In her closing comments to #msief, Linda Zecher reminded us that there are 100 million children in the world not in education (not to mention many others not receiving a quality education) – what a travesty for the future and one that must gall any educator. But, as John West-Burnham said in his keynote, the future doesn’t yet exist – we can create it.
And in the midst of all the innovation being shared at #msief in the 130 inspirational teacher projects that made it through from the original 200 000 entries, there is hope that this future can be full of dreams fulfilled, stories shared, new scenarios being built. John West-Burnham challenged us to think about taking the ideas and making them sustainable, to think about the moral purpose we have, to think about how to develop what we had learnt during the week. As he said, if we just add wings to caterpillars, we simply end up with awkward, dysfunctional caterpillars. To create butterflies, we need transformation. (Marshall 1995) It had familiar echoes of my earlier post about having butterflies before going to #msief! Suddenly everything was coming full circle! What a coincidence to hear the same phrase twice within 2 weeks!
The transformation? Well, he said innovation can lead to transformation, to social justice (equality and equity) but there needs to be clarity and social consensus about where we are heading. We need an aspirational vision, a shared sustained vision of the future, with robust and challenging principles underpinning it. Leaders need to engage in this dialogue about what the future will look like.
And then the quotes that were the inspiration for and affirmation of the collaborative work done in our “Working Without Walls” project, what summed up so many conversations during the week – the inspiration, affirmation and networking I talked about in my earlier post -
From Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
We don’t come fully formed into the world. We learn how to think, how to walk, how to speak, how to behave, indeed how to be human from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. We are made for togetherness … to exist in a tender network of interdependence. That is how you have ubuntu – you care, you are hospitable, you’re gentle, you’re compassionate and concerned.
Charles Leadbetter says:
“We think” emerges when diverse groups of independent individuals collaborate effectively. It is not group think, submersion in a homogenous unthinking mass. Crowds and mobs are as stupid as they are wise………
As Jared Diamond showed in his book, Collapse, failure to collaborate leads to the collapse of entire societies. Professional generosity is one of most powerful means of raising the bar for a whole educational system – so what will I take away from the conference? The importance of collaboration between pupils, classes, teachers. The importance of shared ideas, values, vision. The importance of professional sharing. The importance of the connections we have with others. The importance of projects like our planned e-twinning project, our planned international collaborations. It’s great to know we are heading in the right direction!
