Principal of UWC Atlantic, on educating royals and refugees in an 12th century castle
Tucked away on the windswept coast of Wales sits UWC Atlantic College: part medieval castle, part radical laboratory for global education. At the helm is Naheed Bardai, who arrived in 2021 with a career spanning from Kenya to Canada, bringing with him a conviction that schools must prepare their students for the world they will inherit in 2060.
In his wide-ranging conversation with Henry Faber, Naheed reveals just how unique a place UWC Atlantic is, from stories of rescuing and now educating an Afghan refugee, to their disruptive ideas that he hopes will shape education framework in the future. The newly-launched Systems Transformation Pathway is a pioneering curriculum designed to prepare students to grapple with today's global challenges, from climate change to mass displacement. The school is a celebration and success story for diversity and inclusion, with royals and refugees sharing the same experiences and building a community together.
🎙️ Episode highlights
Naheed shares the extraordinary story of helping an Afghan student escape the Taliban and welcoming to study at the college.
He discusses UWC Atlantic's deliberate diversity with students from 84 countries and a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.
He makes the case for the IB and how it sets the benchmark for pre-university education and prepares teenagers for a complex future.
He reveals how innovation is at the very core of UWC Atlantic, from co-creating the IB to inventing the RIB rescue boat.
Naheed calls for his peers to be courageous, saying that education must expand from being student-centred to broaden perspectives.