Its time for our students to lead learning and prepare for 2030 and beyond

The OECD has recently quoted that we are facing unprecedented challenges – social, economic and environmental – driven by accelerating globalisation and a faster rate of technological developments. At the same time, those forces are providing us with myriad new opportunities for human advancement.

It is clear to us all that the future is uncertain and we cannot predict it and as educators we need to be open and ready to do something about it.

The children entering our schools in 2019 will be young adults in 2030 and their children will be adults in 2050 and beyond, so we are responsible for preparing our youth for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented and to solve problems that have not yet been anticipated.

Our learners will need to develop curiosity, imagination, resilience and self regulation; they will need to respect and appreciate the ideas, perspectives and values of others; and they will need to cope with failure and rejection, and to move forward in the face of adversity and uncertainty.

OECD E2030 Position Paper (05.04.2018) claim that:

"Their motivation will be more than getting a good job and a high income; they will also need to care about the well-being of their friends and families, their communities and the planet. Education can equip learners with agency and a sense of purpose, and the competencies they need, to shape their own lives and contribute to the lives of others".

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has launched "The Future of Education and Skills 2030 project. The aim of the project is to help countries find answers to two far-reaching questions:

● What knowledge, skills, attitudes and values will today's students need to thrive and shape their world?

● How can instructional systems develop these knowledge, skills, attitudes and values effectively?

Our Commitment as Educational Leaders

OECD quotes: "We are committed to helping every learner develop as a whole person, fulfil his or her potential and help shape a shared future built on the well-being of individuals, communities and the planet. Children entering school in 2018 will need to abandon the notion that resources are limitless and are there to be exploited; they will need to value common prosperity, sustainability and well-being. They will need to be responsible and empowered, placing collaboration above division, and sustainability above short-term gain"

In the face of an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, education can make the difference as to whether people embrace the challenges they are confronted with or whether they are defeated by them. And in an era characterised by a new explosion of scientific knowledge and a growing array of complex societal problems, it is essential that curricula should evolve in radical ways.

Learner agency

In schools, more than ever before we need to personalise the learning environment so that it supports and motivates each student to drive and develop his or her passions, and to make connections between different learning experiences and opportunities. They need the autonomy to design their own learning projects, they need to learn how to collaboration with others. They need a robust foundation of literacy and numeracy but they also need to develop the skills to effectively grow using digital transformation, big data, they need to be digital literate and even more than every before physical health and mental well-being is at the forefront.

The word "agency" is about doing, influencing people, events and making things better. It requires clarity of intention and a real guiding purpose so that actions can be identified. It requires educators to recognise individuality, relationships – with teachers, peers, families and communities as they all influence their learning. Everyone should be considered a learner, not only students but also teachers, school managers, parents and communities.

Competency

Students will be our change agents and will have a positive impact on the future so thy need to be skilled at understand others' intentions, actions and feelings, and anticipate the short and long-term consequences of what they do.

The concept of competency implies more than just the acquisition of knowledge and skills; it involves the mobilisation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to meet complex demands.

• Students will need both broad and specialised knowledge.
• More important is the capacity to think across the boundaries of knowledge.
• Practical problem-solving, such as design thinking and systems thinking will be more useful as they apply their knowledge in unknown and evolving circumstances, using a broad range of skills, including cognitive and meta-cognitive skills (e.g. critical thinking, creative thinking, learning to learn and self-regulation); social and emotional skills (e.g. empathy, self-efficacy and collaboration); and practical and physical skills (e.g. using new information and communication technology devices).
• Motivation, trust, respect, diversity of values, attitudes arising from different cultural perspectives and personality traits, cannot be compromised.
• To prepare for 2030 and beyond, our learners need to think creatively and be innovative, through cooperation and collaboration with others to draw on existing knowledge to create new knowledge.
• Skills that underpin agency include adaptability, creativity, curiosity and open-mindedness. 

Action and learner agency

To make a difference our learners will need to become adept at handling tensions, striking a balance between competing demands, recognising interconnections - in a world of interdependency and conflict.

Thus they will need to secure their own well-being and that of their families and develop the capacity to understand the needs and desires of others.

To be prepared for the future, leaners will need to think and act in a more integrated way, taking into account the interconnections and inter-relations between contradictory or incompatible ideas, from both short- and long-term perspectives.

Preparing For the Future

Dealing with change, diversity, innovation and ambiguity will require the capacity to self evaluate and accept accountability using a responsibility, and moral framework reflecting on his or her experiences, and personal goals, self-regulating, developing self-efficacy, responsibility, problem solving and adaptability.

Developing Reflective Practice

This is the ability to take a critical stance when deciding, choosing and acting, by stepping back from what is known or assumed and looking at a situation from other, different perspectives.

Anticipation mobilises cognitive skills, such as analytical or critical thinking, to foresee what may be needed in the future or how actions taken today might have consequences for the future. Both reflection and anticipation will lead to effective agency,

Curriculum innovation

It is time focus on quality learning time"redesigning content so that it is of high quality ensuring it engages learners so that they acquire deeper understanding.

The curriculum should be rigorous and designed around students to motivate them and recognise their prior knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, it should be challenging and enable deep thinking and reflection, it should focus less on content and more on depth and quality of students’ learning.

Content should be sequenced to enable progression, links to the real world, with a higher emphasis to knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that can be learned in one context and transferred to others.

Learners should be allowed to make well-informed choices about their learning with teachers being empowered to use their professional knowledge, skills and expertise to deliver the adapted authentic curriculum linked to real learning experiences developing a real sense and purpose in their learning, using interdisciplinary and collaborative learning as well as mastery of discipline-based knowledge.

Learners should be given opportunities to discover how a topic or concept can link and connect to other topics or concepts within and across disciplines, and with real life outside of school with the curriculum being updates to reflect evolving societal requirements as well as individual learning needs.

Co-construction of the curriculum requires teachers, students and other relevant stakeholders identifying what matters most ensuring ownership and developing competencies

The OECD has identified the following constructs which should be embedded in any curriculum planning:

• Adaptability
• Flexibility
• Adjustment
• Agility
• Compassion
• Conflict resolution
• Creativity
• Creative thinking
• Inventive thinking
• Critical-thinking skills
• Curiosity
• Empathy
• Engagement
• Communication skills
• Collaboration skills
• Equality/ Equity
• Global mind-set
• Goal orientation and completion (e.g. grit, persistence)
• Gratitude
• Growth mind-set
• Hope
• Human dignity
• Identity/Spiritual identity
• Integrity
• Justice
• Manual skills for information and communication technology (related to learning strategies)
• Manual skills related to the arts and crafts, music, physical education skills needed for the future
• Meta-learning skills (including learning to learn skills)
• Mindfulness
• Motivation (e.g. to learn, to contribute to society)
• Open mind-set (to others, new ideas, new experiences)
• Perspective-taking and cognitive flexibility
• Pro-activeness
• Problem solving skills
• Purposefulness
• Reflective thinking
• Evaluating
• Monitoring
• Resilience
• Stress resistance
• Respect (for self, others, including cultural diversity)
• Responsibility (including locus of control)
• Risk management
• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Self-control
• Self-efficacy
• Positive self-orientation
• Trust (in self, others, institutions)

Schools and leadership of learner agency

It is now more important than ever that our vision for learning is deeply rooted in preparation of adults for 2030 and beyond where self determined learning embracing real world applications and technology as an amplifier for learning, connecting, collaborating, constructing, creating and embracing change.

It is about developing a collaborative belief system that the curriculum is no longer static, and that the emphasis of learning must move to curiosity, asking questions rather than being asked for answers. Teachers should be seen as inspirers and learners not content and subject knowledge experts. The curriculum is moving, changing, being co-constructed. A constructionist approach where the potential of technology is used to create meaningful solutions where local experts, parents and other stakeholders become part of the learning environment.

Change cannot wait - it is here and we observe this every day in our students as they challenge our norms and expectations. And some of us still resist.

Dr. Tassos Anastasiades