A New Mission

Un nuevo cometido

Yesterday we broke ground for our first community garden. The communal act of weeding, clearing the soil, and turning it over, is a metaphor for what we have recently done with our Mission Statement. 

In our pursuit of extraordinariness--becoming one of Europe’s finest international schools--we have revised our mission, with the approval of the BFIS Foundation. This is noteworthy as it indicates we are continuously examining and refining our work, making even more coherent who we and where we are and how we need to evolve.

I would like to highlight three of its elements, as in them lays the kernel of our present, our past and our future.

The first describes BFIS as “embodying the values of international education: multiple perspectives, broad-mindedness, and multilingualism.” This is who we are: diverse, multinational, and multilingual. Our challenge is in making these values permeate everything we do—curriculum and instruction, community engagement, hiring, how we relate to and communicate with each other and the world.

Second, “connecting teaching and learning to the world…in the partnership…between children and teachers, community is lived.” This statement speaks to learning as a social act, an interaction between people, ideas, and the world. Facts and information that are not connected to the world, to real issues and problems is extraneous and superficial. We are committed to learning as an exciting and purposeful encounter that fosters personal responsibility, cooperation, imaginative thinking, problem solving and empathy.

And finally, “we view education as an opportunity for children to use their minds well and become global citizens contributing to building a more just and habitable world.” To use one’s mind well is to think practically, analytically, imaginatively, and wisely. To be an educated citizen in the 21st century will require the kind of inventiveness, collaboration and resiliency that can restore balance to a world at risk of losing the possibility of its own sustainability and well-being.

A new mission statement is a new roadmap. It designates a course and provides a direction. Holding the compass to our future, it points in a direction where everything is possible: new gardens, bold initiatives, joy and diligence in learning.