Working At The Edge

Make School Different: Digital leadership & Transformation

Have we focused too obsessively on individuality? 🤔

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Our reading group is currently reading Thrive: The Purpose of Schools in a Changing World.

The authors propose that a new technologically advanced planet needs a new purpose of schooling and that it should be…

…thriving in a transforming world. (Yes…we haven’t seen anything yet.)

And with a transforming world comes challenges that can only be solved by the collective, not solely the individual or individual nations. 

Global pandemic, anyone?

The challenge in wrapping our heads around a new purpose that is less obsessively focused on the individual is that the old purpose–which we can boil down to competition for scarce resources and “winning”–is so ingrained into the way we think…our mindset.

Zero sum game, anyone? If someone wins, someone else has to lose….

Does this work? Will this work in the future? Does this mindset leave behind potential that could be harnessed for the greater good?

The authors further suggest four lenses—really, contexts—to help us grasp this new purpose…along with some good questions…

Planetary/global: How can we contribute to the thriving of our home planet and within the global community of which we are now all a part? Thriving will mean to live sustainably and with global competence. 

Society: How can we learn to build thriving communities and nations? It will mean navigating new landscapes of work and reinventing democracy.

Interpersonal: How do we learn to build thriving relationships? In a technologised environment, how can we learn empathy and love?

Intrapersonal: How can we learn to grow the thriving self? This will mean finding personal meaning and inner growth; calm consciousness and awareness.

​​One of the connections I made while reading was to the work many districts and schools are doing around the Profile of a Graduate.

How do these Profiles represent the kind of holistic framing of thriving or flourishing?

Maybe to some extent. But I think we can definitely be pushed to level up by the authors’ thinking.

Could the connection be stronger and more explicit? I think so as many Profiles are created under mindsets more aligned to our current system of obsessive individualism. 

—–

âť“ Provocations:

There are definitely learning environments creating opportunities for learners to thrive in the different levels. What are some examples that you have seen?

đź’Ž Resource:

Take Action Global

🧠 Mindsets:

Inventor

đź’ˇ Mindshift:

Navigate from designing for individuality to designing for both the individual and the collective.

📣 Drop your thoughts in the comments, or in the Facebook group, and feel free to share resources. 🔥🔥🔥

Randy Ziegenfuss
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