By
Mark Waterson, CAS Coordinator
One of the things that makes the International Baccalaureate
Programme different to many national curricula, and consequently
so special, is that it formally recognises that schools are
not simply places devoted to academic scholarship. The days
are over when schools were seen as islands of knowledge and
enlightenment amidst a sea of ignorance.
Academic
subjects are not seen to hold a monopoly on
learning. Learning is not expected to be confined
to the classroom or even to the school. It
is now seen as a life-long process that takes
place in a wide variety of contexts.
The
first two components of the CAS Programme,
Creativity and Action, have long been an accepted
part of most schools' curriculum and the extra-curricular
life. In many schools community service has
tended to take a lower profile with a role
that is often unclear and confused. What then
is the purpose of a school-based community
service programme?
Historically
schools have been very successful in isolating
young people from the community in which they
live. Once learning moved from the apprenticeship
model, removing young people from the realities
of everyday life was seen as being necessary
if teaching and learning were going to take
place. With the globalisation of industry and
the resulting mobility of labour international
schools are becoming more commonplace.
Many
international schools exist precisely because
families have been removed from their own communities.
Surely schools in overseas settings have a
responsibility to develop the mutuality between
school and community and to open up the world
outside to all members of the school population.
One of the functions of schools is to prepare
young people for moving away from the family
unit and socialising in peer groups and beyond.
This involves them learning about themselves,
about relationships with others and interacting
with the world, not just in terms of nationalities
and cultures, but in terms of those you like
and those you don't, or don't have anything
in common with.
If this is to happen effectively schools must encourage opportunities
for people to interact together. Perhaps a central role of
community service is to provide possibilities for people
to work together, to cooperate with other people in the community
and to recognise their role within society and the interdependencies
that exist. For students at international schools the notion
of community is much more difficult to determine than in
national school systems where the neighborhood, village,
town, and nation are all clear. |
What
are the boundaries of our community at ISA? Is
it the school, or Amstelveen or Amsterdam? Is
it the expatriate community connected to a particular
firm or national grouping? Or should we think
on a wider perspective altogether and consider
the world community? In truth we global nomads
fit into a number of different communities each
offering a bewildering array of experiences and
people we can learn from. How fortunate and privileged
we are to be in such a rich environment.
How
then should school and community interact?
One way is certainly through the community
service program. However, this area of interaction
is sometimes interpreted in a number of ways.
Part of this confusion arises out of the name
itself. Some supporters of schools' community
service programs suggest that the raison d'être
for community service is to provide service
to other people in the community, particularly
those who are in 'less fortunate' circumstances.
Perhaps the word 'service' is somewhat misleading.
It implies that the primary purpose of such
programs is to serve. Yet community service,
whether it be part of the CAS program of the
IB Diploma or of the IB Middle Years Programme
(MYP) or Primary Years Programme (PYP), is
not primarily about helping others. The aims
and objectives of CAS and of the Service element
in the CAS program are concerned with educating
students. These two very different philosophies,
of service and for learning, require contrasting
approaches and mind sets. If community service
is to provide a focus for learning, then students
must recognise this and approach it in a reflective
way just as they would when engaging in any
other form of active learning.
Community
service within schools should be seen not as
an end in itself. It is a means to an end &emdash;
the end being the social interaction and learning
that arise from young people meeting, working
and sharing with people in the various communities
in which they live. It is essential however
that community service not become an exercise
in peripheral observation but that it be creative,
active service to learn about how the world
works.
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A
Welcome from our Alumni Coordinator Don Morton
