Different Schools for a Different World

School Improvement for 21st Century Skills, Global Citizenship, and Deeper Learning

by Scott McLeod , Dean Shareski

Number of pages: 80

Publisher: Solution Tree

BBB Library: Education

ISBN: School Improvement for 21st Century Skills, Global Citizenship, and Deeper Learning



About the Authors

Scott McLeod : Scott is an associate professor of educational leadership at the University

Read More...

Dean Shareski : Dean Shareski is the community manager for Discovery Education Canada. He

Read More...

Editorial Review

If political and school leaders—whom we consider the major audiences for this book—want to adapt learning and teaching environments to the demands of the 21st century, it is imperative that they understand the real challenges that future graduates will face. If we hope to prepare our students and graduates for the world around them, we must start by observing and understanding what the world is actually like. Different Schools for a Different World concisely explains the six key factors of school improvement in the 21st century, in order to help students grow into global citizens, critical thinkers, innovators, and literate content consumers.

Book Reviews

"Reading this book not only revealed to me essential insights into the complex world of education but also helped me focus my own perspectives on each topic. Each chapter focuses on a major area we should be understanding and acting on as educators (information literacy, economics, boredom, and innovation to name a few), and the book wraps up with a number of powerful examples of deeper learning happening in schools around the world."

Books on Related Topics

Wisdom to Share

When schools allow students to drive their own learning, engagement and motivation levels are high, and students learn to become autonomous and self-directed learners who can reskill and adapt to a rapidly changing world.

When schools allow students to engage with and contribute to the world outside of school walls, they learn to become active citizens of both their communities and the planet at large.

If we hope to prepare our students and graduates for the world around them, we must start by observing and understanding what the world is actually like.

The challenges that lie before us are too great. But the opportunities ahead are too powerful for us to sit back and pretend that the status quo is adequate.

We love schools. But we must change them in order to save them.

There are many other noble, important, and valuable missions for schools besides workforce development. But at the same time, schools can’t ignore the global transformations that are reshaping careers and employment demands.

Learning no longer has to occur during certain hours at a designated location; instead, it can take place “at any time, in any place, on any path, at any pace.”

Instead of being instructors themselves, teachers must shift their roles, becoming designers and guides to instruction.

Because content is no longer scarce, our students don’t need to purvey information. But they do need us to help them learn how to think about the content, wrestle and play with the content, and put the content to work.

Our students must be taught to be adaptive, self-directed, empowered learners able to reorient and up skill themselves as needed to meet rapidly changing economic and workforce demands.

If students and graduates are to become true masters of that world, they must begin to realize the profound possibilities that result from sharing and interconnectedness.

The biggest indictment we can make about our schools is that they ignore the fact that students are bored, disengaged, and disempowered.

The seventeen-year-old boy who is still required to raise his hand and ask to go to the bathroom isn’t going to push the limits of his learning environment.

Books by the same Author

There is near-universal agreement that schools must find ways to transform older teaching practices in order to harness the tools that students have at their disposal today. This book introduces you to many of the most useful tools and concepts for an education setting so that you can decide, along with
What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media

There is near-universal agreement that schools must find ways to transform older teaching practices in order to harness the tools that students have at their disposal today. This book introduces you to many of the most useful tools and concepts for an education setting so that you can decide, along with