Hutt International Boys' School
Examples of internationalisation activities at Hutt International Boys' School.
As the School’s name suggests, international activities are integrated into the curriculum at Hutt International Boys’ School. This may not be unusual for schools in New Zealand, although HIBS – as the School is known – has taken its internationalisation one step further, and enables students to gain their Graduation Certificate with an "Internationalisation" endorsement.
What happens
In order to receive their Graduation Certificate, all students at HIBS are expected to have demonstrated qualities of leadership, motivation and to have participated in service activities within the school and beyond it, in the community. What makes HIBS’ leaving certificate different from those that might be earned by students elsewhere, is the option to "specialise" in internationalisation, somewhat like a qualification major at university.
HIBS’ curriculum is imbued with international topics and contexts from Year 7, and in Years 7-10 these international topics are compulsory. This includes learning a foreign language.
In Years 11-13, the international topics that students cover through the academic curriculum can be complemented by co-curricular activities with an international element. Students are key actors in their international learning, and with a view to increasing their "internationalisation total" are able to nominate which international topics and activities they will undertake.
These activities range from subject-related international competitions and participating in HIBS’ own Model United Nations, to hosting students from overseas and participating in exchanges to increase their foreign language proficiency through the relationships HIBS has with schools in other countries like Japan and Chile.
Benefits and outcomes
For the students who embrace the opportunity to go for their Graduation Certification in "Internationalisation", the initiative builds in them a keen sense of their place in the world and of the interconnectedness between New Zealand and other nations. It is a key aim of the education provided at HIBS that all students gain an international awareness and perspective, although those students who choose to more fully involve themselves in the international activities offered, gain extra international understanding, and the confidence and competence to manage international and intercultural interactions.
Andrew Brown and Cameron Van Baarle both studied at HIBS for seven years and graduated as Year 13 students in 2009 with "Internationalisation". Cameron described the significance of the international study he did and the effect it has had on his plans for the future:
"I comfortably got the minimum 12 credits for my Internationalisation certificate, but I wanted to do those things anyway, they were really interesting. In my future, internationalisation will be hugely important and I’ll do a double bachelors degree, one majoring in international relations, and work with people of all backgrounds."
Cameron travelled to Peru through his church and the Global Volunteer Network, and represented Djibouti’s interests in the School’s Model United Nations, as did Andrew for another nation. Both students entered debates, seminars on global issues and completed individual projects with an international perspective. Andrew was also selected for the school’s International Service team that travelled to Vietnam and worked with an orphanage in Hanoi.
"Lots of my friends do have an international awareness," says Cameron, "but many are not too worried about global issues and politics, whereas I think they’re huge."
For the School itself, the Graduation Certification with "Internationalisation", as one manifestation of its international focus, has contributed to its being awarded in 2006 the ‘Excellence in Advancing Internationalisation’ Award by Education New Zealand, recognition that the school had successfully integrated a global perspective throughout its curriculum and activities.
Contacts
About internationalisation at Hutt International Boys’ School
HIBS is a state-integrated school for boys in Years 7-13, in the Hutt Valley, north of Wellington. The focus is on domestic students: there are no international students at HIBS apart from some students here on exchange.
The School was set up in 1991 and the way it does things has been developed around the premise that New Zealand will have increasing links with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through trade, and that students need to be prepared for this international connectedness with exposure to other cultures from a young age.
HIBS has built strength and variety in its international curriculum and initiatives and is now consolidating what it does and focusing on continuous improvement and depth rather than new initiatives.
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