digital divide

Digital (insert word here!)

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Today started with an interesting conversation with an amazing teacher friend of mine. Someone who’s extremely experienced and delivers powerful, meaningful learning opportunities. She ranted, ‘If I hear another ‘digital something’ my head will explode!’ I laughed and it made me think of how many digital somethings I experience in my day-to-day meanderings. Let me start by sharing just some of the current list encountered almost daily:
two worlds: digital device and notebook

  • Digital Fluency
  • Digital Technologies
  • Digital Generation
  • Digital Communication
  • Digital Citizenship
  • Digital Literacy
  • Digital Devices
  • (The) Digital Age
  • Digital Enablement
  • Digital Readiness

I really could go on. Each has a different meaning; each has importance, with some overlapping one another and many being misconstrued or misunderstood. It is important you understand that my teacher friend and I are not anti-digital anything. I, like her, highly value digital technology. It gives me the power to completely control my learning. I understand ubiquity on a level I could never have dreamed of just a decade ago. It enables me, empowers me, and supports me in almost everything I do. It’s specifically the word ‘digital’ that my colleague has begun to take issue with! It feels like it’s fallen foul of the buzzword trap that surrounds so many professions. Once a term becomes a buzzword it can lose purpose. It becomes something that’s thrown around because it sounds intelligent, cool, or current, rather than something that has meaning.

Digital Citizenship

Let’s take the subject and teaching around Citizenship as an example. Is it any different from Digital Citizenship?

“Is this digital citizenship or just plain citizenship? Building strong 21st Century citizens is of paramount importance whether we are living our lives offline or on, and we need to avoid using old-fashioned compartmentalised instruction in a connected world.” (Weston 2013)

As Marti Weston points out, we live in a connected world. Even our New Zealand Curriculum makes direct reference to this being key to the teaching and learning of our students as we strive to create ‘confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.’ In an ever-connected world, in which many of today’s learners do not demarcate their lives into online and offline, we need to teach effective citizenship to their context, not ours. This includes the digital!

Digital Generation: native or at home?

teddies with digital device and penThen there are Digital Natives. Native as a noun is defined as ‘a person born in a specified place or associated with a place by birth, whether subsequently resident there or not.’ Today’s generation of learners wasn’t born online. It’s simply something they’ve never known a world without. I often refer to the concept of working memory and formation of early memories in relation to digital technologies. ‘Few adults can remember anything that happened to them before the age of three. Now, a new study has documented that it’s about age seven when our earliest memories begin to fade, a phenomenon known as childhood amnesia’ (Wood 2015). So, if we suggest that most adults remember very little prior to seven years old it could be argued that today’s 18-year-olds have no working memory of a world without the following:

  • Skype
  • Smart Phones
  • The App Store
  • The iPhone
  • Facebook
  • X-Box/Playstation
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Amazon

This list is non-exhaustive and, depending on their recall and upbringing, they may not remember the launch of things like Spotify or on-demand viewing services. Can you imagine what today’s primary aged student doesn’t know a world without?! And of course, I’ve missed the one incredibly obvious element that anyone under the age of 30 will have no recollection of not existing, the World Wide Web. For over a quarter of a century we’ve watched a generation grow and develop, surrounded by an ever-expanding digital universe. So, of course they’re home in a digital world; of course they’re digitally competent and able; it’s all they’ve ever known!

Digital Communication

This one might polarise some of you. There is a distinct difference between electronic communication and face-to-face communication. Of that there is absolutely no doubt. The ability to read someone’s expression and body language, hear the pitch and intonation in their voice, and make a connection just cannot be replicated without being face to face. But, I believe you can get pretty close. Approximately two years ago I started as a Digital Virtual Mentor (DVM) and I’ve been genuinely humbled to develop some fantastic relationships with people I’ve never met in person. I’m not suggesting we need to change the way we teach learners to interact, merely that we need to acknowledge a digital platform as one context they might experience.

Take letter writing as another example. Now we have email (even that’s been around in some form or another for nearly five decades). How often have you heard a teacher complain of students not understanding etiquette in letters or using inappropriate language/acronyms in their communication? If we don’t teach our students certain levels of understanding within their context, how can we possibly chastise or judge them for not meeting our expectation? While working with learners and exploring communication, I came up with a simple graphic to show the level of formality within different types of communication.

formal and informal commsAlthough the graphic was clearly focused on online and digital device-based communication, I’m hoping it illustrates the point that when teaching strategies to communicate effectively, many of the lessons and etiquettes are applicable across both the real and digital worlds. I suppose we return to the William Zinsser (1998) quote, ‘Never say anything in writing that you wouldn’t comfortably say in conversation. Be yourself when you write. If you’re not a person who says ‘indeed’ or ‘moreover,’ or who calls someone an individual (‘he’s a fine individual’), please don’t write it’ (p. 27). It’s simply now understanding what and where ‘writing something’ is — it is most certainly not limited to pen and paper.

I believe it is fair to say that the word digital has evolved and changed quite significantly from its root word ‘digitus’ that became ‘digitalis’ meaning finger or toe! I suppose it could be argued that much of our digital technology today requires the use of a finger (or toe) to operate it, but even that has changed rapidly. Voice control and input, the ability to unlock your cell phone with your face, calling ‘Hey Siri’ from across the room and asking for a timer to be set, everything has moved on. Each learner of today is entering the world without an understanding of the digital technology prior to their existence. Adverts are a frustration and inconvenience to the Netflix generation. Taking longer than 10 minutes to respond is considered rude by the citizens of Snapchat.

So much of what we do involves digital that, at times, the non-digital feels almost abnormal. We don’t have a non-digital technologies curriculum learning area, it’s simply technology. There is no analogue generation (although googling that brings up all sorts of interesting reading), so why must we insist on having a digital one? If digital has become the norm, isn’t it time we stopped trying to demarcate the two worlds and understand that the current generation simply see them as one? If not, we’re at risk of teaching today’s learners through yesterday’s eyes.

 

References

Weston, M. (2013) Is It Digital Citizenship or Just Plain Citizenship? Retrieved on May 14, 2018, from https://mediatechparenting.net/2013/10/16/is-it-digital-citizenship-or-just-plain-citizenship/

Wood, J. (2015). What’s Your Earliest Memory? Psych Central. Retrieved on May 14, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/01/26/whats-your-earliest-memory/64982.ht

Zinsser, W. (1998). On Writing Well (6th ed.). New York, NY. Harper Perennial.

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many streams

Should we review our curriculum?

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braided river and many streams

The Minister has invited us to have our say on Education as many aspects are up for review. Should the New Zealand Curriculum be one of them?

There is ongoing debate about whether our curriculum really meets the aspirations of our tamariki to be active citizens now and in their future so that they are well prepared for the task of making this world the best they possibly can for all people. Much of this debate at a national level focuses on the dichotomy between a 21st century skills-based curriculum and a knowledge-based curriculum. For example, Frances Valentine, an advocate for 21st century skills, recently stated:

I have run out of patience. Not for these incredible young minds, but for the analogue, rigid system that continues to prepare them for a world that no longer exists….. Are we really that committed to the status quo that we are happy to pretend that the world isn’t a very different place than it was when we grew up?

At the same time Roger Partridge called 21 Century Learning snake oil at a researchED ‘Festival of Education’ conference:

There is only one problem with 21st-century learning; despite its seductive underpinnings, there is no scientific evidence it is equal, let alone superior, to more traditional, teacher-led instruction. And there is lots of evidence it fails children, particularly the disadvantaged. So 21st-century learning is seductive snake oil, not science. And it is dumbing down children’s learning, by limiting their exposure to the wealth of knowledge their parents gained at school a generation ago.

From an international perspective the OECD Education 2030 position paper adds to the debate as they suggest that curricula needs a broad set of goals that focus on individual and community wellbeing and that provides young people with a broad set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in action to be prepared for the complex future.

Building on the OECD Key Competencies (the DeSeCo project: Definition and Selection of Competencies), the OECD Education 2030 project has identified three further categories of competencies, the “Transformative Competencies”, that together address the growing need for young people to be innovative, responsible and aware:

  • Creating new value

  • Reconciling tensions and dilemmas

  • Taking responsibility. (page 5)

And, any Google search will show a great number of lists of what these knowledge, skills, and attitudes should be — everyone has an opinion.

Why polarise? Personally, I don’t think this dichotomy of skills versus knowledge is useful, as life and curriculum are more complex than that.

What is important for Aotearoa New Zealand?

A key aspect of any curriculum is a vision for young people that is owned by all stakeholders in ways that it makes sense both emotionally and intellectually. This was a factor in the high regard teachers and leaders had for the New Zealand Curriculum, as described in the evaluation two years after implementation. “In summary, implementing key practices related to The New Zealand Curriculum continues to be difficult. The New Zealand Curriculum is cherished but is challenging.” (Executive summary Sinnema, 2011)

Seven years on, researchers, education agencies, and schools are still grappling with what the implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum could look like. For example, NZCER has summarised the research effort to understand:

  • what key competencies are (their nature);
  • how they should be included in a local curriculum (their weaving together with other curriculum components); and
  • how they should impact the intended learning (their role).

In a related paper, Weaving a coherent curriculum, Rose Hipkin’s suggests that when teachers design rich tasks, they bring together concepts or big ideas (from one or more learning areas) and appropriate aspects of all the key competencies.

Rich tasks include a conceptual focus and a ‘doing’ focus that draws on aspects of all the key competencies. However, it is hard to focus the intended learning if we just say every key competency is in play. This is where the idea of capabilities can help. A ‘capability’ is demonstrated in action. It is what the student shows they can do—and is willing to do—as a result of their learning. Capabilities remix aspects of all the key competencies and weave them together with important knowledge and skills. (page 1)

Rose suggests that, while there are many important capabilities, a small number of really important ones that are valuable to all the learning areas and can be taught and practised are more likely to be kept in teachers’ “heads” as a guide for classroom actions and curriculum design. The capabilities suggested are:

  • making meaning in discipline-specific ways
  • perspective-taking
  • critical inquiry
  • taking action — living and contributing as active engaged citizens in the world.

To me, thinking about four interrelated capabilities sounds more do-able than trying to think about a list of key competencies and another list of learning objectives. It does mean deeply understanding these capabilities. How are we thinking about competencies, learning objectives, and capabilities in our context?

Another angle on what to teach in Aotearoa New Zealand has been whether te reo Māori should be compulsory in New Zealand schools. This was explored on a recent NR Insight programme. The audio also explored whether the teaching and learning about te Tiriti o Waitangi and Aotearoa New Zealand history should be compulsory. Some people thought yes and others no, with many voicing their concern that it would only make a difference if te Tiriti o Waitangi and Aotearoa New Zealand history was engaged with respectfully and with full knowledge of the stories. This is the conversation we can all participate in.

The question should we review our curriculum? may be right but the context may be wrong

We need to have conversations about what we should be teaching, and why, and speak up in favour for those learners and whānau who are least well-served by the current curriculum. I’d suggest that, instead of asking the question ‘Should we review our curriculum?’ at a national level, it would be better asked at the local level — Kāhui Ako, school, or classroom. And the answer is, Yes, if we are unsure whether our:

local curriculum reflects a vision for young people that is owned by all stakeholders in ways that it makes sense both emotionally and intellectually

vision for young people becomes a reality and actually leads to improved and equitable student outcomes.

Design and development processes

In Aotearoa New Zealand the following features of local curriculum design and implementation support the development of a vision owned by all, and a short time period between design and the desired outcomes:

  • bicultural — honouring a commitment to the te Tiriti o Waitangi
  • builds agency — teachers and community are empowered to use their professional knowledge, skills, and expertise to contribute to the local curriculum effectively
  • inclusive — recognising a range of stakeholders (young people and their whānau, iwi and hapū, teachers and educators, experts and researchers, local communities, professional associations and industries, including representatives of teachers’ unions and the business sector, and national, regional, and local government); their visions, ways of working, language, and culture
  • builds on what is known — is based on regional, national, and international research and evaluation
  • tests ideas in the implementation process and makes clear what is new (and what is new for whom, in order to know where the support needs to go), what language works, and any unintended consequences
  • incremental — focusing on the vision, framework, and position papers first, and the details second
  • reflects the emotional and intellectual requirements to engage in curriculum change
  • innovative — in the use of technology and social media during the design and implementing processes.

Where to next?

Think about your context:

  • Do you have a process for curriculum review?
  • Does any curriculum design and implementation process incorporate the eight features mentioned above?

If not, get involved and involve others in thinking about what should be reviewed and how to do it.

CORE support

If you are exploring the design of a local curriculum that reflects a vision for young people that is owned by all stakeholders in ways that it makes sense both emotionally and intellectually, it often helps to have a critical friend work with you. CORE can offer this support.

See our list of accredited facilitators for a critical friend to guide your process, our online courses for leaders of change, and the Education Positioning System (EPS) to understand what your community thinks.

 

References

Rosemary Hipkins (2017) Weaving a coherent curriculum: How the idea of ʻcapabilities’ can help found on NZCER website http://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/weaving-coherent-curriculum-how-idea-capabilities-can-help

Leigh-Marama McLachlan (2018) Should Te Reo be compulsory in New Zealand schools? An audio recording played 29 July 2018 and found on the NR website NR Insight programme

Sue McDowell and Rosemary Hipkins (2018) How the key competencies evolved over time: Insights from the research (PDF, 2 MB) found on TKI curriculum page http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Key-competencies

OECD (1997) DeSeCo project: Definition and Selection of Competencies  found on the OECD website This project underpinned the NZC key competencies — see
Rosemary Hipkins (2018) How the key competencies were developed: The evidence base (PDF, 2 MB) found on TKI curriculum page http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Key-competencies

OECD (2018) The future of education and skills Education 2030 found on the OECD website

Roger Partridge (2018) 21 Century Snake Oil. Article published 9 June 2018 on The New Zealand Initiative website https://nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/21st-century-snake-oil/

Claire Sinnema (2011) Monitoring and evaluating curriculum implementation: Final evaluation report on the implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum 2008-2009 found on the Ministry of Education’s website Education Counts
Frances Valintine (2017) Future-focused? Who are we fooling? Opinion published October 20th 2017 on the Education Central website https://educationcentral.co.nz/opinion-frances-valintine-future-focused-who-are-we-fooling/

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Braided river photo by Matt Lamers on Unsplash

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waka

A personal story of leadership for learning

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Leading authentically and mindfully closes the gap between our intentions and reality. Being culturally responsive requires effort, and relational pedagogy is an experience best measured by those around you. It’s not what you say you do, it’s how others experience your decisions and actions that defines your leadership and ultimately leads to successful outcomes.

This post shares my learning from leading a Ministry of Education funded national project supporting the implementation of the revised curriculum Te Whāriki He whāriki mātauranga mō nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum (2017). I was excited by the challenge and opportunity to work with others to develop new leaders, build unity through early learning networks, and strengthen practice across the sector.

waka

Two recent events have prompted my reflection on how others experience my leadership and its relevance to my learning.

  • The first is the name kaiurungi given to me by a colleague to describe my new role at CORE Education as navigator of the waka of the Early Years team.
  • The second event is an expression of leadership portrayed in the image above by Ngāi Tahu artist Morgan Hale-Matthews, which was commissioned by a stunning group of wahine toa/strong women.

Part of my role included recruiting and leading 26 ngā Kāiaki Marautanga/Curriculum Champions to support the implementation of Te Whāriki across Aotearoa. This taonga/art piece was presented to me at our final hui along with some stories and recollections of my leadership. The korowai/cloak adorned by 26 feathers represents each curriculum champion. The image and their tribute are dear to my heart and reminds me of our shared experiences, and my learning, and acts of leadership. When I look at this image and hear the name kaiurungi/navigator, I think about two things — my leadership intentions and others’ experiences of my leadership.

The context — Leading a project on the implementation of the revision of a highly acclaimed and treasured curriculum, Te Whāriki, was daunting. The kaupapa demands a compelling vision for all children in Aotearoa. I entered a new work environment with different systems and online tools, developed and led a national team, worked in partnership with the ministry, and engaged with diverse perspectives across the country. One of the hardest things was the high expectations and, at times, polarising feedback from a very interested ECE sector. I quickly became overwhelmed and consumed with worry.

My story and what helped? I will focus on the following four areas that are important to me and have guided me in my leadership practice.

● Self-efficacy and emotional intelligence
● Authenticity and leading mindfully
● Acting with purpose to ‘be’ culturally responsive
● Relational [online] pedagogy

What does it look like, feel like, and sound like?

Self-efficacy and emotional intelligence: My previous learning and focus on self-awareness helped me to be resilient and adaptive in this situation. Being successful in leadership has been linked to having a strong sense of self efficacy and emotional intelligence. Self-efficacy is more than having confidence, it means believing in your own abilities. This required me to think about and define what success for me looks like, feels like, and sounds like.

Goleman (2018) considers emotional intelligence one of the most significant success factors in the context of leadership. This includes self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Goleman suggests we check in with others and warns against only going by your own sense of how well you do. We all have blind spots when considering our own strengths and limitations — from the very humble to the ego driven personalities. He recommends seeking an evaluation of your emotional intelligence from people who work with you, know you well, and whose opinions you trust.

New pathways and insight are created by being open to feedback and a review of your work. Having the courage to ask for help was a defining moment for me that resulted in a shift in mind-set. I began to see things differently, changed my expectations, reprioritised, and intentionally moved into a space of uncertainty that, overtime, became comfortable. Constantly consolidating, chunking things down, adapting my ideas, and checking in with others became a useful strategy. Some advice I received was to use my connections and the people around me well. When you actively work to create a culture of respect and seek input from others, you increase the intelligence of the group. This created powerful learning moments. At times, feedback or a different perspective would stop me in my tracks and lead to a greater understanding. Acknowledging my learning and understanding my emotions and reactions helped me to be strong enough to change my mind, be less planned and scripted. What does it look like, feel like, and sound like to be agile and responsive?

Dr Kate Thornton online

Shared with permission from Dr Kate Thornton guest webinar.
Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o Te Mātauranga: Spotlight:Leadership for Learning

Authenticity and leading mindfully

You don’t own your thoughts
Hold ideas lightly

Dr Kate Thornton provided a guest webinar on Leadership for Learning. She talked about the capability of authenticity. For me, being authentic means being true to yourself, honest with others, and aware of your influence and impact. Being vulnerable and in control of your emotions can lead to deeper learning opportunities. Alongside this is awareness of context and maintaining perspective. As leaders, we can spend a lot of time in our heads — thinking, reflecting, analysing, perfecting, re-visiting past events, and planning our responses. Whilst reflection and self-awareness are necessary, I learnt first-hand the impact of spending too much time in my head and worrying too much. This worry and overthinking is counterproductive and gets in the way of action, creativity, and seeing what you need to see. Investing in self-awareness and surrounding myself with different viewpoints helped me to lead in different and unchartered waters. Several points in the book, Leading Mindfully (Sinclair, 2016), resonated with me — most especially, the idea of getting out of my head. The strategies and suggestions in this book helped me to recognise when I was stuck, to understand my reactions and to let things go more quickly and move through things lightly. This freed me up to focus on what really matters.

Acting with purpose to ‘be’ culturally responsive

Another of the capabilities that Dr Kate Thornton referred to was having a clear vision and purpose. The project had clear deliverables and was based on a new model of teachers teaching teachers in a mostly online environment. My role and our vision was to grow others, build leadership capability, and create a new layer of leaders for the sector. This required deliberate and purposeful strategies. I talked with others, read about online pedagogy, and learnt about effective ways to develop an online community of practice. An important consideration was how can I lead and maintain a relational approach in an online space to build capability. My own vision and priority is to enact my responsibilities as a Tiriti partner. To be my authentic self, this situation could be no different. My cultural competence is always evolving and in recent years I have set myself a challenge:

when I know more, I do more

I no longer have excuses; I equip myself, challenge myself, and embrace the feelings of being a learner who is open to feedback and who may get it wrong, but tries. I feel the nerves and do it anyway. My professional responsibly as an educational leader is to role model respectful tikanga, use te reo Māori, and create opportunities and encounters for others that validate Māori as Māori. The idea of acting with purpose is a great way to ‘be’ culturally responsive. Promoting whanaungatanga and demonstrating tikanga-a-rua became a deliberate decision. With strong views and importance placed on kanohi kitea/the seen face, we had a big job to do — the kaupapa was Te Whāriki.

After 200 years of educational history Māori was, for the first time, being given the opportunity to influence a new curriculum that would touch the minds of future New Zealanders
(Reedy, 2014).

curriculum champions and CORE Education team

Ngā Kaiaki Marautanga/Curriculum Champions and CORE Education Early Years team at a hui with special guests Sir Tamati and Lady Tilly Reedy. Photo used with permission from CORE Education | Tātai Aho Rau.

Relational pedagogy — Leading a team in a mainly online environment

Working alongside the curriculum champions in an online community of practice was a highlight. At the beginning, there were mixed views about the online component as it was a new experience. I came to appreciate the way digital technology could afford us different and equitable opportunities to meet anywhere, anytime, across Aotearoa. I needed to overcome my own reservations, have an open mind, and inquire into the possibilities of online tools and platforms. We created a supportive and predictable routine of meeting online weekly, and I developed a regular post ‘from Kathryn’ to keep the group engaged and connected on CORE’s online platform Edspace. Building relational trust is what made the difference. Kaiako felt comfortable enough to be honest and ask for help. We were patient with each other. We struggled at times and celebrated in each other’s success.

Below is a breakdown of some of the ideas and strategies that we used to support online engagement and promote cultural responsiveness through a relational approach that was based on CORE’s Tātai Aho Rau values.

Whanaungatanga: relationships, identity, and whakapapa — What we focus on grows. At the forefront of our minds was people and place. Who do you bring with you? was suggested by one kaiako as a way to introduce ourselves for the first time. The success of our mahi was in the strength of our relationships.
Manaakitanga: an ethos of care and agency as a stimulating kaupapa — Establishing our tikanga and way of being through regular connection inclusive of all. Taking the role of hosting seriously and checking in with each other to share, console, and celebrate our achievements was important.
Co-constructing the agenda by being vulnerable ourselves as learners and engaging in dialogue we could hear what was on top and be responsive to new ideas, and experience just-in-time learning.
Wairuatanga: acting with moral purpose and connecting with heart — ensuring the uniqueness and wellness of each person is nurtured spiritually, physically, emotionally, and intellectually.
Kaitiakitanga: maintaining the integrity of the kaupapa. Harnessing the collective wisdom of the group to learn and share our ideas and culture about past, present and future. We needed to preserve and protect the kaupapa and its foundations, and be genuine in our engagement, so our time together was efficient, beneficial for all, and added value for future citizens of Aotearoa

My focus was building pedagogical leadership capability for effective curriculum implementation. My approach and intention was to be relational and role model cultural responsiveness as a starting place for having conversations about practice.

My experience taught me to keep getting to know myself, trust in my own abilities, value immensely the contributions and mentoring of others, and seek different viewpoints and perspectives.

● How do you intend to lead?
● How do you think you are going?
● What do others think?
● How do you really know?

Intentionally entering into an uncertain space required me to think differently and be well equipped. It is complex and comes from within, but it is also about understanding your context, being clear about the purpose, and taking action.

I want to finish with the following by Jan Robertson that aligns with my own views about effective leadership as a way of being.

Effective educational leaders:

are self-aware. They know their values, beliefs and assumptions about life, leadership and learning, and are critical, deep thinkers about how these perspectives impact on their leadership. They seek feedback;

know how to learn deeply from their everyday work of leadership, and they know how to enter relationships as a learner to create new knowledge and inspire vision for what might be;

know they are system leaders, not kura, kindergarten, or school leaders … they collaborate together with other leaders, within and across contexts, to think, and to transform the system of education;

understand the importance of partnership in relationship, and know how to partner in leadership, in learning and as Treaty partners …

are emotionally, socially, culturally and cognitively intelligent and responsive in their practice. They are ego-less in leadership and can build capacity in leadership by developing themselves and others around them. They see this as important leadership work;

are creative, informed thinkers who cross boundaries to seek and explore new places and spaces of learning and knowledge and inspire others to do the same as they continuously focus on the quality of teaching and learning;

are confident and intentional in leading transformative change, underpinned by a strong moral purpose for equity and future-focused learning opportunities;

are digitally confident and competent in e-learning communities and understand the potential of technology, networks and connectedness for enhancing learning;

are comfortable with ambiguity, complexity and not-knowing as they learn and adapt within their leadership practice.

(Robertson, 2017, p. 16).

Bibliography

CORE Ministry Video. (2018, July). Dr. Kate Thornton [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/277217640/7cad45e26f

Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand Matatū Aotearoa. (2017). Five Think Pieces. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Five%20Think%20pieces.pdf

Goleman, D. (2018, March 1). Do You Make This One Big Mistake About Emotional Intelligence? [Linked in]. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-you-make-one-big-mistake-emotional-intelligence-daniel-goleman/

Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o Te Mātauranga (2017). Te Whāriki He whāriki mātauranga mō nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, NZ: Author.

NZEI Te Riu Roa. (2016, November 9). Te Whāriki turns 20 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3870276665&feature=iv&src_vid=xJOv5U3J7VQ&v=tyAQdhP69XY

Robertson, J. (2015). Think-piece on Leadership education in New Zealand In Leadership for Communities of Learning. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Five%20Think%20pieces.pdf

Sinclair, A. (2016). Leading Mindfully: How to focus on what matters, influence for good, and enjoy leadership more. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Te Whāriki Online. (2018). Spotlight: Leadership for learning. Retrieved from https://tewhariki.tki.org.nz/en/leadership/

 

Image credits:

Waka: Shared with permission from Ngāi Tahu artist Morgan Hale-Matthews

Dr Kate Thornton online:  Shared with permission from Dr Kate Thornton guest webinar.
Spotlight: Leadership for Learning: Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o Te Mātauranga: Spotlight:Leadership for Learning

Curriculum Champion team and CORE’s Early Years team photo: CORE Education

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The ties that bind

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Can Learning Circles strengthen Kāhui Ako?

learning circle
Tokomairiro Kāhui Ako’s Early Childhood, primary and secondary school teachers meet at Tokomairiro High School

Communities of Learning or Kāhui Ako bring together education providers who may have never met or shared a conversation with each other. So how can these teachers start talking together?

Harvard writers, Gratton and Erikson, in their Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams, tell us that it’s not an easy task to build new teams — the more experts we have in a group — the harder it is to build a community:

We found that the greater the proportion of experts a team had, the more likely it was to disintegrate into non-productive conflict or stalemate…

But they offer some hope…

Under the right conditions, large teams can achieve high levels of cooperation, but creating those conditions requires thoughtful, and sometimes significant, investments in the capacity for collaboration across the organization
(Gratton and Erikson, 2018)

So, what are the right conditions?

It might be useful to look at the Nordic countries where there is a long tradition of collaborative adult education and an established practice of lifelong learning through Learning Circles.

Sweden’s late Prime Minister, Olof Palme, often called Sweden ‘a study circle democracy’, which reflected the Swedish government’s policy around adult education. This national commitment currently sees nearly two million Swedish people annually benefitting from taking part in Learning Circles.

In small groups of 7–12 people, study groups share the knowledge and skills of their members or make use of external experts. They might be gaining new knowledge in a particular field or working to solve a problem. The most important factor at play here is that the focus for learning is decided by the participants themselves. Members choose a leader from the group, and the group’s activities are supported by a facilitator who is a representative of a learning organisation. The work of every group ends with an evaluation of results.

This enthusiasm for learning together is not surprising given the government policy on developing a love for learning. The Swedish government sees the practice of self-directed learning as essential to a healthy democracy because it:

  • supports equality and an understanding of the perspectives of others
  • starts from the individual’s voluntary, personalised search for knowledge
  • is characterised by shared values and cooperation
  • aims to strengthen individuals’ ability to gain agency and influence in their own lives and be able, together with others, to change society in accordance with their values and ideals.

Where did the idea come from?

The Swedes were by no means the first to popularise the learning circle as a mechanism for capturing the collective wisdom of the group.

The method has been central to many indigenous cultures for millennia. Early talking circles were often seen as wisdom circles, serving as more than just a place for talking together. Indigenous peoples in North America have always seen Circles as a way of life — they embody a philosophy, principles, and values that apply whether people are sitting in a circle or not.

Clearly, this powerful community process has merit, surviving over time and reaching across the cultures of the world. Civic organisations, neighbourhood communities, trade unions, churches, and social justice groups have used, and are using, learning circles to empower their members to share, make choices, and take action.

In the 1980s, The Quality Circle was a term used to describe the same practice in corporate settings. In Quality Circles, the hierarchical boundaries between workers and managers were flattened to encourage participatory management and shared team leadership.

Originally associated with Japanese management and manufacturing techniques developed in Japan after World War II, the business Quality Circle was based on the ideas of W. Edwards Deming. The goal was to encourage everyone to develop a strong sense of ownership over the process and products of their company — and the practice continues in many socially responsible businesses today.

It seems that no matter what the name — study circles, peer learning circles, talking circles, or dialogue-to-change programmes, the principles remain the same — they are spaces where learning is collaborative, participation is democratic, there’s respect for every voice, and participants learn from the collective wisdom of the group.

Back home in our Kāhui Ako, could this work?

Last year, the Lead Principal of the Tokomairiro Kāhui Ako, Tania McNamara, thought it might work, saying:

We know what we’re trying to do in terms of student learning – but we need a method to bring people together in a way that really engages everyone.

After seeing the potential of Learning Circles, Tania visited all the schools and centres in the Kāhui Ako and listened to leaders and teachers talk about their interests and passions. Getting a big-picture view of educators across the spectrum — in ECE, primary and secondary education centres — she was able to identify strong common themes of teacher interest and expertise.

The most interesting and exciting thing about mapping the educators’ passions in this way was the discovery that there were areas of common interest running across all these educators. This made for diverse, cross-level interest groups who might be able to share knowledge and collaborate in a genuine way.

The Tokomairiro Research Pods were formed with the focus areas including work on cultural responsiveness, co-teaching and collaborating in innovative learning environments, developing learner agency, integration of digital technologies, and passion for learning.

Tokomairiro Kāhui Ako is trialing the idea of Learning Circles — called Research Pods — by arranging for groups to meet together twice a term.

The initial buzz and enthusiasm as teachers make personal connections across areas of interest bodes well for this simple initiative.

To be continued…the next chapter is in process.

 

learning circle in education
Research Pod meetings at Tokomairiro Kāhui Ako

Sometimes the most important thing you get from the network isn’t an idea but the inspiration or courage to try something new
#innovatormindset George Couros

 

References:

Andrews, C. (1992). Study Circles: Schools For Life. Context Institute. https://www.context.org/iclib/ic33/andrews/

Bjerkaker, S. (2014). Changing Communities. The Study Circle – For Learning and democracy. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814045534

Dennis, L., (2010).Talking Circles: An Indigenous-centred method of determining public policy, programming and practice. (2010). https://dspace.library.uvic.ca:8443/handle/1828/8304

Gratton, L., & Erickson, T. (2018). Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams. https://hbr.org/2007/11/eight-ways-to-build-collaborative-teams

Larsson, S., & Nordvall, H. (2010). Study Circles in Sweden: An Overview with a Bibliography of International Literature.
http://swepub.kb.se/bib/swepub:oai:DiVA.org:liu-57887?tab2=abs&language=en

Suda, L. (2018). Learning Circles: Democratic Pools of Knowledge.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED457363

 

Photo credits:

All photos by the author.

 

CORE’s Expert Partners can assist you to:

  • Develop robust and quality achievement challenges and plans that will accelerate student achievement
  • Strengthen evidence gathering practices.
  • Define problems; undertake evidence-informed action planning.

 

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Building the capacity for organisational change

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Change is often referred to as the constant in our present age, particularly in education — but too often it’s something we like to watch from afar, preferring that it affects someone else. And yet, the reality is that few of us are ever immune from the impact of change. So, why is it that we find change difficult to embrace? Building our capacity for change, and doing the same for the learners in our care, ought to be a priority for anyone living in this fast-paced, ‘exponentially-changing’ world.

This is even more important when we consider the challenge of bringing about change in the organisations we work for or in. Changing an organisation can be like trying to turn a whale: until we think of it more as a school of small fish — when one turns so do the others, so the whole school changes in a more agile way than the large whale might!

Having spent some time with various individuals and professional groups on this matter, here are five tips that I think provide a useful checklist to consider when thinking about how well you’re building your organisation’s capacity for change.

1. Be informed

Being caught by surprise can be the biggest challenge to embracing change. It’s always better if we’ve had our ‘eyes on the horizon’ and understand the environment we’re a part of, so that when change does occur, we have a frame of reference to help make sense of it all. Some questions to ask here include:

  • What are you reading? Are you exposing yourself to multiple perspectives?
  • What conferences do you attend? Are they only relating to what you do in your work?
  • Who do you discuss this with? Do they challenge your ideas if they don’t agree?
  • What PLD programmes do you participate in?
  • Are you involved in a personal/professional learning network (PLN)
  • What is your personal inquiry? What guides your process?
  • How do you act on new ideas?

2. Understand the culture that exists

The culture of an organisation defines “how things happen” here, and understanding what that culture is will assist you in recognising where the enablers and roadblocks to change may be. Some questions to guide you here are:

  • What drives the way your organisation operates? Who ‘owns’ the learning there?
  • Does everyone demonstrate leadership – teachers, students, parents, community
  • Is transparency, trust, devolved responsibility evident?
  • Is there an appetite for risk, and acceptance of failure as a part of the process?
  • Do you devote time to building relationships and valuing ideas and input?
  • How do you celebrate and recognise achievements and successes as they happen?

3. Develop leadership capabilities among all involved

Change is everyone’s responsibility — not just ‘those at the top’. For real change to occur, everyone must take ownership of what is being changed, and be prepared to be a part of the change process. This works best when everyone in the organisation is recognised for the leadership capabilities they bring. Some questions to reflect on here are:

  • How are the strategic decisions made in your organisation? Who has the final say?
  • Do learners and teachers have agency in their work?
  • How do you recognise and value the particular talents and skills of individuals?
  • How do you foster the emergence of new thinking and leadership?
  • Does everyone demonstrate leadership — teachers, students, parents, community?
  • Do learners and teachers have agency in their work?
  • Do you devote time to building relationships and valuing ideas and input?

4. Develop strategies for coping

Ultimately, organisational change requires a commitment to action, and action requires that we have strategies that can be used to guide the activity of everyone involved. There is a plethora of advice on strategies for change that you can easily access on the web or in a bookstore, but some worth considering are:

  • How do you accommodate risk and accept failure as a part of learning?
  • Is there evidence of a “Fail fast, fix fast” mindset?
  • Is professional inquiry and personal reflection an integral part of organisational learning?
  • What frameworks have you adopted that provide common insights and the basis of a shared language of change?
  • Is there a regular celebration of what has been achieved?

5. Don’t do it alone

Organisational change is not an individual endeavour! A characteristic of our modern age is the emphasis on collaboration; on partnership; on being ‘networked’. To bring about meaningful, sustained change we need each other, and to understand it is a corporate endeavour, where everyone’s voice must count, and everyone’s actions matter. Some questions to ask here are:

  • Is there an emphasis on “We” not “Me” in your organisation?
  • Are staff and students required to work regularly as teams?
  • Is learning and teaching happening cross curricular using integrated approaches?
  • Is collaboration the norm?
  • Do you understand how ecologies operate? Are you operating as part of a “network”?
  • Are you prepared to give a little? Don’t sweat the small stuff!

This is not an exhaustive list, but a starting point for some personal reflection and for conversations you may wish to have with others in your own organisation. While the questions are primarily posed to challenge the thinking of organisational leaders, there is plenty in here for those who have other roles.

Listen to Derek Wenmoth discussing these ideas:

Building capacity for change from CORE Education Digital Media on Vimeo.

 

If you’d like to know more about how you can build the capacity for change in your organisation we have a number of consultants at CORE who are specialists in this area and can work with you to find solutions that work for you and your context. Please contact us.

You may also find it valuable to attend Tēnei te Tira Hou | Culture of Change, the pre-conference day at our ULearn event, from 10-12 October

Image Credits:
Change sign adapted from photo artwork by Diana Boucino on Flickr under CC 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

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