Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 30

Sharing Good Practice
HOW DO WE GROW STUDENTS WHO ARE
BEST FOR THE WORLD?
BY: KAI VACHER
Inspired by Claxton and Lucas’s
pamphlet and, with a certain amount
of trepidation, I decided in 2014 that
we needed to address these four
questions at British School Muscat,
as a whole staff. I was fascinated to
know where these questions would
lead; we might find views so polarised
they may be irreconcilable. However, I
firmly believed that, as professionals,
we should drive the educational vision
for the type of learners we needed to
grow, learners who would leave British
School Muscat “best for the world”.
T
he world is facing substantial
challenges and opportunities.
They are growing daily in
number, in scale and in
complexity. We need our students
to be smarter, more adaptable and
better prepared than any that have
gone before. How do we develop and
nurture students who are best for this
rapidly changing world; to help them
develop the skills and attitudes they
need to steer our world to a brighter
future?
How do we prepare students
for jobs that don’t exist?
I’ve heard this key question being posed
many times over the last decade but
rarely have I come across a convincing
response. Should we rely on inspection
frameworks,
examination
criteria,
government directives, education
gurus or business leaders to provide
the answer? Or could schools, given
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Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
the right support and inspiration, find
a way to future proof our students so
that they are “best for the world” ahead
of them?
Searching for inspiration, I started
to read “What kind of teaching for
what kind of learning” (SSAT 2013)
by Professors Guy Claxton and Bill
Lucas. In this publication, the first in
SSAT’s Redesigning Schooling series,
Claxton and Lucas argue that every
headteacher should consider the
following four questions:
1. What are, for your school, the desired
outcomes for education (DOEs)?
2. What kinds of learning, in your school,
with your students, will deliver your
DOEs?
3. What kinds of teaching will lead to the
kind of learning that is needed?
4. What kind of leadership is required
to create the kinds of teaching and
learning which are desired, and so
ensure that students leave your school
with your DOE’s?
Class Time
Before trying to answer the first
question, we considered what the
world might be like in the early 2030s,
when we expect our Foundation Stage
(FS) children to enter the workplace. We
studied a report written by Canadian
futurologists
who
had
carefully
considered what jobs might exist in
2030 that don’t exist now. We learned
about “Re-wilders” - scientists who will
regenerate decimated ecosystems and
“Man-Machine Teaming Managers” -
combining the strengths of humans
and robots within a team. How could
we grow learners that were best for
a world inhabited by Re-wilders and
Man-Machine Team Managers?
The discussion started in Spring 2014,
gathered pace and energy and didn't
stop until the end of the summer term.
“Is happiness the desired outcome
for our students?“What is happiness?”
“What type of happiness?” “What about
well-being?” “Engagement?” “Exams?”
“How have other schools, systems and
organisations answered this question?”
“How
about
the
International
Baccalaureate’s Learner Profile?” These
were just a few of the questions and
lines of enquiry generated by my
colleagues.
By the end of the summer term 2014
we had identified three key desired
outcomes of education for our British
School Muscat students: