UNIT 3:

The development of 21st century learning

environments
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
What types of relationships and communities nurture 21st century learning, and how can
we create and sustain them?
• From Isolation to Connection
• So far, we have considered how buildings, schedules, and technology all contribute to 21st
century learning. Now we come to the most essential of element of all: the “people
network.” This is the community of students, educators, parents, business and civic
leaders, and policymakers that constitute the human resources of an educational system.
• The flexible spaces that enable productive learning and shared work/play opportunities,
the creative uses of time that promote continuous learning, the extensible technologies
that support collaboration among the school community and the outside world – all these
systems are valuable only in so far as they effectively support the human connections on
which learning depends.
We are different communities!

A learning community is a group of people

who share common academic goals and
attitudes and meet semi-regularly to
collaborate on classwork.
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• John Dewey long ago conceived of schools as “miniature communities that mirrored the
social relations and activities of the larger society in which they were set. Yet, too often,
schools have been silos of isolation – classrooms isolated from other classrooms,
teachers isolated from other teachers, schools isolated from the outside world.
• Research shows, though, that positive and productive relationships within and outside
an organization enable it to carry out its mission more effectively. When people are
connected through technology and/or collaborative arrangements, their effect is
multiplied, for communities “can accomplish goals that would be impossible through
more isolated efforts.
• One common element, though, unites all effective school communities: a commitment
on the part of every member to the learning of everyone, children and adults alike
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• A 21st century learning environment both gives and gets support from families and the
local community. As Michael Fullan, a leading expert on school leadership, notes, the
research is very clear about the benefits, indeed, the necessity of parental involvement.
There is strong evidence, as well, that greater community and parental participation yields
important educational advantages.
• The George Lucas Foundation cites numerous studies showing that strong home-school
connections result in the following outcomes:
• Children do better in school when their parents are involved in their education
• After-school learning opportunities promote student achievement
• Community youth development programs spur academic performance
• Schools that integrate community services reduce risk and promote resilience in children
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• Strategies for Healthy Communities
• Accountability: Inside and Out
• Today, we hear a lot about accountability in education. Generally, this is understood to be
a system of external measurement – often accompanied by sanctions for non-performance
– designed to ensure that a school system meets the expectations of external stakeholders
like the general public, employers, or parents. Such accountability systems have their place
in helping schools track the progress of the students in their care, and in enabling
educators to monitor school progress, spurring them to greater achievement. But there is
another form of accountability that may be a more reliable source of organizational
commitment and a more consistent wellspring of innovation.
• Internal accountability is fostered from inside the school organization, and stems from
within each member of the community. Internal accountability occurs when professional
conceptions of responsibility are aligned with deep personal values to forge a common
vision.
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• Strategies for Healthy Communities
• Professional Learning Communities
• No teacher should be expected to do this job alone. He and many other leading experts are
advocates for learning teams in which school members collectively pursue professional
knowledge and skills and take on shared responsibility for the success of all students.
• Learning teams, also known as professional learning communities or PLCs, engage in the
reflective practice, collegial inquiry, collaborative work, and continuous innovation on
which 21st century learning environments thrive. To break through, schools need to foster
new forms of professional relationships that build organizational capacity and enhance
personal growth.
• These learning teams enable educators to refine their knowledge and skills in supportive
ways and help overcome the isolation that has characterized teaching for too long.
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• Strategies for Healthy Communities
• Professional Partnerships
• Mentoring, coaching, and long-term residencies are 21st century forms of teacher
partnerships based on the age-old wisdom of 25 apprenticeship. To provide the guidance
and support that new teachers need, the National Commission for Teaching and America‟s
Future (NCTAF) recommends that schools establish cross-generational staffing programs
– professional arrangements that pair experienced and novice educators with each other.
• New entrants gain valuable insights from lessons learned, while their seasoned partners
are respected for their experience and reenergized by the connection to young talent.
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• Strategies for Healthy Communities
• Leadership for Learning
• As educational organizations grow more diverse, they grow more complex. Good
leadership is essential to organize this variety productively. A key role for 21st century
leaders, according to Eleanor Drago-Severson, is establishing a culture of shared
leadership, collegial relationships, and support for constructive change and diversity.
• Such a climate encourages the professional growth of educators, which in turn enhances
student achievement. Successful school leaders are those who focus on student learning,
provide support for professional communities, are “outward looking” (in seeking ideas and
connections outside the school), and “demonstrate caring for the well-being and whole
development of students and staff
 COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
• Strategies for Healthy Communities
• Community Partnerships
• Educational partnerships within the extended community are essential in creating links to
the arenas that the today‟s youth will occupy tomorrow – the domains of higher education
institutions, the work place, various cultural spheres, and civic life. Schools and higher
education already work together in the area of teacher preparation and professional
development, but many more opportunities exist to conduct joint research and collaborate
on projects in service to their shared community.
• The greatest partnership benefit of all, though, may be the satisfaction of positively
influencing the future. When businesses and civic groups come together with a shared
vision for education, they create momentum that produces powerful outcomes for
students, parents, schools, and the entire community
DO YOU THINK YOUR COMMUNITY
PROMOTES/ENCOURAGES A 21ST
CENTURY LEARNING?
IF SO, HOW?
POLICY IN SUPPORT OF LEARNING
Teaching and learning environments are
governed by different policies!

Which policy are you familiar with

regarding education?
 Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support
(SIAS)
Education White Paper 6 on Special Needs Education (2001) outlines how imbalances of the
past within education system can be corrected through adopting inclusive values, practices
and focusing on overcoming barriers that hinders system from meeting the full range of
learning needs.
In view of the fact that not all learners who experience barriers to learning including those
with disabilities have access to appropriate support, SIAS (2014) was then then introduced
with an intent to ensure a more consistent process of screening, identification, assessment
and support of learners across the system.
 South African Schools Act (Sasa), 1996
(Act 84 of 1996)
It is aimed at ensuring that all learners have access to quality education without
discrimination, and makes schooling compulsory for children aged seven to 15. It provides
for two types of schools namely independent and public schools.
The provision in the Act for democratic school governance, through school-governing
bodies (SGBs), has been implemented in public schools countrywide. The school-funding
norms, outlined in Sasa of 1996, prioritise redress and target poverty regarding the
allocation of funds for the public-schooling system.
 Legislature and other policies

•The design of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) was refined with the
publication of the Higher Education Qualifications Framework in the Government Gazette in
October 2007, to provide 10 NQF levels.
•The NCS grades R to 12 replaced the policy document, A Résumé of Industrial
Programmes in Schools, Report 550 (89/03).
•The Education White Paper on ECD (2000) provides for the expansion and full
participation of five-year-olds in pre-school Grade R education by 2010, and an improvement
in the quality of programmes, curricula and teacher development for birth to four-year-olds
and six- to nine-year-olds.
•The Education White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education (2001) describes the DBE’s
intention to implement inclusive education at all levels in the system by 2020. The system
will facilitate the inclusion of vulnerable learners and reduce the barriers to learning through
targeted support structures and mechanisms that will improve the retention of learners in the
education system, particularly learners who are prone to dropping out.
 QUICK THINKER….

WOULD YOU AS A PARENT, PREFER YOUR CHILD BE

HOMESCHOOLED (HOME EDUCATION) OR GO TO A SCHOOL
PHYSICALLY?
IF YES STATE WHY, AND IF NO,PROVIDE YOUR REASONS
 How does policy support the development and
sustainability of 21st century learning
environments?
Policy emerges from a complex mingling of needs, opportunities, resources, personalities, and
political will. In this context, policy merits special attention, as it – like a building, a leadership
approach, or a computer network – is an organizing structure that promotes and sustains 21st
century learning environments.
Policy is the guidance system that regulates the activities, distributes the resources, and sets
the priorities that determine, in large measure, the role of education within society.
Having a clear sense of overarching objectives can help with alignment. When policies are
aimed at the same goals, conflicts among them are reduced. So, as in any planning process, the
first step in creating good educational policy is articulating what education should accomplish.
 How does policy support the development
and sustainability of 21st century learning
environments?
Citizens of the 21st century need to think critically and creatively, embrace diversity and
ambiguity, and create as well as consume information. They need to be resourceful and self-
reliant, while also skilled at collaboration and group process.
They need to understand the many “languages” of modernity – such as mathematics, science,
and technology – and be fluent in varied forms of communication – such as persuasion,
presentation, and self-expression.
Advances in telecommunications and digital technologies can enable much of this learning,
but it is just as important for policy makers to build on recent gains in our understanding of
human learning. Research shows, time and time again, that tools are only as effective as the
tool users. So along with sophisticated architectures of physical sites and technology
infrastructures must come support for human growth and development for the adults as well
as children that these architectures support.
 How does policy support the development
and sustainability of 21st century learning
environments?
We must re-design schools that reach far beyond the traditional classrooms many adults
experienced when they were young. The learning environments of the 21st century must
encompass a rich mix of media and devices, varied cultures, and virtual and real-life
relationships.
Policy must serve as the steering mechanism to guide the creation of learning environments
that are both more expansive and more inclusive – spaces for learning that offer more people
more.
Organizations, like individuals, need both supports and challenges to thrive and grow.
Educational policy has usually done a better job with the latter that the former. For schools
today, the challenges already amply exist in the many accountabilities and responsibilities
they face.
 How does policy support the development and
sustainability of 21st century learning
environments?
Policy can, and must, do more to balance the support side, because the quality of student
learning in any setting depends greatly on the quality of learning among the adults who care
for them
Educators must be given access to the knowledge and tools that support professional and
organizational learning. They must also be offered time and space and tools to foster the
collegial conversations that foster professional norms of equity and excellence. They need
strong and effective leadership – at all levels of the organization. They must have
opportunities to share expertise and best practice with peers inside and outside their
community.