be experiential. Learning must be a partnership and content must have real context. School study tours are one medium that goes a long way towards achieving this. Overseas study tours, and particularly when home-stay accommodation is involved, offer an educational opportunity like no other. The immersive experience develops students’ cultural competence by acknowledging and debunking previously held biases or stereotypes. The study tours develop a new perspective and global mindset in students, granting them a greater awareness of themselves and others. They provide self-confidence by offering leadership opportunities that don’t just engage students, but empower them. They provide challenges that stretch comfort zones, whilst making resilient problem-solvers in the process. They give students the opportunity to be active global citizens by positioning them as participants, not merely observers. They provide genuine opportunities for language acquisition by speaking in non-native tongues and encouraging multilingualism. Winter
Summer |
| 2019
They develop curiosity and open-mindedness by asking questions and challenging answers. They make learning visible across subject disciplines by students being exposed to different educational systems, and they offer a chance to celebrate diversity through being accepted into a new community. These are all invaluable skills that a classroom setting alone can’t offer and, most importantly, the skills that students will take in to their adult lives to create a more tolerant, empathic and inclusive world. Canterbury Primary School in Melbourne, Australia and Jiangsu Primary School Attached in Suzhou, China have a strong sister school relationship and see the importance of internationalising education and global citizenship. For the past six years a reciprocal study tour program has taken place where students spend time at each other’s school and houses, and are immersed in each other’s culture and daily lives. Whilst the tours take in visits to significant attractions and landmarks, it is the time spent learning together that has the most profound effect. Ms Tao, Principal of Jiangsu
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