From MIT to BSG: What One Week Reminded Me About Teaching

By Mr Parahat Tajov, Head of Science

When I first walked into MIT, I noticed the pace.

Not busy in the usual sense.
But focused. Intentional. Everything felt like it had a purpose.

People were building things, testing ideas, asking better questions. There was a sense that learning was not something you prepare for later. It was happening now, and it mattered.

I spent five days there in June as part of the Nord Anglia collaboration programme. I expected to pick up a few new strategies. Instead, I found myself reflecting on something much bigger.

Why we teach the way we do.

What stayed with me most was not a single workshop or lecture. It was the conversations.

Sitting with teachers from across the Nord Anglia group, hearing how they approach learning in completely different contexts, yet facing many of the same questions we do at BSG.

How do we prepare students for a future we cannot fully predict?
What do they really need to succeed, beyond exams?

We kept circling back to the same idea. Knowledge is important. But it is not enough on its own.

Students need to be able to think for themselves. To adapt. To create. To solve problems that do not have clear answers. Those are the skills that will stay with them.

There were moments during the week that brought this into sharp focus.

Standing inside a nuclear fusion facility, listening to research that could shape the future of energy, I was reminded that the concepts we teach in the classroom are not abstract. They are the starting point of real solutions.

In another visit, I saw how student ideas can quickly become real ventures. Projects were not just being assessed. They were being developed, tested, and taken further.

It made me think about our own students. Not just what they can learn, but what they might go on to build. One of the most valuable parts of the experience was the chance to work in the way we want students to learn. We were not just listening. We were making.

Designing something from scratch, using tools like laser cutters, testing it, seeing it fail, and improving it again. It was uncomfortable at times, but that is exactly the point.

Learning like this stays with you. It builds confidence. It builds resilience. It teaches you that not getting it right the first time is part of the process.

Since returning to BSG, I have been thinking a lot about how this translates into our classrooms.

Because ultimately, that is what matters. Experiences like this are not about the teacher. They are about what the teacher brings back. For our students, it means more opportunities to learn through doing. More chances to explore ideas, to test them, and to see where they lead.

With our Innovation Zone opening soon, we are creating spaces where this kind of learning can happen every day. Where students are not just absorbing information, but using it in meaningful ways.

If I had to sum up what the week gave me, it would be this. A reminder that our role as educators is not just to deliver content. It is to help students step confidently into a future that does not yet exist. And that starts with giving them the space to think, to create, and to try.

That is what we are continuing to build at BSG.