The “new normal”: Change in education is needed but what are we changing to?

I have been in a writing bubble during lockdown, trying to really get going on the book I am hoping to write over this year of refreshment leave. As a result, I have felt a little bit disconnected from what has been happening for schools and educators during lockdown; but I have certainly been very aware of the call for education (and society, in general) to capitalize on the current “new normal” and to take advantage of this pivotal time to create a different future going forward. I certainly agree with this, because I have long been calling for change in education. And there is every risk that we will lose any gains that have been made as a result of NZ’s response to Covid 19 if we are not deliberate and disciplined about not going back. Once a semblance of normality returns, we will be inexorably drawn back to a way of being that is comfortable and known even if it is not best for us. That is, after all, the human condition.

It has been great to see teachers all over the country reflecting on their experiences of distance learning and I am sure we will see many more once the hybrid of online and face-to-face learning begins to take shape and teachers work out how to leverage the advantages of both for students. However, without wanting to burst the bubble, I do want to come back to some questions I have been asking for a long time. Yes, change in education is needed, but what are we changing to and what guides that change and how will we know? We do need to take a critical stance to the nature of the future we promote and we cannot just let it happen.

Learning and change isn’t always growth

All learning and all change is not necessarily good. Seminal educationalist, John Dewey (1916) used the example of someone learning to become a better burglar to illustrate the fact that that the words “learning” and “change” are insufficient to describe the hoped for outcome of education. Instead he used the metaphor of growth to describe or name the change in knowing that takes place as a result of learning. He argued that it is not truly educational if the change or learning does not lead to involvement in ongoing cycles of growth towards inherently worthwhile ends. That means, firstly, if we are looking to create a new normal that is fixed, rather than continually unfolding, then Dewey would suggest that the new normal won’t be education as growth. The new normal must not be a “thing” – a way we “do” education - but it must be a continually unfolding, evolving and emerging new way of thinking and being. The new normal will likely include new pedagogies, technologies, tools and ways of “delivering” education, but it must include the capacity to continually grow, learn and develop. Education’s learning as a result of Covid 19 cannot only be that we can do online learning or use technological and pedagogical tools in ways we previously haven’t used them, but it must be that we can, as a sector, be responsive, adaptable, fail fast and change in an incredibly short period of time – literally almost overnight. We need our collective memory muscle to remember that we can be responsive and change when we need to and that though it was hard, we came through it better. We need to remember that change is scary, but that the sector has shown that it does have the collective strength, will power and the deep confidence to do it when it sees the need to. Education has long been held back by its fear of change.

Growing towards inherently worthwhile ends

Secondly, Dewey suggested, the ability to work in ways that are ever unfolding and growing (see for example my article Schools as Constantly Self-Improving Algorithms) has no value at all unless that change is growth towards “inherently worthwhile ends”. Dewey (1916) theorised that education as growth is the process of becoming increasingly “democratic” by taking on the attitudes and actions of democracy. There is strong support today for the ideas of democratic education. While there are definitely limitations to Dewey’s view of education as growth (for example, see Peters’ critique, 1977), it does provide important pointers for moving forward at this time. The education system in New Zealand (and worldwide) has been able to go through an incredible change almost overnight because it had an inherently worthwhile end – “Stay home, save lives.” A powerfully and simply communicated message told us that we could all save lives, and so teachers found new ways to deliver education while staying at home.

I would like to add here as an aside, that an important contributor, from what I have seen, has been the role the Ministry has played in this. Possibly for the first time in a long time there has been the feeling of being cared for financially as an education workforce through payments for relievers, emergency payments for support staff, the general commitment to ensure that no-one loses pay over this time; through the investment of additional funds in technology and other resources to minimize inequity; and the proactive leadership by the Ministry in relation to this. Equity has always been said to be the goal, but the investment in education has often not appeared to reflect this. Over these five weeks or so there has been a feeling of generosity, care and working together towards the shared goal of: “Staying home, saving lives and minimising inequity.” This leadership, generosity and investment needs to be retained in the memory muscle of the Ministry of Education as we move forward towards a new normal. After all, Maslow showed us that if we want a self-actualised workforce, then basic needs have to be met first.

The importance of clarifying our “why”

But back to Dewey. Once the worst of this crisis is over and reducing the harm of Covid 19 is no longer the driving force, what will be the inherently worthwhile ends that will drive us to keep growing and developing as an education sector? Mark Twain suggested that the “two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Though it has been much discussed, education in New Zealand has yet to find its collective “why”, but perhaps the mist is beginning to clear and we are getting a glimpse of what this might look like. We need a clearly articulated vision and purpose for education to shape our “new normal” – not just any “new normal” will do!

We need a vision and purpose that we can all gather around and that none of us can deny, no matter what our political persuasion, because of its inherent “rightness” and value. We need to experience it as urgent because we believe it would be inherently wrong to allow the status quo to continue for a moment longer because the harm it is doing to others is intolerable to all of us. I am so grateful to live in a country which has gathered around its old and vulnerable citizens and said in word and action that their lives matter. What would this look like in education? We know who the vulnerable are in our education system – isn’t it time to gather around them and show in word and action that they matter?

The vision needs to drive us to do things differently, better. Just like the “Stay home, save lives” purpose of lock down, a vision or purpose for education will be easy to say, it will roll off the tongue, but it will be very, very hard to actually do. Initially we won’t fully understand what it means, how to fully implement it or how it will impact our lives and what it will require of us – what it might cost. Hence, it needs to be a purpose that we cannot argue with, though we must argue about it. Open dialogue will be essential and diverse perspectives welcomed as we work towards enlarging our understanding of what it means for us as individuals and as a sector in order to find the pathways forward.

Moving forward into the new normal

Of course, I am not proposing that we wait to develop clarity of vision and purpose before we make moves to embed a new normal. We must keep moving forward, leveraging the gains that we have made. I think we have enough of a sense of what a vision and purpose for education might look like to keep us going in roughly the right direction. The Ministry of Education and NZ government have helped with this through the commitment it has shown to removing at least some of the inequities created by online learning. However, while that might be enough to get us moving forward for now, it will not be enough in the long term. One of the learnings education must take from NZ’s response to Covid 19 is that a very clearly articulated vision that we can all gather around is incredibly powerful and will move mountains.

Hence, while taking action to move forward, we must also strive to clarify the vision and purpose that will unite us as a sector and find a way to articulate it simply and elegantly. This will be helped by continually critiquing the changes we are making for their outcomes and impacts to review whether they grow us in the direction of our currently “fuzzy” vision and purpose. Through this process we will continually adjust what we are doing, and at the same time sharpen our understanding of what it is that we need to do – our purpose and vision for education. Dialogue that opens up a space and welcomes the expression and consideration of diverse views will be central to the new normal.

Most important….

There are many lessons that education can learn from NZ’s response to Covid 19, but most importantly, we need to remember that Covid 19 has shown us that we can do it.

Attributions:  

First photo found on The Nutters Facebook Page. The second illustration by Salomon, 2020, was found on the Teachers’ Facebook page.

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York: The MacMillan Company.

Peters, R. (1977). John Dewey’s philosophy of education. In R. Peters (Ed.), John Dewey Reconsidered (pp.103 – 123). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.