A Step-by-step Guide to Schools of the future

A work in progress

My post about the future of education gives a sense of what I envisage schools to look like in the future. It would be unrealistic to expect to be given the time and money to create such a school from scratch. The most pragmatic approach would be to make the necessary changes to create a school that is both relevant and sustainable. Their would be an added advantage that such an approach could allow a changing school to become adaptable to unforeseen variables.

Step 1

Evaluate current curriculum documents to ensure that they comply with a student-centred, inquiry-based pedagogical approach to learning.

Step 2

Undergo a major evaluation of skills and create a continuum of skill development. This is a difficult task and needs constant evaluation and monitoring. We started working on this in a previous school and we found that once we started identifying the skills and focusing on skill development, the skill level of all students developed quicker than had been initially evaluated. This meant that the continuum had to be continually monitored and re-calibrated at times.

Step 3

The next step would be to create an ICT platform that would combine a self-directed learning suites of skill-based platforms to learn subject-based skills, e.g. language and mathematics. It would also monitor participation in individual and group learning projects that required the assessment by a teacher. I envisage this platform as being the central point of interaction for students. This platform does not need to be created from scratch. Schools that share platforms would be in the unique position of being able to share resources with other schools and have students move between schools to utilise learning that better suits their interests.

Step 4

Once the platform is allowing students to make choices in connection with their learning, the situation arises that students will feel confined by their being members of a class and look for learning activities across the school. As this happens, the school will need to start having conversations with all stakeholders about things like multi-aged classes, or doing away with class-based systems all together. Student well-being will need to be given significant consideration and specialized structures will need to be created to ensure that with increased freedom, students still develop a sense of belonging.

This process will take some time, but at this stage the school will have the experience and the conversations that could drive the development of a true school of the future.