Learning from Extremes
OECD Education, Public Forum, Paris, November 2010
Charles Leadbeater
Your vantage point determines what you
can see…
To see the future of education we all go to
Finland
But radical innovation usually comes from
the margins, entrepreneurs with few
resources meeting huge need
Everyone believes in education
Education + technology = hope
But lots of people think education is
dysfunctional and fails too many
Most reform starts from the supply side
Mapping education innovation
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Informal
Mapping education innovation
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Improve
Informal
Better versions of the schools we have…
Increasing productivity, yield,
effectiveness…
Good people teaching, well trained, well
motivated and supported in the right
conditions, measures, accountability
Improve is essential but not enough…
Mapping education innovation
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Reinvent
Informal
Creating radically different kinds of school
Learning with and by not to and from
Personalised learning by…
Place,Timing, Pace, Space, Curriculum,
Assessment
Big schools that feel small
Teachers as coaches
Pupils as self-reflective protagonists
Problem/question oriented learning
Collaborative and real world
Philosophy of learning/shared vision
Collaborative culture
Flexible use of resources
Knowledge and information sharing
Constant learning
But…
There are lots of obstacles and traps on
the journey from improve to reform
And…
Even that may not get all you need
because what happens outside school
matters so much
Mapping education innovation
Location
Formal
Informal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Supplement
Schools working in conjunction with
parents, families, community
development
Social and emotional
pre-conditions for learning
Aspiration and ambition
Cultural change in communities
Challenges…
Where do you invest?
What people and skills do you need?
Are schools the right vehicle?
Mapping education innovation
Location
Formal
Informal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Transform
Learning new things in new ways in new
settings…often without teachers,
schools, textbooks …
Pull not push
Motivation is key: extrinsic and intrinsic
Learning through…
Different people, technologies,
places for learning
Learning as
making, doing, earning activity
Diffusion
Scaling
Spreading
Competing and complementary strategies
Location
Formal
Informal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Improve
Reinvent
Supplement
Transform
Competing and complementary strategies
Location
Formal
Informal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Improve
Supplement
System
Change
Reinvent
Transform
Leading: four styles, we need all of them
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Informal
Manager
Detail
Incremental
Total Quality
Collaborator
Partner
Negotiator
Campaigner
Visionary
Designer
Adaptive
Challenger
Hacker
Entrepreneur
Maverick
Renegade
Where learning happens
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Informal
Standard schools
Increased enrolments
Improved access
Communal
Homes
Work
New kinds of schools
Learning villages
Studio schools
Real world
Railway stations
Cafes
Who leads learning
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Informal
Target Driven
Qualified Teachers
Parents
Mentors
Coaches
Collaborative teaching
Teaching + many other adults
Some peer learning
Self-organised
Light touch coaching
Peers
What is learned
Location
Formal
Innovation
Type
Sustaining
Disruptive
Content
Knowledge
National Curriculum
Capabilities
21st Century Skills
Informal
Resilience
Empathy
Confidence
Self determining
Questions not knowledge
All our efforts go into scaling
improvement strategies that push
learning
To meet the really big needs we need
transformative innovation that pulls
people to learning because it
motivates them and spreads by word
of mouth