Finalsite University Keynote: Challenges and Opportunities of International Education

Keynote to Finalsite University, Singapore Feb 2023.

Welcome everyone to the United World College of SE Asia, Dover Campus for two days at Finalsite University.  As part of a global network of 18 Schools and Colleges, we know full well how important it is to share ideas, perspectives, to be prompted from our usual ways of thinking and we hope you will have a rich and rewarding time here.  We can take this session as our matriculation event, and when we graduate in a couple of days I know we will all have been enriched by dozens of dozens of sessions covering the latest digital marketing and communication strategies and enrollment best practices, from Finalsite and colleagues from schools across the region.

My name is Nick Alchin, I am the Head here at UWCSEA in Singapore.  As someone who joined as a young Maths teacher in 1995, newly-wed, pre-internet, fresh off the boat, as we used to say, I used to think I was quite an old-timer here.  So it was a moment of humility for me, a few weeks ago, when we hosted some of our original alumni - some of whom graduated before I was born.  And as I prepared for this brief introduction - The Challenges and Opportunities of International Education, the stories of these alumni stayed with me - and here I mean their life stories, for which school prepared them, and I was reminded, again and again that school is not just about school; school shapes people’s lives; for better or worse. It’s a dramatically powerful force in our societies; it shapes their very future.   So, school has to be about something bigger than just school.

Of course, this is nothing new.   Plato believed that education was one of the keys to eradicating evil.   In the 15th century, Ignatious Loyola said “Give me the boy, I give you the man”.  Last month the Singapore Education Minister Chan Chun Sing talked about “the ability to connect and bridge divides must be [schools’] defining characteristic, to value-add to a fragmenting and fractious world… Our definition of success must go beyond how much we achieve for ourselves, to how much we contribute to others and the larger good. That will be our mark of true distinction as a society.”

So I would suggest to you plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.   - the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.  And that’s really my theme for today - that while there is, for sure, the need to meet new realities and challenges, there is also much that endures in what we know is good schooling, and what endures for our children, not least the basic human condition, and we should draw comfort  - where we can - that progress is possible; indeed more than possible; it is manifest in many areas.  But it is hard won and there is much to do.

So The Challenges and Opportunities of International Education.   It’s really important that we educators, look at the big picture here.  Rest assured those in other sectors are doing so (if we work in schools, we’re all educators, by the way, as far as I am concerned.  Not just the teachers).  And while we can debate exactly what an international education might be, one fundamental truth about international education is that it is enabled by, and is an enabler of, the phenomenon of globalisation.  We do not always think of education like this - often we fancy education somehow sitting apart, in some rarefied sacred space.  Well, I shall argue that education is indeed sacred in its own way, but that does not somehow exempt it from being part of our global system.  People will not, generally, move around the world to live and work if in doing so they cannot educate their children in ways they want to.  More positively, the chance to experience different cultures and systems, and for our children to do so, is a reason that many of us have moved around the world. I expect this is true of many of us in the room, it certainly is for me and my family.  

That education is part of globalisation is not always part of our conscious narrative as educators.   But listen to politicians and business leaders speak about education and it’s clear; and it is certainly true here in Singapore, where International Schools do not report to the Ministry of Education, but to the Economic Development Board, part of the Ministry for Trade and Industry, who see international schools as part of the national infrastructure.

So - in a different way to national education systems -  we are explicitly all part of that process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide, which has accelerated and led to unprecedented international connectivity.  

What might this mean for us? Are we happy with this?  Are we happy that we have contributed to, and almost certainly benefited from globalisation?  It’s not a question we often ask ourselves - as I have mentioned, we may see ourselves as apart from the system - but the situation we face demands we ask.  What situation do I mean?

• Climate emergency shows actual and potential collapse in our ecosystems 

• Global inequalities are increasing with wealth increasingly narrowly concentrated

• Political instability and extremism are on the increase

• The pandemic happened, and is still happening

• The possibility that Artificial Intelligence will exceed human capability is being described as potentially “worst event in the history of our civilization.”

These situations are inextricably linked to globalisation. 

On the other hand, zooming out a bit

• Just 200 years ago, 85% of the world population lived in extreme poverty. Today that figure is 9%

• In 1800, average worldwide life expectancy was  30 years.  Today it is 72 years.

• In 1800 the richest country in the world then (the Netherlands) had a life expectancy of 40 years. Today, there are no countries where life expectancy is below 50 years.

• Every single country in the world today has a lower infant or child mortality rate than it had in 1950. 

• The number of people in extreme poverty has fallen by an average of 137,000 people every day for the past 25 years.  That’s 50 million a year.

Now, why have I started today with these topics?  (Sorry if it’s a bit soon after breakfast for such indigestibles).  I remember an ex-colleague feeling rather exasperated by the big issues, saying ‘we’re just a school!’.  But I think he was completely missing the point.  All the global developments I’ve mentioned are based on intellectual and social developments used the right way; and all global threats I have mentioned can either be solved or exacerbated through intellectual and social developments, used in either the right way or the wrong way.   So morals are critical.   And we, as educators, play a critical role in both the intellectual and moral development of our students.  So the triumphs I have mentioned (there are plenty more) arise in part from education.  The threats also (and there are plenty more there too) arise from education.  We have a role to play here

There is much there for us, as educators, to be proud of.  And much that we must seek to improve.  We are all part of the globalised system; even if we are trying to change it.   In fact, I would say - not all will agree I know - that we have the best chance of changing the system, guiding it to better ends, from within.  For us, our role is developing the next generation to be better than we are, and our primary means is through the intellectual and moral growth of our students.  So let’s look at each of these in turn, and ask what it means for us.

Intellectual Growth.  You might argue that the intellectual aspect of schools is uncontested.  And I think, to be honest, in International Education more than some national systems that may be largely true.  But not entirely.  There are plenty of pressures on international schools.  There is, clearly, pressure to excel in exams at the expense of deep learning (as an aside - it’s one reason we are developing our own Mission-aligned Grade 9, 10 programmes to replace GSCSEs, and why we are partnering with IB on their development of a different, even more explicitly values-driven joint UWC-IB Diploma; the first IB development of this type in 50 years and one that we hope will roll our globally in due course).  We need to avoid the testing tail wagging the curricular dog; that’s a well-trodden path and I won’t say much more about it here other than to say we need to do better, and teach systems thinking, sustainability and peace alongside history, maths, theatre and the like.

And there is the wholesale view of education as simply a service to other “more important” sectors.  Let me quote then-CEO of Exxon (and subsequently U.S. Secretary of State) Rex Tillerson: “I’m not sure... schools understand . . . that we, the business community, are your customer. What they don’t understand is they are producing a product at the end of that high school graduation”.  It’s not an uncommon sentiment, heard at many levels, even within schools, but I think it’s profoundly mistaken.  It’s not that schools need to be wrapped up in the proverbial  ivory tower, insulated from the realities of what students will face, but the truth is that no-one knows precisely what the future is, and often those who tell us the future is so uncertain are often those most certain of exactly what we need to do - or more often buy - to prepare for it.

This is a communications conference, not one on pedagogy or curriculum, so let’s ask simply 

• what do we communicate to our colleagues, teachers or support staff, students, and parents about our commitment to intellectual growth?  

• Do we somehow convey the message that grades or university acceptance data are the same thing?  

• Do we accept quirky people with specific passions?  

• Do we model intellectual curiosity and willingness to engage in debate and even change our minds?  

• Do we ask ourselves tough questions: why are we teaching that?  Is that still relevant?  Does it serve some foundational purpose, imbue some essential skill or develop some conceptual understanding?  Does knowledge always come wrapped up in subjects, or can we be more creative?  

And if you are not a teacher, it’s still for you to ask these questions - perhaps you can see more clearly than we teachers, who may sometimes be so close to things that we need your help to allow us to step back and reevaluate.

 

Of course the knife of intellectual growth can cut two ways, so let’s turn to the second consideration - moral wisdom.  Now, to some extent each generation has to re-invent wisdom, as it’s a different category to information, or knowledge.  But here again, for all the folly we see in the world, there has been progress in education - not least that schools increasingly have Missions and curricular goals that extend beyond the vacuous “future-ready” or values neutral “leaders who can make a difference”.  The basic expectation of our profession should be, and increasingly, is that we develop character, and values, as well as impart knowledge.  The ubiquity of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, of Human Rights and of Environmental issues speaks to an increasing awareness of the normative, moral imperative on us.   So again, as communications professionals we can ask 

• are we discussing our moral positions internally?  

• How can we strike the right balance between respecting all views and having strong specific moral beliefs? 

• Are we projecting our moral beliefs transparently and coherently to our whole community?   

• Are we sufficiently foregrounding the moral dimensions of our work? 

• Are we offering our students a scaffolded, developmentally appropriate progression through experiences that are likely to lead to deeper moral thinking?  

• And how do this while avoiding indoctrination, which is to say, becoming a cult?

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I have spoken about intellectual growth and about moral wisdom. And it’s not even 10AM.  Both are, at root, about being part of something bigger than yourself; about recognising the world, and other people, nations and cultures, and ultimately oneself, as joined in one immense interconnected system.  If we can get these two aspects right, or at least not too badly wrong - then the next generation may, via intellect, guided by wisdom, do great things. Some students will amplify and accelerate the good aspects of globalisation; some will question, slow down, and mobilise to dampen the unwelcome aspects.  None of this happens quickly, but with steady determination, much can be achieved. Bill Gates allegedly said we should not overestimate what we can achieve in two years, but we should not underestimate what we can achieve in ten.   This is a profound truth.

As a result of our work and the work of previous educators, lifespans have been and will be further lengthened; diseases have been and will continue to be cured;  poverty has been and will be further alleviated; environmental issues have been and will be solved; injustices have been will continue to be addressed.  Many lives will be changed; some will be saved.

Our job as educators and communications professionals is to do the work; advertise it’s value; bring others into it; spread the results.  Our job is to persuade, enlighten and inspire.  These are the Challenges and Opportunities of International Education. It is noble work, and I know this conference will help us to do it better. 

Thank you.