Dr Siva Kumari: 'Good education should be possible in all settings'

Edarabia interviewed one of education’s most influential figures, Dr. Siva Kumari, where she discussed her vision, aspirations, and advice to educators around the world.

1. Your vision for the IB is to become a global connector of students and educators. How does this vision correlate with the IB Diploma Programme group on Tes?

We have inspiring IB teachers around the world who implement great teaching in their classrooms. Tes offered to quickly create a customized platform for our teachers at no cost to the IB. This adds to the many services that IB offers to enable its worldwide community share their deep expertise with each other and non-IB educators.

2. Can you explain how collaborative working can help educators improve their way of teaching? How will the Tes platform be beneficial?

In our standards for schools, we ask that teachers plan curriculum together so that the coherence of concepts and learning across disciplines is clear to the students. The more coherence created through planning, the better for the teachers and students, so that the IB’s approaches to learning and teaching are also embedded. The IB itself co-creates its materials with IB educators and experts, incorporating new knowledge and understandings about learning and teaching, gathered from worldwide practitioners and worldwide educational standards.

Currently, we train teachers to provide professional development for their peers, as part of a highly effective system of peer-to-peer learning, and sharing of best practices. The IB Diploma Programme group on Tes will facilitate the sharing of such practices along with an organized structure, so teachers can easily find them.

3. Some teachers in other parts of the world have limited or no access to high-tech teaching material. How can the IB help educators bridge this knowledge gap?

We believe that excellent teaching and learning should be available to as many schools, teachers and students as possible, regardless of where they teach and learn, or what their socio-economic background may be. Good education should be possible in all settings. Through this platform, we hope examples of good classroom practice are available to schools of all educators. We hope the IB and Tes together are making a small dent in bridging this knowledge gap.

4. What was your most valued memory working in education?

I consider myself so very blessed to be able to work in the IB World. Two examples of how IB students learn are fond memories. First, a nine-year-old- girl in Jordan explaining with passion and conviction why she was investigating ferrets. Second, a young student telling me why the Middle Years Programme (MYP) personal project was unfair because she wanted to write a complete novel about “human kindness” and the time and word limit allocated did not allow her to do what she wanted to do!

5. What are the most common barriers you see to academic progress?

We continuously work to stay at the cutting edge of innovation—in learning and teaching approaches, the ways our students are assessed and, most important, how we can prepare them for life and careers in the 21st century. Our philosophy, 50 years on, is still relevant today. Good quality teachers are hard to find and when found, they need to be mentally nourished to do their best work. We are putting human development in their hands and therefore we need to remove barriers for them to fully develop our next generation of humanity.

6. How do you see the role of the parent in the learning process?

At the IB, our thinking centres on the learner. We encourage our schools to get parents to commit to understanding our programmes, so they can be partners with the school in developing critical thinkers and change makers. Parents play an extraordinary role in ensuring the child is ready to be the best learner that they can be – this is different for each student, even if they are born to the same parents.

7. As the first woman to hold the post of Director General at the IB, what is your message for women educators aspiring to raise the future generation of leaders?

Educators choose to work hard every day in developing future generations. The IB believes that excellent education shapes future leaders and should be available to all—inclusion and access are central to our philosophy. We also believe that successful humans recognize the perspectives of others, remain continually curious, think critically, and embrace new learning throughout their lives. Therefore, we are thankful that IB educators worldwide make this effort every day and, as we celebrate our 50th, we have so many inspiring examples from so many generations that have learned the IB way.