When a society changes, so then must its tools.
I believe that definitions of purpose and quality also need to be revised continuously. What should a school “do”? How should it ‘be’?
Well, I can most certainly tell a good school from a bad one with a very strong conviction, because I happen to teach in one of the nation’s best schools – Wisdom High International School, in the wine capital of India- Nashik.
Rather than focus on what should schools teach, how they should teach and keep conjecturing if we’re doing it well, Wisdom High treads on a rather untravelled path. We endeavour to decipher what all students should know and how we, as teachers, can use what we have to teach it.
The first step in the pursuit of an innovative and modern approach to teaching and learning, might be to rethink the idea of curriculum as the core of learning models.
In fact, in this era of information access, smart clouds, and worsening socio economic disparity, we have been forced to consider whether we should be teaching content at all, or rather, teach students to think, design their own learning pathways, and create and do extraordinary things. How does it help to create a ‘good’ school that graduates scores of students with very little hope for the future?
A good school produces students that can empathise, critique, protect, love, inspire, make, design, restore, and understand almost anything, - and then do so as a matter of habit.
Teachers have always been one of the biggest influencers in a student's life. The education sector is going through huge transformations, largely because digital technology has changed the way the world works- and this is also affecting the way our children study.
To understand the changing role of a teacher, let us first comprehend the significant traits of the current generation of students. Generation Z has supersonic brains and cannot imagine a time before technology. In this age, information is readily available at our fingertips. So, asking your students to read from a text book, with limited and restricted access to information may seem a tad bit absurd!
Gen Z is a force to be reckoned with and refuses to be passive learners. They aren't interested in simply showing up for class, sitting through it, and taking notes that they'll memorize for an exam later. Instead, they expect to be fully engaged and to be a part of the learning process themselves. They tend to enjoy interactive classroom environments over the traditional dissemination teaching methods.
To add to the traits of Gen Z, their attention spans might be significantly lower than the generations before them. This means that they struggle to create and stick to future goals, as they are immersed in the present.
It is in such states of confusion that they often flounder with their career choices. Something that they seem to be perfectly cut out for today, may soon turn out the be the most damaging career choice in the near future. Though, in today’s age and time, changes in career paths are both, a possibility and social acceptability, it wreaks havoc and oops…their self-confidence plummets.
It was with this in mind that we, at Wisdom High pondered, does our education system provide the skills to prepare students for the outside world of employability? Is what the student opting for as a life long career, really what he wills to do? Is this the core area that sends his adrenalin rushing? Does he possess the aptitude and the competency to pursue, what he ‘feels’ he is cut out for?
Along with employing holistic techniques that includes integrating soft skills like communication and collaboration, we try engaging students in activities, such as reading, writing, discussion and/or problem solving. We encourage project-based learning, with students working on complex and/or real-world challenges.
We motivate the students to focus on the method they use to reach a solution rather than the solution itself. We also address the needs and interests of individual students.
Along with all of the initiatives mentioned, to enable our students to make apt career choices, Wisdom High has come up with a unique Summer Internship Programme.
We invite parents, who are professionals in their fields, to host the students of Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 as interns during the summer break. Students are permitted to select an area of their interest. They work with the professional for a period, ranging from 5 to 10 days and gain a valuable hands-on experience in the field of their choice.
An internship enables the students to gain first-hand exposure of working in the real world. It also allows students to harness the skill, knowledge, and theoretical practice they have only been reading about in their text books.
They can acquire endless amounts of education in their life as a student, however, that knowledge doesn't always translate to the working life.
A lot of our young students get stuck in routines, staying in the same town, attending the same schools or surrounding themselves with the same people. Doing an internship exposes them to new people in a more controlled and stable environment.
An intern isn't thrown into the wolves but rather given proper training, assignments, and duties without the added pressure. Internships provide a nice learning curve for students with little experience of the professional world.
The experiences we go through are what shapes us. Their internship will not only encourage personal development, but also give them a greater understanding of self.
To know oneself is to know one’s goals and how to best achieve them. Finding this level of clarity is difficult, but sometimes all it takes is trying someone new, out of your comfort zone.
For example, take a student aiming to become a Chartered Accountant, who decides to do an internship related to his field of study with a C.A. That internship will give him a chance to explore what a career in Chartered Accountancy would be like. Sometimes, reality does not meet expectations.
At this point, the student is given a chance to decide whether he wishes to continue with the current career path or try something else.
An internship can be an excellent way to "try out" a certain career. For instance, you may think you want a fast-paced job in advertising, but after an internship, you may find it's not for you. That's valuable insight and will help you choose your career path.
So, one can get serious work experience, build a portfolio, and establish a network of professional contacts which can help after graduation.
The summer internship programmes have proved to be greatly beneficial for the students at Wsidom High:)
So? Suitably impressed, aren’t we?
Yes, Wisdom High International School is indeed a school for those who deserve a little extra!