Going Beyond the Classroom
German European School Singapore developed BeyondClassrooms—a program that exposes the school’s K-12 students to industries and experiences outside of their day-to-day classroom curriculum—to help them discover their interests and talents at an early age.
The program was developed to feature a wide range of partners across industries and nationalities that reflects its student body’s different interests and diverse demographics.
These partners include an AI-driven floating fish farm; engineering, law, technology, and chemical companies; a football club; and more. The school also works closely with the local German and other European embassies and the Singapore, Danish, and Dutch chambers of commerce.
“These partnerships make our students feel at home, away from home because they can foster connections to their home countries. And with local partnerships, they also have grounding here in Singapore,” says Kirsten Mönch, Head of External Communications and Relations.
BeyondClassrooms encompasses three clusters: 1) industry exposure, 2) career counseling, and 3) exclusive opportunities. In the industry cluster, the school invites partners to give industry talks, like BMW talking to students about the challenges of globalization for the automotive industry. This cluster also allows students to visit production and show rooms, like seeing Volocopter drones up close, and participate in hands-on workshops and experiments.
In the career counseling cluster, partners offer advice and connections to older students looking for internships and considering career paths. This includes the annual Information Exchange where students can book appointments with experts to learn and ask questions about their industries and careers, career talks where partners deep dive into their individual careers, and mock interviews.
In the exclusive opportunities cluster, students serve in event-related roles like producing promotional videos, taking to the stage as emcees or vocalists, and showcasing their artwork, among other social activities.
“The program helps students to make more informed choices for their future because they have a bit more knowledge of what awaits them and more ideas of the kinds of jobs that do exist,” says Mönch.
A long-term goal of the program is to continue to match more of the school’s curriculum with practical activities and application outside of the classroom. Recently, students learning the water cycle took a trip to Marina Barrage to observe saltwater recycling.
What makes this program stand out from other schools’ similar initiatives is its centralization of partnerships, says Mönch. In the past, the school relied upon one-time interactions like a teacher’s connection leading to a visit to a laboratory or a parent’s invitation resulting in a class touring their company to open the door to these kinds of experiences.
“In a high cosmopolitan city like Singapore, and particularly in an international school environment, where people come and go all the time, we have not always been able to retain good contacts over the years,” says Mönch. “What we do differently now is establish partner relations at the organizational level, instead of among individuals.”
Now with formalized agreements, the school has formed long-term partnerships with companies in which both sides experience a benefit.
Mönch’s motivation and passion for the program is personal.
“I struggled a long time to find what I wanted to do. And I felt I didn’t get the exposure that I think students should get. So, it’s pretty personal for me that now with my colleagues I try to have an impact on the students and offer these opportunities to them, and that in the end, we could contribute to them finding the job they wanted or making a career decision that they otherwise wouldn’t have made,” says Mönch.
About the author(s)
Hannah Ratzer is Editorial Specialist at CASE.
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March-April Issue of Currents
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