This is an independent QBE Education Project
Founded by Will Sutherland and Aiglon Alumni
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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE QBE EDUCATION STUDY AT SEA PROJECT"
“We are all qualified by our experience…”
In Switzerland we used the mountains in the summer for walking, climbing, camping, and learning to look after ourselves in a rugged environment. In the winter the our students all donned their skis and took their expertise to the highest standards in all the skiing disciplines, including ski mountaineering.
The sea can offer comparable opportunities. Whether we are sailing small dinghies, or larger boats, we never go out without learning something new about the sea, seamanship, nature or the weather. More importantly we learn about ourselves and our relationships with our fellow seafarers or team members.
I HEAR AND I FORGET, I SEE AND I REMEMBER, I DO AND I UNDERSTAND – Confucius.
Small Beginnings: At the outset, in the absence of buildings, we aim to use sailing boats as floating learning centres, accommodation and transport, which will visit ports of call relevant to the projects the student crew members are studying. The possibilities are numerous. For example the Eden Project in Cornwall for Bio-diversity, Océanopolis in Brest for ocean studies, the Barrage of the Rance for sustainable energy projects, and cities like London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Rouen, Lisbon, Rome, Marseille, and even across the Atlantic to New York and the eastern cities of America. They are all, each and every one of them, centres of research rich with expertise and culture, offering our students, tangible, educationally rich, experience opportunities.
Modern technology makes all this possible. By supplying the students with the latest electronic communications equipment they need never be out of contact with their teachers and tutors. Projects and assignments can be chosen to fit interests and to cover relevant parts of exam syllabi. Assessment can be made by presentation and demonstration of new knowledge and skills. Most important is that the students learn how to learn and are encouraged to assist each other to achieve high standards and to be motivated to succeed.
Our students will be qualified by experience.
The 3Rs project at sea: Going to sea even for short periods of time will take our students into a new environment and all pre-conceived ideas, prejudices, and misconceptions fall away, as everyone realises they are new players on a level playing field. They will start with a clean slate, and all learn to work together, get to know each other, and to play their part in a working team. Sound friendships will be forged, but most important of all are the life skills lessons we can learn at sea. Every voyage requires tolerance, caring, sharing, tenacity, self-confidence, and self-worth, planning, organisation, leadership, camaraderie, and above all, regard/love for our neighbours.
Courses: One week to twelve week courses are possible over the spring and autumn terms enabling students to live aboard, and study their academic school work and projects through links on the internet and their laptops. The benefit of interaction with experts in the ports of call will be invaluable to their learning process and will motivate them to complete projects. The routes will be designed to take the students on a tour of destinations relevant to the projects they are studying.
Summer holiday, 7 day courses will be used to take youngsters for taster motivational voyages, and to demonstrate to other educators how our 3Rs system works.
Transferable Skills: Our new school foundation will work with the students on their return to help them identify and adapt the skills they have learned at sea to beneficial use at school or college and at home.
I DO, I UNDERSTAND, I NEVER FORGET … – W.S.
Young Teachers: We are coaching and mentoring young teachers/skippers in ways to teach students how to learn by giving the student the responsibility of going to sea, and leading an expedition with set destinations and well defined, tangible goals. Sailing with the right mindset can bring out the best in people, and on reflection, most realise many of the foundation values and skills learnt are transferable to real life ashore.
Two identical Pilot Cutters: In talking to our young skippers in the UK and France it was generally agreed, for a multitude of reasons, pilot cutters are the boats most suitable to start the project. Apart from all the other pluses they are renowned for their seaworthiness, they will make a very steady and predictable teaching platform, and they have lots of bits of rope to pull, are very beautiful, and have historic links with the founders of the project in Dartmouth UK in the West Country and in Saint-Malo.
The key to the development of the concepts and spreading of the ethos is providing a living demonstration and using it to coach other Teachers, Mentors, and Lecturers and encouraging them to adopt this concept as one of their teaching methods.
The Pilot Cutter Project is just a beginning. As with all projects, when it is successful it will have many fathers, exponents, and supporters. We know that one size does not fit all but for many there is enough flexibility in our methods for most students to benefit greatly from the programme.
Key to the delivery is non segregation. Finding a mix of cultures, ideas, points of view, upbringing, and basic education, will enrich the experience for all and foster the maximum benefit from the 3 Rs.
One of the areas in education we wish to address is the dropout rate. So many talented young students are leaving school or college before they have passed their exams because they are bored and see no relevance to what is being taught. There are a multitude of reasons these students find themselves in these circumstances, but they all could be avoided. We can motivate and set high standards which our students want to achieve. We have done it before and we can do it again.