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Tribune News Network
Doha
ACS International School Doha will start its new academic year on a new campus specially designed to inspire exploration, innovation and collaboration among students.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Head of School Robert Cody said the school has made a commitment to revisit its education strategy, with work started a few years ago across ACS International School’s three campuses in the UK and one in Doha to ensure all their students are prepared for the future.
“We at ACS want to be progressive, bold and dynamic. Our educational strategy for the coming five years is to look at where education should go and then put a map together to help get us there,” Robert said.
Speaking on the strategy, Cody said its roots are within the idea of ‘education collective efficacy’. “The psychological concept refers to the correlation between educators’ confidence and positive affirmation with students’ ability to perform better. When educators are able to adopt a positive mindset, it trickles into students’ confidence in being able to achieve anything. This is part of ACS’s educational strategy to encourage all students to get everyone on board.”
He also stressed the importance of the latest neuroscience research in understanding childhood development and adopting the best teaching practices.
“We’ve looked into some of the effects of bias as an innate function of the brain, to curb biases from impacting the actions and decisions we make towards students. In this respect, we’ve launched a series of staff training and development that will teach us more about bias,” Cody explained.
Sharing some of the latest research he has been acquainted with, Cody stressed the importance of inspiring children. “When you are inspired, you move. Sitting in class receiving information doesn’t help you grow and learn what you want to be. That is why, at ACS, we focus on the three factors for student success: knowledge, skills and attitude.”
Continuing on the learning concepts adopted by ACS, he said the school helps students learn by keeping them motivated and inspiring them to come up with ideas on their own.
“Motivation is a leading factor in the way students learn, becoming empowered in their educational journey. ACS, therefore, stresses the importance of adopting a ‘SCARF’ model of motivation within its faculty and community. David Rock, expert on the relationship between neuroscience and social interactions, claimed that the best way to facilitate student motivation is to look into the factors of SCARF: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness,” he pointed out.
He added, “When students feel a lack of autonomy in the classroom, it reflects in their learning and performance. The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme and the US’ Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum followed by the school are designed to tap into students’ motivation by allowing them to take their academics into their own hands. One of the ways ACS Doha’s curricula achieve this is by nurturing a mindset of growth and potential through its grading and evaluations. By eliminating the traditional methods of measuring student performance such as averaging grades, the school prioritises student growth and improvement.”
ACS Doha is moving to its new campus in August this year. The new campus will embody the school’s longstanding values and its consistent educational vision and constantly renewing global education standards.
“Creativity is a critical skill for the next generation, and the new building is designed to help boost creativity through its various learning zones. Buildings in the new campus are set up differently from the traditional pattern. The design and aesthetic of the building is inspired by the souqs and Arab architecture, resulting in a design that complements the weather. The alleyways allow for breeze and shade, even in the hot weather,” said Cody.
With over 70 nationalities, and students from diverse backgrounds, ACS deals with differences by looking at each child individually. “When talking about these initiatives, we make adjustments depending on each child’s culture, background and aspirations, still maintaining the same core fundamental beliefs of effective learning, caring contributor and confident individual, giving equal weight to all,” Cody added.
Doha
ACS International School Doha will start its new academic year on a new campus specially designed to inspire exploration, innovation and collaboration among students.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Head of School Robert Cody said the school has made a commitment to revisit its education strategy, with work started a few years ago across ACS International School’s three campuses in the UK and one in Doha to ensure all their students are prepared for the future.
“We at ACS want to be progressive, bold and dynamic. Our educational strategy for the coming five years is to look at where education should go and then put a map together to help get us there,” Robert said.
Speaking on the strategy, Cody said its roots are within the idea of ‘education collective efficacy’. “The psychological concept refers to the correlation between educators’ confidence and positive affirmation with students’ ability to perform better. When educators are able to adopt a positive mindset, it trickles into students’ confidence in being able to achieve anything. This is part of ACS’s educational strategy to encourage all students to get everyone on board.”
He also stressed the importance of the latest neuroscience research in understanding childhood development and adopting the best teaching practices.
“We’ve looked into some of the effects of bias as an innate function of the brain, to curb biases from impacting the actions and decisions we make towards students. In this respect, we’ve launched a series of staff training and development that will teach us more about bias,” Cody explained.
Sharing some of the latest research he has been acquainted with, Cody stressed the importance of inspiring children. “When you are inspired, you move. Sitting in class receiving information doesn’t help you grow and learn what you want to be. That is why, at ACS, we focus on the three factors for student success: knowledge, skills and attitude.”
Continuing on the learning concepts adopted by ACS, he said the school helps students learn by keeping them motivated and inspiring them to come up with ideas on their own.
“Motivation is a leading factor in the way students learn, becoming empowered in their educational journey. ACS, therefore, stresses the importance of adopting a ‘SCARF’ model of motivation within its faculty and community. David Rock, expert on the relationship between neuroscience and social interactions, claimed that the best way to facilitate student motivation is to look into the factors of SCARF: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness,” he pointed out.
He added, “When students feel a lack of autonomy in the classroom, it reflects in their learning and performance. The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme and the US’ Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum followed by the school are designed to tap into students’ motivation by allowing them to take their academics into their own hands. One of the ways ACS Doha’s curricula achieve this is by nurturing a mindset of growth and potential through its grading and evaluations. By eliminating the traditional methods of measuring student performance such as averaging grades, the school prioritises student growth and improvement.”
ACS Doha is moving to its new campus in August this year. The new campus will embody the school’s longstanding values and its consistent educational vision and constantly renewing global education standards.
“Creativity is a critical skill for the next generation, and the new building is designed to help boost creativity through its various learning zones. Buildings in the new campus are set up differently from the traditional pattern. The design and aesthetic of the building is inspired by the souqs and Arab architecture, resulting in a design that complements the weather. The alleyways allow for breeze and shade, even in the hot weather,” said Cody.
With over 70 nationalities, and students from diverse backgrounds, ACS deals with differences by looking at each child individually. “When talking about these initiatives, we make adjustments depending on each child’s culture, background and aspirations, still maintaining the same core fundamental beliefs of effective learning, caring contributor and confident individual, giving equal weight to all,” Cody added.
