Jeff Thompson, Professor at a UK University Shares his Thoughts on International Education in India
Speaking about curriculum’s growing acceptance, he mentioned that India is a home to numerous institutions which are engaged in teaching international education.
Jeff Thompson, Professor at the University of Bath, UK visited Indus Training and Research Institute (ITARI), Bangalore to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch teacher certificate programmes in international education. On this occasion, he highlighted the fact that a better understanding of international education is essential.
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Speaking about curriculum’s growing acceptance, he mentioned that India is a home to numerous institutions which are engaged in teaching international education. Similarly, there are 584 international schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 547 in China. The number of international schools will only increase in the future, and it is apt to say that curriculum is growing. He also expressed that it is exciting to come to India to promote curricula.
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Defining international schools in today’s context, he opined that international education is not merely promulgating the western point of view. The people who are trying to forego their identity in the name of international education are farther from truth. Hence, people should be more confident and competent about their identity with diversity as the essence. People should contribute to the cause of international education to promote a global mindset.
He further explained that the curriculum is predominantly evolving as the world is changing every day. It is mandatory to keep children update with information about various cultures and countries. He pointed that when the curriculum came into existence, the frequently asked question was ‘what shall we teach’. Now, the perception has been changed, and frequently asked the question is ‘how shall we learn’.
He concluded that it is a big challenge for any government to make education more affordable. He cited the example of North America where the government is planning to design low-cost schools which follow the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum.