EDUCATION
Surrey’s Premier Lifestyle Magazine
A global outlook on education
Jeremy Lewis, Head of School at ACS Egham International School, discusses the importance of teaching children to be ‘global citizens’ from a young age.
Would you like your child to emerge from education as a confident, independent young adult, with a full and life-long appreciation and understanding of other cultures? To possess invaluable, life-long interpersonal skills, such as an ability to forge new friendships quickly and easily, network with confidence and communicate well with others, having developed into a caring, global citizen?
Well who wouldn’t, I’m sure we all want this and more for our children, especially in today’s challenging, changing and uncertain world.
But there is one form of education that can help deliver these attributes more so than perhaps any other, and that is an international education in an international school.
Developing global citizens
Learning to appreciate and absorb cultural differences is just part of everyday life in an international school. From a young age, students integrate with many different cultures, equipping them with the life skills to be global citizens and instilling them with a broad outlook. In a classroom with peers and teachers representing numerous different cultural backgrounds and roots, for example over 60 nationalities make up the ACS Egham school community, all comparing and sharing different perspectives and ideas, students cannot help but develop a deeper and broader understanding across complex subjects.
This diversity enables common themes, such as war and conflict, to be analysed from different viewpoints and cultural experiences. And while many students are expatriates, it is local, UK families who are joining in ever-increasing numbers as awareness of the life-long benefits a truly international education can give grows.
Anyone looking for truly different perspectives on an issue could not do better than to step into an international school classroom!
Different perspectives develop outward looking students
Students also establish lasting friendships with peers from around the world and for them nationalities are not a label or a defining characteristic. They readily share their experiences from their home culture or places they have lived and celebrate their diversity. This naturally develops a global outlook which extends way beyond the classroom too – many ACS students have worked with international development projects in Nepal and India, for example, as well as getting involved with local community and environmental projects.
Like all international schools, ACS is accustomed to looking beyond national boundaries to global horizons and this unique, multi-cultural learning environment beginning from a young age benefits children later on in adult life. It provides students with the global perspective and social skills necessary to interact with a range of people in a variety of academic, social and – further down the line – professional environments.
Well who wouldn’t, I’m sure we all want this and more for our children, especially in today’s challenging, changing and uncertain world.
But there is one form of education that can help deliver these attributes more so than perhaps any other, and that is an international education in an international school.
Developing global citizens
Learning to appreciate and absorb cultural differences is just part of everyday life in an international school. From a young age, students integrate with many different cultures, equipping them with the life skills to be global citizens and instilling them with a broad outlook. In a classroom with peers and teachers representing numerous different cultural backgrounds and roots, for example over 60 nationalities make up the ACS Egham school community, all comparing and sharing different perspectives and ideas, students cannot help but develop a deeper and broader understanding across complex subjects.
This diversity enables common themes, such as war and conflict, to be analysed from different viewpoints and cultural experiences. And while many students are expatriates, it is local, UK families who are joining in ever-increasing numbers as awareness of the life-long benefits a truly international education can give grows.
Anyone looking for truly different perspectives on an issue could not do better than to step into an international school classroom!
Different perspectives develop outward looking students
Students also establish lasting friendships with peers from around the world and for them nationalities are not a label or a defining characteristic. They readily share their experiences from their home culture or places they have lived and celebrate their diversity. This naturally develops a global outlook which extends way beyond the classroom too – many ACS students have worked with international development projects in Nepal and India, for example, as well as getting involved with local community and environmental projects.
Like all international schools, ACS is accustomed to looking beyond national boundaries to global horizons and this unique, multi-cultural learning environment beginning from a young age benefits children later on in adult life. It provides students with the global perspective and social skills necessary to interact with a range of people in a variety of academic, social and – further down the line – professional environments.
Qualifications with a global outlook
Qualifications and learning programmes that extend beyond national boundaries have to be central to an international education. Such programmes have international recognition not for their name alone, but for their academic rigour and as a positive indicator of the personal development of an individual.
One of the leading education programmes in this respect is the International Baccalaureate (IB), a programme often referred to as the global educational passport. ACS Egham, one of three ACS International Schools in the UK, is the first and only school in the UK fully authorised to provide all four International Baccalaureate Programmes from age three through to 18. The programme’s aims are outlined in the IB mission statement – to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people, and it is widely commended for its academic integrity, development of key skills, and the global awareness that it instils in students.
Indicative of this, the IB is consistently cited by university admissions officers as the best preparation for higher education over other traditional UK curriculums. Admissions officers believe that IB students cultivate vital aptitudes needed to thrive at university including an ability for independent enquiry, self-management skills and open mindedness. IB students can go on to university anywhere in the world, with ACS students going to the US, UK and elsewhere across the globe.
International schools by definition have a unique advantage in helping students learn to see the world through others’ eyes, and this grounding in their formative years, alongside gaining highly regarded qualifications, sets them up for successful futures anywhere in the world.
To find out more about ACS Egham, or to register for an Open Morning visit www.acs-schools.com/opendays.
Qualifications and learning programmes that extend beyond national boundaries have to be central to an international education. Such programmes have international recognition not for their name alone, but for their academic rigour and as a positive indicator of the personal development of an individual.
One of the leading education programmes in this respect is the International Baccalaureate (IB), a programme often referred to as the global educational passport. ACS Egham, one of three ACS International Schools in the UK, is the first and only school in the UK fully authorised to provide all four International Baccalaureate Programmes from age three through to 18. The programme’s aims are outlined in the IB mission statement – to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people, and it is widely commended for its academic integrity, development of key skills, and the global awareness that it instils in students.
Indicative of this, the IB is consistently cited by university admissions officers as the best preparation for higher education over other traditional UK curriculums. Admissions officers believe that IB students cultivate vital aptitudes needed to thrive at university including an ability for independent enquiry, self-management skills and open mindedness. IB students can go on to university anywhere in the world, with ACS students going to the US, UK and elsewhere across the globe.
International schools by definition have a unique advantage in helping students learn to see the world through others’ eyes, and this grounding in their formative years, alongside gaining highly regarded qualifications, sets them up for successful futures anywhere in the world.
To find out more about ACS Egham, or to register for an Open Morning visit www.acs-schools.com/opendays.
essence info
ACS Egham International SchoolLondon Road, Egham, Surrey TW20 0HS
Telephone: 01784 430800
Website: www.acs-schools.com
Learning to appreciate and absorb cultural differences is just part of everyday life in an international school.