Initial Sky School Diploma Curriculum “Hacked”

We are delighted to have completed the “curriculum hackathons” for the courses that form the initial Sky School Diploma Programme. 

Over one year, we’ve brought together 140 educators and young people with experience of displacement, who have spent over 2,000 hours in hackathons to develop the curriculum for 10 courses, which together comprise the initial Sky School Diploma. We have also developed bridging course to support learners with their language competencies - “English for Changemakers.” Our team of 12 course leaders has spent many more hundreds of hours further developing each course so it is now ready to be launched. 

Hackathons ensure that we are working ‘with,’ not just ‘for’ displaced learners. Another advantage of this alternative approach is also that its intensity enables us to develop a 10 course curriculum in just 12 months. 

We would like to thank the following schools that have hosted curriculum hackathons over the last year: UWC South East Asia, UWC Maastricht and UWC Atlantic College. We would also like to thank the Catalyst Foundation for Universal Education for funding this area of our work. 

The Curriculum hackathon process was devised by Sky School’s Director of Education and Leadership Team member Stuart MacAlpine. On the completion of the hackathons, Stuart said: “Our challenge was to create a process that would work in every context we brought it to, drawing on leading educational practice and tech sprints and hackathons: and it worked. After all the generative work, something emerges that is simple and elegant.”