2nd Annual International Education Conference

Charlotte's 2nd. International Education Conference, hosted by BASC and supported by local public and private schools, created a synergy among educators about internationalism in our schools.  We were thrilled that Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard Univerisity visited our school on the Thursday site visit.  His visit attracted over 80 visitors to our school. Our Middle School students acted as school ambassadors and were keen to show their understanding of Dr. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. They also stayed on to hear him speak.  Aaron Keers, a Year 8 student, introduced Howard Gardner with great composure.  Dr. Gardner treated his mixed audience of educators and parents to a brief summary of his theory and then went on the discuss how his work had been used in schools. Much of the session was given over to questions, several of them from our students.  After the discussions, many of the visitors toured our school.  My over-riding reflection on his visit was his implied endorsement of our approaches and practices. He was particularly vocal about the need for developing the whole child rather than on a narrow, academic, testdriven curriculum. 

On Friday, May 2nd, all our learning staff, along with 150 other participants, attended a series of inputs at TIAA CREF.  Dr. Gardner spoke about his recent work, detailed in his book ‘Five Minds for the Future'.  Again his educational thrust was very much in line with BASC's philosophy of education.  He wasn't the only expert.  Both our deputy heads shared their experience and expertise at the conference.  Jude Ross spoke about 'Differentiation' and Emma Haworth explained the thinking behind ‘Assessment for Learning'.  We are proud to be recognised to be at the forefront of the best educational practice.

We are looking forward to next year's conference on March 26 & 27, 2009 featuring our keynote speaker,  Dr. Gary P. Ferraro, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his BA in history from Hamilton College and his MA and Ph.D. degrees from Syracuse University.  Dr. Ferraro has conducted research for extended periods of time in Kenya and Swaziland and has traveled widely throughout many other parts of the world. Ferraro has served as a consultant for such organizations as USAID, the Peace Corps, and the World Bank.

For more information about the International Education Conference, visit the conference web site at  www.ieccharlotte.com.