Quality Of Research And Assessments Are Something Which The IB Schools Are Currently Focussing Upon- Usha Reddy
IB schools have designed special professional development programs and workshops that are specifically meant for engaging the educators and teachers in rich learning experiences. The main mission of IB is to serve its educators with the best evaluation and learning tools to ensure that the professional learning requirement is met.
Recently, ASMA conducted a webinar on School Leadership Forum that was attended by eminent personalities, stakeholders and educators of education industry. Usha Reddy, CEO of Meridian Group of Schools was one such eminent speaker who talked about how skill-based learning should be the main focus of IB schools.
Usha Reddy begins her conversation at the School Leadership Forum webinar by saying that children must be given the best of everything as they are the core of everything. So whether you are from a national curriculum or from an international curriculum, the clarity that one must have is what is it that we can do better and best for our children and grab it and start introducing it.
As per her opinion, she doesn’t think any CBSE school follows a rigid curriculum the pedagogy was never dictated to any school. So, as a school leader, one should always have the freedom to deliver the content in the best possible manner.
Usha narrates her experience while their CBSE school was getting converted to an IB school.
It was their first workshop and when she put forward her vision and mission statement, she found that there wasn’t a single word that she needed to change. Usha sternly believes that we can do the right things irrespective of the boards that a student belongs to.
She goes on to cite an example of what’s happening in Indian government schools. One can now see that they are just utilizing the best practices and converting that into an IB School atmosphere there. They created such an environment because they do believe that to be great for the children which she thinks is a fantastic initiative.
Another fact that Usha points out in the School Leadership Forum is that people assumptions that it is very very expensive. When people talk of IB schools, that feeling is a phenomenon because it is, of course, expensive but if a deliverable canvas is made it can be seen that the cost of IB School Education is quite nominal.
What Usha personally feels is that right now through the PYP program they are focusing on attitude and skills. The quality of research and assessments could give children a broader perspective. These traits are invited in the children as a part of the pedagogy and that becomes a habit as they progress to the senior classes. Academic honesty, doing research in a creative manner are some of the traits that Indian children definitely need to pick up.
This would be her piece of advice for both CBSE schools and IB schools. These are some of the areas that the educators should focus upon and make sure that the children in Indian schools meet up to this. This is extremely crucial because training a child to do what is right in a creative manner and take the right of its originality. And then, you can see the best happening with the children no matter to what curriculum or school they belong to.
