Autumn 2014
ndedness ach of us. to wellbeing and restorative practices fully supports international mindedness, including the components of personal responsibility, valuing diversity, dealing with conflict respectfully and seeking to understand others. Through our College events and celebrations, which can occur at an individual, class, year level or College level, we strive to increase our understanding of diverse cultures, group experiences, traditions, values and beliefs in order to enhance our relationships with one another. However, international mindedness is a concept that can and should extend beyond these College initiatives. It is about each of us, in every part of the community, making these concepts part of our daily lives. It is quite easy to say that we will do these things, but another to implement them each day and be mindful of our actions and reactions and the way we treat others. Understanding our own cultures and beliefs, as well as those of the people around us, impacts all of our wellbeing. The way we respond to conflict – whether this be on the playground, in our neighbourhood or in the office – gives us an opportunity to improve our awareness and our openness to ideas and views that are different than our own. The way we treat those who are different than us, who come from a different country, speak a different language or have different beliefs, impacts our greater community. This is true within the College and Discovery Bay, but also on a larger global scale. Similarly, the consideration we have for those here in our community can extend the concept of international mindedness. Though we encourage and support our students to understand and engage with communities around the world, through programmes like No Boundaries and other virtual engagement opportunities, we can also create this intercultural awareness here in Hong Kong. We live in a diverse community with Hong Kong as our home, and even looking at Discovery Bay alone, we see a broad diversity in nationalities, religions and cultures. Certainly understanding communities around the globe is important, but we can start in our own community.
CURRICULUM
Understanding self and others in Year 1 It can be helpful to view the development of international mindedness within our students as a journey of growing an understanding of the self in order to effectively connect with others. Such a pathway can encourage children to learn about similarities and differences among themselves, to appreciate other’s perspectives, to value diversity and to identify their own responsibilities in their engagements with others. International mindedness is embedded into the fabric of teaching and learning. Set in place are cumulative experiences and opportunities that contribute to building an understanding of empathy, humanity, perspective and a way of being. In Year 1 from the outset students are engaged in experiences that teach awareness of self, others and a situation. So, what does international mindedness look like for a fiveyear-old student in Discovery College? Our students begin their school life exploring the awareness of emotions and feelings within themselves and others. Experiences such as morning meetings, circle time and closing circles provide the opportunities for students to become critically aware of the importance of connecting not just through spoken communication but by ‘reading’ the non-verbal cues of others. Understanding what emotions look like and feel like within themselves has lead to students developing awareness of such in their peers. Critical to these learning experiences is building perspectives and empathy around why others respond to situations with certain emotions and actions. Students are encouraged to consider what makes people feel a particular way and, importantly, to consider what their own role is in any given situation. They are prompted to explore what their responsibility is to others through being aware of a situation. International mindedness in Year 1 is about building a habit of mindfulness that supports students to develop a strong sense not only of themselves and who they are, but a sense and awareness of other people. Nicole O’Brien Year 1 Teacher
At DC, we are all striving to improve our own understanding and implementation of international mindedness. As we look at the curriculum, the relationships in our community, and the events and environment of the College, I hope that you will join us in this effort to understand and respect of others’ views, beliefs and traditions. I believe it will make a stronger environment for learning for our students, and hopefully a more internationally minded community. Mark Beach Principal
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