A reminder of the three core questions animating the Hawkwood Circle conversations
1 In what keyways are contemporary models of education fit for purpose? In what ways are they inadequate to the particular challenges of 21st Century life, such as the climate emergency?
2 Given those inadequacies, how can educational leaders 're-wire’ their approach to curriculum, pedagogy and institutional infrastructure to address this simple yet fundamental question?
3 Given those inadequacies, how can educational leaders 're-wire’ their approach to curriculum, pedagogy and institutional infrastructure to address this simple yet fundamental question?
Prompt 1: “From Mastery to Music: How do we think about this ‘historical moment’? by Keri Facer
│Invitation to reflect on historical moments
e.g. 2000. 2010, 2020, 2030 - internet, financial crisis, pandemic, climate change.
│Analogy of a heart rate monitor
Sense of ongoing normality interspersed by moments of upheaval.
Problems: (1) quiet moments are not the preparation for the crisis; (2) crisis are captured differently based on various perspectives, and (3) upheavals occur in parallel rather than sequences.
│Analogy of a musical score
Capture sense of overlapping processes of upheavals in different fields (e.g. ecology, environment, technology, or information)
At any one moment, one part is louder.
│Understanding the complex system through metaphors
A system response can offer a fantasy that we can tweak and control the system.
We are part of the system and never get outside the system.
│Music/Football
Music: we bring different instruments to create layers of music where tunes weave into each other.
Football: skilful players are attentive to what is going on at the edge of vision.
Shift from fantasy view to focus on attunement and intuition.
│Attunement and Intuition
Attunement: fine deep listening, sensing, and hearing.
Intuition: opportunities in each note to create discord, harmony or a new rhythm.
│Messy reality.
Living in times when dominated by dangerous tunes.
Resonate in our behaviours and become more attuned to existing and rising tunes.
Dismantling undesirable songs and weaving threads together to make a new melody.
Prompt 2: by Elspeth Donovan
│Inequality from a human development perspective
It is a question of whether humans survive or not.
Access to quality education is an indispensable step in allowing youth to reach their full potential.
│System thinking
How do we ensure future prosperity?
How do we become good ancestors?
│Ability to sense
Clumsy solutions without consideration of unintended consequences.
We have lost our ability to sense, feel, and connect with what is around us.
Learning to see slow and paying attention to the subtle things.
│Learn to unlearn
The pace of change is faster than human ability to learn.
Develop our antenna and bring back the indigenous wisdom.
Question for Small Group Discussion
[inspired by Keri’s prompt] If you could think of your work as music, or as a street-football match, what would the implications for your attentiveness and practice be?
Debrief
│Winning and losing
Short-term narrow transient definitions of winning across sports, education, business and
politics hold us back from exploring our potential.
The underlying value of competitiveness is to thrive together.
│Metrics and educational assessment
Our current system is metrics and how do we abolish our reliance on it.
No room for developing critical thinking through co-curricular clubs in traditional metric-based exam systems.
│Beyond the sustainability
What lays beyond sustainability and what framework we can use to move forward?
│Shift in perspective
Teaching people to see the world differently.
│Intergenerational exchange and collaboration
Participation and movement led by youth is necessary.
More opportunities for the younger children to engage in sustainable solutions (with hope and vigor).
The industry is part of a solution rather than a problem.
│Gestures to the Future
Referring back to the idea of being a good ancestor.
Preparing for the sequence of conversations ahead of the face-to-face gathering in May
References
Cath Bishop ‘The Long Win: The search for a better way to succeed’
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Win-search-better-succeed/dp/1788601912
‘Being a Good Ancestor’
https://ideas.ted.com/why-you-should-think-about-being-a-good-ancestor-and-3-ways-to-start-doing-it/
Bayo Akomolafe ‘The Times are Urgent: Let’s Slow Down’
https://bayoakomolafe.net/project/the-times-are-urgent-lets-slow-down/