By Lauren Pulh, Year 10
“The Ecolint Learners Passport is a way to transform the normal way that students present themselves to Universities; when they are applying for universities, for internships, in a way that goes far beyond a simple number or a set of letter grades.” Dr David Halwey explains in a video describing the Learners Passport.
The Ecolint Learners passport is part of the Universal Learning Program which was developed at La Grande Boissière in conjunction with the International Bureau of Education (IBE) with UNESCO. In a partnership with leaders in education, the goal for the Ecolint Learners Passport is to create an alternative to the more traditional end of school certificates and to tell the story of the student’s competences rather than just their academic performance.
The Ecolint Learners Passports are composed by the student themselves as they attempt to capture and answer the following questions:
- What do I know ?
- What am I able to do ?
- Who am I ?
By using the seven global competences, the students are then able to elaborate their Ecolint Learners Passport by stacking these fundamental experiences and learnings into the passport. These seven competencies are lifelong learning, self-agency, interaction with others, transdisciplinarity, interaction with the world, interactively using diverse tools and resources and multi literateness.
For each of these global competences, the student will be able to add their progress which will create a radial graph. This will then enable them to see how and what they can improve and bring further development to. It summarises in a visual image the growth in the various competencies the student has been exposed to or involved in.
In addition, a university admissions officer (or anyone interested in getting to know the student more) will be able to glance at the radial graph to immediately identify the various strengths and competencies of that specific student.
Some examples of what students have done outside of school are shown below. These can be added into their learners passport to enhance it.
Makula, who acts as a stage manager has shown great transdisciplinarity across her competencies. She has acquired organizational, collaborative and team work skills which have enabled her to build further confidence.
Melchior has developed great competencies through interacting with others. As an elite basketball player. He trains 10 hours a week which has helped him acquire teamwork skills and great perseverance.
Through skiing competitions, Ksenia has developed self-agency skills and competencies. Resilience, competitiveness and self-confidence are now part of her Ecolint Learners Passport as she pursues her passion.
Being involved in the Students’ league of Nations, has enabled Kareem to partake in a simulation of UN decision making and issues. This interaction with others and expressing one’s ideas has enhanced his public speaking skills and confidence.
By developing the App GreenUp, Cecilia has found a tool to enable her and others to act for the protection of the environment while having fun (interacting with the world). This App is a tool to encourage young people to act and take part in their environment. To quote Cecilia “the idea is to imagine that we are all drops in the ocean but that if many drops change then the ocean will change”.
The Ecolint Learners Passport is a tool which will help every student to summarize, compile and share their achievements and global citizen competencies to any future prospective employer or university.
