The United World College movement in practice: the role of interaction rituals in releasing positive emotional energy to ‘spark change’

Abstract

The arena of international schools is continuously growing. One under-researched ‘traditional’ grouping is the United World College (UWC) movement. Its idealistic long-term mission to facilitate global peace and sustainability by ‘sparking change’ in young peoples’ lives represents an important area of study. As well as preparing young people for the two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme amidst a background of co-curricular experiential learning, the UWC movement offers ‘Short Courses’ each year around the world. Our paper explores, for the first time, the ‘Short Course’ and its potential to transform and build character for social change. We present five vignettes of participants’ experiences and perspectives of a ‘Short Course’, revealing how the every-day rhythm and interactions of the course rituals coupled with an intentionally deeply emotional experience can transform young people and empower them with the positive emotional energy needed to ‘spark change’ in the future.