UWC Thailand Represents the Nation in Top 100 Global School Showcase during World Education Week. It is the only school from Thailand to rank in the top 100 Global School Showcase.
About the event
THAILAND: On Monday 5th October from 3-4pm GMT (9-10pm BKK time), a panel from UWC Thailand International School will present the school’s expertise on “Mindfulness and its Role in Wellbeing in Schools”. The presentation is part of World Education Week (WEW), the world’s biggest education conference, enabling schools to share their learning and is expected to reach over 100,000 attendees from 5-9th October.
The 100 schools will join together to drive progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on Quality Education (SDG 4) — designed to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. UWC Thailand is the only school in Thailand to be amongst the Top 100 and has the honour of presenting first.
“Since UWC Thailand’s founding in 2008, social-emotional learning and mindfulness has been one of our core pillars. The motto of the school — ”Good Heart, Balanced Mind, Healthy Body”— is alive and well here, permeating every aspect of our programme,” explains Jason McBride, UWC Thailand Head of School. “Our goal is to raise great human beings who will use education as a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and sustainability. To create lasting change, children have to first know themselves in order to be able to know others and how to work with them for a better future.”
Mindfulness session
Although the need for mindfulness education has come to the fore in many global conversations, UWC Thailand’s experience embedding mindfulness across a Nursery to Grade 12 curriculum for over a decade is a case study on how to turn conversations into action. In sharing the school’s three-part approach of “be mindful, teach mindfully, teach mindfulness”, WEW conference attendees will learn about staff training, mindfulness and wellness integration into timetables, and building a mindful community of student and parent practitioners.
The session will be moderated by McBride and led by Lucy Keller, Head of Mindfulness at UWC Thailand. Student, teacher and staff perspectives will also be shared through conversations with a diverse panel during the session. The key takeaways are:
- Why mindfulness is integral to UWC Thailand and how it could benefit other schools.
- How to build a community that pauses, notices, and checks in.
- How to practice paying attention with kindness and curiosity to the present moment.
- How teachers can work on getting over the guilt of taking time for their own practice or time “off timetable” with the students to practice mindfulness.
- How-to resources for starting your school’s mindfulness programme.
This ground-breaking event is led by Vikas Pota, a globally-respected leader and driving force in the education, international development, philanthropy and technology sectors.
In launching the event, Mr Pota said: “I am incredibly inspired by the schools that applied to take part in this year’s World Education Week. Their commitment to improving the life chances of their learners by nurturing expertise and wanting to share their experience with others, especially in these challenging times, says a lot about the global education community.
“By sharing the ways in which these schools have developed their expertise, we can encourage others to feel inspired to undertake the same journey to excellence. That is a real and tangible way in which World Education Week can accelerate progress on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals”
The project was also welcomed by Jaime Saavedra, the Global Director for Education at the World Bank. “The sheer scale of educators around the globe combining to share expertise, excellence and wisdom in accelerating learning is hugely impressive,” Saaverda said. “If all educators learn from the best educators of their countries and of the world we would make immense progress in ensuring inclusive, equitable and quality education for all.”
Register and Info
The event, sponsored by the LEGO Foundation & Jacobs Foundation, will be hosted from the World Education Week website, with registration opening from September 1st.
For clarification or more information from UWC Thailand contact: communications@uwcthailand.ac.th
For information about World Education Week, please contact Vikas Pota on +447956959637
