EXPERT OPINION
For us at KIS , the main question is not ' what ?', but ' how ?'
Ole Bernard Sealey , Head of Kazakhstan International School
Today , it is difficult to overstate the importance of preschool and primary education . How does KIS approach this strategic challenge ?
That ’ s an interesting question . Every curriculum teaches students to read , write and do arithmetic , but not every curriculum focuses on teaching students how to think for themselves . As an IB school ( International Baccalaureate ), we emphasize inquiry and agency across the curriculum , especially among our youngest learners . In Early Years , a playbased learning approach fosters important skills like creativity , communication and cooperation . The outcome of a playbased approach is self-regulation . Our Early Years Principal Ms . Kirsi , who hails from Finland , mentors teachers who have previously worked in systems that try to start on academic systems far too early . Three-year-olds should not be sitting down quietly and watching power-point presentations . Ms . Kirsi is an expert in early childhood brain development and emphasizes the need for students to move , share , play and experience . We focus on having our students control their own emotions and behavior – abilities Ms . Kirsi calls the bedrock of a curious , flexible and connected mind .
As our students get older , we augment self-regulation with agency . Students have choices in what they want to learn and how they want to learn it . Their learning is structured by the teachers , of course , but in our best lessons , students have a real sense of ownership of what they learn , how they learn it and how they communicate that learning . By giving students this sense of agency , two things emerge . Firstly , students view their education as something deeply personal and relevant to them . Secondly , they are curious about the world and want to do work that is both meaningful and progressive . Interestingly , I have noticed in my observations that once students have made such choices , they are far more willing to listen carefully through the more traditional / mechanical , teacher-led , knowledge-based instruction so they can take that information and go do something with it . It ’ s fun to watch .
What disciplines are the main focus ? What skills and experiences are taught to students in the first place ?
As I mentioned before , the essence of every curriculum is the same . The IB approach is a ‘ how ’ rather than a ‘ what ’. It is a thinking and learning framework that can be applied to any curriculum . Every school will teach reading , writing , math , science , social studies , PE , music , arts , and , in most cases , a second language . It ’ s true that we focus on reading , writing and arithmetic , but it ’ s so much more than that . We have aligned our curriculum to the AERO ( American Education Reaches Out ) standards , which allows for consistency between teachers . In some IB schools , the teachers write their own curriculum . This can be fantastic if you have low teacher turnover and only one class per grade , but in most international schools teachers will move on after three to five years – so having an established and well-resourced curriculum provides consistency in academic standards .
As for skills , in addition to self-regulation and inquiry , we actively teach learning and
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