14 October 2024

Future-ready education

By Brescia House School

Future-ready education

Education is about preparing students for the future.  The skills needed in the past, no longer guarantee success in the future, and education has to evolve to prepare students in a more dynamic way.

The skills of the future, according to the World Economic Forum, revolve around critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, leadership and knowing how to use technology to solve problems, what we call 21st-century skills.  The currency of education is no longer in the content, but in the skills that enable our students to flourish in a dynamic world of work.  21st-century learning encourages students to have more autonomy, construct their own knowledge and work together to understand real-world problems.  It is through this lens, that our school continues to reimagine the curriculum.

This starts with 21st-century learning design (21CLD) principles which underpin our dynamic academic programme.  With 66 of our teachers accredited as Microsoft Certified Educators in 21st-century learning design, Brescia House School continues to be a trailblazer for authentic and experiential learning.  But how does this translate into what we are doing?

The Educating Beyond Borders programme in the high school involved us partnering with schools in our global Ursuline network, to take our students into classrooms and educational spaces all over the world.  Senior students have attended joint lessons, engaged with their peers in other global schools in the USA, through discussion groups, and worked together to carry out tasks and complete projects.  Grade 11 students participated in a four-week co-taught module on the conflict in Israel and Palestine and discussed ideas on how to resolve the situation. Education Beyond Borders is one programme that is not just about transcending physical borders using technology but transcending the borders of traditional education.

The principles of 21CLD are applied throughout the school, from our Grade R students, through primary school, and into high school.  Collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking are just as integral to the primary school classrooms as they are in the high school.  We continue to develop new opportunities for teachers to integrate technology to support the core foundation and intermediate phase curricula. We recently opened our Foundation Phase Innovation Station where our students have a dedicated space to code, use robotics, and integrate technology into their learning. 

Sequencing plays an important role in the primary school classroom, and our girls have used Bee-bots and Scratch Jr to develop these skills.  Computational thinking plays a vital role in cognitive development as we need to be able to deconstruct problems, propose solutions, test these solutions, and adjust accordingly.  This supports a growth mindset, resilience, and innovative outcomes.

The Microsoft Showcase School programme recognises the school as a leader in educational transformation, creating pupil-centred, immersive and inclusive learning experiences.  Showcase Schools take learning to the next level, inspiring lifelong learning and the development of future-ready skills.  Brescia is the only school in South Africa awarded this prestigious accolade since 2013.  The school joins an exclusive community of over 1000 premier schools worldwide, recognised for their truly pioneering efforts and innovation in rethinking teaching, learning and assessment to drive deep 21st-century competencies.  By providing a holistic learning environment, embracing modern technology and encouraging a spirit of independence, Brescia House School ensures its girls are grounded, giving, and well equipped for a technology-orientated future.

Brescia House School: a sisterhood of balanced, brave, and brilliant young minds.

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