Global Partnerships
The Northwest School’s network of partner schools in France, Spain, Taiwan, China, and Mexico provides a platform for multifaceted global activities and connections, including student and faculty exchanges, curriculum collaboration, and class trips.
We also engage with local and international organizations that share the school’s mission. Northwest is an active member of Global Washington, and is a partner school of the World Affairs Council of Washington State, a member of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, and the Global Education Benchmark Group. For over a quarter-century, the school has worked with SHARE, a non-governmental organization in El Salvador that hosts Northwest students each year.
These connections afford our students and faculty many opportunities for international travel, student exchanges, internships, and meetings with local and international leaders and experts.
Dajing High School, Shanghai, China
Dajing High School is a three-year comprehensive secondary school located in the downtown area of Shanghai. Founded in 1962, the school is one of the first municipal senior high schools in Shanghai. Dajing High School has approximately 900 students and strives to foster independent thought and strong social responsibility.
Lycée Emmanuel Mounier, Angers, France
Our French partner school is a small high school offering general and technical secondary education to 500 students, including 60 students attending technical and vocational training. Northwest and Lycée Emmanual Mounier share an exchange program, with French students spending a portion of the fall in Seattle, and Northwest students spending a portion of the spring in Angers.
Centro Docente María, Seville, Spain
Our partner school in Spain is a preschool-preuniversity independent school, providing education for approximately 500 students. The education focuses on three key areas: grammar, mathematics, and English. Students also take science, history, society, and geography classes, which are balanced with a wide range of extra-curriucular activities to promote emotional balance.
The Affiliated High School of National ChengChi University, Taipei, Taiwan
Founded in 2005, the Affiliated High School of National Chengchi University (AHSNCCU) cultivates students in four specific qualities: freedom to explore in the world of learning, autonomy for self-initiated learning, creativity that goes beyond boundaries, and energy that adds excitement to life. AHSNCCU is ranked as one of the top high schools in Taipei, and focuses on life beyond the classroom, encouraging students to engage in volunteer work, social care, and international exchange programs.
Lebawi, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Lebawi is a not-for-profit secondary educational institution founded in 2013. Former founder of the Northwest School Ellen Taussig played a pivotal role in launching the school. At Lebawi, students largely come from undeserved urban and rural areas. The Lebawi experience is followed with an intensive English language literacy training program, and then is capped off with a unique summer school program, in which students explore the world of geopolitics, model UN, african studies, theatre, and intercultural studies. ILAE currently serves over a hundred students from grades 9-12.
Global Symposium
On June 26 - July 1, 2016, The Northwest School held our first Global Symposium of Partner Schools. Fifteen faculty members from four of our partner schools worked with Northwest School faculty to share curriculum ideas, visualize potential collaborative projects, and deepen connections between the schools. Teachers and administrators from Lycée Emmanuel Mounier, Angers, France; Centro Docente María, Seville, Spain; The Affiliated High School of National ChengChi University, Taipei (AHSNCU); and Lebawi, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, all participated in seminar sessions, community building exercises, and curriculum workshops.
Over the week-long symposium, participants spent a week workshopping to develop concrete ideas for cross-cultural curriculum to use in the future. They also gave presentations discussing the cultural differences and challenges of teaching global curriculum at their respective schools. Some of the seminar topics included:
- Promoting Inclusive Education: A European and National Challenge
- Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Global Curriculum and Pedagogy
- The Principles of Secularism in French Schools
- Creative Ideas with the Fixed Curriculum
Over thirty teachers from Northwest and four of our partner schools participated in seminar sessions, community building exercises, and curriculum workshops at our first Global Symposium of Partner Schools.
Dr. Yong Zhao, director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education at the University of Oregon, delivered a talk via Skype to open up the Global Symposium.
Dawit Endale Alemayehu, from Lebawi, Cecilia Tung, Northwest School science teacher, and Colette Schouppe, from Lycée Emmanuel Mounier in France, discuss potential cross-cultural curriculum to use in the 2016-17 school year.
Bennie Yang and Yuki Wen, from The Affiliated High School of National ChengChi University in Taiwan, and Colette Schouppe and Graziella Cornuault, from Lycée Emmanuel Mounier in France, discuss Chinese characters during a presentation of the cultural importance of tea in Taiwan.
check it out
Read More About Our Global Learning Program
Read More