Asking More: Deeper Learning

Asking MoreEfficacy in EducationDeeper Learning

Barbara Chow, Hewlett Foundation

efficacy.pearson.com

The Hewlett Foundation’s education programme, under Barbara Chow’s leadership, has made a major contribution to educational thinking by emphasising ‘deeper learning’ as the key to the 21st century.

She defines deeper learning as an “amalgam of ‘higher order skills’ combined with foundational academic knowledge” and argues that in an age of globalisation, success in deeper learning needs to be for everyone.

Efficacy in Education

Technology and outsourcing are shredding the traditional safety net of middle-income jobs

The world our children will inherit is riskier, more complex and more interconnected than at any time in human history

Are our school systems preparing our children to succeed in a world that is changing so rapidly?

Education is no panacea, but, if done right, it provides each generation with the surest path to prosperity and stability

The problem is that the typical classroom in 2014 bears a remarkable resemblance to the typical classroom of 1914

What skills and knowledge will our children need to be successful in 21st century work and civic life, and what form of schooling will deliver these outcomes?

The Hewlett Foundation spent an entire year pressing education experts, labour force economists and practitioners to answer just that question

The answer that emerged was that our children will need to be critical thinkers and adept communicators, skilled at problem-solving, and able to work in teams

critical thinkers

adept communicators

problem solvers

team players

They must combine the creative energy of this ‘academic mindset’ with a mastery of truly rigorous academic content

We’ve dubbed this bundle of knowledge, skills, and dispositions:

DEEPER LEARNING

In an age of computerisation and globalisation where routine, middle income jobs are giving way to automation, these deeper learning skills will increasingly spell the difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’

As we consider an ‘efficacy and equity educational framework’, the ‘north star’ for our efforts is this amalgam of ‘higher order skills’ combined with foundational academic knowledge.

Efficacy in Education

Barbara Chow, Hewlett Foundation efficacy.pearson.com