Vision on internationalisation

 

Our common vision on internationalisation is in accordance with the overall mission of our school. Obviously, we based our Equal Opportunities policy, our Language policy, our Cross-curricular and ICT policy and our vision on professional development of staff members on this mission statement, our pedagogical project.

FUNDAMENTAL PREMISES from the various policy documents reflect our vision on internationalisation

• We want to help young people in their growth to maturity focussing on the christian values:

Solidarity with and respectful treatment of all others, especially (young) people with fewer opportunities, is one of the priorities of the Daughters of the Cross, the founders of our school. The foundress of the Congregation was born in Belgium (Liège) and nowadays, there are religious communities in different European countries (England, Ireland, Italy and Germany) and in other parts of the world. Skills for exploring foreign cultures and values needed for cultural adjustment have always been transmitted to the co-workers who are involved in the various organisations of the Sisters.

• We consider society as a network of relationships & partnerships. The individual always is in interaction with:

• We recognize the added value of the diversity in society, quality interactions with each other, cooperation and networking and the social function of education. Apart from achieving the curricular final objectives, we especially invest in working on the cross-curricular attainment targets.

Only a small number of final objectives of contexts 5 & 6 – Political-legal & Socio-cultural society – are integrated in the subject-related attainment targets of our pupils. Therefore we organise multidisciplinary learning activities, focusing on democratic participation, the importance of human and children’s rights, the European and international cooperation, the rise of globalisation, respect for differences about all aspects of societal and cultural life in the own living community and between different cultural groups.

• We focus on the discovery and the development of the pupils’ talents in our tailor-made/adaptive education. We aim at a balanced development of the 3 competence domains: knowledge & understanding, skills and attitudes. Via activating, cross-curricular and competence-based learning activities, organised in a heterogeneous context, we try to give an answer to the question: which pupil needs what to maximize his/her learning potential, regardless his/her background characteristics?
  The pupils acquire a diverse range of competences in order to – individually and collectively – take up their role as an active and critical citizen in a democratic and globalised society. In such a society, the continuous development of the Key Competences for Lifelong Learning of the European Commission framework is essential.

We especially stimulate an intercultural understanding and the appreciation of cultural diversity. Hence, an interest and curiosity in languages and intercultural communication are indispensable.

Since international mobility is not available for all, we facilitate the confident and critical use of Information Society Technology to engage in communities and networks for cultural, social and other learning purposes.

• We aim at four common goals >in our comprehensive, autonomous middle school:

We consider the first two years of secondary education in the middle school as a pivotal period for the pupils. They pass a process of becoming an ‘actor’ in defining their educational career based on a broadened understanding of their own learning competences. Skills for evolving in clarifying their self-concept, broadening their horizon and making choices are focused upon.

• We are convinced of the following educational principles:

• We believe in the positive effects of applying the 3 S-reference framework of pedagogical skills to optimize the learning and living context at school for all pupils and stakeholders:

We aim at enhancing the wellbeing of all at school so that all stakeholders are inclined to engage in continuous learning processes according to their abilities and interests. Cooperation is the key word and we are totally convinced that investment in internal or external (learning) partnerships and networks is more than rewarding.