The importance of extra-curricular activity and developing students as future leaders and citizens was a key focus at the recently concluded Schools Now! Conference held in Sri Lanka. Organised by the British Council as part of a continuous effort from the organisation to spearhead thought leadership and innovation in education, the two-day conference – centred on the theme: ‘Teaching, learning, and life beyond school’ - attracted vibrant participation from respected international leaders across multiple disciplines in the field of education, including 300 school teachers representing 16 countries of the British Council Partner Schools Global Network.
“The Partner Schools Global Network works closely with schools around the world to help ensure that students to get the most out of their education and reach their potential, not only in their school studies and examinations but also in their life beyond the classroom,” said Barbara Wickham, Director, British Council, Bangladesh. There were 15 participants from Bangladesh who were either founders or principals of eleven different schools.
Speaking at the inauguration of the conference, Dr. Saad Saud Alfahaid, Chief Guest and Deputy Minister of Private Education, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, encouraged attendees to make optimal use of the international platform created by the event by engaging in open dialogue with their counterparts from across the globe with a view towards creating collective solutions.
“Our school leaders from Bangladesh gave excellent feedback to the British Council for creating this platform for thought leadership, sharing of best practice and participation in this global education dialogue. We will ensure a bigger participation from Bangladesh in the future years,” said Deep Adhikari, Director Examinations, British Council.
During the course of this year’s conference, participants were given unprecedented access to ideas and concepts developed by prominent international thought leaders like Ormiston Academies Trust, Chief Executive, Professor Toby Salt, who spoke with delegates about the importance of school leadership and ensuring high quality teaching and learning from the context of the English education system while elaborating on lessons learned following significant structural reforms undertaken during the last decade.
Participants at Schools Now! were encouraged to interact and network with their global counterparts, with a view to facilitating an open discussion around some of the most innovative teaching models currently being implemented. Teachers were also given an opportunity to offer feedback on all aspects of the conference and discuss some of the most significant lessons that they took away from this year’s conference.