More than just education.
Revolution.
Our Method
To raise ambitious, courageous and caring leaders, we have created and implemented the Still I Rise Method, a revolutionary teaching approach that promotes critical and creative thinking, instilling deep passion and a concrete commitment to social justice and societal progress.
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Beauty
We believe that Beauty is paramount to learning.
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Democracy
We empower each student to self-define and self-determine.
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Family
We overturn the traditional paradigm of the relationship between student and teacher.
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Freedom
We build Schools that free the mind to enable everyone to save themselves
The Pillars of our Method
Common Hall
The Common Hall is the beating heart of our Schools. It is the place where students and staff gather in their free time to talk about topics covered in class or explore new ideas, building a lifelong relationship of mutual trust. The Common Hall is an open space, where everyone enters without shoes and where students and teachers interact as equals in the comfort of an environment build around them with materials such as wood and glass to promote welcoming and transparency, and furnished with rugs, sofas and armchairs to facilitate interaction.
Mutual care
Human being look after what or whom takes care of them. That is why our Schools are designed to be more than just schools. Here students are involved in the management of the spaces, they are in charge of fixing what they break, cleaning up what they litter, making sure that the school facility is always ready for the best use for the community. Students are the real owners of the School, and this empowers them. They feel seen, cared for and valued, moving from a state of passivity to one of self-assertion.
A School for Happiness
You only learn where you feel safe. Learning will always be hard work. Growing up is a competitive process of overcoming personal limitations to achieve the best possible version of oneself. This does not mean that going to school has to be painful and scary. On the contrary, we have learned that everyone is at their best where they feel seen, heard and understood. That is why we have decided to make our students’ happiness a top priority: so as to instill in them a lifelong love of knowledge.
A School for Life
School is the place where everyone becomes the best version of themselves. Instead of being an external dimension to life, or an assembly line for mere notions, a Still I Rise School is a community, a safe haven, a springboard where students develop all spheres of human experience through lessons, sports, personal development and social skills. At Still I Rise we learn not to pass exams, but for life.
Main characters
At School nothing is more important than the students. They are the reason for everything, the alpha and omega of every initiative, every plan and every effort. That is why we value them by making them participants in the management of the institution. We involve them directly in teacher recruitment interviews as well as give them leadership and representative roles in the classroom, Homerooms, Library, Clubs and the whole School. We give them the opportunity to review and evaluate teachers and participate in surveys on program improvement in all aspects.
Hands On
School must first and foremost be a tool in the service of the real world. Everything that happens in the classroom has a practical dimension and draws on empirical problems by requiring creativity, individuality and critical thinking in order to create innovation. Rather than offering solutions, our teachers ask key questions to promote a constructivist approach to education, using Inquiry Based Learning techniques and encouraging active learning from each pupil. The lesson is enhanced by the 5E pedagogical method: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate.
The Classroom
We believe that education should destabilize-not confirm-the status quo. The design of our classrooms reflects this philosophy. Rather than promoting the frontal, teacher-led lecture, we design flexible classrooms where every wall and corner encourages a new dimension of learning. Our classrooms offer a variety of alternative seating solutions, from modular desks to round tables, from yoga balls to stand-up desks, from rugs to cushions to accommodate a wide spectrum of intelligences and neurodiversity.
13 Values
Ambition, Bravery, Care, Transparency, Curiosity, Knowledge, Communication, Critical Thinking, Open-mindedness, Integrity, Risk-taking, Balance and Reflection-these are the 13 Founding Values of the Still I Rise Method in the world. Our studies reveal that strengthening a student’s human foundation by investing in his or her person through a value system allows for smoother academic learning, as the soft skills necessary for independent thinking and self-determination are developed.
Emotional Intelligence
The most fundamental value of any teacher is humanity. To be able to teach effectively, a mentor must first create an emotional bond with the student. This forms the foundation of a relationship of mutual trust and understanding, which is preparatory to truly effective learning free of anxiety and fear. A typical lesson should begin with a question, “How are you today?” These are not pleasantries but genuine interest, to which students respond by articulating their emotions, knowing that at School they are free from judgment and retaliation. One only really learns where one feels safe.
X-Factor
Instead of simply looking at technical skills, academic training and formal qualifications of teacher candidates, we focus on passion. We look for leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity and a revolutionary heart. We look for soft skills. We look for professionals who burn with enthusiasm and a desire to challenge the status quo. We look for the X-Factor. At Still I Rise, we look for the dreamers. We look for professionals who, instead of waking up in the morning thinking, “Today I’m going to school to teach,” think, “Today I’m going to school to change the world.”
Life's Teachers
Our educators are beacons in the night of life. It is undoubtedly easier for an adult to dispense answers and solutions instead of allowing the child the freedom to find them on their own. It takes courage to step aside, but our teachers are trained to offer truly holistic support, not only in the classroom but especially outside. From affective education to mental health via stress management, discovering one’s passions, personal hygiene and entrepreneurship, our teachers go far beyond the academic sphere. They teach life.
The Importance of Making Mistakes
At Still I Rise, mistakes are not only allowed but encouraged. Whn evaluating our students, we avoid mathematical averaging between the grades received. We take into account the child in their complexity, without reducing them to a number. We reward not so much excellence but the ability to grow and improve despite adversity. The same goes for teachers. We give everyone the opportunity to take calculated risks and thus grow and innovate. For us, failure is not the end of the line but the starting point. We cultivate the courage of imperfection.
Teaching concepts
In an increasingly multicultural and interconnected world, it is impossible to teach individuals from different countries and cultures one Literature, one History, one Geography and one way of seeing the world and life. Instead of teaching specific content, therefore, we teach universal concepts. Rather than teaching a given emperor, for example, we explore the concept of empire, leaving the individual student free to supplement it with the example of an emperor of their own choice, encouraging logical and practical connections to their own culture and to the contemporary world the student lives in.
Local Roots
We challenge the norms not only of the traditional system but also of International Schools. Instead of taking a European and North American -centered approach, we shape learning to the cultural heritage of the country we operate in, ensuring that students are fully aware of their own history and traditions. Through events and the learning about local leaders, we encourage pupils to rediscover, value and celebrate elements of a cultural heritage that would otherwise be at risk of being lost.
World-Changers
At Still I Rise, each student discovers their talents and develops them by putting them at the service of the community. Education is, yes, a right, but it is also a great responsibility, and our students know that they have a duty to put themselves at the service of the world: not because they are better than others, but because they have the privilege of being able to do so. We refer to them as “world-changers” and link every concept learned in the classroom to its practical use in order to change the system for the benefit of the community, because every School should change the world.
International Baccalaureate
We are the first in the world to democratize elite education by offering the IB (International Baccalaureate) framework free of charge to refugee and vulnerable children as an IB World School. The IB curriculum is the most widely recognized and valued in the world, available to only 0.1 percent of the global population. We believe in a School of Excellence for all.
