The SchoolsCompared.com Interview. ‘Bob Dylan, The Future of Education and Not Trading Away Kindness for Cynicism.’ Dr Saima Rana On The Record.

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“Sticking Plasters, Selective Schools, Being Progressive and Listening to Ambition.”

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SchoolsCompared.com: How do you feel about single sex schools? Do you think we should have more all-girls and all-boys schools, or is it better that girls and boys are educated together?

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

I think boys and girls should live together and share common experiences, values, and ambitions. I think schools that separate them do so for different reasons but often the reasons are to do with fears that mixing them will prevent their child from learning well. I think the best way to address that fear is to make all schools outstanding. Everything else is just a sticking plaster avoiding the fact that some schools let their students down. I can see how girls not having to put up with boys might help them, and that boys not being distracted by girls might also help then. But I know that a well-run mixed school can see the interplay of boys and girls as a vital resource in helping the students grow into respectful citizens used to dealing on equal terms with the other gender. Single sex schools advertise that genders can’t really work together – and that doesn’t sit well with me who knows that outside of these artificial regimes the world insists that we all live together and so we’d better learn how to do it.

But we all know that there are religious views, strongly held, that make single sex schooling obligatory. We do need to recognise this and accommodate these views and, of course, we have done this already. And the shared religious sensibilities that drive this need are not ones that elsewhere are about elitism and sometimes sexism. Religious roots are deeply inscribed in the culture and so need to be properly respected.

SchoolsCompared.com: Do you think we will ever have progressive schools – something like Summerhill or Bedales in the UK, in the UAE. Summerhill does not insist on children sitting examinations at all, and Bedales has created its own alternative qualifications to GCSEs in the shape of BACs. Could GEMS create its own qualifications? Should all schools be more progressive?

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

 

Well, first of all, it should be noted that there are several educationally high-ranking countries that give some schools some autonomy over their exam systems and curriculum. In some provinces in Canada, parts of New Zealand, Australia, schools can set their own exams, and in the Netherlands, for example, schools design their ‘schools’ exam’ that are used alongside national exams. In Sweden, schools can develop their own assessments that are then evaluated by external examiners and in Finland schools have some autonomy to make their own assessments. I think it’s important that these are part of a national or regional agreed protocol rather than a single standalone institution. What these examples point to is a broad agreement among the larger community as to how to run assessments and schools. There are many aspects of progressive education that are undoubtedly attractive to many people – not just the ability to set one’s own assessments but the self-autonomy of the learner, lack of uniform and self-directed learning. However, there are disadvantages to this approach. Self-directed learning can mean that horizons need not ever be challenged and expanded. Rigour can suffer. Lack of uniform can lead to a lack of collegiality and so forth. I would welcome greater control over what we teach and how we assess it, but I am always aware of the need to balance the desire for autonomy (at both school and individual levels) with the need for rigour and collegiality. Many GEMS schools are progressive – we strive to be personalised, we offer rich broad curricula, cater for a huge number of interests in our extra-curricular work and encourage critical, creative, and bold thinking. Could there be more progressivism? My perspective is largely built on what I hear parents and students asking for and it isn’t Summerhill but a structured rigorous education that caters for the whole student – the mind, the heart, the spirit, and the body. When I offer that it’s what they want and what they say they need, and I agree with them.    

SchoolsCompared.com: If we do have the chance to build new schools, should we be taking everything we have learned that works here, and then putting all this knowledge into those new schools. What have we learned? What would perfect schools, built from scratch, look like?

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

They would look much like many of our current schools because these are outstanding schools working at the cutting edge of educational provision. We are already putting what we have learned into schools and will continue to do so. We know that every new school needs to organise itself around the needs of the whole student – not just one or two aspects but the whole – and should be for life so that even after they have completed their schooling, they still consider themselves as part of the school community. I’ve talked a lot about what GEMS schools are about and the new ones will be just like that, built on the same principles. Of course, a new school from scratch does offer some opportunities such as new buildings and new technologies. I worked for a while on the UK educational initiative Building Schools for the Future and learned what a great school building can look like to facilitate great learning and a stress-free learning environment – and I’ve been privileged to utilise this knowledge in improving the built environment of my own school.

Schools need to speak to the ambitions of all its learners – that’s why school building design is so important. But whether in a new build or refreshing an old one, the principles for enhancing school environments is already important to GEMS. We aren’t waiting to apply what we know just to new schools. Similarly with technologies. GEMS is very clear that the new digital technologies are very important tools for schools. I am a techno-enthusiast and understand the relationship between schools and these brilliant technologies. But again, this knowledge is not awaiting implementation in future schools – we are already implementing it.   

Dr Saima Rana on academic selection, and other forms of discrimination: “I think’ selection’ is code for prejudices of all sorts and therefore would be very cautious about introducing these kinds of schools.”

SchoolsCompared.com: GEMS does not have purely academically selective schools. Should it?

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

One of the great values of GEMS is inclusivity. This is the opposite of selection. I know that if a school is outstanding then gifted and talented students will do equally well in that school than in a selective one. The value of inclusivity touches on everything I have been discussing. And it isn’t clear to me how ‘academically selective’ will be parsed so that it won’t be sexist. After all, based on current exams, girls outperform boys in many subjects – including math and English. Would a selective school honestly reflect this fact? Oddly, when you look at so-called selective schools, they don’t. They include as many boys as girls, which tells me this selection business is not what it says it is. I think’ selection’ is code for prejudices of all sorts and therefore would be very cautious about introducing these kinds of schools. And I find that parents are supportive of them so long as their child gets in. And by definition, most children won’t.

SchoolsCompared.com: Should we be ensuring that all schools offer better breadth of subject options for students so each and every child has a genuine opportunity to find their gifts, rather than being put in boxes?

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

Of course, and at GEMS we are already working against any tendency to put people in boxes. In our schools, for example, the curriculum is broad and balanced and personalised so that students are able to follow their interests while engaging in a holistic educational pathway.

 

SchoolsCompared.com: Do you think we should have more farms in schools? More animals, embracing of forest school ideals, exploration of sustainability and agriculture…. Why/why not?

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

We’re living through a great extinction. Everyone needs to be made aware of this and start working on ways to help our non-human animals. We are in a desert and the ecology tends to include less of the iconic animals (tigers, elephants etc.) and many of the more ignored animals, particularly animals without backbones. So, I think we should have facilities and resources to build awareness and a farm might be something useful. And it should be recognised that the Great Spotted Eagle is one of the rarest and biggest eagles in the world and they live for a couple of months here in Dubai. I saw a pair of them in my first year here during the pandemic and they are incredible. We all need to be much more engaged and aware of these priceless riches right under our noses and make sure we intervene to prevent them dying out. And we should hear the alarm bells and act before it’s too late.

 

SchoolsCompared.com: Does it matter how buildings look and feel? If you look at UK public schools, it is often the extraordinary buildings that create a sense of a school’s power and impact. Should we be being much imaginative in the way we build new schools, and the facilities they have, rather than just putting up boxes? 

Dr Saima Rana, CEO/Principal, GEMS World Academy; Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education; and, Chief Education Ambassador, The Varkey Foundation:

“I think everything I’ve said so far has made it clear that I don’t think a great education is about putting people in boxes. And in our schools, we’ve implemented changes to the built environment to reflect the expanding curriculum and to enhance the sense of empowerment and ambition that the school embodies in everything it does. School buildings are more than just buildings: they make meanings, can support the ethos and culture of the school, generate excitement and a sense of belonging among the school community, build pride and a collective spirit to the whole enterprise and express the dynamical and hopeful aspects of the learning. An architecture that expresses hope is one that is working hand in hand with the whole of the school community to provide for the students. In my school I’ve ensured that every detail of the school – from the choice of materials, the use of space and glass, the signage and colours, an emphasis on lightness, space, and movement, are all coordinated to send out the message of the school’s values and ethos. Teaching spaces are fresh, dynamic, and carry a modern vibe; circulation spaces are bright and airy and make movement around the school easy and hassle free; and our signature spaces such as the new drama and music space, the iconic spiral staircase and the performance hall are all designed and fitted to be bright, striking, iconic and speak to activities imbued with a high status and confidence that reflects everything we believe education and our students to be.”    

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