A British citizen from Wales, Keith Jackson, moved to Ukraine in 2012 to become principal of British International School in Kyiv. With 12 years of experience in international education, Ukraine has become his sixth work destination after Asia, Portugal and Romania.
And though he ensures he does feel Ukraine’s cultural uniqueness, this is the “conception of internationalism” he brought with him. “It doesn’t matter where the children are from, we work with children on international basis,” he says.
And as Jackson’s understanding of education matched the concept of British International School, the principal says he is particularly proud of the progress the school makes now.
The British International School was founded back in 1997 “to serve the needs of a growing expatriate population looking for an International education for their children and aspiring Ukrainian parents seeing the value of such an opportunity,” the school website reads. Within 17 years the school added two more campuses and has significantly increased the number of Ukrainian students.
The newest campus, in Kyiv’s Pechersk district, was built three years ago, while the one in Kyiv’s Nyvky and Dnipropetrovsk before that.
Now the school offers either international or Ukrainian certificate and hosts over 600 students age 3 to 18 in all three campuses. Even though school community includes students from Qatar, Israel, Latvia and many other countries, school statistics says around 70 percent do choose Ukrainian curriculum.
Jackson says the school is full and there is even a waiting list. However, the studying fee is high – $18, 000 to $23,000 per year.
The principal says parents choose British school for two main reasons, “they are not happy with Ukrainian education system, and they want strong English, which is the main studying language in our school.”
It is also personal attitude and individual-based teaching that features the school. “This is a huge cultural difference between our system and the Ukrainian system. We group children according to their ability to learn,” Jackson says and explains – such a system helps providing effective education for students, no matter what their English level is and makes sure students can join the school on any level.
The other principal’s pride is his team of teachers. “All our teachers are professionals from Britain, Canada, Australia and America, they are international teachers,” Jackson says. The only Ukrainians the school does have in teaching staff are assistant teachers for the youngest students.
However, students admit teaching team is school’s weak point.
“We have many teachers of not the highest level, I suppose that’s because not many people want to come here now, no matter how much you pay,” says school student Levon Barseghyan, 15.
He studies to get International certificate and has already planned his career ahead – he wants to become a programmer in Google. Yet Barseghyan says he does like the system the school works in more than a regular Ukrainian one.
“I wouldn’t say though this school is different, the other schools are different and ours is what a school should be like,” he added.
Critical thinking is one of the main skills British School pedagogues try to develop in their students within the enquiry based approach, Jackson says.
“Students here can disagree with the principal, they can say it is wrong what I’ve decided as long as the criticism is constructive and they are being polite,” he explained.
As EuroMaidan revolution in Ukraine has started the children were reacting quite actively. Even though Jackson ensures teachers are not allowed to share their opinions, they did talk to students. “And I was amazed how well informed children were and how strong opinions they had,” Jackson says.
However, neither students nor the principal were scared off by the situation in Ukraine. “After all Ukraine is a country waiting to explode, it has a lot of potential and it does have a good future,” Jackson says.
And while he says his main job as a school principal is ensuring “health and safety of children” he claims those he takes care of are the ones to make the country’s good future. “I am sure our students are your future politicians, diplomats, civil society leaders, prominent scientists, musicians and artists,” he smiles.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected].
