Sparking Minds: What does learning look like at Shawnigan?
According to Assistant Head of School – Academics and Innovation Dr. Alexei du Bois, the goal of education at Shawnigan is to “prepare students for a life shaped by knowledge and virtue.” In this blog post, he breaks that down into three foundational principles that go beyond the concepts and tools employed by most institutions: Learning as a Lived Experience, Cultivating Moral Seriousness, and A Life Rooted in Knowledge and Virtue.
What is the ultimate goal of an academic program?
At Shawnigan Lake School, we believe education goes beyond student-developed machine learning tools, globally recognized curriculum, agentic AI tutors and personalized university guidance support – although a Shawnigan student will experience all of these at some point in their Shawnigan Journey.
We want to prepare our students to live what Socrates would call "the good life" – a life shaped by knowledge and virtue. These foundational principles equip young people to navigate the complex, unpredictable world they will enter after graduation. Good teaching is about more than delivering specific instructional steps or helping students master isolated skills. It is an activity in which the teacher shares in a moral enterprise, initiating young people into a worthwhile way of seeing, experiencing, and relating to the world.
At Shawnigan Lake School, we believe education goes beyond student-developed machine learning tools, globally recognized curriculum, agentic AI tutors and personalized university guidance support – although a Shawnigan student will experience all of these at some point in their Shawnigan Journey.
We want to prepare our students to live what Socrates would call "the good life" – a life shaped by knowledge and virtue. These foundational principles equip young people to navigate the complex, unpredictable world they will enter after graduation. Good teaching is about more than delivering specific instructional steps or helping students master isolated skills. It is an activity in which the teacher shares in a moral enterprise, initiating young people into a worthwhile way of seeing, experiencing, and relating to the world.
Learning as a Lived Experience
While Shawnigan offers a rigorous dual curriculum program – supplementing the British Columbia curriculum with American Advanced Placement (AP) courses – we recognize that true learning must be a rich, lived experience within each classroom.
Learning connects the vast history of human thought with a student's own internal search for meaning. This connection is at its most powerful when mediated by an outstanding teacher and ongoing immersive experiences.
Whether engaged in Harkness-style discussions in computer science, or debating ethical arguments surrounding AI development in philosophy, our students learn to build deep conceptual knowledge while developing a strong sense of who they are through the variety and depth of intellectual challenge that they face.
Cultivating Moral Seriousness
To prepare Shawnigan students for a meaningful future, our teaching requires the recognition that all young people have the capacity for moral seriousness: the profound ability to reflect on their values, their responsibilities to others, and the direction their lives will take. Supporting and developing that sense of seriousness is central to our mission as teachers. It is also a quality that the world's most selective university programs recognise in Shawnigan students.
Through Shawnigan's academic program, we aim to guide students as they:
- Develop Real-World Expertise: Become deeply knowledgeable in subjects while engaging with expert guest speakers and practitioners across various fields, as well as immersing themselves in unique learning environments such as the Observatory, Growing Dome, Robotics Lab and Recording Arts Studio.
- Expand Their Vision: Express their own voices and feelings while teachers challenge their assumptions, open their eyes to diverse viewpoints, and inspire them to imagine greater possibilities. Our AI teaching and learning framework seeks to create cognitive friction, ensure human-centred learning, and support our students to build their own large language models from the ground up.
- Create Purpose: Focus on the fullness of their Shawnigan education rather than simply finding effective means to attain external goals. With 110 years of outstanding teaching and learning, we help our students ask the questions that have significance: Have they pursued their passions? Have they embraced educational challenges? Were they able to fall in love with learning?
- Embrace Complexity: Gain the confidence and character needed to face significant obstacles with integrity. Shawnigan is Canada's largest boarding school, located on Canada's ecologically diverse Pacific coast and building authentic relationships with local Indigenous communities. All of our students are challenged to build connections with a range of people, places and histories, preparing them for the complex and varied world they will enter after leaving Shawnigan.
A Life Rooted in Knowledge and Virtue
Ultimately, an academic journey at Shawnigan is designed to be transformative. By grounding learning in vibrant interpersonal relationships and deep intellectual inquiry, we help young people discover ideals worth striving for and lead a life rooted in knowledge and virtue.
For more information about Shawnigan Lake School's academic vision and programs, please contact Dr. Alexei du Bois, Assistant Head of School – Academics & Innovation, at adubois@shawnigan.ca
Dr. Alexei du Bois is Shawnigan’s Assistant Head of School – Academics & Innovation, having previously held the School’s Heimbecker Chair for Experiential Education. His prior experience in education includes serving as Director of International Learning at Hilton College in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa, Director of Studies and Head of English at Peponi School in Kenya, and as an English and history teacher at Rondebosch Boys’ School in South Africa. He holds a BA in English, History and Music from the University of Cape Town, a PGCE from the University of South Africa, and both an MSc in Comparative and International Education and a DPhil in Education from the University of Oxford (Commonwealth Scholarship).
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 12 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
