Educational change, leadership and learning for resilient education systems

Joanne Quinn, a renowned international consultant in the field of education and co-founder and director of Canada’s New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, reflected on resilient education systems, educational change, leadership and learning as a guest expert in the Ceibal Foundation Digital Space cycle.

In this regard, Quinn mentioned the need for education systems to be more agile and focus on helping all students learn and preparing them for life so that they can contribute to communities and society as a whole. “We have to be very intentional about creating a learning environment for them to develop the capabilities that they’re going to need.”

Six global competencies have been identified as crucial to developing the ability to be good at learning for life and also to be successful and happy: critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, character, and citizenship.

According to Quinn, the work that is being carried out on these competencies in deep learning has an impact on the well-being of students. “First of all, as we focus on developing all aspects of a human being, not just their academic skills, say reading and writing, we are looking at the talents that they bring rather than seeing their deficits. And so we are naturally building and developing growth in all of these areas that they need to be successful in life.”

Quinn also pointed out that there are four elements that make a difference when designing learning. The first of them is the environment. Teachers need to think about what kind of culture for learning they are creating in order to be intentional about creating that environment where students feel safe and can take risks. Another factor is learning partnerships; the relationship between teacher and student, between students and other students, and between the school and the outside world. It is also necessary to provide the competencies that will help co-design learning together, change the balance of power and allow students to play a greater role. Instead of the teacher knowing everything and deciding everything, teachers should work explicitly to help students take more and more of a role in designing their learning and being learners for life.

These changes make it necessary to rethink the role of teachers, increase their voice, their options and their leadership. In this regard, the international expert mentioned the need to regard teachers as activators of learning.

Finally, Quinn expressed her view on the implementation of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning in Uruguay and highlighted the significance of Ceibal in the process. She pointed out that Uruguay has become a benchmark in Latin America, and Ceibal’s sustained leadership was instrumental in achieving that.