The world that we live in today is highly globalized. Just as the world evolves, education systems like Cambridge Curriculum in India also evolve such that the students are equipped with the right sort of knowledge and skills.
In India, there are many different educational boards, such as the CBSE board, Cambridge board, and ICSE board. Among them, the Cambridge curriculum stands out for being forward-thinking and comprehensive. In this article, let us dwell further on the Cambridge Curriculum in India.
Cambridge International Education (CIE), which is recognized internationally and maintains rigorous academic standards, administers the Cambridge Curriculum in India. The factor that demarks Cambridge’s curriculum from other educational boards is that it makes available a diverse and flexible range of subjects. This is highly beneficial for students who can tailor their education based on their career aspirations and interests. However, in other educational boards, the subject choices are reasonably rigid.
Another important factor that makes the Cambridge curriculum popular is that the core emphasis, here, lies on research skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking. The students are encouraged to engage deeply with the material, explore, and also ask questions. Overall, this induces a love for learning within the student and it surpasses the boundaries of the classroom. Since the curriculum is culturally inclusive, global perspectives are herein reflected. These factors will be beneficial for students when they are a part of a multicultural environment.
Cambridge Curriculum in India is demarked by its holistic approach to education
Overall, it is easy to see that one of the core tenets of the Cambridge Curriculum in India is to work towards ensuring that a student develops a broad range of skills and attributes. Finding success in the international arena simplifies for students as they are confident, reflective, responsive, innovative, and engaged learners. The student develops these attributes as they have been exposed to a holistic approach to education, besides academic rigor.
Another way of developing immersive and contextual learning that should be mentioned here is physical and online student exchange programs.
So, we can see that there are fundamental differences between the approach that the Cambridge curriculum implements and the approaches that other educational boards implement. At Cambridge, the application of knowledge and understanding are on priority. However, in the case of other educational boards, the focus lies on standardized testing and stronger memorization skills.
When a student enrolls at Cambridge, then, from a very early stage, he develops independent learning skills. They are part of several collaborative activities such as research and projects. Their teamwork skills are hence more important, and so are their problem-solving skills. This is a very different approach compared to the teacher-centric and traditional approach that other boards leverage. In the latter, the core focus area is individual performance.
It is, hence, only right to define the teaching methodologies operational at Cambridge schools as student-centric. The role of teachers is merely of facilitators. They guide students on the path of inquiry-based learning such that the students can take ownership of their learning. All lessons are interactive here and the key areas of focus are hands-on activities, debate, and discussion.
With this approach, the students garner a deeper understanding of real-world applications and concepts. Further, students also fill up exit slips and feedback which demonstrates their understanding of the topics under discussion.
Global Perspectives: helping students out at every stage of school education
Let us now discuss Global Perspectives, a unique and transformational program that makes an intrinsic section of the Cambridge curriculum. The core benefit of Global Perspectives is to nurture brilliant transferrable skills such as collaboration, research, and critical thinking.
Overall Global Perspectives is a skill-based program known to be stimulating and innovative. With this program, academic study comes in a real-world and practical context.
The program is primarily in place for students aged 5-19. It helps them develop skills that will be vastly beneficial for them to find success at school and university. The program works for them beyond as well, throughout their professional careers.
Benefiting from the latest in technology and educational research
Technology and the latest in educational research make a part of Cambridge’s teaching methodologies. The teachers, here, leverage a host of digital tools and resources such that learning is enhanced. This not only works towards making the lessons more engaging, but they also become more relevant to the modern world.
These methodologies, however, are secondary for imparting education when we take the Cambridge curriculum into perspective. The focus, primarily, lies on the traditional methods of teaching.
