PenDragon - the official magazine of Lyford Cay International School PenDragon Vol 4, Spring 2018 | Page 6

ability to deal with challenges, students in the IB
programme at LCIS do not typically find themselves
uncomfortable in the outdoors on a daily basis. However,
Hahn’s essential approach is not lost within the four walls
of these classrooms. Within the nurturing environment
of the IB at LCIS, there is a lot of room for mistakes.
Reflection and growth are often more important to
accomplishment than mastery of a task. Projects such
as the Grade 10 year-long Personal Project or the Grade
5 Exhibition foster the universal skills of self-confidence,
decision-making, communication and cooperation that
students will remember and use long after they have
forgotten their presentation topics.
the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme in 1956
in which students across the UK could challenge
themselves through service and physical adventure.
Continuing to see that the only way to change the
future was by changing the schooling of young
people, Hahn became part of a greater movement
that was changing the face of education worldwide.
Having seen the benefits of cross-cultural
collaboration in the NATO war colleges, Hahn went
on to develop the United World Colleges, a group
of schools founded in 1962 whose mission is to
unite people, nations and cultures for a sustainable
future. In 1966, he founded the Round Square
network of like-minded schools to hold international
conferences, exchanges and service projects for
young people. A few years later, he joined a team of
other education reformers to craft the structure and
philosophy of the International Baccalaureate (IB)
Programme.
Hahn and the International Baccalaureate
IB pundits will recognise the similarities between
Hahn’s models and the instructional approaches used
by the International Baccalaureate Organisation in
mainstream schools around the world. Both had their
origin stories in a Europe reeling from effects of two
world wars and the Industrial Revolution. When Hahn
joined the team, a group of educators were working
to formalise the international school experiences and
qualifications of graduates emerging from schools
like the International School of Geneva, originally
founded for League of Nations employees, and the
United Nations School established in New York,
along with other international schools emerging
under embassy umbrellas.
The educators were influenced by progressive
thought leaders who, rather than content, put
concepts, the student and the global community
at the centre of educational design. Following on
from John Dewey’s propositions in Experience and
Education (1938) the IB forebearers also saw schools
as the agents of social reform and laid a framework
where students would be allowed to experience
and interact with the curriculum and take part in
directing their own learning. Further influenced
by Hahn’s positive learning experiences outside of
the classroom, IB schools established a balanced
approach to academics, extracurricular and personal
development. The IB’s Creativity, Action and Service
programme developed from the four pillars at
Gordonstoun. And with these components in their
lifeboat, the IB pushed out to unknown challenges
and discoveries.
The IB has remained afloat on its journey to change
the world through education for 50 years. In IB
schools today, students develop the personal,
academic and social skills that, when applied to
the world outside the classroom, will allow them to
thrive in a globalising society characterised by rapid
change, complexity and mobility. Student-centered
and global-minded at its core, the IB prides itself on
developing resilient and reflective individuals who,
like Hahn’s first graduates, will be prepared for life,
not just university.
In familiar terms, an IB education is an education
defined by experience. It is not always easy for
parents to understand an education based outside
the confines of our own familiar memories of school
and schooling. Likewise, the language of practice
used by the IB can often present a challenging and
unfamiliar landscape as parents navigate waters
different from their own experience. But much like
an outward bound boat sets a compass heading,
we can navigate this educational philosophy using
Hahn’s waypoints: learning is active, learning is
challenging, learning is meaningful and learning is
collaborative.
Because the learning environment at LCIS also includes
numerous spaces beyond the formal academic subjects,
students can also explore challenges outside their
comfort zones and in the outdoors. Examples of the
opportunities include a broad range of co-curricular
activities such as sailing and Model United Nations,
off-island field trips to remote locations, international
student exchanges, expeditions with the Governor
General Youth Awards (GGYA), the local chapter of
Hahn’s Duke of Edinburgh programme, and Interact
and Gambier service clubs. With the further addition
of the IB’s Career Programme and formal membership
in the Round Square Organisation on the horizon, there
will be even more opportunities for students to grow
through hands-on, collaborative experiences out in the
real world.
The benefit of an outward bound style experience
inside a mainstream school setting is that it fills many
of the gaps that traditional schooling leaves unfilled.
LCIS provides students these opportunities to move out
of the bounds of their normal experiences and gives
students the skills to navigate unknown challenges so
they can discover what lies beyond the horizon. Grade 11
student, Taylor Haines, says, “GGYA has shown me what
I am capable of both physically and mentally. I feel like
I have grown to be more trusting of my own strength.”
Experiential education builds individuals’ capacities to
make and remake themselves as people, as a society, as
markets and as an environment. In the rough seas that
that will at some point threaten our students’ outward
bound journeys, Hahn’s legacy is their lifeboat.
Going Outward Bound at LCIS
While Hahn’s programmes regularly take people
outside of their comfort zones to increase their
7
The benefit of an outward
bound style experience
inside a mainstream school
setting is that it fills many
of the gaps that traditional
schooling leaves unf [Y