The two-day SAIBSA Leadership Conference, 2018 celebrating 50 years of International Baccalaureate (IB) education ended on a high note in Mumbai. Hosted by SAIBSA, the SAIBSA Leadership Conference, 2018 saw participation from around 75 IB schools from South Asian Countries.
What started as an innovative experiment in 1968 has become an accepted and global standard of academically-rigorous learning, teaching and assessment. The IB curriculum is now taught to over 1.4 million students at almost 5,000 schools in 153 countries. The Finale day was graced by Vinayak Sudhakar, IB Development Manager, India, along with noted Bollywood actor Shreyas Talpade.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Sudhakar spoke about the need of IB education in the country. He shared, "India is at the cusp of IB growth in its educational system. We have 153 schools in India. In India we have seen an upward curve with more number of state and national schools wanting to implement IB programmes and provide high quality services to ensure this happens. The country has seen around 40 per cent growth in schools year on year which are keen for a transition."
"Students benefit immensely from this research oriented education model of IB schools. This will benefit the children in the future to be one step ahead in today's competitive era." The closing ceremony was a grand affair with interactions between the actor, teachers and the students. He also awarded certificates to 35 teachers who presented research papers on various topics of interest," added Shreyas Talpade.
While speaking at the inaugural session on day one, Peter Baldwin, Regional Director, Western Australian Government - South Asia also shared, "The holistic approach like IB is for good, for students wanting an International exposure."
"The teachers should be subjected to concepts like International Mindedness, Cultural Understanding and Propose CQ (cultural intelligence) for teacher training and innovative ways of teaching in Indian Education System," Douglas P. Kennedy, PhD - Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota shared.
The conference threw light on IB education in the country in context of professional development, teacher training, mapping methodology, global inter connectivity, higher education and employment. The objective of the function was to enable teachers to interact with experts, promote research based teaching and enhance teaching techniques of IB curriculum and making IB Education in India more affordable for masses in South Asian Countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The meet also saw participation from an IB school from Dubai.
"SAIBSA is growing. The 2-day conclave provided an access to professional development or teacher training, empanelling more schools with no registration fee, no membership fee and making IB Education more cost-effective through scholarships for students. SAIBSA also conducts job alike session, in which senior IB subject experts share their experiences in teaching with other school teachers. This is held annually in all the three IB programmes, as per annual calendar," said Dr. R. Varadarajan, General Secretary, SAIBSA.
"Understanding Diversity in International Education is the theme. World is becoming a global village, how cultural intelligence is becoming important, diversity by way of ability and learning statistics is a need of the hour. The focus is on developing higher order thinking skills amongst students," added Kaiser Dopaishi, President, SAIBSA.
Some of the prominent discourses held in the two-day conclave were, Leading with Cultural Intelligence by Douglas P. Kennedy, PhD - Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, 'Approaches to Learning (ATLs) across IB continuum' Curtis Beaverford, Professor, Education, Tamagawa University, Japan, 'Promoting effective communication for IB PYP Educators' and 'Exploration with CAS (Creativity Activity Service)' by Monica Sarang, Principal, RBK International Academy, Use of Technology in Inquiry-Based Science Learning by Dr. Tom Hsu, Professor, MIT, USA and Encouraging Diverse Perspective through Alumni by Nancy Das, Associate Vice-President, Univariety. 'What is it being a pedagogical leader' by Vimi Lima Santos, PYPC, Oberoi Int. School l, Mindfulness by Douglas P. Kennedy, PhD - Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota.
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