Three main features

Our concept

Based on rigorous research on what works to maximise students’ academic progress and achievement as well as their development of social-emotional skills – we have developed an educational model with three main features.

Knowledge, academic progress and discipline

At Nordic International School, we put great emphasis on knowledge and important socialemotional skills, such as conscientiousness, good manners, and grit. In this regard, our educational model is more ‘traditional’ than the ‘progressive’ student-led philosophy that has been dominant in Sweden since the 1990s.

Subject knowledge and social-emotional skills are crucial for students to succeed in life. Therefore, we promote a structured school environment and traditional teaching methods. Research suggests that a strong focus on knowledge, teacher-led education, more time for teaching, and classroom discipline have positive effects on academic results and behaviour¹. In combination with discipline and clear rules of conduct, these methods achieve the best possible results for our students.

In the calm and secure environment of our schools, teachers can devote their time to teaching and helping students to deepen their critical thinking. Clear rules of conduct also create peace of mind for our students, which is an important prerequisite for learning. Our students know what is expected of them and are also aware of the consequences if they breach any rules.

We have high expectations of the attitudes of teachers, students and guardians towards the school and the studies conducted. Teachers and students are expected to be well prepared and disciplined, and to contribute to a positive and study-focused environment in the classroom.

We value regular contact with guardians, and we expect them to work with us to ensure that students have the pre-requisites to achieve their potential.

Our focus on knowledge, academic progress and discipline entails:

High expectations
Fast pace of learning
An emphasis on maximising academic performance and progress
Teacher-led education with clear instructions, interaction, and continuous feedback
Standardised routines before, during and after lessons
Rules of conduct and a robust sanctions policy
Regular contact with guardians
A dress code

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An international profile

In an increasingly globalised and digitalised world, the understanding of and respect for different nationalities and cultures are becoming ever more important. Our international profile helps to spark students’ interest in the outside world and prepares them for life in a situation where national boundaries are becoming less important.

At Nordic International School, we follow the Swedish curriculum, but, in contrast to most other schools, conduct up to 50 % of instruction in English. We encourage and support our students to express themselves in English, both in the classroom and during breaktime.

Our teachers speak both English and Swedish and we have a policy that all our schools have a mix of Swedish and international teachers. Teaching materials and written texts may be either in English or Swedish, depending on circumstances and specific needs.

Other essential elements of our international profile come from the British education system, including a ‘house system’, a dress code for teachers and students, rhetoric training for all students, and yearly activities where we learn about and celebrate festivals of different nationalities and cultures.

Our international profile is characterised by:

Bilingualism with English as the everyday spoken language, also outside the classroom
Up to half of all teaching for older students is in English
International staff
International elements and traditions, including a ‘house system’ and celebration of world festivals

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Evidence-based practices

Students and guardians have high expectations of our ability to maximise each individual student’s knowledge and social-emotional skills. At our schools, all teaching must be based on methods supported by rigorous research.

We promote teacher-led instruction, discipline, and other more traditional education features – not for ideological reasons, but because research has found that such features have positive effects on students’ results.

At the same time, we know that research never stands still. New methods and resources are invented and tested continuously. For example, some research suggests that certain technological aids – a contemporary rather than traditional element in education – can have positive effects on academic performance and progress².

We want to constantly develop and improve. This requires us to keep updated regarding new research and analyses that can help us moving further in a scientific direction.

The most important consideration is that we help to maximise our students’ progress and performance. We always evaluate new methods and resources before we introduce them on a larger scale.

Our professional development programme for teachers is mandatory and aims to support teachers in the application of the right methods in the classroom and to ensure that our practices lead to the best possible progress and performance of our students – today as well as in the future.

Our focus on evidence-based practices includes the following:

An international researcher as senior advisor to school management, who evaluates potential changes to the concept prior to adoption
A professional development programme for the development of high-quality teaching methods
Clear management structures
Continuous monitoring of each student’s performance and progress
Regular evaluation of teacher performance, with continuous feedback and professional development

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Sources and footnotes

Bibliography

Angrist, Joshua D. et al. 2013. ”Explaining charter school effectiveness.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 5: 1-2.

Clark, Richard E. et al. 2012. ”Putting students on the path to learning: The case for fully guided instruction.” American Educator Spring: 6-11.

Dobbie, Will och Roland G. Fryer Jr. 2015. “The medium-term impacts of high-achieving charter schools.” Journal of Political Economy 123: 985-1037.

Dynarski, Susan et.al. 2018. “Estimating the effects of a large for-profit charter school operator.” NBER Working Paper No. 24428.

Escueta, Maya et al. 2017. “Education technology: An evidence-based review.” NBER Working Paper No. 23744.

Fisher Anna V. et al. 2014. “Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad.” Psychological Science 25: 1362-1370.

Lavy, Victor. 2015. “Do differences in schools’ instruction time explain international achievement gaps? Evidence from developed and developing countries.” Economic Journal 125: F397-F424.

Stockard, Jean et al. 2018. “The effectiveness of direct instruction curricula: A meta-analysis of a half century of research”. Review of Educational Research 88: 479-507.

Footnotes

1. Angrist et al. (2013), Clark et al. (2012), Dobbie and Fryer (2015), Dynarski et al. (2018), Lavy (2015), and Stockard et al. (2018).
2. Escueta et al. (2017).
3. Fisher et al. (2014).

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