SABIS® Educational System
The SABIS® Educational System has been developed, refined and tested for over a century. This system was developed to provide a truly international education that is geared towards the achievement of academic excellence.
The resulting curriculum is comprehensive and dynamic, being updated as necessary to keep it relevant to the age, the international community, and the global environment. SABIS® believes that university education is academically accessible to all students. SABIS® also believes that the success of an educational institution should be measured by the value it adds to each individual.
Planning & Preparing
Thorough preparation precedes teaching. Every course is researched and structured, and is described in terms of clearly stated objectives.
A plan for every subject at every stage is prepared. Each plan is complete: it includes all of the points to be taught and the skills to be developed; it is detailed: each objective is precise and measurable; it is paced: progress is charted against a timeline. The plan for each stage dovetails with that of the following stage, ensuring that nothing essential to further learning is omitted, and enabling the transition from one year to the next to be smooth and successful.
Teaching Methods
The whole class is taught together, using the unique SABIS® Point System. The key concepts of a lesson are listed. Each of these is taught interactively, alternating oral work, individual written work, and group checking. Class time is utilized for building a solid foundation of knowledge through interacting, analyzing, forming and expressing opinions, and effective discussion. Discussions are based on critical thinking and logical reasoning.
The various teaching methods that are used and the pace that is set stimulate students by keeping them interested and channeling their enthusiasm. When in class, students learn actively: they do not simply listen to lengthy explanations or take dictated notes.
Testing & Monitoring
The SABIS® Network has succeeded in effectively integrating technology into education. Students and parents benefit from the school's cutting edge proprietary educational technology, which serves as a major facilitator by creating new and innovative techniques, maximizing efficiency and depth of learning.
Developments such as the Integrated Testing and Learning (ITL) may very well lead to revolutionizing the process of education at SABIS® schools.
ITL not only permits students to take paperless, computerized exams but it permits them to learn what they failed to answer correctly immediately after the exam has been taken, even before they leave the exam hall. The way this system works is that for each incorrectly answered question, students are shown (on their screens) the pages of the textbook related to that question along with a worked example. Then they are given a second chance to answer that same question. ITL allows the administration to detect those students who either spend too little or too much time on a question, questions that are too difficult as well as gaps in students' knowledge.
Continuous evaluation of student learning is an integral part of the instructional process in the SABIS® School Network. Frequent and regular testing is conducted in order to evaluate student learning and permit timely, positive intervention. Testing students in this way has a number of very important advantages:
- students are trained to perform well under the pressure of time and other constraints.
- students develop the ability to focus and to sustain concentration for increasingly long periods.
- the feedback from testing allows close monitoring and follow-up.
The proprietary SABIS® Software Systems provide many programs that allow prompt, reliable assessment of student knowledge as well as effective follow-up. One such program, the SABIS® Academic Monitoring System™ (SABIS® AMS™), is used to assess student knowledge of every concept taught. The SABIS® AMS™ allows 'gaps' in student knowledge to be pinpointed as they form. Working as a team, teachers and students then focus their efforts on 'filling the gaps'. The SABIS® AMS™ allows the progress of every student to be continuously monitored, problem areas to be identified, and the most student-appropriate solution to be implemented.
Follow-Up
The progress of every student is continuously followed up, and students are given the support they need. All available means are used to help those who fall behind to catch up. They are advised in study techniques, motivated by the academic staff, and encouraged by receiving help from peer-tutors or teachers. In the SABIS® School Network, no one is left to his or her own devices
SABIS Student Life Organization®
The SABIS Student Life Organization® (SLO™), a distinctive and integral part of the SABIS® Educational system, gives students the opportunity to develop 'life' skills that empower them to make a difference.
The SLO™ is the students' mini society.
All students are encouraged to join the SLO™ and to take an active
part and contribute to the academic and non-academic aspects of their education.
Through this unique student empowerment that the SABIS Student Life Organization® allows,
SABIS® contributes to the development of the personal,
social and leadership quality of each individual.
By working in cooperation with, and complementing the efforts of, the administration and academic staff, prefects raise the general standard and add more value to themselves and individuals.
The value added by the SABIS Student Life Organization® consists of a large number of outstanding students who are academically good, morally sound, mentally sharp and socially aware.