Unshackling the elephant in the room
“So be sure when you step,
steo with great care and tact.
And remember that life’s
a great balancing act….”
‘Oh the places you will go’, Dr Seuss
Systemic agency - achieving change in systems design
There is a dramatic courtroom scene in the movie Amistad in which the main protagonist Joseph Cinque, a survivor from a slave ship, defiantly raises his manacled hands and, in a rising crescendo, repeatedly shouts out “free; give us free”!
Covid19 has brought us to our crescendo. It is the catalyst that has put the blow torch to our institutions, systems, leaders and communities.
Education has arguably experienced a greater reckoning than many sectors. Covid19 has amplified the daylight that exists between many educational systems design versus the pressing needs of our communities. Acknowledging but temporarily putting aside the genuine intent, tangible and well documented efforts from educators in responding to such adverse circumstances, in one fell swoop this pandemic has brought into sharp relief what is both wonderful and fundamentally flawed in our existing systems design. Hard questions remain in terms of the efficacy of such systems’ design, it's ability to truly nurture growth and "deliver" the sorts of outcomes society needs today. The jury remains very much out in relation to what this says about how we value learning (and presumably why we send kids to school in the first place - to learn or to be babysat?). Which consequently leads us to a situation where educators and students shout out more than ever
“free, give us free”!
e² believes that progressive societies are built on social capital. Social capital influences social cohesion: how well communities are empowered to weather, adapt, and evolve from existential crises such as covid19. There is a correlation between the depth of social capital and the extent to which educational systems are flourishing. In an ideal world, effective design reflects and addresses in real time the diverse needs of those who utilise and rely on that system. Such design is invariably dynamic, decentralised, multilayered and relies on the sum of its parts in adjusting to new and unique situations. It is also largely dependent on momentum generated from the collective wisdom of collaborative innovators. It is this very ethos that e² advocates. By its very definition, a dynamic educational system is therefore one which is adaptive, tailored, effective and engaging for all users. This infers mechanisms that are relational, non-linear, fluid, and infinite; where opportunities and possibilities for self determination and self actualisation are available to all.
Yet by and large education, a most organic of human endeavours, is characterised by a hierarchical, rigid and mechanistic infrastructure where adaptation may only occur according to strict guidelines and within relatively inflexible parameters. Existing educational models standardise and stratify processes and procedures for a variety of reasons. Compliance, efficiency and accountability around predetermined outcomes - namely to deliver information and knowledge exchange or retention and the acquisition of skills to the widest possible audience in the least amount of time and cost - presumably necessitates functionality and measurability. Systems that use operational procedures and metrics in quantifying inputs to achieve outputs are adopted from economic constructs. These are often too rigid and linear, with participants constrained by relatively static, passive and compliant lenses suited to more finite processes. Tension exists by virtue of the fact that education does not lend itself easily to measurement through arbitrary, standardised and quantifiable management practices. These invariably restrict educator agency and consequently limit opportunities for collaboration as a source of innovation. The dominant models that hold sway are systematically stripping back the more nuanced, intangible and creative elements of human interaction. Student disengagement is on the rise. Teacher attrition rates. Consequently educational systems have by and large become unreflective of the real and pressing needs and wellbeing of todays’ students, parents, teachers and society.
Such a myopic implementation of educational practices was uniformly rejected in a recent international collaboration organised by e²: educational ecosystems (e²) under the auspices of UNESCO’s Futures of Education - Learning to Become and Hundred.org. The consensus was that education viewed as a transactional relationship is too limited, simplistic and antiquated a notion. Rather, a view of education and learning with the central premise of non-linear, nuanced, connected and exponential, and associated recommendations, was submitted in a report to UNESCO. Reflections were facilitated around the overarching question: “How might we connect relationships and collaborations to activate educator agency and so in turn achieve greater engagement, opportunities and possibilities for all? based on fourteen innovative cross-sector case studies. The core premise to emerge from the collaboration was the emphasis of the powerful and symbiotic nature of agency as the genesis for change in systems design.
Educational systems design viewed through this lens evokes a deeply personalised, immersive, responsive and relational investment; one where all stakeholders have the time, preparedness and willingness to embrace the inevitable permutations, trials and tribulations that go hand in hand with any human endeavour. An endeavour in which connection and active engagement are key to a lifelong journey of self discovery and self determination, one that it should be noted, today inevitably involves navigating intractable challenges and wicked problems created by uniquely situational realities (Climate Change being one example). e²’s collaborative effort sought to demonstrate this in real time through the frame of specific design intentions, namely to:
illustrate what educators, when given the time and space, can achieve in spite of the system, as opposed to because of the system;
to replicate the iterative and generative nature of any creative process; that is, one where outcomes are not predetermined and the flow of the discussion meanders organically;
highlight the exponential nature of what can be learnt and achieved if practitioners are afforded agency to actively engage with each other and role model the learning competencies so often desperately called for.
The collaboration identified key recommendations across three levels & perfectly demonstrated the exponential nature of collaboration, leading to subsequent contribution to a second event at HundrED.org’s November Festival of Innovation, the graphic from which is shown below:
Exponential shifts in the status quo are possible when agency and expertise are liberated. Thriving and flourishing educational systems promote dispositions that facilitate changes in attitudes, expectations and skills. Evolving dispositions influence expectations of behaviour change. We actively shape systems design when behaviours change. Only then will social capital necessary for progressive societies be generated to weather today’s wicked challenges. Innovators such as
There is a scene in the movie “On the basis of sex” in which the recently deceased equal rights crusader Ruth Bader Ginsburg exclaims
“these laws are the bars”!
A systems design that encourages self-actualisation, self determination and self-efficacy promotes collaboration and what Sir Ken Robinson famously coined 'conditions ripe for learning'. While the void left by the passing of these two pioneering advocates is immense, their legacies remain. The onus is now very much on us all to pull together in ensuring the sky is the limit for an unshackled education system! Collaborators are encouraged to reach out to e² so that together we may get change happening!
