Global Education
The Head-Royce School
Global Education Program Mission
The mission of the Global Education Program at Head-Royce is to instill
in our community a deeper understanding of and appreciation for cultures
and people around the globe. An element in the School’s broad mission
of scholarship, diversity and citizenship, our program seeks to prepare
students to address the complex issues other countries face in a rapidly
changing and increasingly interconnected world. While the context of this
education varies throughout our K-12 curriculum, the following are the
general abilities we seek to develop in our students:
• To appreciate the values and priorities of the many countries
and cultures of the world;
• To analyze global issues and challenges;
• To understand the interconnectedness of global systems—economic,
social, cultural, racial, religious, technological, and ecological;
• To evaluate how and why conflicts among groups arise and to
practice various conflict resolution strategies;
• To take action for positive outcomes by developing the habit
of translating beliefs into specific strategies for change and by searching
for just and peaceful solutions to international problems.
Programs
The School achieves the Global Education mission through the following
programs:
• Global education connections in the curriculum emphasizing
international issues;
• School-sponsored international travel, study, and service programs;
• Connections and partnerships with schools and communities around
the world;
• Guest speakers and performers focusing on cross-cultural and
international issues;
• Professional development for educators who want to globalize
their curriculum.
Global Education Curriculum
In 2004-05 we analyzed our K-12 curriculum through the lens of global
education, using as our lens the core principles in our mission statement.
The international and global content is rich and deep throughout the academic
program, beginning with the study of people around the world in Lower
School literature, social studies, science and the study of Spanish and
French. In Middle School, the focus deepens with the formal World Languages
curriculum that includes Chinese and Latin in addition to those above
and a two-year Global Studies course beginning in Eighth Grade, focusing
on Africa, Latin American, China, Russia, India and globalization. In
the Upper School, there are, in addition to the core curriculum, special
senior elective offerings on topics that range from Japanese Literature
to Asia Rising. Throughout the K-12 curriculum the science and math departments
speak a truly international language, and the fine arts frequently incorporates
cultural content from other nations. The formal report on our Global
Education curriculum is available here . The study was followed
the next year by a K-12 review of diversity in the curriculum. We are
currently integrating these two vital curricular strands and preparing
for further steps to enrich the global education curriculum. Importantly,
the Head-Royce has also embraced the goal of becoming a model green school
and adopted a statement about the principles of ecological literacy to
guide the further development of the curriculum.
The School actively engages its students, faculty, staff, board, parents,
and alumni in advancing our global education mission. Consistent with
the School mission, we believe that a program based on these core values
will prepare our students to be effective global citizens as they face
and embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future.
Travel, Study, and Service Programs
The School offers extensive opportunities for students, especially in
the Upper School, to engage in travel, study abroad, and service learning
projects of a global nature. In recent years Head-Royce has offered several
School-designed trips abroad, including a summer program in China and
Thailand, World Languages Department-sponsored spring break trips to countries
such as Spain, France, Italy, and Peru, and special summer travel and
service to countries like Guatemala. We maintain an extensive list of
programs that are available to students and host an annual Summer Opportunities
Fair to provide up-to-date information. Regarding study abroad, the School
offers a flexible policy designed to encourage students to spend a semester
or year abroad in high school, through our participation in the School
Year Abroad consortium, with campuses in France, Italy, Spain and China.
In addition, we partner with a number of domestic programs from Oxbow
for the arts to City Term. A full listing of programs and partnerships,
as well as the policies that are used to approve student study-abroad
proposals, can be found on our Upper
School/Off-Campus Study Programs section of the website.
We have established a financial aid policy to ensure that these trips
are accessible to all of our students.
The School is committed to instilling in our students a commitment to
service, both at home and abroad. On the School’s web site, there
is a full description of our
service learning curriculum , which includes an Upper School
requirement of 40 hours. Importantly, students can receive funding for
local service projects through the Make A Difference Program and overseas
through the Falik Fund EPIC grants program.
Global Partnerships
The School benefits from a great many partnerships with schools around
the world. We are a member of Global Connections, a consortium of over
200 public and private schools around the world, whose principals meet
periodically to promote global understanding. The School Head Paul Chapman
has traveled to 23 countries on six continents, made friends and established
connections, especially in China, India, Peru, Guatemala, South Africa,
Bulgaria and Romania. As a member of ASSIST, we sponsor annually a student
from another country and make available their European study opportunities
to the faculty. School personnel have also been regular participants in
the NAIS Global Summit. We have helped launch the Bay Area Global Education
Network (BAGEN) in conjunction with the Bay
Area Teacher Development Project (BATDC), and a member of
the history and English departments and a specialist in Asian studies,
Saya McKenna, has created summer conferences at Stanford and UC Berkeley
focused on global studies. We regularly host visits to our School from
our global partners, including recent delegations from the Shanghai Children’s
Palace, the Pardada Pardadi School for Girls in India, Fotokids from Guatemala
City, visiting principals from China through California State University
East Bay, and groups from Korea and Vietnam consulting about how to build
independent schools in their home countries.
Global Speakers Program
We take advantage of our position in the Bay Area, and our regular assembly
programs, to invite speakers and programs to the school who can offer
a global perspective. A sampling of recent speakers and presentations
includes: • a screening of Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient
Truth” • Green Day assembly with Lynn Simon, consultant on
the School’s LEED certification • Head-Royce parent and alternative
fuels expert Dan Kammen on "Energy Hunter-Gathers to Energy Farmers"
• Mark Mathabane, author of Kaffir Boy • Tibetan monks from
Gaden Jangtse Monastery • Tuvan throat singers from the area between
Mongolia and Siberia • Indian drumming from Tabla Rasa • Chinese
Acrobats • Daniel Ellsberg on the Iraq War • Greg Mortenson's
school project in Pakistan and Afghanistan • author Jared Diamond
on Guns, Germs and Steel • faculty member Peter Reinke on The Kibera
Girls' Project in Kenya • alumna Anna Key of The Malawi Youth Project
• an Upper School film festival featuring films about aid in Afghanistan
and Cambodian refugees in Seattle and • Hector Salgado on the reign
of terror in the Pinochet regime in Chile.
Professional Development
The School’s Professional Development Program provides approximately
$250,000 annually to ensure that Head-Royce and its faculty stay globally
connected. Examples from 2004-06 professional development projects with
a global perspective include: • study-travel for faculty and administration
members to India, Canada, China, Italy, Ecuador, Peru, Tunisia, France,
Ireland, Kenya, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, and Guatemala • participation
in the Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education
(SPICE) conference entitled "Global Questions, Classroom Connections
• and training in language instruction including the Foreign Language
Association of Northern California (FLANC), the Advanced Placement Spanish
Literature seminar; and the Alliance Francaise. This year the School announced
the establishment of the Dan and Lily Chao Family Chair to recognize a
member of faculty who embraces the School's mission to develop global
citizens, and excels in the teaching of language, culture, history, politics,
religion, or society. The Chair supports faculty in the study of these
disciplines with an emphasis on China and other Asian countries, and also
including other developing countries in Africa, the Middle East, Latin
America, and Europe.
As the world changes rapidly, so too does our Global Education Program.
Please check this website for updates on our growing and important connection
with the globe.
