International School Award 2019-20

 I won my Sixth International School Award

Natural Disaster Youth Summit 2020 in Yokkaichi Digest

TRAINING IN VIETNAM

ISA in Vietnam

British Council International School Award Training Workshop

Questions?
Contact us onlineor call your nearest office

Monday 17 February 2014

First time being organised in Vietnam, the ISA Training Workshop will happen in Haiphong, Vietnam from 17 to 19 February 2014, with 140 participating school leaders and teachers from more than 30 schools in Hanoi, Haiphong and Quang Ninh. The workshop is expected to build the local and global network of ISA schools to share best practices and approaches in embedding international learning in the curriculum.
The ISA Training Workshop belongs to the ‘Connecting Classrooms’ – a global education programme of the British Council.  In Vietnam, being approved by the Ministry of Education and Training, this results from the partnership agreement signed between the British Council and provincial Department of Education and Training of Hanoi, Haiphong, Quang Ninh, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City to roll out the programme in 102 lower secondary schools since 2008.
The British Council International School Award (ISA) prepares young people for life in a global society by increasing their understanding of other countries and cultures and embedding international learning in the curriculum. ISA recognises school’s commitment to developing global citizenship in young people through curricular activities during the school year. Some countries where ISA has been successfully applied are the United Kingdom, Greece, Poland, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and India.
First time being organised in Vietnam, the ISA Training Workshop will welcome 140 participating school leaders and teachers from more than 30 schools in Hanoi, Haiphong and Quang Ninh. With the aim of provide training for schools to the ISA principals and practice, the workshop is expected to help participating schools to complete their action plan for implementing ISA for their schools and to be able to grow ISA in their communities in the future.
Chris Brown, Country Director, British Council Vietnam said: ‘The International School Award project will strengthen our mission, which is to connect the United Kingdom's school sector to others around the world to enrich education, to improve the teaching and learning quality and to promote global citizenship.
With the success it has made in the UK and other countries, I believe that the ISA will help Vietnamese schools to build a modern educational environment and students to equip skills to proactively involve in the future global society.’
The trainers participating in the workshop include:

1. David Innes, British Council UK
2. Rittika Chanda Parruck, British Council India 
3. Mr.Ashok Pandey, Principal, Ahlcon Public School,New Delhi 
4. Ms.Jayanthi Sheshadri, Registrar, Loyola School,Jamshedpur
5. Sandhya Kakkar, She is the Vice Principal of Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka
6. Davide Greene, British Council Vietnam

About Connecting Classrooms
Connecting Classrooms aims to build hundreds of sustainable school partnerships, which supports the aims of national education systems to educate young people as global citizens and broaden the international view of young people. The partnerships are between schools in the UK and six countries in East Asia, which include Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.
The British Council has been working together with partners in the UK and in the East Asia region at policy, department, school leadership, and teacher level to create lasting relationships through collaborative curriculum embedded and project- based exchanges.
In addition to global citizenship, creation of school partnerships correspond to a number of education priorities and policy initiatives within the Ministries of Education in the UK and the region, including the development of the ICT across curricula and the improvement of Foreign Language Education, especially in the area of English Language.
School partnerships also provide opportunities for teachers to deepen their cultural awareness, share effective practices and develop creative approaches to their teaching, which help broaden the view of their students and prepare them for engaging with the outside world.
In Vietnam, Connecting Classrooms has been implemented by British Council in 102 lower secondary schools in Hanoi, Haiphong, Quang Ninh, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City from 2008 till now. 

Contact Us - UNCW.edu/EdGames

Contact Us - UNCW.edu/EdGames for board games as teaching aids

sandyscape: Link with Brynteg school Wales about festivals

sandyscape: Link with Brynteg school Wales about festivals

Four Ways to Create Your Legacy

Four Ways to Create Your Legacy

Only by changing the way you live, will you be able to create the legacy you want to leave, says 
John Maxwell, leadership expert. Legacies happen when they are deliberately crafted with years of hard work and dedication. Create your legacy with these expert tips:

1. Identify your strengths. Think of your core strengths and then talk to colleagues, friends and family members for their insights. Keep a running list and see which strengths come up most frequently. Often, others see our strengths more easily than we do, says gerontologist, Ken Dychtwald.
   
2. Think about how you spend your time. “Most of us tend to be drawn—either directly or indirectly—to the settings, activities and people that allow us to express our interests,” Dychtwald says. Remember, your legacy should be a labor of love, not a chore.
   
3. Write a life sentence. “A statement summarizing the goal and purpose of one’s life,” Maxwell says.
   
4. Realize your legacy is based upon what you do today.  “For most of us, it is the days of our lives taken as a whole, that people remember,” says leadership expert, Chris Widener. “If you want to be known as a kind person, do something kind every day for the people around you.”

thought of the day 20.3.2013

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
— Henri Bergson

5 qualities of role models

Role models come into young people’s lives in a variety of ways. They are educators, civic leaders, mothers, fathers, clergy, peers, and ordinary people encountered in everyday life. This study showed than being a role model is not constrained to those with fancy titles or personal wealth.  In fact, students were quick to state that “a true role model is not the person with the best job title, the most responsibility, or the greatest fame to his or her name.” Anyone can inspire a child to achieve their potential in life.
The top five qualities of role models described by students in the study are listed below. These qualities were woven through hundreds of stories and life experiences that helped children form a vision for their own futures. In a poll of 50 adult Facebook readers of this blog, these same qualities were mentioned as adults reflected on their own role models. The biggest difference was that adults did not rank “commitment to community” as high as their younger counterparts. They also mentioned qualities like compassion, fearlessness, and listening skills. By far, the greatest attribute of a role model is an ability to inspire others.

Passion and Ability to Inspire

Role models show passion for their work and have the capacity to infect others with their passion. Speaking of several of his teachers, one student said, “They’re so dedicated to teaching students and helping students and empowering students. That is such a meaningful gesture. They are always trying to give back to the next generation. That really inspires me.”

Clear Set of Values

Role models live their values in the world. Children admire people who act in ways that support their beliefs.  It helps them understand how their own values are part of who they are and how they might seek fulfilling roles as adults. For example, students spoke of many people who supported causes from education to poverty to the environment.  Role models helped these students understand the underlying values that motivated people to become advocates for social change and innovation.

Commitment to Community

Role models are other-focused as opposed to self-focused. They are usually active in their communities, freely giving of the time and talents to benefit people. Students admired people who served on local boards, reached out to neighbors in need, voted, and were active members of community organizations.

Selflessness and Acceptance of Others

Related to the idea that role models show a commitment to their communities, students also admired people for their selflessness and acceptance of others who were different from them.  One student spoke of her father, saying “He never saw social barriers. He saw people’s needs and acted on them, no matter what their background or circumstances. He was never afraid to get his hands dirty. His lifestyle was a type of service. My father taught me to serve.”

Ability to Overcome Obstacles

Young people develop the skills and abilities of initiative when they learn to overcome obstacles.  Not surprisingly, they admire people who show them that success is possible.  One student shared a story of a young man she met in Cambodia on a service-learning project with her school. “He is an incredibly hardworking individual who has faced unimaginable obstacles in his life, yet continues to persevere to support his family and encourage his community. He survived the Cambodian genocide. He earned his education in a system where those who succeed are the ones who bribe officials. He has dedicated his life to give back to his community. Wow! What an individual; and the best civic role model!”
Research studies have long shown a correlation between role models and higher levels of civic engagement in young people. Positive role models are also linked to self-efficacy, the ability to believe in ourselves. In fact, the young people in my study admitted that unless they learned to believe in themselves, they would not have been capable of believing they could make a difference in the world!
Children develop as the result of many experiences and relationships. Role models play an important role in inspiring kids to learn, overcome obstacles, and understand that positive values can be lived each day. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, civic leader, clergy member, sports coach, after-school program leader, or a person who just happens into a child’s life, you have the ability to inspire!

avoid academic entitlement

Student scores on K-12 achievement tests have remained relatively constant over the years. Yet, K-12 grades have increased dramatically. This suggests that today’s students are receiving higher grades for the same performance as students in previous decades. Some studies show that even the most talented students earn success by cleverly circumventing hard work.
What happens when students develop unrealistic expectations toward college or the work world? They respond with anger and disappointment when their goals are not achieved. Feelings of entitlement have been correlated with a host of negative outcomes, including hostility, depression, difficulty in relationships, and greed.
Parents and K-12 teachers can minimize the risk of academic entitlement in college and the world beyond by instilling positive values toward learning and success during the formative years.

Seven Ways to Help Children Avoid Academic Entitlement 

1. Teach children that knowledge is a privilege that is earned through hard work, challenge, and discomfort. See the article, What Teens Learn by Overcoming Challenges
   
2. Help students understand that learning isn’t about satisfying requirements; it’s about living a satisfying life. Share the article, Happiness or Harvard, with a teenager -- an inspiring story of how one teen redefined her attitudes about success.
   
3. Let young people know that when they are struggling, it is their responsibility to ask for help. Role models and adult mentors are essential for teens.
   
4. Teach children that failure is the bedrock of learning. Read the compelling article in The Atlantic by middle-school teacher, Jessica Lahey, Why Parents Need to Let Their Children Fail.
   
   
5. Help students understand that no one has the same learning or test-taking style. Adults can foster a positive mindset for kids with learning differences.
   
6. Support your child’s teachers. They develop policies that apply to everyone. There are penalties for breaking the rules just as there are in the world outside of school.
   
7. Instill the principle that teachers are facilitators of learning. Education is something we accomplish for ourselves throughout a lifetime.

When children embrace behaviors that emerge from the above principles, they learn to take responsibility for their successes and failures, accept the consequences of their actions, and learn to engage with meaningful life and career goals.
What do you think? What other ways do adults help children learn to take responsibility for their learning and actions?

We owe everything to you

Digital education for teachers

Taking a Closer Look at Teachers' Technology Shortcomings

By Sean Cavanagh on January 2, 2013 8:03 AM

One of the biggest concerns about how technology is being used in the classroom today focuses on what some see as a fundamental breakdown in the system: many teachers aren't comfortable with technology, and are unsure how to weave it into their instruction.
The National Association of State Boards of Education probed this issue in a recent report, as part of a larger examination of how schools can keep up with students' tech knowledge and expectations.
I wrote about the release of that report, "Born in Another Time: Ensuring Educational Technology Meets the Needs of Students Today—and Tomorrow," but I'm turning back to it because it offers some revealing details on what state board officials, as well as faculty at teacher colleges and educators themselves, see as shortcomings in preparing teachers to use technology. The authors argue that many teacher-preparation programs fail to give teachers the tech skills they need, partly because they instead choose to focus heavily on things like pedagogical theory—in general, different philosophies about how teachers convey knowledge to students.
How much catching up on technology do teachers, and the system that produces them, have to do? The report's authors cite the following examples:
• The vast majority of faculty members and students in teacher preparation programs say that their programs require one stand-alone technology course, as opposed to integrating technology and pedagogy through the program and clinical experiences (the authors see integration as the preferred way to go);
• Teacher-prep programs tend to emphasize using technology to boost educators' "personal productivity," through the use of tools such as word processing and spreadsheets, and for use in presenting information, as opposed to giving aspiring educators the tech skills needed to collect, analyze, and utilize data in their instruction;
• Less than a quarter of educational technology faculty said they had taught their students how to use technology to analyze student achievement data, a skill that the authors say is crucial to tailor instruction to individual students' needs; and
• New teachers are no more likely to blend technology into their practice than their veteran peers—which is surprising, the authors say, "given that the vast majority of those entering the profession are digital natives."
Those findings come from a number of sources, including an analysis conducted by researchers at Indiana University, which included a survey of teacher-college faculty and their students; and a separate survey of teachers and administrators released by Walden University, an online university, and Grunwald Associates, a Bethesda, Md.-based research and consulting company.
How can policymakers help educators become more sophisticated users of technology? State officials, in cooperation with licensing boards and others, should revamp standards for new teachers to make sure they receive more preparation in technology and online instruction, including through clinical, or hands-on classroom work and observation, the report says. It adds that states should revamp professional development to include a greater focus on technology, provide sufficient funding for school technology coaches, and do more to weave virtual instruction into existing teacher mentoring and induction programs.

Taking a Closer Look at Teachers' Technology Shortcomings

Taking a Closer Look at Teachers' Technology Shortcomings

www,bbpsdwarka.org

my new blog begins here

International Schools Award

International Schools Award

Background

The British Council School International School Award (ISA) is a benchmarking scheme that accredits schools as having an outstanding level of support for its teaching practice to add

1. International Dimension in its curriculum
2. Innovation to classroom curriculum transaction

In India it was launched in 2004 and till date 550 schools have received the award with an additional 330 more working on it in the current year. The range of schools participating in the International School Award includes the elite private schools to government schools from rural areas.

Why should schools work towards the International School Award?

Schools across the world are grappling with the challenge of providing relevant education in a changing world scenario. Moving away from the traditional chalk and talk model of content oriented teaching towards process and value oriented experiential learning requires a transformational change.

This type of change is hard to bring about by discrete workshops or even extended staff training away from classroom where follow-up on action is difficult to ascertain, achievements difficult to measure and success rarely celebrated.

The ISA approach to school development is holistic and mirrors and models the approach that we are encouraging teachers to use with their students. It is also rigorous and evidence based.

The ISA is a leadership challenge, which will foster teambuilding, innovation, and project management. Getting the Action plan and dossier together will bring the staff together to examine each others practices and evolve a new way of working. Keeping them motivated and going through the course of one academic year will test the head teachers and ISA coordinators leadership skills. As we know good leadership is second only to good teaching in raising students outcome in schools.

It is content free and sits within individual schools curriculum framework just harnessing the every human beings innate desire to explore the world to drive learning. After all, the entire tourism industry thrives on peoples desire to spend their free time going from one place to and another and putting themselves to considerable trouble and discomfort only to be able to come back to say they had a wonderful holiday.

ISA gives context to practice new skills in ICT and pedagogy in a safe and structured manner. It adds the element of excitement and enthusiasm that is needed to make learning joyful.

Participating in Action Planning workshop, online community and the award ceremony brings together a large network of schools across the country fostering rich exchange of ideas, broadening of vision and creating of a strong community of education professionals.

ISA allows learning to end on a positive note with each project leader, the head teacher and the ISA coordinator receiving an individual certificate from the British Council when the school achieves the award.

An ISA is not the end. The schools and teachers involved in the ISA may remain engaged with the British Council programmes online beyond the assessment year. Outstanding coordinators and schools may be invited to become a British Council School Ambassador, join the ISA assessment Panel and co-facilitate workshops.

Is your school ready to participate in the International School Award?

A school is ready to participate in the International School Award if it has basic infrastructure and at least one computer with Internet facility accessible to students. At least one teacher has to have adequate working knowledge of English language.

The schools that benefit most are schools that are seeking ways of improving teaching and learning practice in the classroom and would like to see some transformational change from traditional methods to more innovative methods.

What are the cost implications of participation in the ISA?

All independent privately managed and funded schools will have to pay a one time registration fee of Rs 15,000 to be eligible to participate in the programme.

Government managed schools participating through the sponsorship of their parent organisation will need to pay a discounted fee of Rs 10,000 per school if upto 50 schools from that organisation are applying together and in this case a separate agreement will need to be signed of between the sponsoring body and the British Council in India.

Schools recommended and supported by a British Council School Ambassador will be able to participate at a discounted registration fee of Rs 12,500 only. Our BCSAs are copied on this mail.

The one time registration fee entitles the school to the support provided by the British Council as listed below but it does not cover cost of travel to and from the workshops or award ceremony venues, incidental project costs or accommodation costs if any are required.

The payment of registration fee does not entitle the schools to the ISA which is granted after rigorous assessment of standards and schools cannot claim the awards on the grounds of payment of the registration fee. In case the school is unable to get the ISA in the first assessment year then no fee needs to be paid for the second attempt. Thereafter a fresh registration will be needed.

What support do schools get from the British Council on their ISA journey?

British Council will arrange an ISA Action Planning Workshop and a ISA Dossier Guidance Workshop and Review Meeting at their offices in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai and other major cities across India based on demand. These are delivered by British Council staff and / or British Council School Ambassadors (highly skilled and specially selected school teachers and head teachers who have experience of working on ISA or are a part of the ISA panel). 

Besides the two one day workshops it will also have information and support available to schools through its portal British Council Schools Online

Community and schools may seek help from registered British Council School Ambassadors for queries at any time through the process of working towards their ISA.

Schools may also seek prior appointment and come into the office and British Council libraries to view dossiers of successful schools.

What is the process involved in working towards a successful ISA dossier?

They need to make an action plan with at least seven specific activities for a range of year groups and a range of curriculum area running through one academic year. The first draft of the action plan is carefully assessed by an assessment panel and either approved or may be asked to improve according to recommendation. Schools execute the activities and submit a dossier of evidence. The evidence portfolio is assessed by the British Council Assessment Panel. ISA panel may suggest recommendation for improvement and resubmission after more work or approve the dossiers as appropriate.

What is the Award?

The schools that are able to complete their action plan and present evidence will receive the ISA and will be able to use the ISA logo on all their school correspondence for a three year period. They will also have the opportunity to attend an award ceremony and the Connecting Classrooms workshop held at any of the four metro cities across India each year.

Those dossiers that demonstrate outstanding achievement and innovation in delivering the international dimension in the curriculum will be awarded a silver and a gold standard ISA in recognition of their exceptional achievement the number and decision of such award will be at the discretion of the ISA assessment panel.  

Besides the award the outstanding schools will have the opportunity to show case their dossiers at our offices and libraries, speak at British Council events as resources persons, get invitation to selected events and workshops and be may be invited to join the ISA assessment panel in the future.

Signing up for the ISA?

To sign up for the ISA please fill out the attached registration forms and return to the address given below with the appropriate registration fee. (Cheque/draft for the correct amount may be drawn in favour of “British Council Division”)

The Connecting Classrooms School Team

British Council Division

17 Kasturba Gandhi Marg

New Delhi 110001

The ISA Briefing Dates in the near future are

20 January 2012 -  10.00 am  – 4.00 pm Delhi

23rd January 2012 –  10.00 am – 4.00 pm Bhopal

10^th Feb 2012 – 10 AM to 4 PM Chandigarh

14th Feb 2012 – 10.00 am -  4.00 pm Jaipur

24^th Feb 2012 – 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Delhi (depends on seats available)

Please indicate your preferred date on the form. The dates will be on first come first serve basis.

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