Want Seismic Shift? Center Teachers as Agents of Transformational Change
Listen to the worldwide dialogue about how schools need to change, and you will hear a lot about “agency,” “systems thinkers,” “problem-solvers,” “student voice and choice,” “real world connections,” and the need to educate students to be “future ready” and “global citizens.” If this is what we want, then teaching and learning needs to look very different from what we see now in most classrooms worldwide.
Inquiry-to-action learning paradigms—solutionary learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, and more—show great success with sparking student engagement, deepening student thinking, and supporting transfer of knowledge. These applied learning methods show great promise in developing students' leadership skills, critical and creative thinking, perspective taking, and problem-solving. Implementation of these approaches will lead to the outcomes schools have identified in their Portraits of a Graduate, support higher student achievement on traditional measures, and raise students’ likelihood of getting into college.
Imagine third graders learning about pollinators from books, films and experts, and then deciding to design and create a pollinator garden on school grounds. Maybe seventh graders learn about climate change and decide to do an audit of the school’s carbon footprint. Based on research about what others are doing that seems to be working, students come up with a set of detailed recommendations to the board and ask to form a sustainability committee of students and staff to educate the school community and oversee changes. Consider the impact when, after learning about the health and environmental impacts of eating meat, 11th graders decide to create an education campaign and to organize plant-based food cookoffs that help the student body decide on a new weekly menu. Projects like these happen in all grades in schools that have shifted toward more authentic learning, informed by student voice and choice, driven by student interest and the desire to have real-world impact.
Moving a school to a point where student-centered, inquiry-to-action approaches are the norm requires sustained focus on the part of teachers and administrators. It does not happen overnight and will only be successful as the result of a collaborative effort and a solid plan.
If we want seismic shift…
If we want to seismically shift what happens in schools—and I believe this should happen—teachers are the key. Any plan for transformational change needs to provide targeted ongoing support to transition to student-centered, inquiry-to-action approaches to teaching and learning.
At the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), we partner with schools that want to increase student engagement, involve students in real-world challenges, and develop citizenship with global understanding in mind. It is clear to us that teachers are the engine of change in schools because they are the ones who work directly with students. From Germany to the United States to Mexico, we have seen again and again that to substantively transform what happens in schools requires actively engaging teachers, putting thought and effort toward uplifting teachers’ work, and effectively supporting educators to make the needed changes.
Implementing inquiry-to-action projects requires educators to facilitate teaching and learning that leads students to invest in and drive their own learning. To accomplish this, we need educators themselves to be similarly invested in and driving their own learning as they make this paradigm shift. This takes more than a one-and–done workshop day or even a weeklong training. Teachers, school leaders and professional learning providers all have important roles to play in what is likely to be a 3-5 year transition.
Teachers: “It sounds good, but…”
Virtually all teachers want to do a good job, and most find the idea of educating their students to be solutionaries (next-level changemakers making a positive difference in their schools and communities) to be very inspiring.
However, it is important to remember that the types of pedagogical and cultural changes that are required to implement inquiry-to-action approaches are sophisticated, unfamiliar to many, and scary for some. School leaders who are trying to make “shift happen” need to pay close attention to teacher concerns. Along with sharing a vision, communicating clear expectations, and providing key support, listening and responding to the issues that teachers raise could make the difference between a robust transition to a new educational paradigm and another change effort that is quickly abandoned.
Teacher concerns are valid. School and district leaders need to have answers along with effective supports in place if they want to see teachers act bravely and actually change teaching and learning in their classrooms. Following are common concerns that teachers have shared:
Concerns about shifting their role from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”
Fears about this challenge are expressed in different ways. Teachers might tell us they are afraid of not having answers or being the “expert,” or that they are uncomfortable sharing decision-making power with students because they are afraid “things will get out of control.” Some teachers tell us they think that guiding instead of instructing is not their role. Sometimes, teachers worry that if they do not know what students will choose to take action on, they cannot plan. What is expressed as resistance may actually be real concern that they will not be good at doing what they are being asked to do. However, we find that over time many teachers eagerly embrace the role of guide as they gain confidence and see the student engagement this type of learning engenders.
Concerns about the students being “up for this”
Sometimes we hear comments like, “I don’t think my students are curious about anything,” which overlooks two realities—that students often pretend not to care as a protective measure, and that there are many ways to spark student curiosity. Other teachers tell us, “Maybe my best students could do this but certainly not the whole class,” or “My students are not mature enough to handle projects like this. They don’t have the skills.” These comments ignore the fact that skills can be taught and scaffolded, including with younger students. Doing real-world projects that matter is very interesting to most students, providing a motivational context for learning within which they are very willing to be coached. Time and again, when given the proper support to address an issue they care about, strong students lean in and struggling students step up. In the words of one teacher,
“The students I expected to excel have done really well, but what’s surprised me most are the students I thought might struggle—some of them have shown incredible insight and passion. It turns out the problem wasn’t ability, it was interest. When they care about the topic, they rise to the occasion. . . It’s definitely changed how I think about curriculum and how I can incorporate more student choice in my daily teaching.”
Another comment we hear is “Not all students are interested in being changemakers. We have clubs/electives for those who are. I don’t see why this should be part of the curriculum for everyone.” However, school is an excellent time and place to teach everyone the skills and problem-solving processes necessary to feel efficacious and optimistic about facing the future. One very powerful way to do this is to engage students in addressing problems they care about in their schools and communities—real world problem-solving to make real change.
Concerns about whether there will be adequate support from school leaders
School and district leaders need to understand that one reason teachers resist change is that they have seen many change initiatives come and go. Legitimate concerns about the following need to be addressed by school and district leaders:
Will leadership have my back?
Will I get enough training and coaching?
Is the school really going in this direction, or is it just another passing phase?
School Leaders: “What next steps make sense?”
Listening carefully to what teachers have to say enables understanding of what is holding teachers back and what support they need to move forward. However, while professional development providers like IHE can attempt to inspire change and respond to teacher concerns, only school and district leaders can ensure that the concerns are meaningfully addressed, and that teachers get the support they deserve.
Hoping that change will occur is not an effective plan of action. School leaders need to understand that clear expectations and rationale are only the first step of a change initiative. Second is adequate professional development and support, and third is having a team to oversee, monitor, and share successes.
A full model of change includes attention to the five Es, any of which support a person to learn something new and stick with it until they feel successful or proficient. This is, after all, what we are asking teachers to do—to teach in new ways toward new outcomes of student agency, optimism and skills. When school and district leaders weave the five Es into their priorities, successful transformation is much more likely. Of course, these Es are also what we want teachers to use when guiding their students through inquiry-to-action projects.
How can school leaders help teachers engage with the initiative and see how it connects to their goals as teachers and to the school's vision/mission?
How can school leaders provide ongoing encouragement through lifting up the work of teachers and students, providing actionable feedback, and supporting celebration?
How can school leaders ensure that teachers have multiple examples of how others have done this work with students like theirs, in settings like theirs, and support teachers in connecting with a community of practice beyond the school that supports this work?
How can school leaders provide an environment that supports the work, establishing a culture of innovation and collaboration, including clear connections to the curriculum, the willingness to review schedules, time for professional learning, coaching, and reflection, and a commitment to take student input seriously?
How can leaders make sure that expectations are clear to everyone—teachers, students, parents, prospective parents, new hires, and the board?
Professional Learning Providers: “How can we help shifts happen?”
At IHE, we have carefully designed, implemented, and refined a professional learning approach that engages teachers with big ideas, supports them to develop a plan to bring IHE’s Solutionary Framework to their students and unique contexts, builds community, and provides ongoing coaching for teachers as they make substantial changes to their practice. We don’t want them to do this just once; we want them to make solutionary teaching and learning part of their instructional repertoire, so that all of their students experience it multiple times throughout their K-12 careers.
We know our work is effective when we hear that “shift happens”—for teachers and for students. One teacher told us,
“I started off excited, but also a bit anxious because I knew giving students more agency could be messy. I tend to run a structured classroom. Letting go of that control was hard, but I knew that if I wanted this to be meaningful, I had to be okay with letting students take control of their learning… Honestly, this whole experience has changed me. The learning curve this year was steep, but I’m not the same teacher I was—in the best way.”
Another shared what students took with them beyond just doing a project:
“After working on a solutionary project, my students have tools they did not have before and can use them in their lives beyond the classroom to solve problems wherever they go. They’ll remember to look for what’s underneath a problem, and they understand systems thinking and mental models. They know that values and beliefs can perpetuate problems. They’ve learned to question assumptions. Those are skills that will serve them forever.”
In conclusion…
The stakes are very high. This is not about the instructional flavor of the month. This is about how we change teaching and learning for the sake of our students and their futures. We can’t leave it up to chance whether students will have this opportunity once, multiple times, or at all if we want them to graduate with agency, optimism, and the skills they will need to be “future ready.”
Talking to students further underscores our collective responsibility to ensure that solutionary teaching and learning is a part of everyone’s education. As an 11th grade student from Argentina explained,
“We are at a point in our lives where we start to think a lot about who we are and what we believe in, and we want to do something to fix the problems we see such as climate change, hunger, and inequality…This approach really helps us to think critically and to understand what is happening but also why it is happening. We start to see how everything is connected and how our actions affect others, whether locally or across the world…The best thing about the [solutionary] project is that we don’t just learn in the classroom—we actually take action. We get to create real solutions like starting awareness campaigns, developing sustainable ideas, or even working with other communities to make positive changes.”
If this is what we want students to come away with from their experience in school, then we need to support teachers everywhere to make this shift.
Julie Meltzer, PhD, brings extensive experience to her current role as Director of K-12 and Teacher Education for the Institute for Humane Education, a nonprofit organization based in the United States. She leads a team working with educators around the world to support students to become compassionate informed changemakers. Julie believes that education can impact all other systems, and that redesigning schools to educate a generation of solutionaries is the single best investment we can make for our collective future.