An evaluation of Round Square’s ‘IDEALS’ 
The Round Square network comprises around 160 independent schools across the world, and is based in the philosophy of Kurt Hahn, founder of the Outward Bound movement. It has six IDEALS:
- Internationalism
- Democracy
- Environmentalism
- Adventure
- Leadership
- Service
All member schools must demonstrate how they promote these.
Round Square commissioned the researchers to explore the convergent and divergent understandings of the IDEALS among students, parents and staff across the network, and their perceived benefit to students, schools and more widely. The research comprised of a network-wide questionnaire with nearly 5000 respondents, alongside case studies of 5 schools in different continents including staff interviews and student-led focus groups. We have explored how these IDEALS are understood and valued in practice within the schools’ communities.
The project report and a subsequent journal are being written at the moment – more information on this to follow in due course.
Funder
Duration of Funding
Nov 2015 - May 2016
Principal Investigator
Dr Rupert Higham
Co-investigator
Dr Natalie Djohari
Presentation at CamERA conference on preliminary findings, March 2016