About 130 years ago, the Committee of Ten, a group of white male leaders from universities and a few independent schools, came up with the educational model we are essentially still using today. Their purpose was clear: to prepare students to participate in the industrial revolution as interchangeable workers. We don’t live in that world today, and our students clearly will not live in that world in the future. Knowing that, what are the opportunities to rethink the education model for the next generation?
I’ve been on a mission to answer that question with the NAIS New View EDU podcast, an outgrowth of a series of conversations that I had with my dear friend and designer in residence at the Stanford d. school, Lisa Kay Solomon. In our earliest conversations about school, we asked: If we’re serious about helping young people embrace their futures, what does school need to look like? How can we ensure equity and inclusion for all students and staff? What’s the evolving role of the teacher? How can leaders best serve their communities? What capacities and capabilities are essential? All those questions pushed us toward a meta-question that connected them all: What is the purpose of school? And what should we place at the center of school design?
In the past year, we’ve spoken with more than 20 leaders—from inside and outside independent schools. We gathered varied perspectives from authors, big thinkers, entrepreneurs, and educators. We wanted to share the ideas and experiences of others to help our listeners craft their own vision for the future of their schools. What has both surprised and energized us is the discovery that even though our guests come from different backgrounds and points of view, they all seem to come back to a few key themes: well-being, leadership, learning design, and the future.
It’s been fascinating connecting with so many varied perspectives, and even more interesting to find many points of connection and agreement among them. If I could sum up the things I’ve learned from these conversations in just a few key points for school leaders, I would say these are some of my biggest takeaways.
- Agency is an essential partner in transformational learning. Student and staff agency came up in almost every conversation as a critical ingredient to engaging learning, civic engagement, leadership, and well-being. In Season 1, episode 13, independent school graduate, parent, and author Matthew Barzun shared his view that students need to be seen, known, and needed in school. This creates interdependence, which in turn opens the door to deep learning and lasting relationships. I feel like our schools do a remarkable job ensuring that all students are seen and known. In my opinion, it’s one of the hallmarks of an independent school education. Creating that sense of being “needed,” however, is a challenge. At least, it was for me, when I was teaching seventh grade math at McDonogh School (MD). Were my students really needed in class every day? Probably not. Stepping back and creating space for agency creates the opportunity for feeling needed to emerge.
- Well-being should be at the center of school design. In our first episode, NAIS President Donna Orem talked about how well-being needs to be at the center of school design, and her ideas have been reiterated in many conversations on the podcast. Well-being creates the context for risk-taking, curiosity, purpose, and joy. At the end of the day, what do we hope to equip every student with before they leave our schools? We wish for well-being, for belonging, for self-efficacy, for purpose, and for happiness. I was surprised to see how much “flow,” the groundbreaking work from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, showed up in Season 2. Flow occurs when we are so deeply engaged with an effort that hours seem like minutes. In Season 2, episode 16, my conversation with Denise Pope highlighted the deep psychological connection between flow and well-being. We talked about how to encourage this state of “flow” and how to find areas where students are engaged in flow––and where they are not.
- We need to continue to take care of ourselves and of each other. It’s been a hard few years. The pandemic and polarization have forced everyone to assume a reactive posture. It’s been hard to focus on innovation when day-to-day safety and civility have been at the top of the agenda. We’re not out of the woods yet. As we head into a new school year and a new season of New View EDU, we need to remember to take care of each other. Our interview with Julie Lythcott-Haims, (Season 1, episode 8), who roots for humans and reminded us of the subtle ways in which educators can either reinforce––or tear down––their students’ humanity each day, offered insights and inspiration for how to do just that. One piece of advice: “Ask yourself … who routinely comes back to visit you when they've graduated … and who doesn’t? Be curious about that and ask, ‘What am I going to do to more effectively, authentically, see the students who don't seem to feel seen?’ Because basically that’s what they’re saying. They don’t feel seen by you. They’re not going to come back. So be curious and humble about that.”
- We are still at the beginning. We’ve learned a lot in our first year of the podcast, and it’s clear that we still have a lot to learn. It is such an exciting time to be working in independent schools, and there’s such potential in front of us––and a clear imperative to continue to design with the whole student in mind. So many of our guests have spoken to various aspects of educational design, and each of them brings a unique perspective. For example, our conversation with veteran educator Jay McTighe explores the concept of designing backward to move forward. Jay feels “that a primary goal of a modern education should be preparing students, not just to remember information or to learn basic skills, but to be able to transfer their learning to new, and even unexpected situations."
Now, get ready to listen to Season 3—which debuts in mid-September––where we’re breaking the idea of school design wide open with a number of guests who have gone way outside the box to create totally new and different learning environments. We’ll be talking to founders of new schools, as well as experts in topics like the influence of technology on the neurological development of young people, the future of higher education, self-directed learning, virtual reality, and Web 3.0.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Tim Fish ([email protected]) if you or your colleagues have any ideas for future episodes of New View EDU, or if you have ideas about how we could enhance our work.