Private International School Abu Dhabi: Shaping students for AI, sustainability, entrepreneurship

How is your school rethinking curricula to balance core academics with emerging skills like AI literacy, sustainability, and entrepreneurship?

Our school has developed a very systematic approach in the curriculum design, development, modification, adaptation and implementation, keeping in mind the needs of all groups of students. Curriculum modification is done in three phases in an academic year under the supervision of the School Academic Council; thus, we always rethink, review and revise our curriculum design to ensure that our students are not only strong in core academic subjects but also in various skills required in the 21st century.

Our school was one of those schools that took proactive steps in integrating AI with coding from Grade 1 to 12, that too around 4 years back. We were one of the few schools to have received multiple awards for our Global sustainability projects and activities.

We have successfully implemented various entrepreneurial activities, including programmes to develop an entrepreneurial mindset among our students, such as the entrepreneurial incubation centre. (148)

In what ways are project-based or experiential learning methods helping students connect theory with real-world applications?

Nowadays, everybody talks a lot about experiential learning, claiming that they connect theory with real-life experiences. But what is really going on inside the classroom? We at Bhavans Abu Dhabi realised that experiential learning is one of the most effective learning and teaching tools that help our learners to connect their theoretical knowledge with the real world.

And that is why we implemented a mandatory project-based credit system in our school. In addition to this, our teachers efficiently and expertly encourage students to link all the topics they learn with the real-life application of the same.

Cross-curricular learning is effectively integrated into our learning plans, and it is strongly embedded in our education system. Subject-specific annual activities are conducted by each dept. to promote innovation and experiential learning.

How does your school ensure students remain adaptable in an era where many future careers don’t yet exist?

Excellent question. As a school, we are well aware of the fact that there is a need for a paradigm shift from our traditional teaching and learning methodology to prepare our students for future careers that don’t even exist now, and we are uncertain about it. Hence, in line with our school’s vision – ‘creating global citizens through innovation and excellence in education’ - to prepare our students for their future careers, we do give a lot of emphasis and focus on developing their core skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, team work, promotion of experimentation and investigative skills, equipping them to be digitally competent and responsible and thereby strengthening their adaptability and lifelong learning.

What partnerships with industries, universities, or community organisations are helping your school better prepare students for future careers?

See, there is no doubt that a partnership with various universities and community organisations is one of the best ways to prepare our students for future careers. We have partnered with multiple institutions, such as hospitals to arrange observership programmes for our students during the summer break.

Many students attend these programmes. We have also collaborated with some universities in the UAE and India to make sure that the transition from school to higher education is smooth and effective for our student community.

We have also partnered with some community organisations such as the Emirates Environmental Agency, the Red Crescent, FOCP, etc, for volunteering and community service. These partnerships have helped us to extend the learning opportunities for our students beyond our classrooms. We have also developed a strong network of alumni who support us to meet these requirements.