The right drivers for whole system success - 01 CSE LEADING EDUCATION SERIES - Michael Fullan
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
The right drivers for
whole system success
M I CHA E L F U L LA N
01CSE
LEADING
EDUCATION
SERIES
FEBRUARY 2021
Acknowledgements Contents I thank the Stuart Foundation for funding our system work in 2 Introduction California – a remarkable foundation that stays the course. To the magnificent Deep Learning gang at the core of our global 8 Wellbeing and Learning vis-à-vis competencies work: Joanne Quinn, Bill Hogarth, Jean Clinton, Academics Obsession Max Drummy, Mag Gardner, Bailey Fullan, Miguel Brechner, Claudia Brovetto, Tom D’Amico, Lynn Davie, Margot McKeegan, 20 Social Intelligence vis-à-vis Georgina Lake, Tony Stack and many more. To the system crowd Machine Intelligence of thinkers, doers, and supporters: Eleanor Adam, Bruce Armstrong, Athina, Bruno & Liz from SA, Cecilia Azorin, Carol Campbell, 27 Equality Investments vis-à-vis Austerity Davis Campbell, CEWA,WA leaders, Michael Chechile, Claudia Cuttress, Mark Edwards, Charles Fadel, Josh Fullan, Mary Jean 32 Systemness vis-à-vis Fragmentation Gallagher, Avis Glaze, Andy Hargreaves, John Hatttie, Peter Hill, Terry Jakobsmeier, Mike Jancik, Lyle Kirtman, Dalton McGuinty, 36 To change a paradigm John Malloy, Ed Manansala, Steve Martinez, Jal Mehta, Sandra Milligan, Steve Munby, Pedro Noguera, Charles Pascal, Glen Price, Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, Claude St Cyr, Pasi Sahlberg, Andreas Schleicher, Laura Schwalm, Geoff Scott, Brendan Spillane, Michael Stevenson, Sue Walsh, Derek Wenmoth, Jay Westover, Barbara Watterston, Jim Watterston, Greg Whitby. And to the thousands of practitioners around the world who have helped form the foundational base of our system work. To my family, Wendy and all, who are supportive in every which way. To Tony Mackay of CSE for remembering our 10th Anniversary, and sponsoring the new ‘drivers’ paper. I take responsibility for any final formulations in this paper, but I could not have done this without the active support of many. ISSN 1838-8566 ISBN 978-1-925654-56-1 © 2021 Centre for Strategic Education, Victoria. The Centre for Strategic Education* welcomes usage of this publication within the restraints imposed by the Copyright Act. Where the material is to be sold for profit then written authority must be obtained first. Detailed requests for usage not specifically permitted by the Copyright Act should be submitted in writing to: The Centre for Strategic Education Mercer House, 82 Jolimont Street, East Melbourne VIC 3002 Produced in Australia by Centre for Strategic Education Mercer House, 82 Jolimont Street, East Melbourne VIC 3002 Editorial Team: Tony Mackay, Keith Redman, Murray Cropley, Andrew Miller
The right drivers for
whole system success
MIC H A E L F UL LA N
Introduction
This paper is intended to provide a for transforming the status quo. Most
comprehensive solution to what ails the significantly, it generates conditions
current public school system and its place that are conducive to pursuing the very
in societal development – a system that is paradigm that I outline in this paper.
failing badly in the face of ever complex
I won’t focus in detail on the pandemic
fundamental challenges to our survival,
itself except to set the context for radical
let alone our thriving as a species. What
change. The immediate consequence is
follows is a ‘big’ proposal. Once started
chaos, impressively captured by Nicholas
the ‘four drivers’ feed on each other as a
Christakis (2020) in his analysis, Apollo’s
system in motion. Most important, the
Arrow: The Profound and Enduring
timing is right.
Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended Live. Using past pandemics and current
virtually every aspect of humanity as developments Christakis analyses what he
we know it, shaking current civilisation labels as ‘the immediate pandemic period’,
to its foundation. Amidst the death and ‘the intermediate pandemic period’ and
destruction is a disruption so fundamental ‘the post-pandemic period’ – a time span
that it loosens and discombobulates the covering 2020 to 2024. In practical terms,
system in a way that creates openings humans will grapple with chaos, survival,
The right drivers for whole system success / 2
innovative breakthroughs, destructive On one occasion, after a very productive
elements, and more. The best stance we workshop in Melbourne, the organisers
can take is to know that almost everything (the Centre for Strategic Education)
will be different. In short, this prolonged observed that our ideas were really hitting
ambiguity creates a tangible opportunity the mark, but that these proposals were not
to make positive change happen. at all like the actual policies that were in
place. They asked if I would do a paper on
A necessary immediate priority is to
the subject. Because we had been grappling
address the first order upheaval. Our deep
with these ideas we quickly came up with
learning team offered an early analysis
the title ‘Choosing the Wrong Drivers’
and framework in a report we released in
theme. The paper (Fullan, 2011) focused
June 2020 called Education Re-imagined:
on four pairs of drivers, which were
The Future of Learning (Fullan et al).
We are working on an update that will accountability (vs capacity building);
be available by mid-2021. These reports individual (vs group quality);
call for attending first to wellbeing; for technology (vs pedagogy); and
addressing basic needs like food, safety,
fragmented (vs systemic).
shelter, access to resources; for using the
opportunity to move toward what I later
call ‘global competencies’ (character,
citizenship, collaboration, communication,
creativity, critical thinking). Above all, we
recommend avoiding a ‘loss of learning’
mindset that would take us back to
traditional learning – to a system that we
know was not working for the vast majority
of students.
What then would the new model look
like? I start back a decade ago. The current The focus of the 2011 paper was very
year, 2021, is the 10th anniversary of a much on how policies and strategic actions
popular policy article I published entitled seem to be dominated by assumptions akin
Choosing the Wrong Drivers for Whole to the wrong drivers. It was not that they
System Reform (Fullan, 2011). System had no merit, but rather that they did not
reform is about the whole system – a state, serve to ‘lead’ system change. The paper
province, national entity. A driver is a was a big hit, particularly in Australia,
policy – a wrong driver is a policy that the US and the UK. Practitioners instantly
does not work or makes matters worse. Our recognised that they were on the wrong
team had been working actively on system end of the policy stick (and I think many
reform since 1997 when we assessed the policy makers did as well, but they did
English National Literacy and Numeracy not have an alternative). At the time,
Strategy, followed quickly by the Ontario I was not paying much attention to the
reform (2003 onward), advice and capacity new Asian front runners in the OECD’s
building in California, Victoria and PISA assessment of literacy, numeracy
other places. We had also spent a decade and science results: Hong Kong, Japan,
conducting hundreds of workshops across Singapore, Shanghai and South Korea
Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, (more about them later).
Canada and more.
3 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021
Over the past decade the ‘wrong drivers’ The pandemic phenomenon itself may
paper was received favourably in many serve to accelerate the solutions as we find
local jurisdictions (schools and local silver linings and golden pockets, precisely
authorities) and even garnered some because of ever-growing dissatisfaction
interest at the policy level (in California, with the status quo, and the new openings
and Victoria for example). However, that COVID-19 dissolution unveils. The
the analysis never carried the day in timing is also propitious because we have
reformulating system change. One reason gained an understanding of so much
was that the spotlight was mostly on more in the past five years about learning,
what was ‘wrong’; second, the so-called technology, people and the most powerful
right drivers did not represent a coherent levers for positive transformation. The
theory; third, the right drivers were never pandemic has caused us to take two or
complete enough to influence the rapidly more steps backwards and, indeed, has
growing complexity of society in the 21st exposed fundamental flaws in our learning
century – they were never strong enough systems. COVID-19 could turn out to be the
to affect inequality, which is endemic to catalyst needed to leap forward, but only
the system we have come to have. Joanne if we act forcefully on what I call the ‘right
Quinn and I got a start on the solution in drivers’.
our book, Coherence: The Right Drivers in
The model for education currently in place
Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems,
is badly out of date. Correspondingly, a
but the ideas did not go widely or deeply
new and better education system would be
enough for system change (Fullan and
one of the very few avenues for surviving
Quinn, 2016).
in the short run, let alone thriving in
The question now is whether 2021 might the longer future. Thomas Kuhn (1962),
be the best time for getting the ‘right in his book The Structure of Scientific
drivers right’ and, of course, what would Revolutions, made the case that scientific
the drivers be? There are several reasons models, or paradigms as he called them,
why the time is now: global society is sometimes run their course. He said that
rapidly worsening and has been for some two conditions are necessary for change
time; there is climate collapse, galloping to happen: one is that the current system
inequality, deepening mistrust and becomes ‘catastrophically ineffective’
increased stress for adults and the young (which, I would argue, is now the case);
alike; all of this prior to the COVID-19 the other requirement is the presence of
pandemic (see Fullan and Gallagher, 2020). an alternative paradigm to take its place.
My conception of a driver
is a force that attracts power and
generates motion on a continuous
basis. The four drivers in question
are not travelling down a divided
highway. Instead, they form
a constellation of stars that give
each other energy and purpose.
They represent a single, integrated
model that generates continuous
development.
The right drivers for whole system success / 4
The four right drivers, in combination – 1. Wellbeing and Learning (essence)
what I have called ‘the human paradigm’, 2. Social Intelligence (limitless)
constitute the proposed new model for
3. Equality Investments (dignity), and
governing the future of education (see
Figure 1). My conception of a driver is a 4. Systemness (wholeness).
force that attracts power and generates They are the human paradigm and presently
motion on a continuous basis. The four constitute a work in progress. We have
drivers in question are not travelling down barely begun to tap their potential.
a divided highway. Instead, they form a
A fascinating analysis of the evolution
constellation of stars that give each other
of America, from the late 1800s to
energy and purpose. They represent a
the present, was recently released by
single, integrated model that generates
sociologist Robert Putnam with Shaylyn
continuous development.
Garrett (2020). Their book is titled The
The four new wrong drivers are not Upswing: How America Came Together a
completely wrong. It is just that if left Century Ago and How WE Can Do It Again.
alone they take us in a negative direction. Using thematic evidence about economics,
Let’s name them and give them nicknames politics, society and culture, the authors
(in parentheses). make the case that the US has gone through
1. Academics Obsession (selfish) periods of
2. Machine Intelligence (careless) ‘I-ness’ (self-centredness) – 1870s to 1890s;
3. Austerity (ruthless), and ‘We-ness’ (concern for others) – 1900 to
4. Fragmentation (inertia). 1970s; and back to the present period of
excessive ‘I-ness’ – late 1970s to the
They have been operating for 40 years,
present.
and with ever-growing intensity. Together
they are the ‘bloodless paradigm’, lacking Reading the tea leaves, Putnam and
care, empathy, and civic awareness – the Garrett speculate that 2021 onward
things that make us humans. The new right could be another ‘We’ period. In many
drivers, by contrast, capture and propel the ways the prospect of the right drivers in
human spirit. Again these are offered with combination makes such a positive case.
nicknames. So, what are the new more promising right
drivers for system change?
Figure 1. The Drivers
The Right Drivers for Whole System Success
The Human Paradigm The Bloodless Paradigm
Wellbeing and Learning Academics Obsession
Social Intelligence Machine Intelligence
Equality Investments Austerity
Systemness Fragmentation
5 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021
For each pair of drivers we will start The drivers feed on each other, and as such
with the wrong drivers – what they are stimulate reciprocal action. The difficulty
and how they have taken root in the last will be how to get the right drivers
four decades. They do not really form a started into action in a way that drives
deliberate system, but in effect they rely on coordinated, sustained action. This is the
each other. focus of this paper.
Academics1 Obsession favours the elite. I express the pairs of drivers with the
The privileged in turn figure out and interjection: vis-à-vis. The latter means ‘in
exploit the narrow academic assessment relation to’ not ‘versus’. I make this point
system. to note that the drivers are not always
Machines have a life of their own, in opposition to each other but can form
because the market system and big complementary pairs, provided that the
companies inherently and relentlessly right driver is the lead. Put another way,
contribute to their endless expansion. the ‘wrong drivers’ can be helpful as long
Rapacious growth is their habit. as they are in support of the right drivers
Austerity evolves naturally in a system – something that is eminently doable if
where the rich take the lion’s share of we position the right drivers as dominant.
profits and all others are left with little. The primary recommendation in this
paper consists of a radical shift in focus
Fragmentation by default favors inertia,
toward the powerful right drivers as a set,
and deepens existing systems of
while paying attention to the wrong or
prejudice and discrimination.
‘supporting’ drivers in order to reposition
This is the current state of them to contribute in the way that they
the drivers are not affairs – a system destined to should. For example, technology has a great
always in opposition to run itself into the ground. deal to contribute – potentially. In one
each other but can form The four right drivers, by sense a large part of the problem is that
humans have fallen behind, not just that
complementary pairs, contrast, have the potential to
change the dynamics radically. technology has become more powerful.
provided that the right
In a real sense they are our Galloping inequality (in resources and
driver is the lead.
only hope to alter the current opportunity) has raced ahead since the end
catastrophic pathway toward of the 1970s, despite considerable new
destruction, and possible denouement. expenditure directed at equity. Over these
The set of right drivers requires a depth forty years the goal of greater equity has
of understanding and action across many made little net difference on the system,
levels. To achieve this kind of radical save for a few ‘positive outliers’. There
change we will need to appeal to four is no discernable impact because the
different constituencies that I will label solutions tried were piecemeal. As such
locals, regionals, staters (state and federal), they did not seriously attack inequity.
and globals (leaders who work across I will take this up more directly when
countries). we get to Right Driver 3, ‘Equality
Locals include students, parents and Investments’. The economic system
community members. that has resulted in rapidly increasing
Regionals are district and municipal staff. economic inequity is not the only
system that prevents many people from
Staters are state-level and federal players.
achieving fundamental equality. ‘Systems’
Globals are those who act across entities of colonial, racial, gender/sexual, class
(and, of course, they will come from the domination, and others, also contribute
other three groups). importantly. In short, there are multiple
‘systems of oppression’ at work.
The right drivers for whole system success / 6
Some of the breakthroughs will be activating the right drivers, and the answer
achieved through political actions and is everyone (see Right Driver 4). More
uprisings. At the same time, we need to helpfully, any group or subgroup can and
examine how the system itself (defined should take action within and connecting
as everyone in it) might be changed drivers, seeking allies all the time,
through actions arising from mounting leveraging new developments consistent
dissatisfaction at all levels of the current with the set of drivers.
situation and its trajectory. One ray of
In the conclusion I will revisit the big
hope is our tentative finding that all
question of what are the prospects for
students can benefit from better education,
radical change in trends of the kind
especially those who are currently
envisaged by Putnam and Garrett? The
most disconnected. (Fullan, Quinn and
world is now in a precarious state, which
McEachen, 2018). They have the most
is to say that the future could go either
emotional experience and connection to
way: the collapse of society – the current
what is wrong, and as such can be major
trajectory – or the transformation of the
sources of personal and collective action
global system along the lines of the four
required for positive change. Emotion and
right drivers. The key agent for the future
new dignity may be the most powerful
prosperity of humankind and the planet
force and hope for change that
is the activation of a new learning system
we have. The four right drivers,
built on the evolutionary advantage that we
The four right drivers, in integrated concert, represent
possess but are in danger of squandering.
in integrated concert, potentially powerful system
First, we dig into learning itself, which has
change in action.
represent potentially been badly distorted over the past 50 years
powerful system change As we work through the model or more. We are palpably losing ground on
in action. I will start in each case with the measures that matter.
a discussion of what is wrong
with the wrong driver in
question, followed by a consideration of
how the right driver would work. Wrong
drivers on balance reinforce the status quo.
Each right driver may initially move at a
different pace, but sooner than later they
must converge, gaining additional strength We now turn to the
from the interaction between and among drivers themselves
the set.
As part of mounting the right drivers, starting with the first
we can also take steps to turn the wrong pair: Wellbeing
drivers into better supporting roles. The net
and Learning.
effect would be the acceleration of positive
change and new breakthroughs. One
troubling question is who is responsible for
7 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021
Wellbeing and Learning
vis-à-vis Academics Obsession
Academics Obsession their colleagues; where they influence
their own environments (in school, in the
Let me frame the argument clearly, because community, in their world); and where
some of it is nuanced. The pervasive student voice and agency are not so much
obsession with academic grades and ‘permitted’, but are deliberately activated
degrees, and corresponding elite rewards as a natural byproduct of the culture built
at the expense of other people (and I in the school and the system as a whole.
will show at the expense of the ‘winners’
themselves) results in narrow learning In the meantime, Academics Obsession
that severely distorts what people learn prevails, involving both the learning
and need in the 21st century. Even those system and the related assessment of
students who are ‘successful’ are not learning outcomes. Sandra Milligan is a
prepared for life. Instead, my argument Professor and Director of the Assessment
will be that by integrating wellbeing Research Centre at the Melbourne Graduate
and academics we establish learning as School of Education. In her current
something that prepares all students for the research she brought together a large
ever-complex world we live in. In the next number of young people who were in Year
section (Wellbeing and Learning) we will 11 or 12, or were recent secondary school
establish the key relationship between the graduates, and asked them ‘to what degree
United Nations’ Sustainable Development did your 12 years of schooling fit you for
Goals (SDG) – Goal 3 (Good health and what you are doing now or expect to do’?
wellbeing), and Goal 4 (Quality education). As Milligan reports, ‘they were virtually
In effect, they become integrated partners unanimous in saying that their schooling
as codrivers to transform the current system. was far too narrow for what they are doing
now, and expected to do in the future;
As wellbeing has come more to the fore, and that their schooling was dominated
there is an initial tendency to treat it as ‘the by academics and narrow subject focus’.
absence of ill-being’. Programs to treat ill- When asked what they really valued, they
being, like anti-bullying, drug and alcohol described part-time work, community
treatment programs, and stress reduction, activities and other supplementary
are essential, but they are reactive to experiences beyond school. It was these
obvious wrongs in the culture of the school ‘out of school’ experiences, they said,
and society. They are not programs to that gave them the know-how, attitudes,
promote wellbeing itself. The latter speaks values, skills and confidence – things that
to students finding school as a place where they felt they did not get at school, and
they feel good about themselves and the that were really valuable to set them up for
person they are becoming; where they have future challenges (Milligan, 2020a; see also
opportunities to develop or strengthen Milligan, 2020b).
positive values in themselves and in
The right drivers for whole system success / 8
Heather Malin is the Director of Research in the US has driven a wedge between the
at the Stanford University Center on middle class and the rich. He documents
Adolescence. In several studies Malin how elaborate elite education produces
(2018) probed students about education ‘superordinate workers’ who privilege
and their purpose at school. At best she their positions in the job hierarchy, within
found that students were out to get good which ‘the new elite invests its income
grades, go to university and get a good job. in yet more elaborate education for its
At the end of several studies Malin children. And so the cycle continues’
concluded that only about 24 per cent of (p 11). Over time the gap between the
senior high school students ‘have identified superrich and the middle class increases as
and are pursuing a purpose for life’ (p 1). the former is driven upward and the latter
downwards, to the current point where ‘the
Let’s capture what is happening here.
academic achievement gap between rich
Academics Obsession is not a primary
and middle-class school children is now
intrinsic motivator for most students (nor
markedly greater than the achievement gap
even for many of the apparently successful
between middle-class and poor children’
ones). We will see shortly that wellbeing
(p 26). By 2018, for example, the rich/
(purpose, meaning, belongingness, control,
middle class income gap became nearly
making a contribution) is of greater
double what it was in 1970 (p 135).
intrinsic interest, which in turn can lead
to deeper academics. Let’s stick with the Few of us will feel sorry for the academic
‘successful’ group for a moment. We move elite but Markovits documents how these
to the exceedingly successful students in elite schools have suicide rates four times
the US, based on Daniel Markovits’ (2019) the national average, and that ‘54 per cent
The Meritocracy Trap. Markovits describes of students displayed moderate to severe
how extreme elitism over the past 40 years symptoms of depression and anxiety’ (p 42).
9 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021Incidentally, we see this phenomenon in to virtually zero on the average since
the top PISA/OECD performers in Asia the late 1970s. It does not take a genius
(South Korea, Shanghai) where parents to know that during this same period
push their children (or may not have to as inequality has galloped ahead at an ever-
their offspring fall in line) to study and go increasing speed. It does take some insight
to after-hours prep schools in order to get to know that the remedy for this is not
into elite schools (and indeed go to second focusing only on the ‘individual’ to get
tier prep schools in order to get into better a better education. It is the system that
prep schools). Anxiety, stress and suicide needs fixing: ‘the rhetoric of rising now
rate have all increased dramatically in the rings hollow’ says Sandel (p 25). Thus,
past decade with many young children ‘of children born in the 1940s almost
studying 4 or more hours per day beyond all (90 per cent), earned more than their
their in-class time. The point is that parents; of children born in the 1980s, only
Academics Obsession harms everyone up half surpassed their parents’ earnings’ (p 75).
and down the system. Markovits concludes Sandel concludes that the meritocratic
that ‘the excessive and ruthless training ideal, fixed and narrow and unfair as it is,
through which meritocracy makes the elite, generates ‘morally unattractive attitudes’;
does not elevate the human spirit as much ‘among the winners, it generates hubris;
as crushes it’ (p 116). The negative spinoff among the losers, humiliation and
damages the whole system. resentment’ (Sandel, p 25). Let this toxic
mix percolate for a few decades, and you
In the same vein, and deeper,
have Donald Trump (or Brexit etc).
Michael Sandel (2020) exposes
The Tyranny of Merit. Sandel Let’s talk ‘wrong driver’ here. Inequality
Those who succeed starts with a similar point to under the circumstances of extreme
at the bad game do Markovits, that the system meritocracy is not due mainly to a failure
not necessarily go is rigged to favour the elite of education; it is more a failure of the
unscathed. Sandel calls (eg, two-thirds of attendees system in place (both in ground rules
this group ‘wounded at Ivy League schools come and in content). Don’t make your strategy
winners’. from the top 20 per cent of hinge on telling those not succeeding to get
the income scale, and so on). better at a bad game! Of course, we want
The ‘admissions obsession’ people to go to college and succeed, but my
says Sandel ‘has its origins in the growing conclusion is that the current system can
inequality of recent decades’ (p 12). Above never accomplish this on any scale (but the
all else, and come hell or highwater, elite four right drivers can).
parents wanted ‘the meritocratic cachet that
There is more. Those who succeed at the
admission to elite colleges confers’ (p 1).
bad game do not necessarily go unscathed.
During the recent prolonged period (the Sandel calls this group ‘wounded winners’.
forty years since 1980) this Academics There is a long list of anxiety-ridden, high-
Obsession and its societal correlates served stress impacts on students who do find
the super elite well. Since the late 1970s in themselves playing the bad game, leading
the US ‘most of the nation’s income gains to the following conclusion, cited by Sandel.
have gone to the top 10 per cent, while the
In spite of their economic and social
bottom half received virtually none. … In
advantages, they experience among the
real terms the median income for working-
highest rates of depression, substance
age men, about $36,000, is less than it was
abuse, anxiety disorder, somatic
four decades ago’ (Sandel, p 22). We also
complaints, and unhappiness of any
know that the rate of mobility (doing better
group of children in this country.
than your parents), after 30 years of steady
movement upward (1945–1975) flattened (2020, p 179)
The right drivers for whole system success / 10What about those who become apparently practical as well as academic wisdom.
successful adults, ending up as CEOs, There are a few who succeed despite
cabinet members, and other prominent their circumstances, but they tend to be
leaders? Again there are exceptions, but exceptions that prove the rule. Overall,
let’s start with the question: ‘Are smart we are less well-off societally because
highly educated people good at life?’ (It’s we have not benefited from the mobility
a rhetorical question). The proportion of that could have accompanied these four
elected government members who have decades of the development of human and
university degrees has been rising for the social capital. More broadly, the ‘sorting
past forty years. In the UK, 88 per cent role’ of Academics Obsession produces
currently have university degrees, and leaders in all sectors who are unlikely to
most of them came from private schools be balanced in the cognitive and wellbeing
(Sandel, 2020, p 101). President Obama qualities that are essential for leading
followed the same pattern, with all but in the 21st Century (see Fullan, 2020).
three cabinet members holding advanced Of course, additional criteria beyond
degrees. academic achievement are used in making
appointments of leaders. We can see this
Here is the nuanced part. They are smart,
at work in President Joe Biden’s minority
but are they good at life – their own and
appointments of Vice President Kamala
those whose lives they are expected
Harris, and Secretary of Education Miguel
to improve? Let’s say most are proven
Cardona. But why not make qualities, such
‘academically’, but are they good system
as character, citizenship, empathy, part of
leaders – mobilising and improving the
a core education in the first place so that
lives of the greater population? Here is
the pool of candidates becomes wider and
Sandel’s conclusion (2020, p 90).
deeper? Why not be guided by right driver
Having well-educated people run 1, rather than by its narrow counterpart?
the government is generally desirable, Why not produce scores of graduates who
provided they possess sound judgment are ‘good at learning, and good at life?
and a sympathetic understanding of
Until we make this shift we will never
working people’s lives – what Aristotle
achieve equity. One reason that increased
called practical wisdom and civic virtue
equality has barely budged, despite 50
– but history shows little connection
years of investment, is that the wrong
between prestigious academic
drivers, including Academics Obsession
credentials and either practical wisdom
have prevailed over this period. Academics
or an instinct for the common good
Obsession serves to undercut equity. A case
in the here and now.
in point is Lewis and Diamond’s (2015)
Even more nuanced, educated people in-depth study of Riverview High School,
who did not come from struggle can be a diverse US school overtly committed
cognitively empathetic, but not necessarily to serving all of its students. Despite the
‘emotionally’ empathetic in relation espoused goals of equality, 90 per cent of
to people in difficult circumstances. Whites end up in four-year universities
Moreover, and to complete the point, compared to 50 per cent of Blacks, and
we have had little mobility for 40 years, Latinx2 students. Lewis and Diamond
so we have not benefited from people found that ‘It is … in the daily interaction
who were successful because they came (read culture) among school policy,
up the hard way – parents sacrificed, son everyday practice, racial ideology and
or daughter benefited, who in turn raised structural inequality that contradictions
their children – which, in effect, created a emerge between good intentions, and bad
pathway and pipeline of people who have outcomes’ (p xix).
11 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021On a larger scale in higher education, not an instrument for improvement when
both Kirp (2019) and Tough (2019) found it is combined with high-stakes punitive
massive subtle and blatant barriers for accountability. People are rarely motivated
minorities, from the time they might have by being judged, and impossibly so if
contemplated post-secondary education the judgement does not contain possible
through admissions, all the way through lines of solutions. Jal Mehta from Harvard
their experiences until they ‘didn’t nailed this problem (2013) in his The
graduate’ (only 40 per cent graduated Allure of Order, drawing the conclusion
within six years).Tough concludes that that ‘standards and accountability are a
higher education that presumably sets out weak technology to produce the outcomes
to be a ‘powerful engine of social mobility’ policymakers seek. Improving teaching
ends up functioning as something closer and learning requires the development
to the opposite: an obstacle to mobility, an of skill and expertise; simply increasing
instrument that reinforces a rigid social expectations (even when accompanied
hierarchy and prevents them from moving by evidence) does little to bring about
beyond the circumstances of their birth’ results’ (p 7). I won’t continue to flog
(2019, p 19–20). a horse that I wish was dead, but for a
more comprehensive and detailed review
Here is one more example of
see Daniel Koretz’s (2017) The Testing
how insidious the barriers are.
higher education that Charade. The subtitle of his book says it
Linda Nathan (2017) was the
presumably sets out to founding head of the Boston
all: ‘Pretending to Make Schools Better’.
be a ‘powerful engine Arts Academy, a secondary Some jurisdictions have tried to combine
of social mobility’ school committed to preparing testing with strategies that address teacher
ends up functioning as disadvantaged minority skill and expertise necessary to get better
something closer to the students for university. Many results. This can work on a small scale
opposite did graduate and went to where some schools, not doing very
university, where they then well, learn from others that are being
encountered various non- more successful. Because there are a
academic obstacles (lack of support, few successful jurisdictions (sometimes
bureaucratic subtleties, and the like) that called ‘positive outliers’) it can give us
resulted in a high drop-out rate. Nathan encouragement. This, however, is truly
(2017) provides the bridge to our ‘right a case of ‘exceptions’ proving the rule.
driver’ when she laments: ‘what all the talk At the end of the day the rule – high-stakes
about grit seems to miss is the importance standardised tests that become ends in
of putting children’s experience front and themselves – will always come to dominate,
center. … When the emphasis on grit ends because it takes such heroic effort to
up as a stand-alone pedagogy, the context overcome it. It will never get to scale.
of a student’s life and family circumstances
Let’s take Australia as a case in point.
is ignored’ (p 76).
Since 2008 Australia has had a national
program called NAPLAN (National
Testing Assessment Program: Literacy and
Numeracy) with annual tests at Years 3, 5,
As we move through the Academics
7 and 9. For the past dozen years schools,
Obsession phenomenon we must explicitly
on the whole, have shown little or no
address the role of testing. Compounding
improvement (I would argue for reasons
and reinforcing the dismal current system
directly related to the wrong drivers). In
is how the ‘external assessment of learning’
2019 the government commissioned a
powers Academics Obsession (grades,
prominent team of researchers to conduct
advanced courses, external tests). Testing is
The right drivers for whole system success / 12a review and make recommendations for Australia has the same problem. There
improvement. The researchers, staying exists a ranking based primarily on Year
within their mandate, recommended that 12 assessments called ATAR (Australia
the tests be made in Years 3, 5, 7 and 10 Tertiary Admission Rank) which does
(the latter preferred over Year 9), and indeed rank all prospective students with
be extended to include science literacy a number that influences admissions.
(McGaw, Louden and Wyatt-Smith, 2020). Professor Sandra Milligan and her team at
Such tinkering with the system reinforces Melbourne University wrote a paper called
my point: preoccupation with academic Beyond ATAR: A Proposal For Change
(NAPLAN) scores will narrow the (O’Connell, Milligan and Bentley, 2019)
curriculum, without addressing in which they argued that ATAR favours
the motivation of students or narrow academics, while overlooking other
Fortunately SAT and those that teach them. qualities that could assess the learning
ACT tests are now losing The same issues continue to face
potential of students (such as credentialling,
favour, as more and learner profiles and the like).
students in the US, England
more tertiary institutions and other jurisdictions. Asia When the stakes are so high some people
are seeking more is more complex. By and large will do anything to game the system
qualitative criteria for they have been successful in including cheating, and illegal behaviour.
the academic domain but, as Then there is the collateral damage of
admissions.
I noted earlier, at a price. One narrow curriculum, high stress, and the
could say that their cultures abuse of privilege. If you bundle all of this
enabled more Academics Obsession, together as Andy Hargreaves (2020a) did in
but they too recognise the limits with a recent review of large-scale assessments,
more anxiety, stress and the kind of you find that ‘high-stakes testing’, and even
dysfunctional intensity that Markovits mid-stakes testing, encounter a series of
(2019) described in the ‘meritocracy problems that undercut the improvement
trap’ about the US (see also Ng (2016) agenda, and the efficacy of the assessment.
on Singapore). When you add the matter
To sum up:
of high-stakes narrow entrance tests to
post-secondary institutions (such as SAT 1. Academics Obsession preempts a better
[Scholastic Aptitude Test], and ACT3 in the learning agenda, whether at K–12 or a
US), Academics Obsession completes the higher education, leaving most students
assault on equity and meaningful learning. out of the game;
Paul Tough’s (2019) chapter ‘Fixing the 2. even those who are ‘successful’ are not
test’ is a horror story of distortion, as well served;
students and parents seek expensive 3. the most important education goals
tutors, and other means for getting higher (such as the set of global competencies
scores at all costs, in order to gain access I shall shortly introduce) are barely
to select universities. Even one of the addressed;
tutors whose livelihood depended on such 4. the strategy of assessing outcomes per se
students seeking his services told Tough hardly ever leads to improvement; and
that he tells colleges the opposite, namely,
5. we need a system that streamlines
‘downplay standardised tests in favour
external assessments while retaining
of more nuanced evaluations of students’
the ability to monitor the system with
ability’ (p 103). Fortunately SAT and ACT
better measures of engagement and
tests are now losing favour, as more and
performance.
more tertiary institutions are seeking more
qualitative criteria for admissions. In short, we need a new primary driver!
13 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021Wellbeing and Learning emphasis on grades and academics is not a
motivator for most students.
In our ever-complex and contentious
world we can no longer afford to separate By contrast, she argues a need to ‘imagine
wellbeing and learning. For one thing a curriculum that is structured in such a
wellbeing is learning. As complexity in way as to strengthen students’ sense of self
the world has evolved, Wellbeing and and their sense of inclusion in a supportive
Learning represent an integrated concept. community’ (p 142) – and then her killer
You cannot be successful on one without conclusion.
the other. They feed each other in a way It is frustrating to know that the kind of
that success begets success. As we will see, learning involved to pass standardized
advances in the neuroscience of learning tests does not bolster students’ sense
favour the seamless integration of the two of urgency and belonging, and there is
elements. All of this augurs well for the little room for the learning that would.
point I made earlier, that wellbeing is far
(Nathan, 2017, p 158)
more than the absence of ill-being.
One key reason that Wellbeing and Learning In sum, Academics are valuable, and
should be a strong right driver pertains to Deep Learning all the more so, but for
what I called above intrinsic motivation. the majority of students in 2021 stressing
Academics, at least at the beginning, is an academic learning is not the starting point.
extrinsic motivator – a means to an end. In this section I present some of the basic
As complex and as challenging as life elements of a Wellbeing and Learning
has become, it is unlikely that the initial model that will be required. The other
attraction to learning will be academics three ‘right drivers’ in subsequent sections
per se. Linda Nathan (2017) will fill in the full paradigm shift that will
was getting closer to the be essential. One of our team members is
As complexity in the primary truth when she the neuroscientist and child psychiatrist
world has evolved, observed that superficial
Wellbeing and Learning
represent an integrated
concept. You cannot
be successful on one,
without the other.
The right drivers for whole system success / 14Jean Clinton. I engaged Dr Jean in a The solution must be specific,
conversation about what might be the best comprehensive and succinct if it is to
starting definition of wellbeing. Here it is: become a viable replacement to the current
system. In Kuhn’s (1962) terms the solution
People become good at life when they
must represent a practical alternative to
feel safe, valued, and have a sense of
the present failing system. We and others
purpose and meaning. There is a need
have been developing such an alternative
to be engaged in meaningful activities
since 2014. Essentially, the new paradigm
that contribute to the wellbeing of
consists of core competencies that integrate
others. In the face of adversity, being
learning and wellbeing, and that provides
able to navigate to the resources that
the components for implementation, such
you need to get out of the situation –
as effective pedagogy and assessment of
known as resilience – is an essential
progress.
component. To get there one needs
to identify values, goals and needs The Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR)
as well as personal strengths. The recently completed a review of the field
competencies you need to achieve this, as they analysed the curriculum from
I think are the 6Cs [more about this 22 jurisdictions from around the world
shortly] as long as compassion and (Taylor et al, 2020). They identified 12
empathy are emphasised. competencies in total: 4 skills (creativity,
critical thinking, communication,
(Personal communication, 2020;
see also Clinton, 2020) collaboration), 6 elements of character
(mindfulness, curiosity, courage,
The current system is miles away from resilience, ethics and leadership), and
addressing the Wellbeing and Learning needs 2 of metalearning (metacognition and
of students. Sociologists Jal Mehta and growth mindset). Across the 22 systems
Amanda Datnow (2020) after considering the authors found that most jurisdictions
public schools in the perspective of the last ‘named’ the 12 competencies in their
100 years conclude that there is a ‘Yawning official curriculum policy documents;
gap between how schools are organised vs about a quarter contained reference
how youth learn’, with the former falling to ‘progressions’ of the competency;
woefully short with respect to but when it came to ‘pedagogy’ and
opportunities to do work that has ‘assessment’ there was zero reference
purpose and meaning; in the policy documents. Thus, the
curriculum goals appeared in the policy
strong connections to adults and peers
documents but there were no pathways
(relationships/belongingness);
to implementation! In the words of the
need to be viewed in asset-based ways;
authors: ‘none of the 22 jurisdictions had
their identities needing to be valued; and publicly available documents that included
their wanting the opportunity to pedagogies (and assessments) targeting
contribute to the world. the 12 competencies’ (p 7). This does not
mean that there were no schools using the
Right Driver 1 replaces Academics
competencies, but it did mean that there
Obsession with a foundational focus on
was no ‘system presence’ relative to the
wellbeing and learning. Both wellbeing
new paradigm.
and learning have suffered because of their
separation. Combining them generates an In our own work we have gone further
interactive force that represents a powerful in this direction. After seven years of
new unified learning proposition that development our work has been field
becomes the centrepiece for contending tested, well received and covers a lot of the
with and transcending the growing territory (Quinn et al, 2020). In this paper
complexities now facing humankind. I will not compare the fine details (how
15 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021many Cs should there be, which ones, etc) elements in combination – includes
except to say that CCR’s framework and using and developing further what
ours are essentially compatible. is known about the neuroscience of
learning such as: ‘student as inquirer
Fundamentally, CCR and ourselves shift
and knowledge builder’; ‘learning
the main purpose of learning to Wellbeing
connects meaningfully to student
and Learning with respect to how to thrive
interest and voice’; ‘connects students
in and improve in the complex world we
to the world with authentic problem
live in. The common elements to this new
solving’; ‘making mistakes and learning
approach include.
from them strengthens learning’;
You need to start with and develop ‘collaboration and other forms of
students’ intrinsic motivation to learn connecting with other people and
in a dynamically complex world. ideas’: ‘enhances neural pathways and
Central to this is the constellation of learning’, and so on.
purpose, meaning, belongingness,
Such Wellbeing and Learning applies to
connectedness and contribution to
all students, including a commitment
the world. A key theme derived from
to equality for all. Modern learning
this cluster of motivators is centred on
is quality learning that sticks with
‘Engage the world Change the world’ –
you. We also find that such Deep
a theme we discovered by working with
Learning is good for all students, but
students; one which became the sub-
is especially good for students who
title of our first book (Fullan, Quinn and
are disconnected. What we need to
McEachen, 2018).
do additionally is to partner with
Deep Learning is the process of systems that are committed to explicitly
developing, understanding and using addressing the multiple ‘systems of
the 6 Cs, which we call the global prejudice’ currently at work. The
competencies: Character, Citizenship, ensuing breakthroughs will be good for
Collaboration, Communication, students, their families, and the world.
Creativity and Critical Thinking. It is
worth noting that the so-called 21st In our Deep Learning model Wellbeing and
century skills (the latter 4 Cs) have been Learning are essential and inseparable.
around for at least 30 years; and have Together they are ‘the right driver’. It is
failed to go anywhere. Yes, the timing crucial to note that our paradigm (and
may have been premature, but more that of CCR’s) are comprehensive and
tellingly we have found that character integrated in the same unified model.
and citizenship are ‘foundational skills’
that are catalytic to making a difference Figure 2. Four Elements
of a Learning Design
in the world – qualities not included in
the original four 21st century skills, and
characteristics directly related to the l
ica L
Par ear
intrinsic motivation of contemporary og es tn
students. tic e
Pr ag
ni ship
ng s
ac
d
r
Pa
The 6Cs includes developing socio-
emotional and academic knowledge
Deep
and skills, through effective pedagogy Learning
and assessment of progress. Our model
L e v Dig
ts
consists of Four Elements of a Learning
n m in g
en
a
er
Design (see Figure 2): pedagogical g ar
n
it a i n g L e i ro
practices, learning partnerships, l v
learning environments and leveraging En
digital. This Learning Design – the four
The right drivers for whole system success / 16Our NPDL model contrasts with other A large part of the new solution consists
current wellbeing models such as Social of reducing the reliance on standardised
Emotional Learning (SEL). Adding SEL tests and replacing them with a built-in
is useful to a point but represents an system of formative assessment, linked to
incomplete conception of wellbeing which periodic summative tests on key indicators.
includes equity, and a greater sense of Someone observed that when the chef
purpose, meaning, and connection to the tastes the soup it is formative, and when
world. Academic obsession is so powerful the customer tastes it, it is summative.
that we run the risk of ‘bolting on’ SEL’ to Formative assessment concerns ideas, data
improve academic performance instead and action that improve learning as an
of developing a single, powerful new ongoing process; summative assessment
learning system. Wellbeing and Learning is periodic stocktaking about how much
must become the new foundational driver has been learned over a given amount
that includes greater equality, knowledge, of time. Historically in education there
engagement, and spiritual connection in has been a dearth of data about ongoing
the world. improvement. While individual teachers
routinely gather information, it is not
After all, we are talking about a paradigm
widely shared, and is not valued for the
shift where one model replaces another.
purpose of accountability. Any attempt
We think the conditions for doing
to change that through imposition is
this are becoming more
likely to fail. With imposition, both
favourable. As stated earlier,
internal development and usable external
In order for this we are integrating learning
knowledge become compromised. The key
and wellbeing – UNESCO’s
transformation to to success is to have a system that monitors
Sustainable Development Goals:
happen teachers and SDG 3 (health/wellbeing), and
and intervenes to help with respect to
students will have to SDG 4 (education) in a single
continuous improvement. A reminder
shift to a new mode of here is that these assessments encompass
model. Literacy (including
both wellbeing and academic learning.
learning and assessing. digital and financial) and
Thus, we have developed tools that
numeracy are part of basic
enable the teacher to assess progressions
education for everyone. Most
on a rubric that ranges from ‘limited
of all we know that students and teachers
evidence’ to ‘emerging’, ‘developing’,
(and eventually parents) love to learn and
‘accelerating’ or ‘proficient’, according
live in the new paradigm. In our ‘go slow
to the four or so dimensions that define
to go fast’ mindset we have found that after
each of the 6 Cs (see Quinn et al, 2020).
some initial capacity building the rate of
Teachers use the rubric to track whether
quality change accelerates.
students are progressing from lower to
Still, it is going to take a massive effort to higher embodiment of the competency
unseat ‘narrow Academics’ as the primary in question. They can then take action
driver, because the latter has a stranglehold accordingly. Whatever the measure,
on how schools are organised, what is formative, continuous improvement is
taught currently, and how it is assessed. the driver.
This obsession with Academics and related
In order for this transformation to happen
testing severely limits the possibility of
teachers and students will have to shift
major change. The shift that we are talking
to a new mode of learning and assessing.
about will require state-level change in
As part and parcel of learning the 6Cs,
policy, which in turn will be more likely to
teachers and students will need to know
happen when there are elements of support
the new global competencies curriculum
throughout the system – at the bottom,
well enough to assess progress reliably
middle and so on.
17 / CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021and systematically. Teachers and students in detail: clarifying and understanding
cannot reach a high level of thinking and learning intentions, eliciting evidence,
action if they don’t know what progress feedback that moves learning forward,
looks like. In short, the capacity of teachers activating learners as instructional
and their students to validate their resources to one another and activating
standards and assessment practices must learners as owners of their own learning
be central to any suggestion that formative (Wiliam, 2018). Taken together, these
assessment should drive the system. Social elements represent a major change in most
Intelligence (Right Driver 2) will play a schools in the culture of learning. My only
major role in these developments. issue is the need to apply this thinking to
the global competencies.
Returning to the new research and
development, Sandra Milligan (2020a COVID-19 provides a serendipitous
and b; Milligan et al, 2020) and her opportunity to rely less on standardised
colleagues are explicitly engaged in these tests and more on formative assessment by
new formative assessments that focus teachers in groups (thereby overlapping
on continuously assessing students with with Driver 2, ‘Social Intelligence’). In
respect to the new competencies (as do many jurisdictions, external tests by and
our own assessments of progressions of large have been temporarily suspended.
learning the 6Cs, Quinn et al, 2020). The worry is that when things settle
At the same time, Milligan et al are striving there will be pressure to focus only on
to conduct ‘outcome assessments’ in ‘making up for lost ground’, which lands
the form of portfolios of credentialling us back in the land of Wrong Driver 1. The
progress with respect to the global opportunity presents itself to revamp the
competencies. Our only quarrel is that she assessment system in favour of formative
does not include ‘character’ assessment, while reducing the reliance
and ‘citizenship’, which are on an external assessment system. The
COVID-19 provides foundational in our framework net effect could stimulate the motivation
a serendipitous (and we would say to the of learning through leveraging formative
learner as citizen). Whatever assessment, lessening early punitive
opportunity to rely less the case, formative assessment actions, focusing on growth and the like.
on standardised tests focusing on ‘learner profiles’ Ironically, formative assessment, well
and more on formative and ‘public displays of work’, done, also serves summative monitoring
assessment by teachers or other forms of credentialling and related outcomes. Overall, there
in groups. represents a major advancement must be deliberate action to create a new
relative to Right Driver 1. framework built on the four right drivers
Such assessment should and their synthesis.
include summative measures of ‘global
Primary Right Driver 1 brings to the fore
competencies’ as outcomes, as we and
attention and resources on Wellbeing
others like Milligan are now addressing.
and Learning related to the global
Other prominent researchers have arrived competencies. This will be the best way
at the conclusion that formative assessment to motivate students (and their teachers),
is the driver toward better outcomes. and the best link to the basics of literacy,
Dylan Wiliam (2020) stresses that the focus numeracy and other subjects. At the same
should be on ‘curriculum, pedagogy, and time the focus on Wellbeing and Learning
assessment, in that order’. In his basic forces us to consider all students. We have
textbook Wiliam (2018) describes his system a once-in-a-generation opportunity to attack
as embedded formative assessment. The the ‘systems of inequity’ that I identified
power of formative assessment is laid out earlier.
The right drivers for whole system success / 18You can also read
