Danielle McIven, Theatre teacher

"...the continual engagement feels more than work and defines very much the way I live – my daily interaction, commitment and the way I perceive both the role of teacher and the impact of education."

I have been living in Mostar since September 2006 when the United World College in Mostar was opened. I say live in Mostar, because this is the first unique feature of this UWC; it is committed, as a principle, to its location in Mostar’s centre. As a teacher and house fellow the continual engagement feels more than work and defines very much the way I live – my daily interaction, commitment and the way I perceive both the role of teacher and the impact of education.

Although this is my first teaching post, it is my second UWC experience, as I was a student in Atlantic College (00-02). My perception of teaching and the UWC movement has been transformed by my experience in Mostar. Perhaps I have a selective memory, but I cannot remember whilst I was a student asking the question, what makes a UWC? For a student, at a well established institution like AC, UWC was simply there, it was given. In contrast, in UWC in Mostar students and staff here very much feel ourselves to be pioneers in a vital experiment. Students have an honest and realistic awareness of the complexity of the situation they live in, but also great and extensive expectations for themselves, each other and the whole college community.

Because of the location in the heart of a small city, its principles resonating through the wider, still divided community. The idea of 'integration' that inspired the college enters all activities. Not only 'integration' amongst different national groups, but the integration of school, residence, social interaction and the desires and worries of young people from all over the world. As a teacher one encounters all these aspects of the students' lives and I have sought to incorporate them into my understanding and relationships with my students, and my approach to the subject I teach, IB Theatre.

In its essence theatre needs only the human body. Over the three year life of the UWC in Mostar Theatre has expanded and taken off in many directions, both as an IB subject, and as a creative and service activity. I spend a three hour class continually challenged and inspired by the interest, ideas, experience and imagination of students from different backgrounds, faiths and economic circumstances. The absence of any uniformity in their life experiences, or in their ideas of what theatre should be, has been a wonderful basis on which to explore, within the discipline of a flexible IB syllabus, the universality of theatrical performance, and its transformative power.

Here in UWC in Mostar the dichotomy between the universal and the uniform is an issue that is constantly addressed. It is also, for me, the key for understanding what it is that UWC has to offer its host communities, its students and its teachers.

The UWC movement is now going through a period of self-reflection, assessment and renewal. The experience of students from many countries encountering one another and studying together is a central characteristic of international schools. Yet UWC provides something much more than this. Perhaps it is the offering of this opportunity to many talented and brave students who would otherwise simply be excluded because they could not afford to attend a 'typical' international school. For them the experience is nothing short of a revelation, and one that stays with them long after they leave the UWC. As a teacher, I share in this discovery of what may be universal to this movement. What is this ‘universal’? I think it may be an unquenchable curiosity. Curiosity in the world; both immediate and distant and in people, similar and different. And the curiosity to find out what can make it a better place. To meet this everyday with the students I come into touch with is a privilege. I am so fortunate to teach a subject I feel can change and empower people, in a challenging and inspiring context as part of an innovative and, as I see, renewing movement. To be a teacher at UWC in Mostar is to have a position of great responsibility, opportunity and impact. I can only imagine how difficult this will be to experience in any of my future teaching posts.

This may not directly address the title 'I teach at a UWC because..'. But these reflections on the nature of UWC in Mostar in both practice and philosophy spring from my immense interest and investment in the College, through which I continually address what the UWC movement is and what it seeks. This belief and challenge is ultimately why I teach here.