Abstract
This article provides a critical overview of national and international efforts to shift education to what has been commonly called 21st century learning. Governments, non-profits, and corporate consortiums are in large part responsible for education reform designed to re-conceptualize K12 education for the 21st century. The article introduces an integrative transformative educational concept called the Living School that connects K12 educational reform with Education for Sustainability, sustainable community development, and individual well-being. Brief portraits describe schools that reflect Living School attributes. Ambitious initiatives to transform education for the 21st century require enlightened leadership and governance structures for scalable, system-wide reform. This paper offers an alternative vision for educational leadership and governance to support education reform based on a holistic approach to sustainable community economic development. An interdisciplinary model of professional learning to prepare education leaders for an alternative vision of education leadership is proposed.
Highlights
In Canada, the US, the UK, and elsewhere, school curricula are being reformulated to include 21st century learning competencies [1,2,3]
There is an international consensus coalescing around the skills, competencies, knowledge, beliefs, and dispositions it is believed young people will need to meet the challenges the world will face in the coming decades
In keeping with the ethos of ecological thinking and the interdependence of communities, the values of local relevance, and cultural appropriateness, an approach to scalable educational change through sustainable community economic development (CED) is offered. We argue this approach to education reform reflects the principles and values of sustainability by situating schools as important partners in developing sustainable community economic development and well-being
Summary
In Canada, the US, the UK, and elsewhere, school curricula are being reformulated to include 21st century learning competencies [1,2,3]. ESD, or Education for Sustainability (EfS) as it is generally known in Canada, has emerged as an approach to teaching and learning that is locally relevant, culturally appropriate, and addresses the pillars of sustainability (environment, society, economy) In this regard, EfS is action-oriented and promotes similar competencies as 21st century learning, as described above, but learning with an overarching vision, “to help communities and countries meet their sustainability goals and attend to the well-being of the planet and all its living inhabitants” [9] Leaders with the administrative and governance skills to facilitate dialogue that is future and action oriented, infused with the energy of youth and the well-being of communities are central to implementing lasting transformative educational change These are aspirational goals that can unite people in a common purpose: To transform education and connect schools with communities in promoting sustainable growth and well-being for all
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