A majority of the Indian education system focuses on rote learning and hosts a highly competitive environment. Heavy emphasis on homework and self-study assignments is given as a student advances to higher classes. Such application-driven assignments often cause students to feel lost and under-confident in their abilities due to the harmful conditioning done by rote learning. In such situations, they either resort to copying assignments from classmates or not working on them at all out of fear of failure.
International schools are designed to break out of these limitations/issues. Inquiry is the leading pedagogical approach in international schools. Such an inquiry-based practice encourages students to take ownership of learning. This learning approach facilitates conceptual exploration and is tailored to the needs of each student versus a traditional one-size-fits-all method of instruction. Learning is viewed as constantly evolving and not static at international schools, empowering students to develop original, independent thinking.
Student-centered learning is tremendously valuable at international schools, however they strongly embrace a mix of approaches to teaching and content, right from traditional lecture and discussion formats to experiential and reciprocal teaching-learning strategies.
Faculty development programs and professional development workshops give educators of international schools the extra edge that aids in keeping them connected to changing approaches to pedagogy.
Their mission is to equip students with 21st-century skills that will empower them to become active participants and effective contributors to community.
Knowledge is democratized in international schools, giving students agency and authority over their own learning. Such a teaching-learning approach not only benefits students academically but also helps in building their confidence and self-esteem resulting from being responsible, accountable stakeholders in their education. When students learn in such an environment, they develop lifelong skills of collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking. Acquiring these skills at a young age serves and enhances the quality of the rest of their lives.
