By John Brett, Principal of The British School Warsaw
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John Brett, who has just arrived in Poland from Beijing to take up the post as principal of The British School Warsaw, talks to the BPCC’s Michael Dembinski about education in an era of digitalisation and global mobility

MD: There’s a paradox in Polish education, that while Polish secondary education is highly ranked in the OECD’s PISA survey, not a single Polish university gets into the global Top 500 in the main rankings of tertiary education.

JB: Governments don’t acknowledge the causal links between education and economic outcomes. The value of learning is far more than merely learning by rote, remembering facts and being able to recall them in exams. It is about connecting with the world of work, about providing students with skills and capacities that will serve them in life and the inevitable changes they will face as life unfolds.

The British School Warsaw takes students through to the International Baccalaureate [IB] – why’s that?

The IB focuses on those broader thinking and learning skills required at universities rather than simply rewarding memory. It’s a rigorous academic programme balanced with the more sophisticated intellectual skills needed in life. Critical thinking and collaborative work, for example, are embedded in the curriculum in a way that explores how learning works. Theory of knowledge is an important part of this and can certainly be an advantage when a student is applying to the world’s top universities. Almost all of our IB students will go on to study abroad; the UK and US being the most popular destinations as are other parts of Europe such as Italy, which is popular at present. These days students and parents are extremely clued up as to what each university has to offer. The IB is a challenging course, so students need to think carefully about the subjects that really interest them in order that they can sustain their enthusiasm and pace of work over the course of two years.

Your last posting was in Beijing – what differences – and indeed similarities – do you see between China and Poland when it comes to education?

There is no doubt that for many Chinese families their primary expectation from education is that their children get good grades in order that they can then apply for places at the world’s best universities. In that context, describing academic performance and attainment simply by a number or a letter might be sufficient for such parents. Convincing those same parents  that overall learning progress and development is as important as grades is a constant challenge. A Chinese child who is not getting ‘good enough’ grades may well find themselves being given extra lessons after school and at weekends, which in the end can in my view be counterproductive, not least in resulting in the child becoming exhausted and too tired to think properly in school!

An educational approach that is solely focused on attaining high grades is not going to get a student into a Russell Group or an Ivy League university, nor would it necessarily lead to the best opportunities in today’s world of employment. What really counts is how your education has shaped you as a person. Yes, 40 points at IB or three As at A-level may help open doors for you, but on their own, they won’t necessarily get you through them.

The academic inflation that we have seen emerging over the last twenty years or so means, as Sir Ken Robinson pointed out in his oft quoted 2007 TED talk, that you now need an MA where previously a BA would have been sufficient, a PhD where a Masters would have been enough. To combat this, we maintain a strong focus on the development of learning skills and metacognition alongside each knowledge strand, in every subject at every level across the school. So from a young age our pupils are learning how to learn as well as what to learn.

You are a British, rather than an international school. What does that convey?

The very word ‘British’ can carry a great deal of meaning for parents considering education options around the world. It conjures up ideas of values, standards and ethics all of which matter enormously in the context of creating and maintaining a secure environment in which young people can grow and develop their ideas about the world around them.    

For me, one important part of this, for example, is speaking: public speaking, debating, lectures, now to manage a successful interview, learning how to articulate a thought and respond to being challenged. Communication is such a vital life skill, which is why it is high on the agenda for us.

Most of our teaching is in English, and we do of course teach Polish as a subject. Around 40% of our students are Polish, the other 60% come from 62 countries across the world. As part of a worldwide family of schools [Nord Anglia Education, the British School of Warsaw’s parent company, has more than 80 schools in 30 countries across the Americas, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East] we are able to use our scale to the advantage of our students in many ways. As well as our collaborations with MIT, Juilliard School of Performing Arts and UNICEF, we are part of a global metacognition project looking at how we can enhance students’ understanding of their learning and approach to problem-solving. Our Global Campus gives our students the opportunity to work collaboratively with students in other NAE schools in China, India, America, Middle East and Europe and to discover the similarities and differences across cultures, which is fascinating!

This issue of Contact Magazine Online focuses on digitalisation, so it’s appropriate that I ask you about the digitalisation of education and how you see it affecting the way you teach, as well as the way pupils study.

Emerging technology is without doubt a game-changer for education with the question of how AI will impact education in the long run, at the heart. Digitalisation is having an effect on the way children learn, how we can assess academic progress, how knowledge can be acquired and how technology can help those who need additional support.

We know that the more you encourage students to lead their own learning, the more interested and independent they become as learners. Today’s pupils are all digital natives of course and so the concept of AI as not so much teacher as learning mentor, I think is very compelling. As is the idea of linking AI to assessment protocols in real time, enabling students to track their own progress on a given task or assignment. Coding is another key area for the current generation of students, and for many of whom is a serious hobby. Our approach really is about using tech to get the best outcome for each individual student.

What is your approach to teaching science subjects?

The famous American scholar of education, John Dewey, argued for much less teaching of ‘science as subject matter’ (the ‘facts’ discovered by scientists) and much more teaching of ‘science as method’. It is a useful thought when considering the teaching of science and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and mathematics) in schools today.

Science is very much about playing with ideas; it is about developing curiosity, getting the student to continually ask why, why, why? It is about asking really good questions, getting beyond the third or fourth question, continually looking deeper, looking peripherally, working out what we can expect to happen in an experiment, as well as the process involved in getting there.

STEAM programs aim to build on this and teach students innovation, to think critically, and to use engineering or technology in imaginative designs or creative approaches to real-world problems while building on their mathematics and science base.

More broadly, the science subjects in particular offer students the opportunity to be curious, to make mistakes – a crucial part of the learning process, and to develop the accuracy and level of detailed analysis that will serve them very well in the future.  

What are the core values that you aim to instil in pupils?

The British School Warsaw prepares its students to enter a world of rapid change and constantly shifting sands. It does so standing on core values of kindness, tolerance, support, openness and understanding. Our students leave TBS at the end of Year 13 as confident, global citizens, powerful learners and effective contributors.

As I have already touched on, academic results are of course important, but they are not the only thing that makes a successful education. The ability to remain cheerful and positive in the face of adversity or to persevere with exceedingly difficult challenges for example are not something that we teach in a discrete way, but for me they do sum up characteristics that I would most like to impart to my students. Despite all the changes that have taken place over the years and in the face of all the complexities of modern life, perhaps it is that thread of continuity with the values and standards of our forebears that matters most.