Model United Nations – Building dynamic skills for future leaders

Over the last eighteen months I have been involved in a leadership programme designed to build on the positive impact and change that can be brought about by middle leaders. I have been trying to implement some of these changes within myself to build a strong team which I hope will lead to continued improvement in student outcomes. This process gave me pause to reflect on ways in which students are empowered to enact the sorts of initiatives which we as teachers and leaders feel inclined to taking forward and building upon. The most striking example in my personal experience was in the work done by the Model United Nations.

Before taking on the role of Director of MUN at Dulwich College Suzhou my experiences in this organisation were close to nil. However, since taking on this role, the wide array of benefits has become apparent. Model United Nations is student leadership in action and continues to dispel the widely accepted view that young people are disengaged and uninterested in politics and the wider world. From Key Stage 3 right through to Key Stage 5 we have students aggressively creating and proposing policies which bring about positive change in our world, which is precisely the kind of action we as educators and adults should be encouraging and learning from ourselves.

I have focused on two aspects in particular which I feel are most exemplified by the work of the Model United Nations, in an effort both to highlight the excellent extra-curricular work of our students, and in a wider context extol the virtues of this organisation and its relevance to creating future leaders. These skills are often something we teach in the classroom explicitly. More often they are the product of the values we expect from our students implicitly. They are practical means of developing the virtues we aim to hold in adult life, and we seek in our global community.

Responsible global citizenship:

           While perhaps the most obvious, this is also an aspect of the MUN that underlies all that we hope to achieve with our students. Diversity is at the core of the Model United Nations. Students embrace representation of a country of which they previously had very little knowledge and will in some cases spend hours researching and analysing everything from GDP and development indicators to trade goals and membership of international organisations. Being able to acknowledge the validity of different worldwide perspectives, and having the convictions to follow through those ideas as part of a large group of up to fifty other young people is a wondrous sight. Young people in some ways lack the benefit of hindsight, leading to impulsive and unpredictable decisions. However in this context it can also be a very liberating process. Politicians of today often use our collective memory as an excuse to limit change that may be seen as too radical, whereas many of our students cut through the status quo with impressive alacrity.

At a recent conference in one of our partner schools, Dulwich High School Suzhou, I witnessed one such exchange take place. A student representing the Republic of Korea delivered a stern rebuke to the United States for what was perceived as an abrupt and dismissive change of attitude. The United States pointed out that no one else was willing to represent and defend Korean interests, which in turn let to several loud protests from other delegates and a very lively debate as to whether it was indeed the Republic of Korea’s interests that were being defended. The student representing the Republic of Korea was twelve years old and was at only his second conference. Rest assured the issues were resolved and a global crisis averted, nonetheless the power of dialogue and oratory were being utilised very effectively by students who had never met and had only the strong leadership of Committee Chairs – themselves as young as fourteen – to be held to account. To so vehemently defend another culture and nation due to a far more acute understanding of that nation’s perspectives and aims is a reminder of how adaptable our young leaders can be.

Shared leadership:

           This cuts to the very heart of the Model United Nations. MUN conferences are not competitions in the traditional sense. Students are not competing against each other. To win is not to defeat other delegates. Victory is defined as one word: consensus. To agree is to progress, to find common ground one more step towards producing effective Resolutions. Delegates representing, for example, Nigeria and Kazakhstan both want to effectively combat climate change. However they will have both different priorities and different methods of bringing about this change. They can only pass a joint Resolution by being empathetic and looking for common ground. If they cannot reach some level of agreement this Resolution fails – progress is lost. The Model United Nations enables this progress. They arrive as individuals, clear in their intent and a sense of who they are. They must refuse to compromise on their vision whilst being as open as possible to compromising on method if necessary.

As a result they are extremely willing to listen to other ideas. Determination gets them into their committee, while integrity, authenticity and a generous amount of humility will be the characteristics which enable them to function effectively once inside. They have to trust each other and collaborate to succeed, just as they will as effective leaders in their adult lives. The structuring of Resolutions is not piecemeal – individual countries do not get their own ‘section.’ Every word is a clear and unified letter of intent, well thought out and often adapted dozens of times. Language and ordering are rigorously analysed to ensure their intent is clear and their rationale justified. As leaders we are often very focused on the what. Every Resolution in the Model United Nations is predicated on the why. Today’s politicians often reflect our erroneous determination that the method is what matters. Our future leaders in the Model United Nations are focused on results. They want a clear vision of what their target is, and work backwards, rather than beginning with their plan of action.

There are many obvious benefits to an organisation such as the Model United Nations, such as ‘teamwork,’ ‘communication,’ ‘collaboration.’ None of these should be derided or taken for granted. But what makes the Model United Nations stand out – in my opinion – is the ability to be a strong leader who is single-minded in determination and yet collegiate in action. These students understand that leadership is nuanced. It is not the loudest person in the room who succeeds. It is the one most able to bring a wide variety of viewpoints to a common goal. They become expert listeners and as a result improve in their own resolve. The leadership that results from this is exactly the kind of leadership others follow, that others invest in. Authentic, clear and one which celebrates diversity, based both on the strengths of all individuals in a team and which understands that a multiplicity of viewpoints can create a stronger unity of purpose.