Introduction
Many of education’s most popular authors and keynote speakers seem to speak of little else than what is wrong with education. The constant dialogue on why with so little discussion of how fatigues me, and I also believe most educators are weary of hearing what they are doing wrong. In 2011, I decided to no longer discuss the problem without presenting a solution. In the void, I put forward the essential fluencies as a solution, and I have been amazed how quickly they have spread through systems around the world. These fluencies, which represent essential future-focused (21st century) skills, include solution fluency, information fluency, creativity fluency, media fluency, collaboration fluency, and global digital citizenship, and I first published about them with Ian Jukes and Andrew Churches in Literacy Is NOT Enough (Crockett, Jukes, & Churches, 2011). The truth is, we developed these fluencies as a response to a much broader consideration, a question that we have posed to thousands of educators all over the world; that question is, “What are the most crucial skills our students need to live and succeed in the transforming world of both the present and the future?”
I believe if we are to achieve positive transformation, we need to focus on a bright future and work together to create it. I assume that you are reading this book because you want to know precisely what that change looks like and how to get there. As such, I will not take time to discuss the why in this book, but only the how. I do this by pinpointing ten core shifts of practice—practices rooted in future-focused learning and the essential fluencies—that you can implement with your learners regardless of your established teaching pedagogy. I support these shifts with many details and examples.
It is the hard work of teachers working to shift their practice with the essential fluencies that keeps me committed to support them with my work. I hope this book contributes to the positive work you are doing and your relentless desire to improve. So, before we begin, it is important to understand how the shifts of practice I present in this book fit into many popular teaching pedagogies, how these ideas connect to future-focused learning, and how I’ve organized this book so you can make the best use of it.
The Missing Piece in Popular Pedagogical Approaches
For some years, many schools have used the idea of problem- and project-based learning by bringing into classes and subjects real-world, contextual, and relevant projects. For the most part, these are single-subject approaches. For example, the International Baccalaureate Group 4 subjects have students in various disciplines within the sciences work collaboratively to investigate a problem (“IB Group 4 Subjects,” n.d.). These approaches are beneficial since they bring in a series of processes that enable students to address problems and develop projects. Other examples include Apple’s ongoing support for challenge-based learning (Digital Promise, n.d.), the Buck Institute’s support for project-based learning (Buck Institute for Education, n.d.), and so on.
Similarly, the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiative is a cross-curricular approach to integrating some of the sciences, namely the traditional sciences, mathematics, technology and applied technology, and science in the form of engineering. STEM originated in the United States as a solution for dwindling numbers of graduates in these disciplines (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.).
An evolution of STEM is the science, technology, engineering, arts and design, and mathematics initiative (STEAM), which adds aesthetic and design considerations in the form of art to bring together function and form. STEAM represents the next evolutionary step of STEM (STEM to STEAM, n.d.).
Although all of these pedagogical approaches are laudable and beneficial, none actually address the bigger focus. The real world, except for academia, does not divide itself up into neat compartments or disciplines. A technology company does not employ only technologists. It brings together a raft of different skill sets that span all the disciplines we have at school and more. For example, to develop a new product you absolutely need the engineers, technologists, and mathematicians but you also need the following.
• The artists and designers who make the product both functional and aesthetically suitable
• The economists who examine the financial viability of the solution
• The historians who understand the framework that the problem is set in and who consider the prior developments and frameworks that may or will impact the solution
• The wordsmiths and linguists who develop and present the proposals, arguments, manuals, media releases, and press kits and packaging that accompany any product
• The media experts who fashion the messages into social media, traditional media, and so on
• The legal experts who investigate and protect the concepts, intellectual property, and copyright
• The environmental scientists who consider the impact and significance of the development on our environment
• The social scientists who develop understanding of the society the company is producing the solution for and consider the psychological aspects of the design that make it more appealing and functional (This includes considering the cultural impacts, significance, and importance of not only the problem but the solution.)
The list is obviously extensive, but it clearly involves more than just a single-subject discipline. It encompasses and embraces all aspects of a holistic education, and it highlights why our end goal should not be project-based learning, STEM, or STEAM, but rather the holistic integration of all aspects of learning—both formal (the disciplines we teach) and informal (the portable and applicable skill sets)—into the following aptitudes.
• Finding, identifying, and defining real-world, relevant problems
• Understanding the origins, significance, impact, and worthiness of those problems
• Developing creative and ethical solutions that embrace the skills, passions, and abilities of a broad group of learners (both students and staff), experts, and the wider community
• Engendering the synergy among the different learning areas to develop products and solutions greater than the combined input of the disciplines
To achieve these aims requires us to undertake a number of different actions by developing schoolwide approaches to problem solving, research, collaboration, and ethics. This is why Andrew Churches and I developed the essential fluencies. These essential fluencies codify the kind of work Andrew and I do in hundreds of schools in a dozen countries to help learners strive together to solve real-world problems that matter and create a bright future for all.
I cannot stress enough that pedagogies like project-based learning, STEM, design thinking, and many others all have their value. Some of them have an almost cultlike following, largely because as teachers shift to these pedagogies, their classrooms transform, learning comes alive, and outcomes improve. I call this professional transformation: the moment at which a teacher realizes the benefits from a shift in practice and will never go back.
This doesn’t mean these pedagogies don’t represent commodities; and like any commodity, each seems to have its own packaging, marketing, and following. To support them, various stakeholders hold conferences and workshops, provide supplies, establish resources, and even design furniture labeled for them. This is not a criticism of these fine approaches. If you successfully implement one or more of them in your school and learners benefit, then I applaud you for your commitment and encourage you to continue the great work you are doing. I offer the ideas in this book for you to consider as ways to take that great work and make it exceptional by engaging in future-focused learning.
Shifts to Future-Focused Learning
Future-focused learning is a holistic (school- or systemwide) approach in which learners strive together to find and solve real-world problems that matter; they focus beyond the curriculum with the goal of gaining an interlinked real-world education and cultivating capabilities essential to ensure their success beyond school.
A common issue I encounter when consulting with schools is change fatigue. Teachers often challenge a new initiative in its early stages if it is another