Page 174 - Microsoft Word - The Future of Learning April 2017.docx

162
4. If curriculum, pedagogy and learning environments are helping to make learning more personalised, what other elements of the schooling ecosystem need to change? Who is a ‘teacher’ and who is a ‘learner’?
Both technology and ILE’s can quickly become ‘window dressing’ - giving the illusion that change is happening within a school and this is sadly far too common. Both these aspects are cultural as well as physical shifts and they can support and significantly improve the efficiency of the Learning Process. However, having this infrastructure does not cause more effective learning; it merely amplifies both good and bad practice. The positive impacts of these transitions are evident only when we question our assumptions and test to see whether the differences we think are being made are being achieved. The learning improvements must be visible via the actions and attitudes that are observed, as well as the data that is being collected and analysed.
Critical to all of this is the change in the relationships between the learner-educators and their peers and the learner-educators and the educator-learners. Added to this is the probably the most critical adaptation and that is the relationship between the educator-learners that are sharing the new and enlarged spaces. Up until now, educator-learners have worked on their own and have had very little accountability, unseen by their peers and suddenly they are thrust into each other’s company where they must share a larger space and communicate with other adults as well as the learners! Educators now must share, be considerate, be aware of others needs and their nuances as human beings, that are different to who we are. This may seem a simple transition, which it is not! Added to that is the fact that our education practices are now ‘on show’ to our peers and our pedagogical practices may differ from those of our peers.
It is important that educators establish a set of agreed protocols for how they will engage with each other. Decisions on what may be specialist domains for each member of the team and what will become shared domains, so that the learners do not become confused by receiving mixed ‘pedagogical messages’ from each educator they encounter.
Consistency is critical for learners of all ages and the protocols must be tailored to the needs of the specific combination of educators in each learning space. As Chris Bradbeer mentioned earlier, this is an important driver of success or otherwise and each set of protocols will be unique. If there are changes to the combinations of educators in any given space that set of protocols will need to be reviewed and more than likely, rewritten.
Data must inform practice in this realm as we are moving to new thinking and approaches that are unprecedented and have not been implemented before in our short history of education. The 1970’ and 1980’s version of inquiry lacked the rigour of the six pillars that this section highlights. The original ‘inquiry learning’ process and subsequent iterations of that, never prepared either the learners or the educators for the them to each become independent lifelong learners. This adventure must be thoughtfully planned and implemented with all educators upskilled collectively to take on this essential and substantially challenging approach to learning.
Our experience with working with groups of schools in a number of different countries, is that initial change is slow and deliberate for the first 12-18 months and as educators start to see the changes in the learner’s attitudes and capability, the rate of adoption accelerates significantly. Each educator will reach their ‘aha! moment’ numerous times, but at different times. There will be those who race off and make instant changes and those who will loiter and watch and then act. Neither of these two approaches is wrong so it is incumbent on the senior management to keep encouraging and celebrating changes as they occur.
There will be mistakes along the way, but with thoughtful reflection and analysis of the data from the Action Learning process, iterative adaptations will be made and shared and each of the 6 pillars that underpin this transition will be refined over time to specifically meet the needs of each school. As mentioned throughout this resource; this is not a recipe that should be altered, and we desire that you experiment and trial every aspect and adapt that to meet you specific needs, as no two schools share the same vision, desire or community.