School Leadership: IB Global Conference

IB Global Conference

Wednesday 10 October 2018

Shaping the future

This is a brilliant time to be a learner. Today we have access to so much information, so much knowledge, so many people, so many technologies. There may never have been a better time to be a learner in history. Our challenge is how do we make schools amazing places of learning for students?

Key inquiry

  • What do you believe about how students learn most powerfully and deeply in their lives?

  • What are the conditions that need to be present for kids to learn in a sticky way – learning that stays with them and they can build on as they go through their lives?

  • Are the schools of today actually built for learning?

  • To what extent is the learning students do on their own different from the sort of learning they do in school?

  • How do we make learning in school more productive - learning that matters in students' lives?

  • Why do students forget most of what they learn in school?

I have just returned from the IB Global Conference in Vienna where, on their 50th birthday, the focus was on envisioning the future.

Two of the keynote speakers specifically caught my attention as they explored how we might approach a future with hope. This blog tries to capture their main messages in such a way that they are useful provocations on learning for you to use in your schools.

Learning - Will Richardson

Will Richardson's main thesis is that "Schools were built for a time that doesn't exist any longer....Education is fundamentally broken." His key inquiry is "We need to change  (because) why do we continue along the path that creates this huge disconnect between what we believe and what we actually do in our classrooms?" So how do we change what we do in order to make sure that students' learning becomes more powerful and deep?

How do we fix this? How do we create schools that are places of powerful learning?  He concludes that we need to re-examine what we really believe about how powerful learning takes place? We then need to create principles of what learning looks like in our classrooms and then align our practice to our beliefs - to see our beliefs around learning happen in our classrooms. The emerging story of education that is being rewritten is not about knowing stuff - not about teaching - but it's all about learning, and most importantly how learning happens in the modern world. As Seymour Papert says: "The only really competitive skill is the ability to learn."

Will Richardson is confident: we know what it takes for deep and powerful learning to happen in our lives and in our children's lives. The only challenge we have is do we have the commitment and courage to make that happen?

The following slide set contains many of the quotes and references Will Richardson used in his keynote speech.  I think they would be an excellent way to start a discussion on learning with our staff faculties.

  

Alternatively, watch the following TED Talk by Will Richardson and open up a discussion.

References

Will Richardson praised The Mount Vernon Continuum for its well-articualted philosophy of learning. A PDF of this can be found HERE.

Inspiration

If Will Richardson examined where we need to change in order to make learning more powerful Lord David Puttman attempted to re-imagine the future. He introduced us to the work of Eric Whitactre and his virtual choir.

Following a thread of one of Will Richardson's blog I came across this 12-year-old app designer:

My Presentation

I was asked by the Sinagpore IB HQ to offer a pre-conference day workshop on Leadership for our children's future. Here I attach a PDF of my PPT.

Session 1: Which competencies do students require to thrive in a globally competitive world?

Session 2: What does it mean to be knowledgeable in our children's futures - when machines will be able to do many tasks?

Session 3: What are the key competencies school leaders will need in order to successfully guide their learning communities within this future-scape?

In re-imagining what education should be like I asked workshop participants to complete 'what if...' statements. Here are some of their responses:

WHAT IF ...

  • Every student spent a year abroad?
  • Every student learnt a new language?
  • We abolished exams?
  • Report cards became extinct?
  • All members of the school community – teachers, students, parents – took action outside their local community?
  • Accountability was not only about academic success?
  • Universities looked more closely at skills rather than content driven acquisitions?
  • It is a requirement to be a global citizen before graduating?
  • All our teachers were conversant in at least two languages?
  • We redesign our classrooms to be places similar to modern work places?
  • We assessed global citizen competencies and have discussions with our students around that?
  • The IB assessed students on the learner profile and not simply their DP score?
  • Cultural exchange was fundamental to the curriculum?
  • We could take students on a world cultural tour to experience diversity and poverty?
  • Assessed our students’ actions rather | as well as their academic prowess?
  • Schools were more interested in changing society rather than getting students into universities?

Documents

10 principles for schools of modern learning, Will Richardson and Bruce Dixon can be accessed HERE.

2017 8 must read books for modern educational change leaders, Will Richardson and Bruce Dixon can be accessed HERE.

Meaningful Education in Times of Uncertainty: A collection of essays arising out of a meeting of thought leaders in March 2017 exploring the question: "how can we rapidly accelerate progress in education—not only to help marginalized communities catch up to where the privileged are today, but also to reach a more effective, holistic, and equitable education for every child in the world?" The collection is divided into the following four sections: (1) Cultivating Global Citizens; (2) Teaching and Learning; (3) School and Technology; and (4) Systems Change. Click HERE to access the document.

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