The Struth

I am attending the EARCOS Adminstrators Conference this weekend in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia this weekend with over 200+ administrators and presenters from international schools all over Asia. There are some big names here this weekend including Alan November, many heads of schools, and some high-paid consultants. Wow! I am really looking forward to meeting some colleagues and learning about what challenges they are facing at their schools and some ideas they might have that I can take away with me from the conference.

Right now I am sitting in a workshop on changing schools. The presenter is very knowledgeable and has experience that I know I can learn from. However, as I sit here typing away I am completely awestruck by the craziness of this whole conference.

What do I mean by this? Here we are, supposedly the leaders of top-level international schools, sitting in a traditional “classroom-like” atmosphere with the “teacher” at the front, speaking TO us the entire time, as we sit here passively listening. (This is no knock on the presenter- she is excellent- I am just using her as an example of what’s wrong with the whole system).

Sure this is the kind of learning we grew up with, but if we are “charged” with leading 21st century schools, why are we accepting 20th century learning?

And- we keep asking (and being asked by the likes of Alan November) how can we meet the needs of 21st century learners, change schools, make schools more engaging? And we put up with a classroom of all chairs in a row, facing the front, the lecture style delivery of content?

WHY???

Why are we not changing our own practice to reflect the changes our students need? Why are we not having interactive, inquiry-based learning workshops? Why aren’t we sitting at round tables with 4-6 other learners, discussing ideas and questions, problem-solving the problems that are facing our schools today?

The theme of the EARCOS Adminstrators’ Conference this year is “Learning to Lead in a Challenging World” and yet we are still holding traditional, lecture-style conferences?

C’mon people! Take the chance to change the room-set-up you inherit! Make everyone stand up, move the chairs to a circle, order round tables and chart paper so we can doodle our great ideas. Have a blog going during your workshop so people can respond to your ideas and have a conversation in real time. Give us two minutes to reflect on our learning every ten minutes. Don’t lecture to us the entire 70 minutes! Dare to be different!

Can we really say we are learning to lead in a challenging world if we continue to accept traditional learning for ourselves? We need to be talking the talk AND walking the walk!

Annelies Hoogland and I are attending the EARCOS Administrators Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia this weekend….. yes- a difficult assignment!

This afternoon we are leading an Elementary School administrators job-alike session on leadership. Hmmm…. a bit of a broad topic! We have brought along with us an article by Tony Wagner about how schools are failing to prepare students for success in the 21st century. In addition to this, we just attended a session by Dennis Harter discussing the same topic; what skill set do our students need to have upon graduation from our schools and are we giving them opportunities to learn these skills?

Sitting at breakfast this morning, Annelies and I discussed the same question- are we preparing kids for success in an exponentially changing world? Answer: NO!

How could we change schools to address these needs?

One idea- start over. Completely change schools. OK- not going to happen right now.

Another idea- continue to ask questions like this and collaborate to figure out the answer even though it will NEVER be black and white. Likely the real road and one that we will continue to follow?

Nutty idea- ensure that teachers and administrators take a mandatory sabbatical every 5 years, and place them in the worksforce so they can get an idea of what kind of skills our students really need to be successful. Skills such as asking questions, being collaborative and flexible, learning how to influence others, problem solving, knowing how we learn best and being connected.
How powerful would this alternative be in showing teachers how outdated our school system is? Would they then understand that preparing for tests and teaching content is outdated?

Something to think about….. perhaps.