17.11.2022

“Diversity in Action: a journey towards developing a culture of equity” is the theme of the last Café & Education of the year

By Lais Carvalho

Beacon’s team of coordinators chose the work presented at the IB Global Conference, in The Hague, Netherlands, to close the year’s ” Café & Education” cycle.

With the theme “Diversity in Action: a journey towards developing a culture of equity”, the coordinators Felipe Pregnolatto, Karine Vairo, Lais Carvalho, and Maiara Terra presented to a group of families the initiatives that the school has developed since 2021 concerning racial equity.

Throughout the presentation, the speakers showed how Beacon’s mission is aligned with the IB’s, having diversity as a core value and how it is included in our curriculum. They stated that the goal from now on is to make this mission more visible, more present, and more meaningful.

During the meeting, they also shared the institutional and pedagogical actions that permeate the three IB programs – the PYP, the MYP, and the PD, providing an overview of all the movements initiated by Beacon, whose fundamental premise is to carry out actions that involve the entire community. 

The speakers also addressed all the institutional initiatives, such as the scholarship and social responsibility program, the counseling on ethical coexistence, the literacy actions driven by the training of educators and employees, as well as the study group on racial equity created by the families.

As for the pedagogical initiatives, families were introduced to the project of choosing books in the libraries for the different grades during shared reading, as well as the books used in the Units of Inquiry and the projects of Middle School and High School. The Ludotheque is also focus of diversity, where many of its games address the issue implicitly and explicitly.

Beacon believes that the better prepared and literate our staff of teachers, employees, guardians, and students are, the issue regarding Diversity will no longer be a taboo subject, but rather will become an increasingly important part of our curriculum and actions.