Britannica offers flexible, Western education
Print Edition
BRITANNICA International School recognizes the need to adapt and be creative with its curriculum, teaching and pupil-learning to meet the needs of individual students. Shanghai Daily recently spoke with Britannica’s principal David Goodwin about the school and its education philosophy.
Q: Could you give a brief introduction of Britannica International? What are the strengths of your school and education philosophy?
A: Britannica’s mission to Shanghai is to deliver the very best of British education to our international clientele. As the only British owned, British managed and largely British staffed school in the city, this mission is at the core of all that we deliver. Our reputation has been built on quality education, in a downtown location which is delivered in a personalized way to meet the needs of our diverse student population. Shanghai benefits from a very broad and good educational market and like most Shanghai schools we have our own USPs. Parents select Britannica for its “Britishness,” its relative “small school feel,” our extensive World Languages program and our excellent location and facilities.
Q: What do you think of the BBC documentary about five Chinese teachers teaching at a British School?
A: I think the program exposed the typical challenges of teaching cross-culturally, which has less to do with teaching methodology but more fundamentally to do with the cultural expectations that have created a difference in teaching need. We have many pupils at Britannica who come from traditional Chinese backgrounds but where parents have selected a Western-style education for them rather than a typical Chinese- or Asian-style education. These parents see the big differences being in two areas: the increased breadth that a good British-style independent education offers and how this is far more in line with what universities and businesses are seeking in prospective students and employees and the perceived better balance in regard to the academic pressure placed on the students. The BBC program tried to highlight behavioral and classroom management challenges but for me it was the underlying cultural expectations of what education should be achieving that created the challenges that the teachers were exposed to.
Q: What is the biggest challenge in operating an international school in China?
A: Recruitment is always going to be the biggest challenge for an international school aiming to deliver top quality British education. Shanghai is a great city for many, but it’s not for everyone. The same goes for Asia and any international setting. This means that you are looking for a far broader set of skills and attributes at interview stage; you want quality UK trained and experienced teachers, but also those who will settle into the city and China quickly and will be able to manage the inevitable culture shock that goes along with any international posting.
Q: Have you ever experimented with any Chinese educational approaches in your school? What were the results? Is there anything from Chinese schooling you would not bring into your school?
A: As always in independent education we have the ability at Britannica to dip into ideas, methodologies and content that we think work best for our pupils. I guess if you asked our staff, there is a general consensus that the rigor of rote learning for some areas of knowledge building is a concept that we don’t shy away from. Pupils respond to it — and with things like learning Chinese characters, times tables, spelling of subject key words, nothing ever beats repetition, repetition, repetition! I suppose the big difference though in how we use this, in that we never “beat with a stick” but always “use the carrot” as the incentive! There is a cultural legacy of shame-and-name in the local education system and we would never use that method to encourage improvement at Britannica. Psychologically, we believe, that pupils will always respond better to positive encouragement.
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