Learning to teach and learn outside the box

Li Yinuo, founder of ETU School who was formerly a partner for management consultancy McKinsey in the US and in China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Driven by determination, Li and her team took less than six months to set up the school: the teachers, the principal, the permit, the initial capital and students.

On Sept 1, ETU School held its opening ceremony for children and parents in the Forbidden City. This symbolized Li's vision of grooming "truly Chinese, truly global" graduates with immersion in Chinese language and culture, as well as global competence and mindsets.

The next day, ETU started operating in three classrooms covering 120 square meters－a collaboration with Beijing's No 80 School－with just 31 pupils and seven teachers.

Hua Yijia, a venture capitalist, recalls the doubts of family members when she registered her 6-year-old daughter. "I know it's risk-taking, but any innovation starts small and since we got here, my daughter has never missed a day of school, even if she was tired or sick or had the flu. She told me she loves going to ETU."

ETU borrows the experience of innovative education models like the US-based Altschool in using IT to support education, and High Tech High in project-based learning (PBL). It also focuses on supporting each teacher's professional development, which is rooted in Li's own experience in management consulting.

In one PBL project, children are invited to hand-make a vehicle over seven weeks. Alone or in teams, they will have an idea and sketch a design before they make a model. On completing the vehicle, they write down the major functions, how it came into being and what kind of journey it will take. Children feel free to do everything through the process and their tutors will evaluate if it's workable and offer some assistance.

"Through these programs, ETU intends to empower students to realize they can shape the systems and solve problems with their own intellect and passion. Children don't learn by being told; they learn by seeing what's around them," says principal Guo Xiaoyue.