As I arrived for my job interview, I met a PYP student, probably Year 3 or 4, who asked me where I was from. 

“Australia,” I said (true at the time). “My friend has a didgeridoo,” he responded. “Can you play it?”

I loved this immediate association between a country and a symbol of its culture.

I was successful in the interview and soon felt I had arrived at school that embodied my core values, that hosted a diverse community and fostered knowledge of and mediation between cultures - as my friendly welcome showed.

I believe many of us who work in international schools have these same thoughts and hopes.

Yet, as students grow in this environment, there is a dilemma: are students at an international school, which is a costly, unique and therefore privileged reality, aware of the world outside or are they in a small, self-selecting community?

Paradoxically, perhaps, international schools should be the ones doing the most to create links with the wider community and the rest of the world if we don’t want our young people to grow up in an insular, self-entitled world.

Here are three ways we can avoid this.

1. Hear real-life stories

A colleague of mine, an MYP coordinator and language and literature teacher, has always tried to resolve this tension by designing units on global issues that stem from real stories that students can experience first-hand.

For instance, a unit on immigration and tolerance includes a school visit by volunteers from a rescue organisation.

The historical background of Second World War literature is recreated via a direct testimony by the husband of one of our teachers, who lived in East Berlin and served in the military in his twenties.

Creating connections by letting students interact with people sharing their true stories can be a vital way to help students learn about the experiences of those from entirely different backgrounds, times and locations.

2. Interact with local schools

This can also be achieved by providing opportunities for international students to meet their peers at our schools.

For example, last year I organised an excursion to a government school nearby, where our students participated and challenged themselves in a book reading competition with their peers.

Given the success of this initiative, the same school invited us to visit them again and watch a presentation on teenage use of recreational drugs.

Student feedback on these initiatives was overwhelmingly positive: when we create connections, learning does make sense and the world becomes bigger.

3. Start a ‘Model United Nations’

Another good focus we use at our school is the Model United Nations (MUN).

It teaches students to use debating and mediation capacities to resolve conflicts that take them outside their comfort zone of school and the usually well-provided-for life they know and makes them see global issues from another point of view that can shake their ideas.

The MUN model works as a competition in which students are assigned a country whose ideas they have to express in order to pass favourable resolutions. It involves paper writing, public debating, negotiating and diplomacy.

Not only does MUN contribute to preparing students academically, but it also helps them build the courage to express their opinions and to listen actively and with an open mind to those who challenge them, allowing them to see that it is possible to find a solution to global issues.

In my experience, students flourish when they see that their ideas do make sense and can have an impact on the world.

For teachers just starting to think about this, I would urge them to refer to the IB student profile: we need to form balanced students, who are aware of themselves and their privilege and, for this reason, can take action in the world. 

Overall, it is about doing whatever we can to promote activities and experiences that allow us to keep giving students an awareness of different cultures, experiences and the wider world to serve them well for their future.

Fulvia Galigani is an International Baccalaureate language and literature teacher at an international school in Italy