As the economy
changes around us,
the consequence
is widening inequality
and, for some,
deepening despair.
2. The promise of collaboration
Over the last decade, some school systems around the world have made real progress, while others including Australia’s have stood still and gone backwards. In response to this challenge, and in tune with wider changes to our social and economic landscape, edu- cation practitioners and policymakers are increasingly turning to collaboration as a method for achieving progress amidst more diverse, flexible and connected operating environments.
Collaboration is sharing effort, knowledge and resources to pursue shared goals.
The focus on collaboration is part of a much broader shift to a ‘network society’, driven by changing social values and digital technology. In this transition, eco- nomic and social coordination and exchange are shaped increasingly by self-organising networks of informa- tion networks, where social identities and institutional forms evolve to reflect the ongoing influence of these networks, eroding the power of traditional hierarchy. Our personal, social and work lives, and those of chil- dren and teenagers, increasingly reflect this trend. Our economies also increasingly demand people with the skills to participate successfully in collaborative work and organisation; this is reflected in growing expectation that schools will develop these skills and capabilities in their students.
Collaboration is increasingly sought after in education (and in other sectors) because it seems to offer three key benefits:
1. Swift and efficient coordination of shared activities, avoiding the perceived cost and rigidity of central- ised, bureaucratic organisational structures. 2. Authentic engagement and relationships built
through voluntary, reciprocal action, which may moderate the fragmentation and isolation caused by intensive, silo-bound competition.
3. Flexible, differentiated support that matches teachers and learners with specific sources of sup- port tailored to their specific needs and objectives.
Collaborative strategies and innovation in schooling are not new. But in today’s context of entrenched disadvan- tage, accelerating structural change and new patterns of connection, the question is: how can collaboration be understood and applied in our diverse, fragmented and increasingly unequal landscape we face today, and harnessed to achieve impact at scale?
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The shared work of learning: achieving
transformative outcomes through collaboration
6
3. The solution
To achieve and improve outcomes at scale requires a different approach to pursuing them systematically— a different way of understanding and constructing ‘the system’ from our current models. We found that some schools and their partners achieve outstanding outcomes—beyond those that would be predicted by socio-economic circumstances—with the help of dis- tinctive practices built up through persistent, collabo- rative effort. These characteristics are:
• shared purpose: a deep commitment to student learning;
• combining longevity and energy in staffing through teams comprising long-standing veteran classroom practitioners with a stream of younger practition- ers bringing new energy and ideas;
• collaborative leadership, through which principals consistently and intentionally develop the capacity of others to act in the service of long term goals; • building community trust with professional trust through a strong focus on building team-based collaboration and social capital;
• drawing on external expertise by reaching out to find specialist knowledge and advice; and • permeable boundaries which support clear,
purposeful routines and the sharing and absorption of new knowledge and practices
Such practices point to ways in which collaboration could be fostered, spread and harnessed to achieve deep, lasting educational transformation at scale. But to do so requires a method—an approach to institu- tional design—that could identify such practices and work to apply them systematically across whole com- munities, using a logic that resonates for students, teachers, families and also the wider institutions and decision-makers who shape public institutions.
The later sections of this paper address the logic of such a system—the next great education systems—and make a series of recommendations for action and policy based on five interlocking priorities:
• identify learning need;
• build platforms for professional collaboration; • grow community voice;
• create shared pools of data; and • reshape governance around learning.
Embracing and harnessing collaboration can create the next wave of big gains in education. These gains are essential to prevent the slide of our education system into increasing inequality, and to create better out- comes, literally for every student.
4. Why change is needed: the growing pressures on school systems
Education is a priority everybody can agree on. Yet inequality and entrenched disadvantage are growing, as the outcomes of schooling simultaneously fail to improve. In a vicious cycle, our over-reliance on com- petition between schools and competition to enrol high- status students is worsening the problems of inequality and fragmentation.
The last decade has seen a global explosion of edu- cational reforms, strategies and investments seeking new routes to progress. Yet the effort to lift student achievement remains stubbornly difficult. Politics, ide- ology, institutional fragmentation and simple human fatigue all too often prevent sustained progress in student learning.
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