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the Conference Program
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Keynote
Speakers
Mid-Day / Morning Symposium Presenters
Descriptions and Biographical
Data

Ian Jukes
Teaching in the New Digital Landscape: New Visions For
Teaching and Learning
Description:
This presentation focuses on a fundamental shift in the basic paradigm
of teaching that is required to prepare students for the Communication
and Information Age. It provides a pragmatic look at current teacher
practices and explains why they are becoming increasingly out of synch
with our rapidly changing world. It then asks how we can teach effectively
in an age when new technologies cascade onto the scene at an astonishing
rate and identifies the principles and processes that transcend these
new technologies.

Jean-Francois Rischard
High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
Description:
The speech analyzes the two big forces that are increasing the rate
of change and the complexity of human affairs; the 20 or so global problems
that remain unresolved in that context; the reasons for their non-resolution.
It then offers ideas on new approaches that could lead to deeper and
faster global problem-solving. Finally, it reflects on the role of education
in all this.
Biography:
Jean-François Rischard is a national from Luxembourg,
with a US green card, and is married, with three children. He is 57
years old. He has graduate and post-graduate degrees in Economics (University
of Aix-Marseille, licence and DES, 1971 and 1973), a Law Doctorate (Luxembourg,
1971), and a Masters in Business Administration (Harvard Business School,
1975, with first and second year honors). He speaks and writes fluent
English, French and German. From 1975 to 2005, he worked at the World
Bank, and became Vice-President of the institution from 1992 on.
He lives in Paris, after having spent more than 20 years in the United
States and especially Washington D.C., where he maintains a home and
many links. He has straddled the Atlantic for much of his student and
working life, and is well versed in both U.S. and European ways of doing
business and corporate governance bents.
He has worked in some 60 developed and developing countries, and maintains
– beyond Europe – an extensive network of relationships
with government and business leaders throughout North America, Latin
America, the Middle-East, Asia, and parts of Africa. He is an avid reader
with a broad range of interests in finance, business and markets, world
events and trends. He likes skiing and golf.

Mechai Viravaidya
Dynamic
solutions to seemingly intractable problems concerning education, youth
development and gender equality.
Description:
Why
is it that despite increasing access
to education around the world - most innovation still comes
from only a small cluster of the world's population? Mechai Viravaidya
(otherwise known as "Mr. Condom") will take us on a "barefoot
walk" through the history of his organization, The Population and
Community Development Association (PDA) of Thailand, and will detail
how "out of the box" thinking leads to innovation and, ultimately,
to systemic change in a society. Over the past 32 years, PDA has pioneered
highly successful community-based solutions to tackle such issues as
rampant population growth and an HIV epidemic which threatened to bring
Thailand's economic progress to a grinding halt - and PDA has continued
to stay ahead of the curve with its dynamic solutions to seemingly intractable
problems concerning education, youth development and gender
equality.
Biography:
Mr. Mechai Viravaidya is the Founder/Chairman of the Population
and Community Development Association (PDA), one of Thailand's largest
and most successful private, non-profit development organizations. Since
1974, PDA has initiated community-based family planning services, poverty
reduction, rural development and environmental programs, as well as
HIV / AIDS prevention activities throughout Thailand. Mr. Mechai played
a large role in the success of Thailand's national family planning program,
which resulted in one of the most rapid fertility declines in the modern
era as the rate of annual population growth declined from over 3% in
1974 to 0.8% in 2002, and the average number of children per family
fell from seven to under two.
Mr. Mechai was appointed to the Thai Senate in 1987 and again in 1997;
each term for three years. Then in 2000, under Thailand’s new
constitution, he was elected to serve a six year term. He was appointed
as a Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister in 1991 and 1992,
when he assisted Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun as the chief architect
in establishing a comprehensive national HIV I AIDS prevention policy
and program. This initiative is regarded as the most outstanding national
effort by any country, and by 2004 Thailand had experienced a 90% reduction
in new infections of HIV.
He has also served as Government Spokesman, Deputy Minister of Industry,
CEO of the Provincial Waterworks Authority, Chairman of Krung Thai Bank
and the Telephone Organization of Thailand. He was appointed as the
Ambassador for UNAIDS in 1999.
Mr. Mechai has received numerous awards including 1997 the United Nations
Population Award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1994,
the Paul Hoffman Award and the United Nations Gold Peace Medal in 1981.
He has been granted decorations from the Governments of Thailand, Australia
and the Federal Republic of Germany. He was a Visiting Scholar at the
Harvard Institute of International Development in 1988-89, and holds
several honorary doctorate degrees from Universities in Thailand and
abroad. Mr. Mechai Viravaidya was born on January 17, 1941.

Teresa Arpin
TBA
Biography:
Teresa Arpin has been employed for 27 years by the
Grand Rapids Public Schools, an urban district in the West Michigan.
She has assumed a number of instructional and administrative roles in
the areas of assessment, program evaluation, accountability and system-wide
planning. Since 1995, she has been an associate of Transformation Systems,
Ltd. (TSL). TSL is committed to helping system leaders achieve those
things about which they care deeply. Teresa has worked extensively in
the U.S. and internationally, assisting schools and other organizations
in their strategic planning efforts. Most recently, Teresa facilitated
the EARCOS Board’s strategic planning process.

Clayton Lewis
J.F. Rischard’s High Noon and the implications
for education
(Part 1 – One Hour)
Description:
What is the relationship between J.F. Rischard’s twenty issues
and what is being taught in our schools? International schools profess
to be focused upon global citizenship and responsibility. However, their
curricula are often narrow and culturally biased at the expense of a
global perspective, particularly in the secondary years. Young people
have difficulty making a connection between what they study and what
they encounter daily in the media.
A new paradigm must bridge the past with the present in order that students
are better prepared for the future. The OECD states clearly through
its PISA study that students must focus upon social problem-solving
and develop core competencies for the 21st Century.
J.F. Rischard’s High Noon and the Implications for Education
(This can be either Part 2 or Part 3 – One Hour)
Description:
J.F. Rischard's message is clear: we need to develop new methodologies
when it comes to fixing the world’s problems. He emphasises that
“tomorrow’s generations must develop a networking-oriented
mindset if they are going to solve the burning global problems that
stare us in the face.”
International schools already form a tight global network that is the
perfect foundation for linking students and teachers. The Global Issues
Network has as its mission: to help students realize they can make a
difference by empowering them to work with their peers internationally
to develop solutions for global issues.
GIN conferences have brought hundreds of students together to meet with
experts, to engage in common projects and to exchange ideas. Students
and teachers collaborate year-round through the GIN Town Meeting, a
Moodle-based platform based upon Mr. Rischard's ideas for solving global
problems.
J.F. Rischard’s High Noon and the Implications for Education
(This can be either Part 2 or Part 3 – either for One Hour or
Two Hours)
Description:
What does it mean for a school to be globally-responsible? For students
to address global issues in a meaningful way, their engagement must
be in the classroom, not just with extracurricular activities like MUN.
Curricula should support new models that emphasise a multi-disciplined,
problem-solving approach consistent with the outcomes described in the
OECD’s PISA study.
Consistent with this approach, Cambridge International Examinations
is designing a new syllabus entitled “Global Thinking” whereby
students will develop the sorts of skills and dispositions that active
citizens of the future will need. The College Board now places greater
emphasis upon its globally-oriented AP courses, Human Geography and
World History. NAIS has launched its Global Education Initiative to
assist independent schools in their efforts to nurture the skills and
perspectives that help students become global citizens and global leaders.
Several international schools have developed their own syllabi that
link the traditional social disciplines – history, geography,
sociology and economics – with contemporary issues and future-thinking.
Biography:
Clayton Lewis has administered international schools for 26
years, currently as director of the International School of Luxembourg,
and formerly as high school principal at the American School in London
and the American School of The Hague. He is a member of the ECIS Board
of Trustees. Through published articles and conference presentations,
Mr. Lewis has challenged international schools to live up to their stated
mission to promote global citizenship. His school and others in Europe
and Asia are linked by a Global Issues Network based upon the ideas
of JF Rischard, designed to promote communication and cooperation among
students around the world.
Richard
Van de LAGEMAAT
Biography:
Richard van de Lagemaat is the founder and director of an educational
consultancy service called InThinking. A graduate of Oxford University
with a PhD in Philosophy, he has more than twenty years experience in
international education and he has been actively involved in teacher
training and curriculum development since 1988. Richard has given lectures
and workshops in more than forty countries and is a regularly speaker
at educational conferences. He has written extensively on critical thinking
and international education and his book Theory of Knowledge for the
IB Diploma is published by Cambridge University Press.
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