Deep Learning: Engage the World Change the World

by Michael Fullan

lack of stimulation.

“to catch up,”

dumbing down of expectations,

Do they connect or correct?

We believe teachers who build relationships around belonging, purpose, and hope can then leverage those relationships through the lens of the 6Cs to bring the cognitive to life

In our deep learning work, the “old” notion that students who have struggled with school must wait until they have mastered the foundations of literacy and numeracy are being replaced with effective programs that bolster foundational literacy and numeracy skills but simultaneously engross students in authentic tasks that engage them deeply while providing meaningful ways to learn critical literacy skills.

“Don’t dumb down; smarten up!”

deep learning, positioned to engage the disconnected, could turn out to be a force for reversing the damaging effects of concentrated, intergenerational poverty and racism.

occur on a very small scale;

deep learning a characteristic of the entire system.

“In our culture we believe that every child is born with gifts. . . . What will our schools do to uncover and develop the gifts of our children?”

The challenge is how do we do this for all classrooms in a school, all schools in a district or municipality, and a whole state, province, or country?

Individuals can buck the system; groups are needed to upend it.

An increasingly diverse and available digital world does make such learning possible, but there is no reason to believe that all students would avail themselves of the opportunity, or that the outcome would address systemic inequality.

What is missing in current approaches is a robust strategy to get at the “how” of improvement.

but waiting for them to change as a precondition for moving forward is futile.

We propose that putting the process of learning at the heart of change is a much more productive approach.

Mobilizing collective action to focus on the process of learning changes relationships and develops new pedagogical practices, which in turn pushes the structures to change.

change in c...

also fundamentally changes the relationships among teachers and between teachers and administrators.

requires focused collaboration!

Transformation will only occur when we engage in the work of facilitating new processes for learning.

No amount of preplanning is better than the common experience of learning together while doing the work, because it builds capacity and ownership simultaneously.

Simply put, we learn more from doing than thinking about doing, so if we want deep learning, we need to get started.

leadership for change is crucial—leadership that comes from all quarters.

Deep learning exists and will rapidly become more and more evident.

increasingly more likely to come from students and teachers as change agents.

the nature of transformation will be fraught with ambiguity, accompanied by periods of setbacks, clarity, and breakthroughs even in those cases where leadership is sound.

Be prepared for a journey into ...

Coherence provides an agile, organic framework that helps leaders integrate and strategize a transformational whole system change strategy and offers a pathway to make deep learning a reality.

shared depth of understanding about the nature of the work.

Coherence has three essential features:

focuses on whole system change—100% of schools or districts; it zeros in on pedagogy or the process of learning; and it always considers the causal pathways that result in measurable impact for all students.

Leaders thus serve as activators, connectors, and integrators of the four components.

moral imperative

Competing priorities or lack of a precise strategy can serve as a distraction

Collaboration becomes not just collegiality but the cultivation of expertise so that everyone is focused on the collective purpose.

Leaders foster conditions where people learn from and with each other about specific problems and practices.

can be superficial unless the actions in each of those components is directed to deepening learning.

Effective leaders participate as learners with others as they attempt collectively to move the organization forward.

focus relentlessly on the learning-teaching process.

Given such complexity, how do we move from the

traditional model of schooling—one of sort and select—to one that focuses on helping all young people flourish and develop the global competencies?

that can guide action without constraining it,

intentionally details how the proposed change will produce the intended outcome,

“What causes deep learning to be attained by all?”

Working backwards, we see three key components. First, there must be clarity about the learning goals and what it means to be a deep learner. Second, it will only be fostered across all classrooms if we can define the learning process that makes it easy for teachers, leaders, students, and families to shift their thinking and practices. Third, it will only happen in whole schools and systems if we create the conditions for innovation, growth, and a culture of learning for all.

Teachers and students are paying attention to these four elements to ensure that learning experiences incorporate the complexity and depth that facilitates growth and scaffolds the prerequisite skills

understandings to maximize success. As well, the elements lead to intentionality in building new relationships between and among teachers, students, and families and using digital to facilitate and amplify learning.

Deep learning shouldn’t be left to just a few innovative teachers, principals, and schools,