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Graduate Highlights

This page seeks to pass on information about graduating students from Somerset College and some of the academic highlights they have achieved.

NATASHA SETS SIGHTS ON NASA

Articles of Educational Interest

 Baccalaureate Faces it's own test

 How Baccalaureate Outshines the "Gold Standard" A-Levels

 Strike up the Band for Elietism

 Revisiting Core Educational Principles

Baccalaureate Brings New Benefits to Somerset

With the culmination of the first group of IB Diploma and Certificate students at the end of 2001, it is timely and appropriate for the Somerset to take stock of just what the benefits the programme had brought to the school.

From a student perspective, the benefits that the IB programme can bring is only now beginning to be realised by many of the year 12 students of 2001. One exciting addition to the senior school curriculum has been ab initio (beginners) Italian. With the introduction of the course, the decision was made to also offer the Queensland Board Italian course. Students sit for both the IB version and for the Board version. The IB demands are paramount and set the standard for the teaching of Italian. This year, all Italian students were awarded VHA's or HA's in the Board course. This is certainly a positive reflection of the demanding IB syllabus. In addition, students of Italian visited Italy for six weeks over Christmas 2000 and attended school. This trip has become an annual visit and this year three students and Mr Scott Ham visited the Venice International School.

Let's take this scenario just one step further. Say for instance, a student does well in IB and OP Italian. That student then goes on to study a double degree in Law and International Business. He also keeps up his study of Italian at university. When that student graduates, the chances of gainful, challenging and exciting employment have been immensely enhanced. That student will be an attractive prospect for any international corporation, perhaps in the head office in Australia, with his degrees and bilingual skills. This can also be the case with Japanese and German, at Somerset.

IB students who graduated at the end of 2001, have already moved into a range of exciting fields. Margaret Palmer and Robin Modini both won scholarships from the Italian Consulate to study Italian at an Italian university for 6 weeks in early 2002. Margaret has accepted the offer and Robin has declined it. His inability to accept it is a result of another wonderful opportunity that has also come his way. Rob has been accepted into the prestigious Gifted Entry programme for Science degrees at the University of Queensland. This degree starts in January 2002. In addition to this, other IB Science students, Chris Richmond, Robin Modini, Christine Wu and Sian Spencer have sat for the University of Queensland's first year undergraduate Physics and Chemistry exams. The decision to allow them to sit for these exams was based on the academic rigour of the science courses in the IB. Provided they pass these exams, these students will be eligible for advance credit standing in a science undergraduate degree at UQ. In addition, Chris has won three separate scholarships from the same university to study Science. Another student, had his OP score upgraded from 14 to 10 through the effects of the IB and this has enabled him to win the course of his choice. Other IB students have won scholarships to Bond university, Mei-lin Robertson, a half scholarship, and Cade Cameron, a half scholarship in Information Technology worth $29,000. Finally, Hayley Singer has won one of 40 Drama places at the University of Queensland. 600 students from around Queensland and Australia applied for these 40 places. Theatre Arts (Drama) was one of Hayley's best performing subjects in the IB. In essence, what the IB qualification does is empower students and give them an open-ended passport to the academic institutions of the world. Such is the status and prestige of the IB qualification.

One very important aspect of the IB course is the exceptional Professional Development offered to schools that are part of the IB network. IB Professional Development is subject specific and is always innovative and challenging. It helps to keep teachers at the forefront of educational initiatives. Not only do these teachers then come back and teach an IB class, they also teach a minimum of three other classes. In this way, all students at the school benefit from this learning. In addition to this, teachers expand their circle of colleagues around the world and this can only be beneficial to them and the school.

Finally, one of the intangible yet equally as important benefits has been the change in the atmosphere and ethos of the school. Somerset is still the warm and friendly community-minded place it always has been, but added to this is a greater sophistication and maturity gained by the increasing variety of nationalities at the school. Somerset is setting itself as a school with its roots firmly in the soil of Mudgeeraba, Queensland, but with its branches in the cosmopolitan capitals of the world.

Mr Michael Brohier
(Deputy - Academic / IB Co-ordinator)

A Course for All Seasons

Article by Michael Brohier

(From "Regarding the World. A Primer for ToK" by Tony Stuart)

Curious? Fascinated? Puzzled?

You have indulged yourself in a miniscule portion of the subject called "Theory of Knowledge", one of the three sub-units within the International Baccalaureate Diploma course offered at Somerset College.

Or perhaps you might like to know about the 'Manhattan Project", "The mating habits of the Heron Island Noddies", "The plays of Bertold Brecht", Genetics or even the mysteries of HTML? To do this, you would need to go no further than the "Extended Essays" or mini theses of the year12 IB Diploma students of 2001.

These are off course the very same students who have completed another sub-unit called "Creativity Action Service", a programme designed to challenge and extend, develop a sense of discovery and self-reliance, encourage personal skills and interest, and inspire an awareness, concern and responsibility to serve the community. Students are involved in activities such as Rowing, Creative Writing, Saxophone lessons, 40 Hour Famine, Clean-Up Australia Day, Coaching the Mudgeeraba under 8 Red Sox Baseball team, Speech and Drama, Air Force Cadets, Sound and Lighting, Bronze Medallion, Dance Troupe, volunteer work at Fleay's Wildlife Park, Vocal Group, Show Choir, School Musical, Debating, all manner of sport, Sailing, Modelling, Door Knock appeals for the Guide Dogs, guitar lessons and a host of other worthy services.

At Somerset College, a World School, the IB Diploma students take six subjects in addition to the components mentioned above. From this six, one must be a language, one must be a social science, one must be a science and one subject must be mathematics. Add to this English, and one is left with a free choice. Subjects on offer at IB level in Somerset are English, Italian, German, Japanese, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Design Technology, Information Technology in a Global Society, Music, Theatre Arts, Art, Economics, Modern History, Geography and Mathematical Methods.

Students must take 3 subjects at Higher Level and 3 at Standard Level. To meet the academic demands of the HL courses, students undertake a series of Honours lectures out of normal school hours. These lectures are open to all Year 11 students, not only those doing the IB.

The implementation of the International Baccalaureate at Somerset College is a carefully considered and researched educational initiative. We believe that in the 21st Century, young people must be able to function in a rapidly changing and diverse global culture. With this in mind, Somerset has set out to provide an education to its students which encourages them to look inward and outward, to be aware of their own rich heritage and simultaneously cultivate a respect for other cultures. Professor George Walker, the Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organisation sums up the five objectives of International Education as being:

(1) Celebration of diversity. Here he refers to the "on-going tension in our lives between, on the one hand unity, purity and simplicity and, on the other, diversity, mixture and complexity". He goes on to extend this 'diversity' into the learning environment when he insists that schools provide their students with opportunities in their daily work to contribute their different perspective; of respecting that there are multiple ways of looking at issues and concepts. This is a prime learning and teaching tool in schools of the 21st Century.

(2) Respecting the variety of cultures. The celebrated poet, T.S. Eliot said that culture is "what makes life worth living". Professor Walker's point is that ALL cultures are confronted by four major problems and these are "social inequality, the relationship between the individual and the group, concepts of masculinity and femininity and responses to uncertainty". Different cultures respond to these problems in different ways, with none being 'more right' than the other, and a consequence of this realisation could lead to less bellicosity and a respect through understanding, of the ways other nations come to their respective solutions. This has special significance to modern Australia with respect to reconciliation with our indigenous population.

(3) Developing a global awareness amongst students. By this it is meant that "most of the world's most challenging problems require collaborative solutions that span national frontiers." Colin Jenkins from the text International Education suggests that the skills required for solving these problems are "cooperation, compromise, understanding and respect".

(4) Encouraging students to appreciate the diversity of modes of learning.

(5) Helping students come to appreciate the shared humanity that binds all people together. Professor Walker quotes the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre who refers to the concept of the "shared human condition". It is this capacity for empathy with human problems across the globe that is all-important in the education of the 21st Century.

The International Baccalaureate has graduated its first cohort of students in 2001. Two more groups, the year 12's of 2002 and the year 11's of 2001 are either in the process of their journey or are just about to embark on it.

Mr Michael Brohier
(Deputy Academic / IB Co-ordinator)

Comment - Michael Brohier

'To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world - and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are.' (Marshall Berman)

The advent of globalisation and the manner in which it has set about affecting work, income distribution, trade, environmental sustainability, religion, issues relating to cultural diversity, and the gamut of human experience, is an issue that refuses to be ignored. Globalisation is not simply an issue of greater mobility and increased communication as a superficial analysis would lead us to believe. Globalisation has the potential to isolate, create loneliness, destroy communities, dilute and homogenise cultures and languages, create an insatiable and senseless appetite for more and give birth to new class structures. The negative aspects of globalisation have thrived in the supportive atmosphere of an uncertain, unmoored and relative post-modern world, '... characterised by ambivalence, ambiguity, relativism, pluralism, fragmentation and contingency.' (Eckersley 2004, p.3). The issues of globalisation need action that is preventative and enduring; action can only happen through schools where the opportunity exists to imbue in the young the knowledge, skills and capabilities with which they can address these global issues. Schools in the 21st century then, have the hardest and most unenviable of missions. The challenge to education is whether it can turn the tide of the negative effects of globalisation and enable young people to grow into ethically minded adults who have the capacity to temper and at times even counter the effects of globalisation through positive, mature and collaborative action. The task is a noble one and one that is inclusive of, and addresses in the process, all other 'big' educational issues such as academic rigour, vocational education, literacy and numeracy, students at risk, methods of teaching and learning, ethics and values education, and cyber education.

Somerset College is taking up this challenge and aims to achieve this by focussing on the creation of the global citizen within the school environment. By the phrase 'global citizen', I refer to a unique individual who has the qualities necessary to live successfully in an ever-changing, uncertain and globalised world.

In the curriculum pages that follow, you will notice the myriad ways in which the educational process at Somerset empowers and enriches the lives of young people. Whilst we take great pride in our curriculum offerings we are simultaneously humbled by the quality of thinking displayed by our young people who are indeed a worthy testament to the value of a proper education.

"The liberally educated person is one who is able to resist the easy and preferred answers, not because he/she is obstinate but because he/she knows others worthy of consideration" (Allan Bloom - The Closing of the American Mind)

Michael Brohier
Deputy - Academic

Testimonial - Mei-Lin Robertson - Somerset IB Student 2001

"I did the IB Diploma course over 2000 - 2001 and it was by no means a walk in the park. It is a difficult course and participating in it meant getting to school early at 7.30am and staying at school late until 5pm, and sometimes until 6pm. The transition from Grade 10 to Grade 11 is hard enough, but with extra work, it proved too much for some people, and there were a number of people who pulled out of the IB Diploma course. Doing the IB also meant doing another set of exams at the end of Grade 12 covering the past two years' work with two to three exams per subject. Term 3 of Grade 12 was the most intensive period in terms of assignments for internal assessment, because that was when the deadline was for assignments, our extended essay, our TOK essay and our CAS, which meant many late nights, and some all-nighters. This time was especially hard, since it was also was when we had QCS and our major Grade 12 exams. Despite all of the extra work and the fact that IB students spend so much time at school that it rivals the time that we spend at home (even in the holidays), I'm glad that I did do the IB. I know that I would regret giving up the chance to partake in a course such as this. I agree totally with the philosophy of the IB and its aim to create a well-rounded student. If I hadn't studied the IB, I would not have the depth of knowledge that I have obtained in my chosen subjects. It is this expanded understanding of my subjects and the experience from the IB that I value the most. If I could go back in time, given the chance, I would do it all over again."

Mei-Lin Robertson
IB Student 2001

Testimonial - Meggie Palmer Somerset IB Diploma Student 2001

"There have been repeated sightings of senior students frequenting school grounds at absurdly early hours of the morning, well into the evening and, to the great surprise of experts, also during-holidays. Although the International Baccalaureate is in essence a contract to frequent the school grounds more than fellow students, it has certainly been an exciting and invaluable experience.

The International Baccalaureate encourages the expanding of one's horizons, opinions and knowledge and gives ground to forge new friendships. Over the past two years, I have read the works of numerous authors, studied philosophy, learnt a new language, written a 4000 word thesis, served as a surf lifesaver and travelled to Italy twice.

I was exposed to this wide range of opportunities as a result of choosing to study the International Baccalaureate. The IB was extremely challenging and meant that sleep became a prized commodity to all diploma students! However, the opening of new frontiers and knowledge made all the work worthwhile."

Meggie Palmer
IB Diploma Student 2001