How we got here...
What does it mean to serve others? To do so in a sustainable way? To empower our students to become passionate changemakers, eager to respond to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals? What does it mean to have a bias towards action? To cultivate empathy for others in a way that leads to authentic engagement? What does it mean to commit, as educators, to the principles of global citizenship and to believe that what we do in our classrooms and on our campuses can truly generate a wave of positive change?
These are questions that resonate deeply with both of us, and that have fueled our desire to found a network of educators in the Shanghai region who desire to think, dialogue, learn, and share ideas about these questions.
We believe that, whilst competition amongst schools in academics and sports can be a good thing, there are areas where it is not only unnecessary, but actually counter-productive. One such area is that of service and sustainability (i.e. those ideas central to the UN Global Goals). In these areas, we must work together, collaborate and share ideas, resources and solutions; these areas are beyond competition for if we combine our energy, everyone benefits - not just those in our schools, but people in our communities and in the wider world beyond.
The etymology of the word ‘compete’ comes directly from Latin competere, meaning to “strive in common” or “to meet or come together”. So ‘to compete’ did not actually originally mean to be better than, to be above, to be the best, but actually meant to meet and come together. With these thoughts, and with the encouragement of the ever-inspiring and energetic Cathryn Berger Kaye, we got together. It turned out we had been having many of these same thoughts just two blocks away from each other. So we asked ourselves, “Why don’t we take the word ‘compete’ back to its more traditional roots and set up a network where all schools in Shanghai can come together, strive in common, and generate sustainable change towards the UN Global Goals for 2030?”
Upon asking that question, there really was no valid argument against it that we could think of. Rather, there was a multitude of compelling reasons to build a Service and Sustainability Network for area educators.
And so, here we are. Welcome.
These are questions that resonate deeply with both of us, and that have fueled our desire to found a network of educators in the Shanghai region who desire to think, dialogue, learn, and share ideas about these questions.
We believe that, whilst competition amongst schools in academics and sports can be a good thing, there are areas where it is not only unnecessary, but actually counter-productive. One such area is that of service and sustainability (i.e. those ideas central to the UN Global Goals). In these areas, we must work together, collaborate and share ideas, resources and solutions; these areas are beyond competition for if we combine our energy, everyone benefits - not just those in our schools, but people in our communities and in the wider world beyond.
The etymology of the word ‘compete’ comes directly from Latin competere, meaning to “strive in common” or “to meet or come together”. So ‘to compete’ did not actually originally mean to be better than, to be above, to be the best, but actually meant to meet and come together. With these thoughts, and with the encouragement of the ever-inspiring and energetic Cathryn Berger Kaye, we got together. It turned out we had been having many of these same thoughts just two blocks away from each other. So we asked ourselves, “Why don’t we take the word ‘compete’ back to its more traditional roots and set up a network where all schools in Shanghai can come together, strive in common, and generate sustainable change towards the UN Global Goals for 2030?”
Upon asking that question, there really was no valid argument against it that we could think of. Rather, there was a multitude of compelling reasons to build a Service and Sustainability Network for area educators.
And so, here we are. Welcome.
Anthony Reich
Director of Global Citizenship Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong Anthony is an experienced secondary school teacher who cares deeply about embedding all areas of global citizenship, service learning, service in action and sustainability opportunities into students' lives. He works closely with student teams to create engaging service projects, and builds meaningful community events at his school. He loves to link learning to the UN Global Goals and is passionate about developing global citizens. He has taught internationally in IB schools for 16 years and is currently Director of Global Citizenship at Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong, where he and his family have lived since 2008. Anthony is also Chair of the Trustees for The Peace Centre, a registered charity in Uganda. |
LeeAnne Lavender
Service Learning Coach Concordia International School Shanghai LeeAnne has always pursued ideas and action related to service and sustainability. She has been involved in service experiences in Canada, South Korea, Kenya and China, and those projects have extended into several other countries, For several years she ran a small NGO with her husband Brian, a fellow educator, called Freedom Through Learning, developing partnerships with local schools and educators in Kenya. LeeAnne became involved with the Global Issues Network in 2007 and that led to her work with service learning in three international schools. She served as the Service Learning Co-ordinator for AISA (Association of International Schools in Africa) for two years and is currently the Service Learning Coach at Concordia. |