In order to easily transmit the values and ideology of SHACKLETON INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, we believe in the importance and usefulness of having clear and universal references that motivate and inspire, that help define and synthesize the objectives to which our educational project aspires.
For this reason, we have relied on the figure of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and on the incredible feat of the Endurance expedition that he and his crew experienced after their boat was trapped and destroyed by the Antarctic ice, over a century ago.
The emotion that this extraordinary adventure transmits to us and the admiration that we have towards the figure of its leader, Shackleton, has helped us to focus the development of our teaching model and values, as well as highlight knowledge and skills that we want to transmit not only to our students but to the greater educational community that we are part of.
This true story represents for us a very inspiring life experience, from which valuable lessons can be drawn. It helps us to reflect on the collaborative guidance and attributes of a good leader, about their skills and knowledge to form a highly effective, loyal team, along with, promoting the many positive values consistent with our ideal persona, such as resilience, adaptability, curiosity, courage, perseverance, companionship, responsibility, assertiveness, etc.
On the 8th of August 1914, the intrepid explorer Ernest Shackleton, who had participated, among others, in Scott’s expedition to reach the South Pole, embarked in Plymouth (England) with his team of sailors and scientists, in the attempt to carry out the first crossing of Antarctica from coast to coast.
In January 1915, the ship became trapped in the compressed ice by the extreme air and sea currents of the Weddell Sea. After ten months of retention in a huge mass of ice, the ship was finally crushed and destroyed, sinking on the 21st of November 1915. After 5 more months, camped on the frozen surface, in April 1916, the members of the expedition began an epic sleigh ride across the frozen Weddell Sea and later on, by boat, to Elephant Island, in the archipelago of the South Shetland Islands. Miraculously, the entire crew survived.
Shortly after arriving at Elephant Island, Shackleton and five crew members set sail again in a small 6.7m long boat across the stormy South Atlantic to South Georgia in search of help. A risky journey of more than 1,200 kilometres awaited them, that of which, is possibly unrivalled in all of the history of navigation.
They succeeded, and after crossing the mountain range of the inhospitable island of South Georgia to the whaling base of Grytviken, they were able to make known, the odyssey they had gone through, and return to Elephant Island in August 1916, safely delivering the 22 men left behind, to firm ground.
The chronicle of this extraordinary expedition represents a story without equal in the annals of survival: the ship, the Endurance, destroyed by the pressure of the ice that surrounds Antarctica, the crew abandoned to their fate in the middle of the frozen Weddell Sea, risky boat trips through the storms of the Antarctic Ocean, a handful of human beings fighting for long months against the cold, hunger and discouragement, to the limit of human capacity in the most extreme situations.
However, day after day throughout this distressing adventure, Shackleton guided his team with evidence of unmatched encouragement, determination, creativity and insight.
Thus, this trip was an amazing feat, not only because all of its crew managed to return alive, but also because of the exceptional leadership and teamwork that they went through during the entire duration of the adventure. The fact is that, in addition to surviving, they achieved it with an extraordinary level of care and camaraderie, thus turning a failed mission into an unprecedented success.
The performance of Ernest Shackleton throughout this adventure offers a lesson in leadership and cooperation of special value to our current environment, an increasingly complex, expanded and unpredictable life environment that requires new approaches, new ways of learning and communicating, and where it is more necessary than ever to create value and knowledge, without giving up our humanity and/or our ethics.
In these times of imbalance, uncertainty and constant interdependence – liquid times in the words of the sociologist Zygmun Bauman -, the extraordinary feat of the explorer Ernest Shackleton and his Endurance expedition, despite the time that has elapsed, is still intensely newsworthy, and serves as a reference to understand the complex and disruptive environment in which we find ourselves, and thus learn to cope with it.
Just like more than 100 years ago in the icy waters of the South Pole, this new “liquid” reality requires the leaders of today to be, adaptive, responsible and committed figures who, like Shackleton, know how to navigate between uncertainty and continuous transformation, promoting innovative approaches – solutions that are outside of the norm – in order to face the new challenges ahead.
