Our mission

A lot can be said about schools and how they ought to be. At Nordic International School, we have chosen our focus. To us, it’s all about the knowledge, the languages and the order. What do we mean by that?

Order

For us, a clear focus on order and discipline is an absolutely essential part of how we operate. Otherwise it would be impossible for us to realise the core objective of our school – knowledge development. We can only attain best results if our students are prepared, disciplined and able to help create a positive and optimal learning environment.

Overall, discipline is also a key element in the way we approach our students and their education. We place high expectations on the students and their attitudes towards school. At the same time, our teachers also place high expectations on their own teaching and the way in which they engage with the students. We are convinced that our students benefit from clear rules. They know what is expected of them and they know what happens if they break the rules. Being explicit and giving clear examples is an important part of this.

Our approach towards order and discipline consists of clear and simple rules regarding what is and is not permitted at the school. In addition to the rules of conduct, we also have a number of rituals at the school. The purpose of these rituals is to strengthen our shared culture at the school and to help both students and teachers alike to focus on the task at hand. The school uniform is another important part of this concept. Our focus is on offering the students an optimal learning environment and on preparing them thoroughly for adult life. The school uniform helps create a single community and reminds the students why they are at school.

Bilingualism

At Nordic International School, parts of the teaching is held in English. Our teachers come from all over the world and English is the primary language that is spoken in school. This means that our schools are bilingual, and that language is also learnt outside the classroom. We require that all our staff master the English language. We take an empathetic approach towards language and adjust the amount of English we use to the level of our students. We rely more on Swedish in the earlier years, with the level of English being gradually increased as time goes on. The precise range of subjects being offered in English will vary depending on the teacher’s linguistic competence.

Focus on knowledge development

At Nordic International School, it is of the utmost importance to us that the methods we use have a positive effect on the knowledge and skills development of our students. We have therefore based our teaching concept on research into what works in practice. All teachers participate in our own competence development programme which aims to help them
apply the right methods in the classroom.

Research shows that traditional teaching methods and learning environments, which place particular focus on order and discipline, considerably improve student knowledge in the majority of contexts. Several studies have shown, for example, that private schools in the USA which adopt traditional models tend to be more effective. We have chosen to learn from these examples and other successful case studies that are backed up by science.

But research is constantly developing.

New methods and tools are constantly being developed and tested. We strive to continuously improve, and this requires us to constantly remain abreast of new studies and analyses that can help us develop further in a solid academic direction.

In order to best make use of new research at our schools, we have employed education researcher Gabriel Heller Sahlgren as our advisor. In this way, we can ensure that what happens in the classroom always leads to the best possible level of knowledge development for the students – both now and going forward as well.