Education for International Mindedness: Faculty Professional Development

Over this past weekend we have enjoyed two great days of professional development at Seisen lead by two very experienced and knowledgeable IB PYP workshop leaders - Ms. Debbie Tai currently working in Hong Kong and Ms. Natalie Kunst currently based in Melbourne.

Ms. Debbie Tai and Ms. Natalie Kunst

It's been a fantastic opportunity to explore the different facets of International-Mindedness and to examine how as a faculty we can better embed practices to support and foster its development. We examined our beliefs and values related to International-Mindedness and our understandings of this complex concept were challenged and extended!

Debbie and Natalie share their experiences and expertise with Seisen faculty

Together we analysed our current practices and teachers worked in grade level teams to plan learning engagements to support the development of International-Mindedness within units of inquiry and between single subject teaching and our units. We brainstormed ways that we can strengthen our practices in this area at a whole-school level and gained knowledge of resources and strategies we can use in teaching and learning.

Homeroom and single-subject teachers work together to plan our next steps

Now we are looking forward to implementing our learning from this vibrant and thought-provoking workshop in the elementary school!

Teachers reflect on the two day IB Workshop

Listen to the wonderful TED talk, below, by Nigerian author, Chimamada Ngozi Adichie who highlights the issues with forming generalisations based on limited understanding of other cultures. She illustrates the importance of exposing students to multiple 'stories', multiple perspectives and multiple voices. We aim to do more of this at Seisen!