Learning for the Future: Providing an Academic Infrastructure, Sporting Culture and Fueling Creativity

Choosing the right International school for your child can be a daunting task. Parents need to consider how a school can meet the needs of the future. 

For starters, look for a 21st century learning environment that is holistic in nature, developing students’ academic outcomes, nurturing core human values and building real-life skills.

Before choosing the right school, institutions need to demonstrate a commitment to a balanced approach, encompassing, academics, sports and the arts. Forming students into creative, critical and reflective thinkers within and beyond the classroom. This type of school will be preparing your child for success in further education, and life as a global citizen.

Creating a solid foundation for future learning

A crucial component of learning, for all children in school, into university and beyond is providing interdisciplinary integration of subjects to solve real-world problems.

At leading international schools the integration into the curriculum of a STEAM, (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) approach is clearly identified and encouraged. This approach is a framework to introduce problem solving and relevance for learning into the STEAM fields.

Students are given open-ended tasks that can be solved using cross-curricular skills that they have been learning in regular classes. Students make connections between subjects’ using this interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning approach, grasping and appreciating why they are learning.

When choosing a school, look at how a particular institution provides opportunities in all subject areas. How students explore and find answers to questions about the world around them.

Equally of importance is for a school to have skilled and knowledgeable teachers who can address the needs of all students in a supportive and resource-rich environment.

Teachers at premium schools build upon the learning taking place in classrooms, giving students opportunities to apply the skills and knowledge they have learned in different contexts, solving problems that are relevant to them.

Commitment to a balanced approach beyond the classroom

Sports are a key ingredient of a balanced educational approach. Besides the obvious physical and mental benefits, students learn how to become team players and gain important transferable skills like respect, discipline, commitment and communication. Looking for a school with a sporting culture is important. However it is not so much about the winning or losing, (although winning can be the best part) but building the character of students.

Sports provide the opportunities for students to develop their personalities through hard work. They can learn to identify things that have worked and not worked, and then make changes to become better.

Schools that provided a diverse sports curriculum able students to experience and gain knowledge in a number of physical and sporting ‘genres’. Physical health and well-being should underpin the sports curriculum so that your child develops a holistic understanding of the benefits of a balanced lifestyle.

Through a comprehensive sporting curriculum and sporting culture, students push themselves out of their comfort zones to be better than they have been before. Their hard work and dedication will pay off when they are competing.

Values and practical skills: equipping our students for the real world through creativity

Schools are in the business of shaping the future. In our fast-changing world, organizations are scouting for people who can bring new perspectives as sharp thinkers. When choosing a school it is imperative that the school in question nurtures creativity in its students.

It is the Arts that foster creative thinking, or the ‘soft skills’ that allows for innovation, especially in problem solving. This complements the traditional ‘hard skills set’. The ability to think creatively and transfer this to all that students do is a vital part of their development.

Schools that enable students to be at the core of the creative process give them free license to be creative, to explore, to make mistakes and to have fun. The emphasis of the Arts should not just be on results, but the process as a whole: exploring, devising, revising, reflecting and sharing.

By fueling creativity and confidence in themselves, many students, given the opportunity, embrace new ideas and different ways of doing things, exploring boundaries and being risk-takers.

Schools that embrace these techniques instill confidence and develop collaborative skills in internationally minded young individuals. These experiences empower future generations to engage with their own learning.

Creating brighter futures through education

There are many factors to consider when choosing your child’s next school. Price and prestige; approaches to teaching and learning; personality and the people at the school. However it is critical to also assess the academic, sports and arts facilities and infrastructure both physical and intellectual.

Look for schools that are true innovators and have a clear mission. That are driven to provide quality education. Not just rehearsing the past, but pioneering the future of learning. Schools that are passionate about instilling values and providing practical skills that will equip your child for the real world.

And finally look for passionate, pioneering educators that are dedicated to providing quality education and building real life skills, every day, in every classroom.

Based on expert educator blog posts: www.gwa.edu.sg