The bad news

The Covid-19 pandemic and more particularly the move to the Covid Protection Framework has brought with it the expectation that learning will be continuous for all students whether they are learning on the school site or at home. Many school leaders have commented that in hindsight, the online learning required for lockdowns, though hard at the time, was much easier than having students simultaneously learning from home and at school as they now have. Add to the complexity, the continuously changing numbers of students requiring remote learning, the fact that some remote leaners require paper-based learning programmes and the changing numbers of teachers who are cycling in and out of school with Covid or self-isolating – some able to teach from home and others too sick to do so - and you have a tangle. It has been a continuously revolving door; and as Murphy’s law would have it, it seems to be a bit of a pattern that just when large numbers of students are returning to school, large numbers of teachers need to leave to self-isolate.

There is no question that this has all taken a toll. The ongoing disruptions from Covid-19 have impacted on how supported and connected school leaders feel, for example. Several 2021 surveys and research papers have shown impacts in wellbeing, social, cultural, mental, physical and professional dimensions, with many at risk of experiencing adverse psychological and physical health outcomes due to numbers of hours worked each week. Only 25% of principals felt that their workload is manageable. Recent research conducted overseas suggested that education could see a mass exodus of principals over the next three years. Maybe it is already happening. I am noticing a bit of pattern of highly experienced principals leaving principalship several years before retirement age without another job to go to.

To add to the bad news, a recent report by experts out of the UK suggested that what we are experiencing could continue for another five years. How will we survive? What will the impacts be? The fact is that the last two years of the pandemic have exacerbated inequity for those who have already traditionally been underserved in our education systems and societies. It is not that those inequities have not always existed, but that they have now been laid bare - brought to the surface and exposed for all to see. And we cannot unsee what have seen. There is a moral imperative on each one of us to do something about it at a time when we are also tired, anxious about the future and at our lowest ebb.

So, what is the solution?

Within education, we have to find ways to ensure that hybrid learning (the way that education will likely need to be delivered for the foreseeable future), is sustainable, equitable and inclusive as well as efficiently and economically delivered. Actually, we could simply say sustainable because nothing will be sustainable without it also being equitable, inclusive, efficient and economic. Anything less will not meet the threshold for sustainability.

Defining hybrid learning

Let’s gain some clarity about what we are talking about here. Firstly, what is hybrid learning? We think of it as an approach that leverages technologies to provide continuity of quality learning for all students, no matter when, where or how they are learning. The important points to note are that a hybrid learning approach:

• Supports continuous learning for all students - whether learning at home or at school

• Is about the provision of quality learning, that progresses students’ learning, not just keeps students busy

• Leverages technologies to achieve the above – generally digital technologies – but also includes paper-based technologies if students are unable to engage in online learning

• Is responsive to the changing contexts of each individual student as well as to the (often changing) context of the school and community

We define hybrid learning as an approach that ensures access to quality learning for all student no matter what their circumstances. Thus, our approach to hybrid learning cannot be limited to what is easy but must embrace what will enable equity and inclusion. Hybrid learning is a principled approach and a moral endeavour. However, it is not equitable or inclusive if the health of one group (teachers/kaiako, for example) is sacrificed for the health of another in order to achieve it. We have to find a way to provide hybrid learning that is sustainable.

Defining sustainability

Let’s delve in a bit more into the concept of sustainability. What is sustainability? The term is generally used in relation to the environment. Definitions include:

• The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level

• Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance

• Able to continue over a period of time

• Using methods that do not harm the environment so that natural resources are still available for the future

• meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

• The definition of “sustainability” is the study of how natural systems function, remain diverse and produce everything it needs for the ecology to remain in balance 

Thus, environmental sustainability is when ecosystems are in balance and each part is receiving what it needs without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs and without reducing the diversity within the ecosystem. Educational sustainability is similar. Hybrid learning, for example, will be sustainable when diversity is sustained and every part of the education ecosystem – ākonga, teachers, kaiako, parents, whānau, communities, the ministry, government, the business sector - is receiving what it needs without compromising the health and wellbeing of any part of the education ecosystem or the ability of future generations to have their needs met. Thus, sustainable hybrid learning will meet the diverse needs of all constituents now while also building education better for the future.

 Characteristics of a sustainable education ecosystem

The difficulty with sustainability is that education ecosystems are highly complex and interconnected (as are environmental ecosystems). Decisions are made that positively impact one part of the ecosystem and then later it is discovered that the decision has inadvertently made things worse for another part of the ecosystem. Thus, it becomes imperative, in the first instance, to consider all the possible ramifications for the different parts of the education ecosystem of the decisions that are made, including having an eye to and for the future. This will require talking with and listening to each part of the ecosystem to hear their perspectives on the ramifications and what might better meet their needs.

However, education ecosystems are so complex that it may be impossible to take account of the ramifications for every part, therefore, continuous feedback loops will need to be embedded into the ecosystem so that information about impacts and imbalance is continually communicated to decision-makers. A sustainable ecosystem will, therefore, be responsive to this information and will work quickly to re-establish equilibrium or balance. A sustainable education system will be characterised by continuous cycles of change as the ecosystem learns about impacts and makes adjustments.

The ecosystem is able to be so responsive and continually changing and improving because not all decision making resides at the centre. Sustainable education ecosystems are made up of self-sustaining networks that work together to ensure their needs are met while also considering the needs of the wider ecosystem. These networks have sufficient autonomy, power and resources to make many of the decisions needed to meet their own needs. Thus, feedback loops within the networks ensure that impacts are continually communicated.

When the network is no longer able to meet its own needs, or their actions are negatively impacting other parts of the ecosystem, the information needs to get to the central organising body who need to have sufficient power and resource to correct the imbalance and inequity caused by it to re-establish equilibrium. Thus, a characteristic of sustainability is the dynamic balancing of accountability and empowerment, and autonomy and interdependence at the multiple levels and layers of the ecosystem including at the level of the individual. In such a complex and dynamic education ecosystem, a deep understanding of the purpose, vision and direction of travel is essential so that each part of the ecosystem can take strategic and deliberate actions that cohere with and align with the goal of equilibrium.

The good news

If the complexity of the picture I have painted of educational sustainability is overwhelming right now, just writing it has made me hyperventilate. It is a complex picture! But the good news is that it is governed by clear principles that are relatively easy to articulate, and though they are much harder to do, they are not impossible; and even better, when you achieve the state of equilibrium  – sustainability – you also achieve equity. Therefore, sustainability equals a state of equity.

The vision and purpose of an educational ecosystem is to ensure equity. Equity will occur when equilibrium is reached – that is, when every aspect and dimension, layer and connection of the ecosystem is dynamically balanced to ensure the thriving and flourishing of each diverse individual, group and culture at every level and layer of the system, and must include the physical environment because we all live in relationship with the world. In schools this includes students, teachers, kaiako, parents and whānau, mana whenua, local communities, hapū and iwi; and, because of the intersections, it must also include the Ministry of Education and government. Systemness is essential to equity - the flourishing of all.

What has this all to do with hybrid learning – tying it all up

The understanding of education ecosystems and sustainability can help us as we develop hybrid learning. We have seen that educational responses to the pandemic have exacerbated inequity which means that actions have not always taken account of the needs of all parts of the education ecosystem. Education is in a state of disequilibrium with many parts not flourishing. We know that many already underserved students have not had their needs met. Teachers and school leaders are suffering, and every part of the ecosystem is under pressure including financially.

Hybrid learning is an approach that can support equilibrium (a state of equity) when it is developed and implemented in line with what we know about ecosystems and sustainability. While it is very important to acknowledge that teachers, school leaders, schools and even local communities cannot ensure sustainability and equitable outcomes on their own (for example, issues of access to appropriate devices and internet are a whole of government responsibility), a sustainable hybrid learning approach that ensures quality learning continues no matter what the circumstances are, in ways that support flourishing for each individual, family/whānau within a community will support equitable outcomes. This will require:

1. Deep knowledge of all people within our communities

2. Continual feedback loops and responsiveness to that feedback so we keep making things better

3. Continuous change, adjustment, and evolution

4. Sharing control at each layer so that school leaders, teachers, ākonga and parents/whānau have the autonomy, empowerment, and resources to meet their own needs as much as possible (self-directed learning and student agency, for example), within systems of accountability and interdependence

5. Systemness – acknowledging all the complex layers, levels and networks that make up an education ecosystem and ensuring that all parts are working towards sustainability and equity

6. Participative and deliberative processes for decision-making

7. A deep resolve and commitment to, and understanding of, equity and the flourishing of all

8. Futures thinking

9. Postformal thinking (see my article), critical thinking and continual reflection

 These are some of the “principles” that will support hybrid learning to be sustainable, equitable and inclusive.

Conclusion – getting practical

In this article, having delved into the complexity of a sustainable and equitable approach to hybrid learning, the really good news is that there are very practical steps that can be taken to enable a sustainable approach to hybrid learning. I have provided the links below to a few summary guides written by school leaders that can be found on the Ministry of Education’s Learning from Home website, that may help. There are more coming that are linked specifically to developing sustainable approaches. This is just the start of a series of articles on hybrid learning I will be writing. I will focus on these more practical steps and actions in future articles.

Seven actions necessary for getting started with hybrid learning

Five pedagogies at the heart of hybrid learning

Six principles of hybrid learning

ABC – Designing expectations for accessibility, being clear and consistent, and connections

Hybrid learning from a te ao Māori perspective

Using information to provide the right support for remote learners

How does communication support ākonga, whānau, and Kaiako with hybrid learning?

Making learning visible