North by North East
This week I will be accompanying the middle school football teams to Stavanger in Norway. Partly my hope is to see some wonderful football - the kind of fluent total football pioneered by Johan Cruyff, and inherited by Barcelona at its peak and now Pep Guardiola who trained under Cruyff. I expect to see exquisite skills, and a style of play that looks like water tumbling down a verdant Norwegian fjord, into the still waters of the goal mouth. A scrappy 1-0 victory will also do.
The other reason is that like us, Stavanger International School, (SIS) is an international school in the north of Europe, in an oil economy seeking to move to the regenerative model of society, economy and education. Like us they also have a programme aligned to the international baccalaureate. They share with us Scottish and Nordic values around community, equality and fairness; around openness in communication and a commitment to kindness and belonging for all.
Stavanger has long been described as a sister school to ISA - and we hope to reinvigorate that relationship between the two schools academically and culturally. Rather than being a one off action, this is part of a strategy we are developing around professional learning and community. In my head this is called 'North by North East'. This is both a joke about South by South West (SXSW) the cultural gathering that tends to shape or reflect much modern discourse on culture and education; but also a homage to our unique position in the 'north east'.
Over the break I re-read the Icelandic Orkneyinga Sagas.
What is extraordinary is the rich network of daily contact between the north east of Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Norway and Iceland in this period between 900 and 1200 AD. Relatives, friends, alliances are scattered across the North Sea, and all the historical characters regularly meet, mingle and move. Even Aberdeen gets a mention! I can only assume it was a very small fishing village in 800 AD.
Our hope is that as these same countries now make the energy transition happen, and move our education systems from the industrial model to the regenerative model, that those same friendships and alliances can be rediscovered and enrich our sense of our place as 'thriving global citizens in north east Scotland'.
Comments
Post a Comment