Food for Thought:Innovation for Better Learning, Simon Breakspear

INNOVATION FOR BETTER LEARNING: HOW SMART EDUCATION ORGANISATIONS ARE INNOVATING TOWARDS BRIGHTER LEARNING FUTURES

 

Simon Breakspear is the Fonder & CEO of LearnLabs and he posed the question how can established educational institutions and systems develop culture of innovation and get on the road to transforming learning? What can education leaders learn from the most innovative companies around the world that could aid them in this task? He pointed out that economic globalization, demographic changes, environmental challenges and new technologies are all exerting pressure on our 20^th century models of education. Discussions show there is broad consensus among educators globally that we need to rethink, reimagine and redesign education institutions and systems. He feels frustrated that we have spent the first decade of the 21th century talking about 21th century learning rather than creating it. Many schools seem stuck while the world continues to speed up. 

Simon Breaksprear argued it is time for educational leaders to be bold, think big and create the future of learning today. He believes it is time for educators to learn about the art and science of innovation and apply it to the task of redesigning learning. Innovation for better learning draws on global research lessons from the most innovative leaders and organizations, both inside and outside of education, to teach the mindsets, processes and cultures needed to transform learning in schools. I found Simon Breakspear to be very optimistic about the future for education, as you can tell from this short video about his ideas

Simon Breaksprear argued it is time for educational leaders to be bold, think big and create the future of learning today. He believes it is time for educators to learn about the art and science of innovation and apply it to the task of redesigning learning. Innovation for better learning draws on global research lessons from the most innovative leaders and organizations, both inside and outside of education, to teach the mindsets, processes and cultures needed to transform learning in schools.

He started by saying that educational leaders have to change their default setting from Yes but, to Yes and.  He reflected on the Douglas Adam quote, ‘Education is inherently a future based industry’  and pointed out that schools spend too much time talking about the past and that is why they aren’t changing fast enough.

The need is for agile leadership for learning with a mindset that is based around the concept that we can get better all the time and that accepting the status quo, dictated by the past, is no longer enough. He pointed out that the best always look to get better and that we should always be looking forward not backwards. It is time to dispense with the traditional deficit model of education and look towards a model that humor’s the past whilst designing the future.

Schools have evolved and we should not be throwing everything away but rather building on the parts that are good and appropriate for today. We should not be employing disruptive innovation but rather radical incrementalism.  He pointed out that relationships are the essential part of learning and that educators need to work together to produce sustainable changes to our rationalized patterns of practice. We should be looking to transform, ‘old theory to new practice.’

He stressed that it is important to create a vision for learning that is concrete and not conceptual. That people can visualize. He pointed out that educational leaders cannot lead others into a future they cannot see.  He suggested that schools would be better to focus on less but better and go for high leverage changes that will move schools forward. There needs to be a mobilization of change by teachers learning in and through practice. He said, “you cannot mandate greatness it must be unleashed.”

His strategy for innovation was to sue evidence based ideas, to start small and learn fast whilst also learning to fail well. He was clear that educational leaders shouldn’t expect to get buy in from everyone but that doesn’t matter. Support those on the inside and build from there. He was clear that research in innovative business models shows that leaders who want to change everything always start with the smallest part and go from there. This system for change he called Minimal Viable Learning Design (MVLD). In this model  you use feedback from rapid feedback loops and learn to fail well.  He used the example of the Dyson vacuum cleaner that revolutionized the no bag household cleaner. He explained that there were 5,127 versions of this cleaner before they were happy with the end product. They experimented, got feedback, failed well by listening and learning

 

His final stage for helping schools innovate successfully for learning was to take the change beyond small pockets to everyone in the community. He explained that it is up to the school leader to create positive contagion by sharing the new practices and demonstrating that they are reliable and effective for learning. He emphasized the point that change is a social process and that it is important to build trust to increase social learning across the community and that it takes a community to sustain a change over time.  Change shouldn’t be seen as technical but rather cultural. He summed this up by saying that, “schools must become the greatest learning organizations in the world if they are to successfully serve this and future generations of students.”

Wagner, Murgatroyd and Breakspear were all very clear that it is very important for education to redefine what really matters. In their talks it was clear that they were aligned in feeling that technology is only useful when it helps students address a problem and that as a standalone it is useless. It was suggested that there has been too much emphasis on technology for its own sake and not for the competencies that it should develop in students at each Grade level.

Throughout their talks they stressed that schools should prescribe less, teach less and that by doing so students will learn more. They believe that the ownership of learning has shifted and today with the right guidance, support and competencies students can teach themselves by asking the right questions and creating their own lines of inquiry. They saw this model as human shaped learning that was technology enabled. But they stressed that what really counts are passionate teachers.

These three keynotes all stressed that teachers need to be modeling the learning they expect from their students by learning alongside their students. They felt that learning should be about problem solving and that identifying key problems that lead to deeper learning is an advanced skill that many teachers do not have. Hence they felt that if teachers are to model innovative questioning they need to be keeping journals of questions as they think about them and sharing them in planning meetings. Only through collaboration and intense discussion can good inquiry be developed.  The term student centered learning was seen as narcissitic because the teacher should today be a coach / designer of activities that empower students.  If this is transformation is to be successful they stressed that everyone needs time to read, explore, reflect contemplate and apply to their own practice.