Education Disrupted, Education Reimagined Part III

For an unprecedented six months, global physical lockdown has made disruption an ongoing reality for a majority of the world’s education systems. As students, teachers, and school leaders usher in a new academic year, many are wondering what school and learning will look like in a post-COVID-19 world in which uncertainty is the "new normal." Time and again, research has shown that school leadership is a key factor in student outcomes and well-being. But at a time when the structures and systems of the traditional school model have been completely unraveled, has good leadership become ever more critical?

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, conversation among education policymakers and experts had turned toward building a 21^st century learning paradigm, a model that marries the acquisition of academic skill with the building of behavioral competencies such as agency, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity and life-long learning. The outcome of this approach – the so called 21^st century learner – would be a resilient, agile, and collaborative problem solver capable of taking on the challenges of our ever-changing world. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that the time to implement such a future-forward approach is now. But if we are serious about accelerating such transformation of our learning systems, isn’t it also necessary to consider the implications for our educators and school leaders?

For the third part in the Education Disrupted, Education Reimagined convening series, in partnership with WISE, this program brought together key stakeholders from education systems around the world in a networked learning community to examine the implications of the COVID-19 crisis on the 21^st century school leadership paradigm. Speakers and participants engaged in discussions aimed at reimagining the mechanisms and approaches to responding to a fast-changing, uncertain world with resilient school systems and future-prepared school leaders. They also looked at, more practically, what type of leadership approaches have and haven’t worked during this 6 months of crisis and considered what leadership characteristics are required of 21^st century school leaders and educators. Part III was a public online convening bringing together experts and practitioners from around the world to consider the following key themes and questions:

1. Leadership, Innovation and the Future of Schooling: What does 21^st century school leadership look like in a post-COVID-19 world? How is this reflective of the changes taking place in education systems and structures?
2. New Relational Models and Dynamics in School Leadership: Who gets to be a leader in the school systems of tomorrow? Who gets agency to act in certain spheres? What are the implications of the shifting roles and responsibilities of school leadership on how we train the education workforce?
3. Leadership and Equity: How can we build more equitable systems for the future? What is the role of school leaders in ensuring that schools and systems are built back in a fairer, more equitable, way?