C. M. Rubin’s Global Education Report
Democratic innovation is a passion for Adam Cronkright because he believes “the dominant conception of leadership is deeply flawed.” What if leadership and civic skills could be developed in everyone versus just a few “natural-born” leaders? Does making civic and leadership education available to all students help create a better world? Cronkright, who co-founded Democracy In Practice in 2013 and has concentrated on reinventing the student government systems in Bolivia, joined us in The Global Search for Education this month.
This month we also looked at The Speed School program that has brought over 100,000 children back to school over the last six years across Ethiopia and Liberia. Caitlin Baron, CEO of The Luminos Fund, which created and manages the program, says their success stems from the use of a “play-based, child-centric pedagogy in under-resourced contexts,” complemented with an accelerated curriculum and supported by “parental engagement groups; self-help groups and conditional cash transfers that mobilize the community; and capacity-building training with partner government schools.” All combined, these ingredients ensure students flourish in school over the long-term.
According to Julia Freeland Fisher, Director of Education at the Clayton Christensen Institute, research suggests that an estimated “fifty percent of jobs come through personal connections.” Freeland believes education systems are so focused on what students should learn that they “end up ignoring who students know–their social capital.” Julia joined us in The Global Search for Education this month to discuss how schools can increase social mobility for their students by investing in the power of real world relationships.
Learning that can excite learners to continue their work well beyond the school day sounds like the kind of exercise schools would want to encourage more. Project-based learning has come and gone since the early 20th century. Today, thanks to real world challenges such as the United Nations’ SDG’s, it is enjoying a comeback. In this style of learning, students must address a problem that’s impacting their local or global community. They follow a process that teaches them how to organize and present their thinking in a limited amount of time. They have to collaborate with other classmates to find solutions and then present their findings to a group. All the skills involved in the exercise are critical for today’s world. This month we asked our top global teachers to discuss project based learning (PBL). What does a high quality PBL program look like in a classroom? “The students described their experience with PBL in their classes using strong adjectives such as ‘amazing’, ‘joyful’, ‘authentic’, ‘powerful’ and ‘resourceful’ that stays on for lifelong learning. It helped our students give and receive constructive peer feedback,” writes educator Prerna Kumar. Michael Soskil describes a project in which 5th graders focused on helping children affected by famine in Malawi. He says his students don’t ask him why they are learning. “The relevance is obvious.”
Our thanks to our teachers and all our contributors and supporters around the world.
Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Charles Fadel (U.S.), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Geoff Masters (Australia), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorldand is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
Related posts:
The Global Search for Education: Learning That’s Focused on the Real World
The Global Search for Education: Top Global Teacher Bloggers – What are the best examples you have seen of teachers closing the gender gap in education?
The Global Search for Education: Top Global Teacher Bloggers – How do we inspire the best and the brightest to become educators?
The Global Search for Education: The Top Global Teacher Bloggers on Integrating Diverse Classrooms
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