Principal of Westerfield College, Vicky Miles, has asserted that exposing children to different cultures alongside the British educational system can give them an advantage in an increasingly interconnected world.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Miles said children need opportunities to experience other societies and interact with people from different backgrounds, arguing that classroom lessons alone cannot provide the same understanding as practical experiences.
“So you can learn, you can learn two plus two is four in a math classroom. But if you don’t put the bricks together and see it and visually feel that two bricks plus two bricks equals four, it’s a different experience. And so having that coming to the UK, having that openness with other cultures, but also following British values and the British educational system for the short stay that they’re with us will give them that that step up.”
She explained that Westerfield College UK’s short-stay language and cultural experience programme runs throughout the year and aims to expose visiting students to other cultures while challenging their assumptions about the world. “And we are looking to have our students who visit us and stay with us also challenge their assumptions about the rest of the world, because, you know, there’s so much hatred in the world right now, there’s so many problems in the world, and we need our new generation of children to meet each other and have those experiences with other cultures, other people from different parts of the world, other faiths, other systems, to have an understanding, to celebrate mutual tolerance, respect, liberty, individualism, whilst also gaining those really important for themselves leadership skills, higher thinking skills, critical skills.”
Miles said the programme is intended to help children develop mutual respect and tolerance while building leadership. “What we’re looking to do is flip the narrative of traditionally British education would come to Nigeria and deliver here. And so we want to really challenge that perception of where educational excellence comes from and take the Nigerian platform to the UK so that everybody can share with what Nigeria has to offer the world as well, which is such an important part of what we’re looking to do.”
Miles emphasised that the college hopes to attract children from 20 countries, with Nigeria as its main market. “We are hoping to attract children from 20 different countries. Nigeria is our prime because we’re you know, we are Nigerian business. But I’ve personally visiting 12 countries on a tour.”
She said bringing children from different countries together would broaden their horizons and deepen their understanding of the societies in which they would live. “We want Nigerian children to experience British children, Chinese children, Brazilian children, Thai, Taiwanese children, to broaden their horizons and have that bigger understanding and respect for the world that they’re growing into.”
Miles clarified that such exposure could help children become more resilient and better prepared for a future shaped by technology and global connections. “Because it will make them more resilient, it will make them have that deeper understanding. You can’t learn about the world at large if you don’t experience the world at large. And that’s the point.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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