Coronavirus Chronicles

2 Jun 2020 - by Bernadette Carmody

The director of the International School in Amsterdam (ISA) shares why student agency is so important. In a series of filmed interviews, the ‘Coronavirus Chronicles’, Rania and Trinabh, ISA students, explain how they came to make lessons for distance learning inspired by Stories that Move.

Bernadette Carmody: The students in our classrooms today are the thought leaders and decision makers for our global society of tomorrow. If they don’t find their voices with us, how will they be ready to speak out against discrimination in the future? If we don’t encourage them to express their experiences of exclusion, their perspectives on discrimination, how are they going to be able to live their lives embracing diversity and tolerance?

Students learn through sharing stories that are meaningful and relevant to them, helping them value that discrimination doesn’t belong to the era of the Second World War or take place somewhere else to a distant group of unknown people. But that discrimination is linked to the choices they make on a daily basis, choices that impact those around them. Our contexts are rife with opportunities for our students to take initiative to identify injustice and inequality, and to give voice to a call for change. It’s imperative that we create ways for them to take advantage of those opportunities.