“不确定，太迷茫了。”身边的留学家庭越来越常说出这句话。
疫情、国际形势、新政等多重因素加持，让教育决策的每一步似乎都充满犹疑。其实，面对不确定的，不仅仅是家长们，专业教育者们亦是如此。
就以创办了昆山狄邦华曜学校的狄邦教育集团为例，它的发展过程就一直在直面各种不确定。
过去二十年，国内国际化教育发展如火如荼。迅速更迭的市场需求、外部环境，与一贯坚持的教育愿景之间，挑战始终存在。那么，一路以来，狄邦教育集团如何在变局中做出决策？他们的考量因素，对于广大家长来说是否也具有参考意义？
带着这些疑问，小编专门采访了狄邦教育集团创始人、昆山狄邦华曜学校理事会理事长张博文先生。从业几十年，眼见现实的错杂，又切实感受到国际化教育的气象，张博文先生给出了一个既朴素又可贵的答案，“很简单，狄邦自始自终坚持的一个原则，就是以学生为中心。”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know what to do.” Many parents who want to send their students abroad or those already have done so say this more and more often.
The pandemic, the international situation, new policies … These intertwining factors make parents hesitate at their education decisions. In fact, these uncertainties not only bewilder the parents, but also professional educators.
For example, Dipont Education Group (hereinafter referred to as Dipont), which founded Dipont Huayao Collegiate School Kunshan (hereinafter referred to as Dipont Huayao), has been constantly confronting all kinds of uncertainties during its development process.
The past two decades witnessed a vigorously growing sector in China: the international education. The rapidly changing market demands and external environment keeps challenging one’s consistent educational vision. Then how has Dipont been making its decisions along the way? Would those considerations helpful to parents as well?
With these questions in mind, we interviewed Mr. Zhang Bowen, founder of Dipont and Chairman of Dipont Huayao School Board. As someone who have seen the complex reality and experienced the new atmosphere by leading the industry for the past few decades, Mr. Zhang gave us a simple but valuable answer: “It’s simple. Dipont always stick to our student-centered principle. ”
学校理事会理事长
张博文先生
为方便阅读，以下用受访者第一人称叙述。
为什么引入国际课程？
Why introducing international high school curriculums?
熟悉的朋友可能知道，狄邦是国内第一个引入国际课程的机构，A Level（英国普通教育高级程度证书）、IBDP（国际文凭课程）和AP（美国大学先修课程）都是。如今再谈，就被视作一种“先见之明”。
与其说是预测未来，不如说我们花了更多的心思去关注学生。上世纪90年代，我们服务过许多华人移民家庭，亲眼看到过那些孩子在异国学习的挣扎。当时小孩子读书，似乎只有两种情况：要么一路国内传统学校冲高考，要么移民到国外，语言、文化、生活，方方面面面临适应性挑战。
还有没有其他的选择呢？如果不是把孩子送出去，而是把课程引进来呢？
2001年，中国加入世界贸易组织。2003年，《中外合作办学条例》发布。2004年，高中新课程改革方案开始。这些政策背景，使我们的工作成为可能；同时，国内社会经济的发展和家庭观念认知的接受程度，都日臻成熟。
于是，2004年，狄邦教育集团引入A Level课程，人大附中开设了第一个在教育部备案的A Level国际高中课程中心。截至目前，狄邦仍在与几十所中国知名高中合作，为国际高中项目的运营提供完整的管理支持。近20年来，从这些学校毕业的学生已超过30000人。
Some of you may know that Dipont was the first organization to introduce international high school curriculums to China, including A-Level, IBDP and AP. Looking back on that decision, people would regard it as a foresight.
Rather than predicting the future, it’s more about paying greater attention to students. In 1990s, we saw too many children struggling with their studies when we were providing service to Chinese families who immigrate overseas. At that time, there seemed to be only two pathways for Chinese students: either you strive all the way through the Chinese system to take Gaokao (the Chinese college entrance exam), or you immigrate to other countries and struggle with the new language, cultural environment and lifestyle.
Is there no other choice? For instance, is it possible to introduce curriculums from other countries into China instead of sending students out?
In 2001, China entered the WTO; in 2003, Regulations for Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools were released; in 2004, the reform plan for the high school curriculum was released. These policies allowed possibilities for our work. Meanwhile, the social and economic development as well as Chinese families’ understanding of education are getting more and more mature.
Against this background, Dipont introduced the A-level curriculum to China in 2004, and helped the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China establish the first international curriculum center registered with the Ministry of Education in China. Today, Dipont still works with dozens of famous high schools in China, providing full management support for their international curriculum centers, with over 30,000 graduates during the years.
校外延展背后的洞察？
What’s the insight behind our after-school extended programs?
如大家所见，国际化教育迎来了雨后春笋般地发展。“爬藤牛校”、“牛剑摇篮”，渐欲迷人眼。狄邦在做什么？还是围绕着学生转。
不知大家有没有看过一部名为《WE留学生》的纪录片？狄邦团队走访了美国近30所大学，大学招生官和教育人士，以及近百名美国大学在读或已毕业的大学生，并记录、还原成片。中国留学生在学校里受到的待遇如何？他们的适应情况怎样？毕业后他们又去做什么了？发展潜力在哪里？
With the booming development of international education, slogans like “gateway to Ivy League” or “cradle for OxCam students” are everywhere. What was Dipont doing? Still centering around students.
Have you seen a documentary call “We Overseas Students”? Dipont’s filming crew visited nearly 30 universities and colleges in the U.S., interviewed admissions officers, educators and around 100 Chinese students graduated or studying in American universities, and at last recorded them down and put them in the documentary. What were the experiences of Chinese students at American universities? How well do they adapt? Where did they go after graduation? What’s their development potential?
在大量观察与反思后，遗憾出现在眼前：粗放式的“拿来”，本质上只是换个赛道“洋高考”，教育路径的选择被简化为升学路径的选择。结果，“成绩单+背景提升”的拼配，还是没能让孩子发生实实在在的变化。
那时，我们常听到中国学生去留学被诟病“没有想法”。这个评价背后是什么？海量的英文阅读写作，我们的孩子胜任不了；没有“标准答案”的开放议题，我们的孩子没有充分的思辨能力；同时，表达能力与创新能力的欠缺，让他们从大学到职场的每一步都很艰难，并且孤立无援。
狄邦教育开始逐个攻破：
2012年，我们开始了学术辩论与演讲项目，带学生亲身经历英文学术辩论的过程，从而训练和积累阅读、写作、思辨乃至创新等关键能力。截至2021年，每年约两万学生参加该项目。
当时狄邦选择了以课外培训的形式，向学生传达通识教育中的那些核心能力，作为国际课程的补充。目前，虽然受限于课外培训的一些管理要求，但这些资源和经验沉淀下来，也会逐步赋能于我们的学校。
After careful investigations and reflections, we found with regret that only passing the international curriculum exams creates yet another Gaokao for students, just a foreign one. Families’ choice of education pathways becomes a simple choice of college entrance. The result is that school report card plus background improvement don’t bring real changes to students.
During that period, we often heard critiques about Chinese students lacking original thinking. The facts behind this comment are: most Chinese students can’t manage a large amount of English reading and writing; most Chinese students don’t have enough thinking and analyzing abilities to answer open-ended questions with no standard answers; lack of creativity and expressing ability makes them struggle all the way from college to workplace, with no one to support them.
Dipont began to tackle these problems one by one:
In 2012, we started our academic speech and debate program, providing our students with high quality English academic debate training so that their key abilities could be developed: such as reading, writing, thinking and analyzing as well as creative thinking. Till 2021, around 20,000 students participated in these programs every year.
Outside the classroom, Dipont equips students with core abilities by providing liberal science courses through after-school extended programs, as complement to the international curriculums. Currently, though restricted by supervision requirements on extracurricular training, the resources and experience accumulated from these programs will gradually pass onto our school.
开办独立学校的愿景？
What’s the vision of establishing independent schools?
做到这些，实属不易，但犹嫌不足。即使在最后三年，对一个孩子投入再多的心力，他能获得的能力与视野仍不充分。
这在教育中是再基本不过的常识，但在“短视”与“急躁”充斥的环境下，大家常常忽略了：教育是一个长程事业。高中段对一个孩子的改变其实相当有限，只有更早开始，对人的培养才能更完整。
未来的国际化人才应该具备哪些能力？国际视野、对双语双文化的理解、跨文化沟通的能力等等，那么就读于一贯制学校的学生，大概率会更有优势，因为他们得以更长期的浸润。
狄邦教育很早就看到了这一点，并始终致力于提供更接近理想图景的全人教育。2014年起，狄邦教育引入中外优质教育资源，携手华东师范大学第二附属中学、中国人民大学附属中学、南京外国语学校，以及英国国王学院学校等中外名校，聚集中西方之所长，先后于杭州、无锡、昆山和成都创办K-12学校。
这既是集团层面的重要决策，亦是我个人的教育情怀所在。相信各位家长能够感受到，在狄邦华曜学校，有来自集团的全面支持，从校园建设、第三方供应商到教师培训、课程研发等各个环节，背后的资源之强大，都不是哪一个单个学校能比的。
投入这么多，归根究底还是为了学生的发展。狄邦华曜学校一直强调全人教育，但究竟什么是我们理想中的全人教育？我认为，要从横向和纵向两个维度去理解：
既是完整的人，学术、品格、情商，这种宽度上的完整；也是时间上的完整，不是以进入大学为终点，也不是以从名校毕业为终点，而是以终身发展为目标的教育。
All of the above are great achievements already, but it’s still not enough. No matter how much efforts we put into our students, the last three years of their school life in China is not enough for them to develop competencies and visions sufficient for successful further education.
Although it’s the most basic common sense in education, in an environment full of shortsightedness and impatience, people usually ignore the fact that education is a long-term process and three years of high school would only exert very limited influence on a child. Only when we start earlier can we better achieve holistic education.
What competencies are essential for a future international talent? The answer is international vision, understanding of different languages and cultures, ability in cross-cultural communications, etc. Students studying at an all-through school is more likely to have greater advantage in these aspects since they would be exposed to longer-time immersion.
Dipont saw this early on and has been endeavoring in providing a close-to-ideal holistic education. Since 2014, Dipont has brought in high-quality education resources from home and abroad and established K-12 schools in Hangzhou, Wuxi, Kunshan and Chengdu, in partnership with renowned Chinese and foreign schools including No. 2 High School of East China Normal University, the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, Nanjing Foreign Language School and King’s College School, Wimbledon.
Establish our own K-12 schools is a significant decision made by Dipont at the group level and is also where my education vision lies. I’m sure our parents can feel that Dipont Huayao is fully supported by Dipont Education Group. Be it in the construction of the campus, third-party vendors, teaching staff training or curriculum development, Dipont Huayao has access to rich resources which no other single school can compete.
All the efforts and resources are ultimately put in place for the development of students. Dipont Huayao always stresses holistic education, but what exactly is holistic education in our mind? I think we should go about it from two dimensions:
Horizontally, it means being a whole person well developed in learning, characters, EQ, etc.; vertically, it means the wholeness in time, which doesn’t end by entering a college or graduate from one, but continues onto lifelong development.
坚持中外教并重的思考？
Why do we insist on co-teaching of Chinese and Expat teachers?
在师资方面，我相信狄邦学校的家长们深有体会。不论是外教资源稀缺的过去，还是因疫情而阻隔的现在，我们从未放弃过在这件事上的坚持。集团有相当专业的外教招聘团队，能够从源头上保证教学一线的外教资源。
同时，狄邦也一直在进行双语教师的招聘与培训工作。国际化教育在国内落地这么多年，好的双语教师依然不多，多半依托于海归留学生进入学校。
2019年，狄邦教育集团与华东师范大学教育集团、英国剑桥大学国际考评部签署三方合作备忘录，首倡构建立足中国、接轨国际的双语教师和学校管理者标准，推动中国教育的国际化发展。
I believe our parents are impressed by the teaching staff at Dipont Huayao. We firmly insist on the co-teaching of Chinese and Expat teachers, not only in the past when expat teachers were scarce, but also today when the pandemic creates challenges. Dipont has a highly professional recruiting team to ensure the supply of high quality expat teachers.
Meanwhile, Dipont has been carrying out bilingual teacher recruitment and training. After so many years since international education started in China, we still don’t have many good local bilingual teachers, and most of whom are graduates returned from overseas.
In 2019, Dipont Education Group signed a three-way cooperation memorandum with East China Normal University Education Group and Cambridge Assessment International Education, UK. The three parties joined hands to initiate the standard-setting of bilingual teachers and school management with its root in China but in line with the world, aiming to lead the internationalized development of China’s education.
2021年，狄邦教育与剑桥大学修思堂学院未来教育研究中心签署合作备忘，狄邦将作为该研究中心在中国的唯一教育合作伙伴，成立并推广剑桥未来教育研究基地，共同培养未来教师。
中教好还是外教好？有许多比较和讨论，但在狄邦，我们不下论断。沈茂德校长有句话很适切，好的国际化教育，应当抛开东西之见，共建我们的学校。
我们的学校，即培养未来创新型人才的学校，而未来人才的首要标准即跨文化沟通能力。我深以为然，中国已经是世界第二大经济体，在世界舞台上的跨文化沟通能力、领导力很重要。那么，这就要求学生接受的教育应当处于多元的文化氛围之中，既如此，多元背景的师资队伍至关重要。
In 2021, Dipont signed a cooperation memorandum with the Digital Education Futures Initiative (DEFI) of Hughes Hall of Cambridge University. Dipont will be Cambridge DEFI’s sole education partner in China, to establish and promote Cambridge DEFI Base, and develop teachers for the future.
Who is the better teacher, Chinese or expat? There are many comparisons and discussions, but at Dipont, we don’t make judgement. Principal Shen Maode has a very well-put remark: good international education should put aside the debate on eastern or western teachers and focus on developing the schools.
We’re a school aiming to educate innovative talents for the future, and the primary requirement for future talents is cross-cultural communication. I totally agree with this view. China is now the second largest economy in the world, therefore leadership and cross-cultural communication become crucial for Chinese young people to play a role in this world. That requires students to be educated in a multi-cultural atmosphere, which cannot live without a teaching staff from diverse backgrounds.
集团课程研发在做什么？
What is the curriculum development team working on at Dipont?
对学生影响最大的几个因素，除了师资，还有课程。
狄邦教育集团历来就致力于国际课程的本土化、学生学术发展体系。而新的时代背景下，义务教育阶段的教学，被赋予了对教师和学生来说都更具挑战性的“轻负高效”的任务。
狄邦“学科建设与发展中心”总监马莅骊老师，复旦大学中文系，毕业后一直从事语文课程相关工作，对教材、教书和学生手册都非常熟悉。
她带领团队，花了巨大精力去比对中国课纲与世界上包括英美在内的其他国家课程标准，结果发现，其实目标相差无几，且共同趋势都在课程核心素养。
区别在于，我们国家的课程大纲比较简明扼要，因此给教师的实施挑战也比较大；而美国会把大纲编写得非常详细，几乎可以作为教参使用。
因此，我们尝试用美国课纲的颗粒度，去细化我国的课纲标准，去帮助一线教师在实施教学的环节，能够真真正正地将核心素养传递给每一位学生。
受篇幅限制，我们不得不对采访内容做大量删减，呈现狄邦三十年发展一个极简的勾勒。但这似乎正是狄邦一贯的风格，不复杂，不花哨，踏踏实实做好一件事，让真正的国际化教育，惠及更多的孩子，造就更多的“全人”。
Besides teachers, one of the most influential factors for students is the curriculum.
Along the ways, Dipont has been working on the localization of international curriculums and building the student development system. In this new era, compulsory education in China is required to lift the burden for students and increase the classroom efficiency, which is very challenging for both teachers and students.
Ms. Ma Lili, Director of the Center for Subject Construction and Development at Dipont, was a top graduate from the Chinese Language Department of Fudan University and has been engaged in works relevant to the Chinese subject for many years. She’s very familiar with teaching, textbooks and student handbooks.
She led the team to compare the Chinese curriculum standards and the foreign ones with great efforts, and they found that there are not many differences between the goals of these curriculum systems, which share a common focus on developing students’ core competencies.
The main difference is that the Chinese curriculum outline is relatively brief, which brings more challenge for teachers during implementation; and the American one is very detailed, almost like a teaching reference book.
So we try to detail our curriculum framework to make it as granular as the American one so that it could help front-line teachers actually develop students’ core competences through the teaching and learning process.
Due to the article’s limit in length, we have to cut down many contents from the interview and give you a very brief picture of the 30 years’ development of Dipont. But this fits well with Dipont’s style: no complexities or show-offs, but focusing on one goal and strive for the best, so that the international education in its true meaning could benefit more children, and educate more “whole persons”.