Reflections on ‘East Meets West’ Conference

DP History and TOK teacher, and Deputy Head of Boarding, Stephen Chatelier, had the opportunity this week to attend a symposium at Hong Kong University on Philosophical Perspectives on Teacher Education: East Meets West.

He was among sixteen academics – coming from areas such as New Zealand, Canada, the Phillipines, Netherlands and Hong Kong – to present a paper at the symposium. All papers, in different ways, explored how philosophy from both Western and Eastern traditions might be relevant to teacher education.

 

The symposium highlighted the importance of international education, like the education here at Utahloy, being a negotiation between culturally diverse ideas and practices. The world into which our students will be graduating is one that is becoming more culturally and politically complex, not less. Our education needs to embrace and struggle with this complexity.

Professor Gert Biesta from Brunel College London argued that one of the important tasks of education is to assist us to make judgments about what is the best thing to do in complex situations. Prioritising the importance of making judgements – or practical wisdom – is part of what makes our education one of the whole person. In contrast, as Dr. Shu Fun Fung from Education University Hong Kong argued drawing on Confucian philosophy, the task of education is not to simply ensure that high scores can be gained on international tests such as PISA or, indeed, the DP. When exam results become the dominant focus, the human is reduced to a number rather than treated as a person.

We here at Utahloy International School Zengcheng proudly strive for an education of the whole person that respects our students and teachers as humans. Our view is that Utahloy graduates will be successful because their education is about so much more than a number at the end of their schooling.

 

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