News & Views

Our Group Chief Education Officer, Simon Camby, recently visited Horizon English School in Dubai, where he was inspired by students’ deep understanding of learning, their embrace of challenge, and the school’s culture of thinking hard.

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of a conversation with four students at Horizon English School in Dubai. Stella, Valentina, Zain and Nivaan are in Year 6 (age 10 – 11). The conversation left me thinking how wise they are as learners. Above all, the conversation demonstrated how their teachers emphasise not just ‘what’ they learn but also ‘how’ they go about learning.

My conversation was prompted by wanting to understand more about how the students view their learning, especially the focus on hard thinking, prompted by this quotation from Professor Rob Coe.

“Learning happens when people have to think hard”

Without hesitation, all four students could explain how they are intentionally encouraged to think hard in their learning. At Horizon English School they talk about this as working ‘in the stretch’, with students asserting that they find it motivating to work in this place. Here they often work alongside classmates to think both deeply and creatively.

“This work can be very challenging so we work together. This often means that you are learning from each other but we all have to play our part. People have different strengths so you are stronger together.” (Valentina) 

The students were in agreement that thinking hard is about stretching the limits of your learning.

“For me, it is about pushing yourself. Sometimes this is trial and error. You might get something wrong but that is OK because you can learn from it.” (Nivaan) 

We explored further how the children feel about the notion of making mistakes in their learning. It was striking how confident they all were to discuss this and the maturity they brought to this concept. They saw no negative aspect to making errors in learning, on the contrary. For them, this is learning opportunity.

“At Horizon we build a belief that we can achieve anything. This is just a feeling inside. We know that our teachers are there for us. They do step in, but not too much.” (Stella) 

The students used the term ‘safe’ to describe how they feel at school. Zain neatly summed this up in commenting:

“The teachers here listen, really listen; they listen and watch so that they know what you need.” (Zain) 

For me the students demonstrated a maturity beyond their years in showing that the quality of relationships in the classroom are fundamental to having a high degree of challenge.

“Because they really know us, they know how far they can push us.” (Valentina) 

My takeaways from this conversation were:

1. These students have a clear understanding of themselves as learners and this is, in my opinion, a superpower.
2. Their school and classroom culture results in them feeling safe and that making mistakes is seen by them as integral to learning.
3. They value the way that teachers know them in order to push them into the stretch zone.

The punchline… it is cool to be clever. What a privilege to spend time with young people that love learning. They are a true credit to their school community and their families.

To find out more about Horizon English School, click here or here.