This special feature was written by Matthew Bradley, the Pastoral Head of Boys at Swiss International School in Qatar (SISQ).
In about the only words by rapper Drake that I may quote here – ‘Where are you moving?’ I said onto better things.
We are all always moving on and whilst we may hope for better things, we will always be facing new opportunities, new challenges and, well, simply put – new faces. I have lived now in six different countries. Each move has brought me something new – a new school, a new system, new roles. In one of the countries, I found a wife and in three of them my sons!
As a family, we are now used to moving. We are learning how to make each new country a new home. We have learnt through experiences, both bitter and sweet, how to transition. But, whilst we want our children to have experiences, we also know we need to support them as it can be tough. They have left friends behind. They have had to adapt to new cultures and climates. But we are a family and that is what we do. But what about school? How might a school help students deal with transition?
Grade Five students face a big transition into secondary education. Whilst at SISQ they are not having to move schools, they still voice similar concerns others have. Everything from being scared they will not know their way around; that they will have too much homework; and that bigger students may bully them. They worry that they will forget their teachers’ names; not be good enough to understand the work; get detentions; not able to do assessments; and that they might get eaten by rabbits. Fears are not always logical, besides I made the last one up!
The reality is that there will be hurdles. Or maybe a better metaphor is steps. Students will have more subjects and more teachers. They will have to learn how to take control of their own organisation. They will not have the security of being in one room most of the time and they will have to navigate the school. They will develop independence.
So what can we do to help?
As parents, we can try to remember the good times and not our embellished horror stories – always a good start. As teachers at SISQ, we make sure they know who they can turn to if worried or concerned. We select our homeroom teachers carefully – looking for teachers that can support them in this transition. We must support them as they learn how to organise themselves – an essential life skill. We give them space, and the voice to adapt to the new situation. But our work begins a lot earlier. We make sure that the PYP exhibition is celebrated in Secondary school so that students and teachers meet the new students before the move. We hold transition days to raise awareness of the changes, address their concerns and talk to them about what life will be like. We let them taste a little of the lessons, to meet the teachers. In short, we welcome them before the day arrives.
And when it does arrive, they tend to welcome it. New things are exciting when you get there and the worry is gone. For those that might struggle we have a helping hand. We listen to their concerns and learn from them. And so for the next five years, they grow and develop and become gradually more independent.
Diploma Programme
Then comes the transition to the Diploma Programme. Suddenly students are faced with a new step. Suddenly, what they are doing now counts in a way that it never has before. What they learn or do not learn now will change where they travel on – Ivy League or Russell Group; doctor or engineer – they all start here. During the Diploma years, students will be asked to write essays and assignments longer than they ever have before. They will be expected to turn them in by the deadline, properly referenced in MLA format, the workload will not only be tough but important and on top of that, we will be asking them to question what they know, why they know it and how. The IB Diploma is tough!
But again it has not started there. It started way back as we asked them to reference, taught them to meet deadlines, showed them how to ask for help, gave them opportunities to try and fail, try again and succeeds. The transition to the nearly autonomous student in Diploma is tough but a) we have been preparing them for this bold step and b) it now prepares them to successfully make the next step into tertiary education.
But finally, what does COVID do to all this?
Well, it changes it certainly, but the fundamental tenets of transition remain the same. And they are the same beyond school. Search ‘sustainable change’ and there are certain prerequisites that come up time and again. Make people aware of change, motivate them, give them the skills and abilities to navigate change, the opportunity to try and fail, listen to their feedback and teach them to listen to yours.
In essence, every lesson in the IB system is not just teaching students knowledge but prepping them with the skills to make sustainable change; skills that move beyond the classroom to the opportunities they will face and of which we have yet to dream.
About the author
With over 20 years of teaching English and Drama, Matthew Bradley has taught TOK, Film and English A in the IB Diploma Programme and has overseen the IBDP at Wellington College, Tianjin. He has headed up academic and pastoral programmes. Having started teaching in Outer London, his love of learning has seen him work in far-flung locations such as Kazakhstan, China and the Isle of Man.
More information about education in Qatar? Check out Marhaba’s FREE e-Guides.
