Education: Why ‘energy vampires’ must be slain | Kevin Bartlett | Big Think

Education: Why ‘energy vampires’ must be slain Watch the newest video from Big Think: https://bigth.ink/NewVideo Learn skills from the world's top minds at Big Think Edge: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are some aspects of the current education system that are, at best, inefficient and, at worst, actually slowing progress and hindering the learning process. Kevin Bartlett, co-founder and co-director of The Common Ground Collaborative, calls these "energy vampires" and says that now is the time to identify and get rid of them. Bartlett argues that the education space is constrained by compliance and that leaders and their teams should take a moment to consider their roles and goals critically and conduct an 'energy audit'. By establishing reforms to energy-wasting initiatives, and doing it in collaboration with students and parents, educators and administrators can create a new system that works better. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KEVIN BARTLETT: Kevin Bartlett has led schools in 5 countries, co-designed accreditation systems and led several Boards. He is an author, keynoter/workshop leader. As a learning designer, Kevin initiated the IBPYP and is Co-Founder of two global initiatives: The Next Frontier: Inclusion, and The Common Ground Collaborative. Kevin was named International Superintendent of the Year by the Association for the Advancement of International Education and has been inducted into the AAIE Hall of Fame. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT: KEVIN BARTLETT: I think what we're looking at now is a major disruption in the way education is being delivered and I think that means a new ship. To me, it means a new ship—a leaner, simpler, more connected ship with much more control shared with all the passengers. Where people understand the workings of that ship and they're safe and comfortable in that ship, and they have some say in the direction the ship takes, so I'm looking really at a new—education is a new kind of ship. Like I said, same game, new playbook. The energy vampires are those things that suck massive amounts of energy out of us with very little learning impact. Meaningless meetings, teacher evaluation systems that simply don't work in terms of learning impact. I'd actually even questioned writing reports to parents when they're the people who are least empowered to do anything with that information. So, I think one thing leaders need to do is conduct an energy audit, probably with their teams. A pie chart, any kind of recording system. ""Guys, where does our energy go?"" And for each of the big energy vampires, what's the learning impact? And then do what Jim Collins suggested in ""Good to Great."" He said the great organizations had to stop-doing list longer than their to-do list. So, I think we need to clear the decks of stuff we are doing as a matter of habit that sucks energy out of us and has no learning impact. One of those touches on another tricky topic which is compliance. I think we are confounded by complexity and we're constrained by compliance. Compliance with authorities who may not be true authorities in the sense of an authority as opposed to simply in authority. Just as an aside, but I think this is a telling thought, and I don't want to offend the religious among whoever may be watching this, but I have it on good authority that there is no curriculum god. That may be news to some people, but we behave sometimes as if some all-knowing authority is watching us and we spend a lot of time jumping through hoops. One of the questions I'm asking leaders now is: Whose hand is on the hoop? The testing we have to do with young kids that we simply don't believe in as educators, but we have to jump through that hoop. The multiple authorizations that nobody needs, and we don't believe in, but we have to jump through that hoop. Ask yourself and then maybe ask your team questions like: What are schools for? Why lead? Why should anyone be led by me? Leading towards what? Leading whom? Leading how? When we've established our own purpose, I think then is the business of what Drucker called the re-culturing process. I loved his phrase, ""Culture eats strategy for breakfast."" So, I referenced this earlier. Building a new learning language but not building it in the school and then explaining it to parents, for example. The work I've been doing is with parents in the room, sometimes just with parents in the room, cocreating an... Read the full transcript at https://ift.tt/3aJ4tRG