I had the pleasure recently of listening to Michael Fullan thanks to ACEL (Australian Council for Educational Leaders). Like many thought leaders who are looking closely at the current state of education, Michael builds a strong case for radical change in education. Like others, Michael believes that the circumstances we find ourselves in now as a result of COVID19 might be the catalyst for change that education has long needed. There is a perceived opportunity to shift the dial, to reimagine what education might be like rather than retuning to what was normal in pre-COVID times. “The education goal is not just to survive COVID-19, but to end up with something significantly “better” than was the case in 2019.” (Fullan 2020)
The case for change is well known and well documented. The current model of education has its roots in a distant past. It reflects the need for a workforce that was able to carry out well-known procedures with high levels of repeatability. The world of work would require a great deal of routine cognitive labour, and the education would supply the highly standardised workforce that was needed. The result today is a system, that despite reforms around the edges and despite two decades of talk about embedding 21st Century skills, has stalled and is failing to motivate the young people who depend upon it for their futures.
According to Fullan, the system has not progressed for five key reasons:
The failure to connect students with purpose
The failure to challenge students with high expectations
Inadequate learning goals
The continued use of old pedagogy
Failure to build relationships and belongingness
What is needed is a focus on Deep Learning. Fullan details a multi-part process to achieve this through a focus on the 6Cs (character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity & critical thinking) with practical pedagogies, learning partnerships, learning environments and leveraging digital affordances. If these factors are considered within the frames of broader changes to schools, district and systems along with addressing aspects of equity and with a desire to engage the world, change becomes possible. A more detailed understanding of Fullan’s conception of a new model for education is detailed in his book with Joanne Quinn and Joanne McEachen, “Deep Learning: Engage the World Change the World” and details on how it might become a reality through nuanced leadership and systems change can be found in the following books which are highly recommended.
Nuance: Why some leaders succeed, and others fail. By Michael Fullan
The Devil is in the Details: System solutions for equity, excellence, and student well-being. By Michael Fullan & Mary Jean Gallagher
Early in his presentation, Fullan makes an important point about change, and it connects strongly with why now might be the time to see real change take place. “It’s not going to happen by drift.” The model so far for change in education has been one of slow change, gradual reform around the edges with the core barely touched. This is reflected in the research conducted by Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine who went “In Search of Deeper Learning” and found that it was more likely to occur on the edges of education in co-curricular activities. We might all want change, but we want it to occur very slowly so we never feel the pain and we would prefer if it doesn’t happen in the educational heartland of traditional classes.
The slow pace of change is why we are still talking about introducing 21st Century Skills as we enter the third decade of the 21st Century. It is this pace that means students in classrooms across the globe are losing interest. It is why we continue to confront issues of equity. Combine a slow pace of meaningful change towards a new more enlightened vision for education with a rapid drive towards heightened levels of standardised testing (an unceasing desire to measure attributes of learning that increasingly matter less), and we have a system that is in need of radical change. The question is, will COVID be the catalyst for this change?
Other industries have confronted change on this sort of scale. Famously many leading players in these industries missed the boat. Kodak was one of the leading players in photography. Big Yellow was the much-loved film used by many and its place in pop culture was cemented when Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang its praises in “Kodachrome”. But despite playing a leading role in developing digital imaging technology, Kodak failed to transition into the new world of digital photography. They persisted with a product that was no longer fit for purpose. As the world demonstrated an increasing desire to share images instantly and through the emerging internet and social media worlds, Kodak stuck with film. Instead of embracing radical change that played on the edges by making film easier to load and by promising faster turn around times for development. While Kodak played on the edges and took a slowly, slowly approach to change, others leapt in and embraced the possibilities for a new industry centred on digital photography.
Is now the time for a new player in the field of education to emerge? What are the possibilities for an organisation with the mindset of a tech start-up to disrupt education? What if instead of playing on the edges, someone approached education as though it was a fresh field. How might we imagine an education system fit for the purposes of today if we started from nothing instead of trying to repurpose a system past its use-by date?
Maybe this is the challenge that we confront as we consider what comes next. Instead of thinking about evolution, we need to go back to the beginning. What if there was no education system to be evolved but instead a realisation that we need one to meet the needs of our young people. How would we come to understand those needs, and what might our response look like? Almost certainly it would not look like the education system we have today, but just as certainly it is unlikely to be like anything that our current system is likely to slowly ‘drift’ towards.
By Nigel Coutts