Students as Teachers

Across the school, we’ve been carrying out on-line surveys with students (“I Know My Class Surveys”). These are intended to help teachers gain some insights into how their students perceive their teaching and how this affects their learning. It’s one of many devices we are using to help us pitch our teaching to the needs of the students. One of the probable outcomes of this work is that we establish a “Student Commission on Learning” to enable students to take decisions on how their learning should progress, what improvements we can make to the learning environment.
OK, is all this just political correctness and don’t we pay trained professional teachers and school leaders to know just that bit more than students about how learners learn and how teachers should teach?
Certainly, it can go too far. Students are not experts on pedagogy or on strategies for minimising disaffection or maximising achievement. However, as young people, they do have insights into what works for them and what doesn’t. Their views matter, and good teachers will always check out their effects of their teaching on the students’ learning, as well as checking out the students’ perceptions of and attitudes to the learning process. Recently, we have discussed whether the proliferation of collaborative group work, the dominant paradigm, is a good thing. Do we value individualised learning sufficiently? And here, we must question, through data, whether students acting as teachers is an effective strategy, and, if so, how do we know? What do you think?

We have been receiving many visitors this past week, mainly potential) British School parents, eager for their child to be enrolled. When I meet such families a typical conversation with the child has gone something like this:
“Where do you go to school at present?”
“School X, a leading private school in Delhi.”
“Do you like it? Are you doing well?”
The answer is usually, yes to both, and the parent chips in that the child is invariably a “topper” in her/his cohort.
“So, why might you be interested in coming here, to The British School?”
The child pauses. The parent chimes in.
“Exposure…… we’ve heard it’s a great school.”

The values you hold, as parents, about your child(ren) as well as about education, make such a difference to the child and to us. It is important that we, as formal educators, and you, as informal educators, are aligned in our values.
I have been working with a group of about fifteen Years 7-10 students on a Monday afternoon, on a philosophy course. The background reading was “Sophie’s World”, which I see as a young person’s introduction to classical philosophy. It’s also a good read for adults, by the way, who are interested in the same subject. Just lately, we have been considering moral philosophy, the utilitarian ideas of Jeremy Bentham or Immanuel Kant. We’ve drawn on the teaching and writing of Harvard professor, Michael Sandel, author of “Justice : The Right Thing to Do”. I’ve used some of the same extracts with Year 12 students, in the IB Theory of Knowledge programme. One student, upon seeing Michael Sandal lecture to a couple of thousand Harvard undergraduates on the political philosophy course, asked what was the point of doing such a degree (as opposed to Business Studies or Economics, or even an MBA, I suppose). Sandel would have replied by talking about utilitarianism (the MBA – its utility is undoubted but is it academically worthwhile?) versus the intrinsic value of a political philosophy course, perhaps. The younger students were set a 1000 word homework piece, asking them to write about how to distinguish right from wrong. They talked about the role of religion, of taught values, of parenting, of cultural relativism and of consequential moral reasoning – i.e. that you may decide on whether something is the right thing to do by reference to its consequences. We discussed the captain of the cruise line, The Costa Concordia, and why he saw fit to abandon ship whilst many on board were struggling to save themselves. Almost all the students thought the captain wrong to abandon ship. We analysed why he did so, why he was expected to do otherwise and whether he was right or wrong to do what he did (and how may we, if at all, judge?).

So, what is the role of the school in moral education? We want every student to know what appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in and beyond school is. We can and do lay down rules, in time-honoured fashion, and we educate young people to make up their own minds about what is wrong and what is right in different situations. Most importantly, for the young person, two of the biggest moral influences, you as parents, us as formal educators, need to have similarly-aligned values. To accompany the values, we need a rationale for adopting them and an expected set of behavioural outcomes that may be attributed to implementing them. Our mission matters dearly to us, but so do our values: tolerance and understanding; justice and fair play; individualism as well as teamwork; maximising achievement and potential; community service , especially to those less privileged than us; students’ leadership and also internationalism. What values are most important to you as you bring up your son/daughter, or how do they align?

Graham Ranger, 3rd February 2012

Will the global downturn lead to a reduction in demand for international school places?
We haven’t noticed any downturn in demand, from overseas families or families in India. Whilst, it seems to me that the demand for this type of interactive, enquiry-based, globally-portable education is increasingly strong here in Delhi, there is also increased competition, particularly from the many schools establishing themselves in Gurgaon and/or Noida. We certainly cannot afford to be complacent and we must and will continue to develop the quality of education here, as well as build the brand in areas not yet part of The British School community. I have always regarded international school education as an economic lag indicator, i.e. when there is a slowdown, the dip in international school places usually occurs a year or 18 months after the effects have begun to hit prices and employment patterns. There is also the national as well as the global trend. India’s economic trend is different from the global and we are fortunate in serving a community of long-term Indian nationals as well as expatriates who may be in Delhi for a shorter duration. Recently, AISH, the Academy of International School Heads, ran a survey of student enrolment figures this year compared to last year. In our case, the figures are pretty much the same: in both years, we are about 99% to capacity with large waiting lists, especially in the primary years. Here’s an extract from their findings.
The International Educator (TIE) released the results of a survey tracking enrolment trends at top international schools around the world. Of the 166 leading international schools included in the survey, representing every region of the world, 114 schools (69%) reported expanded student enrolment compared to this time last year. “This is completely counter-intuitive to the daily barrage of dire economic news and prediction,” stated Forrest Broman, TIE’s Executive Director. “If the global economy is sputtering, one would expect to see a significant drop in international school students, many of whom are the children of expatriate employees.”
According to ISC Research, a UK-based organization dedicated to analysing, researching and tracking developments in the international school market, there are currently over 2.8 million students enrolled in international schools around the world, and that figure is expected to grow over the next ten years.
In fact, according to The International Educator’s study, the average reported increase in student enrollment exceeded 10%, this past year alone. This growth is not just coming from the three relatively new schools who responded to the survey whose growth of 50% to 130% may skew the numbers. Removing these schools from the statistics, still results in an average enrolment increase of 9% over last year for the schools that participated in TIE’s study.
Only 15 schools (9%) reported a drop in students enrolled compared to last year. The average percentage drop was 5.6%, with only two schools reporting decreases of 10% or more. “Although schools with declining enrolments may be reluctant to report their results, the overwhelming trend is hard to dispute with greater than two-thirds of schools reporting rising attendance, signaling the overall growth of the international schools market,” said Broman.
Most schools that did not experience growth (22% of schools surveyed) stated that their enrolment was flat because they are at, or near, maximum capacity and are carrying waiting lists for many of their grade levels. These schools reported that in order to grow they would have to expand their physical facilities/campuses.
“As in the other recent recessions, international schools again demonstrate an amazing capacity to grow and thrive in the face of economic uncertainty,” notes Broman. “One way some manage threatened declines has been to open previously restricted placements to more local nationals, a direction often rejected in the past to preserve the ‘international’ culture of their schools.”