Education Blog

In any challenging 21^st century academic environment, the co/extra–curricular clubs and activities are more than crucial because of their complementary and differentiated/personalized nature and their integration with the curricula and learning objectives, in and outside the classroom. The Majority of schools worldwide strive to build and generate a co/extra-curricular layer of Education fully integrated within their learning and facilitating competencies and facilitated by faculty members’ differentiated directorial resources. Schools can define specific learning outcomes for their extra/co-curricular activities. Learning outcomes are somewhat different from assessment objectives because they are not rated on a scale. For the school, the “completion decision” concerning each student is, simply, an answer to the question, “Have these outcomes been achieved?” These activities must be based on the One Subject Called Knowledge pedagogical approach and enable students to acquire detailed knowledge and skills through a deductive learning/facilitating methodology. Major Learning Outcomes can be summarized as below:

• Students will explore and illustrate their assets and will acquire different new areas and skills for development.
• Students will prove and justify that they can overcome challenges that they face, and will develop new skills, capabilities, and talents that they can utilize in the future to accomplish their lifelong goals.
• Students will illustrate & establish team-spirit, collaborative planning, and learning skills as well as recognize the benefits of working and accomplishing goals collaboratively.
• Students will perceive and demonstrate that they are always dedicated and committed in all their tasks and activities.
• Students will validate that they have acquired and mastered needed initiation and planning competencies and skills.
• Students will prove that they are able to face and overcome all the challenges needed to successfully engage with global and international issues for a better and peaceful tomorrow.
• Students will support and defend their ethical values based on their 21^st Century Learner Profile traits and personality in their choices and actions.
• Students will develop new abilities, talents, and skills: As with all new challenges, students will try new skills or increase their expertise in an established area.

  Eight Major Pedagogical Pillars are mainly nurtured within the students while they are meeting the above learning outcomes:

• Nurturing the 21^stCentury Lifelong Learner Profile.
• Reinforcing their Country’s Identity and Culture and integrating it within all lessons.
• Meeting and exceeding expectations of the Real-Life Based Pedagogical Approach.
• Reinforcing Community Service is one of the significant pillars of 21^st Century Education.
• Reinforcing the One Subject Called Knowledge Approach.
• Integrating STEAMS-based Education as the central pillar governing most differentiated instructional strategies within the facilitating/learning environment.
• Enabling and Reinforcing Classrooms Without Borders Methodology within a learning community based geographical environment.
• Integrating the Hidden Curriculum by reinforcing and implementing an effective and efficient facilitator profile with role model traits reflecting the 21^st century lifelong learner characters and attributes.

  Co/Extra-Curricular activities are no longer just specific activities and a series of clubs. They represent a crucial layer in any curriculum, which is why we need to redefine our curricular concept from an OVERT single-layered curriculum to a multi-layered curriculum. This curriculum will have different connected layers that will break the wall between schools and students and will make sure that all students’ “How(s), When(s), What(s), Where(s), and Why(s)” are answered and clearly met.