future focused schools
DESCRIPTION
Presentation exploring the rationale for change to ensure our schools are future focused and operate in ways that prepare young people for their future, not our past! Presentation at the CORE Breakfast, AucklandTRANSCRIPT
CORE Breakfast presentation, Friday 7 November, Auckland
Future Focused Education:
What does it look like in your school?
• How will learning occur?
• What about the role of teachers?
• What sorts of environments?
• What will we learn about?
• What will we learn with?
EDUCATION IN THE FUTURE
A future vision of school?
Nothing different on the
inside?
EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE
What skills/knowledge/ competencies do we need to be developing now in order to cope with what the future might hold?
FUTURE FOCUSED – WHICH FUTURE?
Picture from a reading book for the primary school (8 year olds) in Sweden, 1903
http://io9.com/these-are-the-surprising-jobs-youll-be-doing-by-the-203-1577363367
The surprising jobs you’ll be doing by the 2030s
• Robot counsellor • Rewilder • Garbage designer • Neighbourhood watch specialist • Simplicity expert • Healthcare navigator • Nostalgist • Telesurgeon • Solar technology specialist • Aquaponic fish farmer
http://io9.com/these-are-the-surprising-jobs-youll-be-doing-by-the-203-1577363367
Why School?
COMPETING PHILOSOPHIES
Philosophy A Philosophy B
Education Broken, but can be fixed (quickly)
Long term investment in the future
Technology Drives change Enables, supports and accelerates change
Teachers Another problem to be fixed Supported professionals
Learners The future workforce Future citizens
Innovation Flourishes in all directions Must be scalable and sustainable
Success Input targets and attainment
Wider long-term benefits, personal and society
Curriculum Don’t trust teachers - ‘package’ it up
Guidance and support for teachers
Core Values & beliefs
Principles
Practices Lived expression of your values
Derived from values and beliefs – captured in policy statements
Mutually agreed upon and owned by the school community – provides a common sense of purpose. Made explicit in vision/mission statement
WHY
HOW
WHAT
WHAT IS FUTURE-FOCUSED EDUCATION?
How can schooling change to meet meet the opportunities and challenges of the
21st century?
The world of today’s
student is different…
CHANGING SCHOOLS…
“Schools may be the starkest example in modern society of an entire institution modelled after the assembly line. This has dramatically increased educational capability in our time, but it has also created many of the most intractable problems with which students, teachers and parents struggle to this day.
If we want to change schools, it is unlikely to happen until we understand more deeply the core assumptions on which the industrial-age school is based” Peter Senge
TESTING ASSUMPTIONS…
1996, Prof. Hedley Beare
“egg crate” classrooms set class groups based on age
period-based timetable linear curriculum
division of all human knowledge into “subjects”
division of staff by “subject”
allocation of most school tasks to teachers
assumption that learning is geographically bound
notion of stand-alone school
limiting ‘formal schooling’ to years 0-13
9-3 school day
320,000
330,000
340,000
350,000
360,000
370,000
380,000
390,000
2011
2016
2021
2026
2031
2036
2041
2046
2051
2056
2061
Nu
mb
er
13-18 years
PROJECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL POPULATION
Need to be vigilant about this space
Statistics New Zealand National Population Projections by Age and Sex, 2011(base)-2061
-20,000
-10,000
0
10,000
20,000
30,000 20
11-2
016
2016
-202
1
2021
-202
6
2026
-203
1
2031
-203
6
2036
-204
1
1041
-204
6
2046
-205
1
2051
-205
6
2056
-206
1
Projected change in numbers at 15-19 years (Total NZ)
NZ: 28,000 FEWER SCHOOL LEAVERS OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS
Source: Statistics NZ 2012 Projected population of New Zealand by age and sex, 2011(base)-2061
325,119
369,090
353,091
300,000 310,000 320,000 330,000 340,000 350,000 360,000 370,000 380,000
2001 2006 2013
Nu
mb
er
Actual Numbers 13-18 Years 2001, 2006, 2013 (Total NZ)
IT IS HAPPENING – CENSUS 2013
Source: Statistics NZ 2012 Projected population of New Zealand by age and sex, 2011(base)-2061
SUMMARY
• Every year for the next 19 years a successively larger cohort will reach the retirement zone
• Every year for the next 15 years they will be replaced by a successively smaller cohort
• 2021-26 will see a brief respite, as the recently-born baby blip arrives at labour market age
• A zero unemployment opportunity is here
Students in physical school, instruction
and assessment predominantly on-
site
Students access formal learning via
the network, instruction and
assessment provided online
Students learning through their online personal learning
network, incl. social networking
environments
Students at home, library or other
space, pursuing own interests individually
or collaboratively
FORMAL
INFORMAL
PHYSICAL
VIRTUAL
Location
Purp
ose
WHAT IS FUTURE-FOCUSED EDUCATION?
How can we prepare students to address "future-focused" issues such as
sustainability, globalisation, citizenship, and enterprise?
THINKING 3D
• kjb
WHAT IS FUTURE-FOCUSED EDUCATION?
How can education prepare students for living in the 21st century?
C D
A B
Reproduction Transformation
Vision of learning and technology
How do we think about the integration of
technology with learning? Is it simply a
substitute for existing practice – or does it open
up opportunities for new things in new ways?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29063614
Technology is capable of accelerating learning
– nothing new here, as the same thinking was
used to accelerate the training of pilots in WW2
Modern technologies provide students with
the potential for experiences of unprecedented breadth, depth and relevance.
�
.
We now have the conditions for
modern learners to tackle projects of
a complexity previously
unimaginable.
..as a result we must
rethink what we expect of our students.
We must stop
underestimating what they are now capable of;
and above all…set much
higher expectations
.
C D
A B O
wn
ersh
ip o
f kn
owle
dge
Individual
Collective
Reproduction Transformation
Vision of learning and technology
Shifting from thinking of learning and knowledge construction from being an individual endeavour, to where knowledge is created and owned collectively. What are the implications for how we organise learners, learning, curriculum and assessment?
• Strong support for creating and sharing
• Some type of informal mentorship
• Members believe that their contributions matter
• Members feel some degree of social connection with one another
• Relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
Participatory culture…
Play the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
Performance the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery
Simulation the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
Appropriation the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
Multitaskng the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.
Distributed cognition
the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/free_download/9780262513623_Confronting_the_Challenges.pdf
Collective Intelligence
The ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal
Judgment The ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources
Transmedia Navigation
The ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
Networking The ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
Negotiation The ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms
https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/free_download/9780262513623_Confronting_the_Challenges.pdf
C D
A B O
wn
ersh
ip o
f kn
owle
dge
Individual
Collective
Reproduction Transformation
Vision of learning and technology
Collective frustration.
Potential of 21st Century
learning realised
Personal orientation, innovation
resisted
Isolated pockets of innovation
Practices
Principles
Moral purpose
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Derived from values/beliefs. Captured in policy statements.
What you stand for. Mutually agreed and owned by the school community. Shared beliefs/values. Made explicit in mission/vision statement.
Lived expression of your values.
Practices
Principles
Moral Purpose
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Learning is a individual activity. Tradition. Competition. Independence.
Academic success is the focus of schooling, and is achieved through personal discipline and effort.
Traditional setup
Practices
Principles
Moral purpose
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Learning is a individual activity. Style, ergonomics and technology must be considered.
Academic success is the focus of schooling, and is achieved through personal discipline and effort.
Funky, but traditional setup
Practices
Principles
Moral purpose
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Collaboration. Interaction. Social participation. Flexibility. Choice. Aesthetics.
Children are social beings. Knowledge building is the result of social interaction.
New opportunities, but
still individual at desk
Practices
Principles
Moral purpose
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Collaboration. Interaction. Social participation. Flexibility. Choice. Aesthetics. Informality.
Children are social beings. Knowledge building is the result of social interaction.
A complete learning
ecosystem
How can schooling change to meet meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century? How can we prepare students to address "future-focused" issues such as sustainability, globalisation, citizenship, and enterprise? How can education prepare students for living in the 21st century?
