Funding, SEL & Equity — Conversations with Edu Leaders on Clubhouse

Each week as part of the Ministry of Education Club on Clubhouse, Giancarlo Brotto convenes a global group of education leaders who are or have worked in a Department or Ministry of Education. The audience has a chance to ask questions of these diverse and knowledgeable leaders — whether those questions are related to a specific project or challenge the individual is facing, or broader about education holistically — all questions are welcome!

Here is a high level overview of some of the topic discussed on March 18th, 2021:

Getting Products and Services into Schools

Getting initiatives and programs funded can be a challenging and sometimes mysterious process across school systems. Changes in leadership can cause changes to funding structures that can be difficult to navigate — keeping track of what is being prioritized is important for those working within the system, as well as for those looking to get their products or services into the system. Understanding federal mandates and targets for things like device investment and content are super important for edupreneurs and others companies to keep in mind.

Understanding state funding can help entrepreneurs and offerings align with what schools are able to invest in. From there, developers and edupreneurs must story-tell around their product or service and what it can do for students, teachers, and leaders. When a district is excited about what a company is doing it is important to lean on them — especially the students — to tell the story of what they have to offer and the impact that it has. This type of storytelling will help to reach new audiences with authentic, believable details that deliver on the WHY a product matters. Stories from the student perspective will always connect way better than an adult speaking to another adult.

Companies must also be sure that student data and privacy is well thought out within their offering — how is student information being kept safe? Where is the data hosted, and how does that impact the potential to use the product? Ensuring that all of these concerns can be confidently answered will help educators and system leaders make the decision to try a product.

Further to understanding the options, companies and edupreneurs can act as a resource to those making the funding decisions. Bringing knowledge and understanding to the table to leaders can result in key opportunities to support and shape investments as well as legislation — it is valuable to look at the conversations around funding as an opportunity to not only story-tell but to develop relationships and invite leaders into the places where funding is. Real world view of how things work and seeing the outcomes associated with investments can have a significant impact that helps the leaders and decision makers develop a personal stake in the investments and future decisions.

Post-COVID Challenges

How do we actually move forward with the lessons we’ve learned in the last year?

‘The pandemic has created great challenges, and those are not going away with the vaccine — we have to continue to move ahead with caution. As we get into the next school year, teachers, schools and systems must be prepared to be in person, remote, or hybrid.’

During the pandemic teachers have learned a lot about tech tools, but may have been given the opportunity to learn everything that they need to about the pedagogy connected to the tech. Continuing to support teachers and giving them the skills, resources, and space to be flexible and adaptable while offering personalized instruction that meets the needs of every student is integral to ensuring ongoing success and combating teacher burnout.

Assessment is a place where we need to continue to develop — for instance formative assessments that are far more personalized compared to current state assessments are important. This will allow for truer measures of students understanding, and encourage great success among all students — including those who may struggle with test taking for both personal and societal reasons. The pandemic has taught us that we have a lot more work to do to adequately reach English learners, racialized students and students living in poverty.

Large amounts of funding and a focus on connectivity means that there is an acceleration of work that has already begun; every household needs to be connected to the web, and this is not just education responsibility. This responsibility must be shared between governments and industry in order to make sustainable impact, quickly.

Further, there is a significant opportunity to shift instructional practice — moving to a blended model in order to be responsive to the realities of the world. Seamless serving of students no matter what are vital, so it is important to understand what induction practices actually serve students in various environments, and how teachers can be appropriately resourced to provide them. You cannot split a teacher in half to provide two instructional practices at the same time!

In several countries — including the United States, there is a lot of money available for schools and systems to make investment. In some cases, it is difficult for decision makers — they need to prioritize their investments and make sustainable choices that will serve their communities in the long term. These decisions need to be made at a systems level — and not just by an IT person. This type of investment will not be seen again, and so it is important to take advantage of it now, and also understand how to influence policy moving forward to sustain these investments.

‘If we don’t take action now, we’ve missed an enormous opportunity that we may not see again in our lifetimes.’

Finally, teachers can be more flexible and innovative than some people think — students entering systems and upcoming generations need us to be bold now in education to support the changes that will pave the way for whatever the future looks like.

SEL and Beyond

Many agree that educators and system leaders need to ensure that mental health concerns are front and centre of both policy and pedagogy. With the restart of schools in person, we have a chance to change the system/structure so we are educating the whole child, rather than simply the academic child. Before the pandemic, so many kids were struggling academically because of their mental health issues.

Not only should student (and teacher!) mental health take precedence over pure academics, but work must be done to ensure that teachers are culturally competent and have resources to provide anti-rascist social-emotional learning that supports all students. Engaged learning only takes place when students feel comfortable and connected, as well as feel empowered and enabled to handle the next emotional situation/crisis. Now is the time to integrate SEL learning a core component across the curriculum.

Affecting Change for Equity

‘Where should equity solutions come from?’

Often teachers are challenged with how much space and support they have to make changes. Especially when it comes to conversations around culturally responsive teaching, inclusion, and equity teachers are the leaders on the front lines everyday — they have the most opportunity to work both with and for to build classrooms and schools that are inclusive. Teachers are leaders, and can have profound impact both within and outside the walls of their classrooms.

Education itself is the way to build a more inclusive and equitable society. When students have the opportunity to feel safe and supported in their classrooms but also see the tools and opportunities to be involved in their communities, the world is a better place.

Find ways to make an impact based on where you have connections and access — whether those are within your school, your local board or governing body, or elsewhere. Policy change can be slow, but bringing change down to a more local level can help things to happen faster. Everyone plays a part in the changes that need to happen. We all have to work together to make change — advocate on what you see from where you sit. What you see and what you know to be true is not less valuable because of a role or job title.

A few topics that were also discussed this week included accreditation for post-secondary institutions, collaboration, and sustainability.

Join in and bring your questions every Thursday, and discover more clubhouse edu events HERE.