Learning Teams for Foundational Learning: A Collaborative Approach to Ensure Every Child Can Thrive in an Increasingly Complex World

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Catalyzed by COVID 19, the growth of technologies such as generative AI and rapidly changing digital landscapes raise an urgent need to consider the impact on education systems, and how these changes can enhance or hinder equitable, quality learning for all. Such changes call on systems to be resilient to change by identifying and bolstering mechanisms that not only strengthen the system in the face of such critical shifts in the educational landscape, but also ensure readiness for future shocks to the system. Resilience is understood as the ability to adapt and change positively in response to challenge (Brown et al, 2001). Resilience is not simply an individual trait but rather, a capacity that arises through interactions between people within organizational contexts. Resilient agency in learning can be seen as the capacity of learners to persist in learning, responding effectively to open-ended and complex problem spaces as demanded by 21st century learning outcomes, these include the ability to harness new technologies.

A growing body of research into Learning Teams is exploring collaborations within and beyond the education workforce that bolster systems resilience and are proving effective in supporting children’s learning outcomes. In order to ensure equitable, quality learning for all children in an increasingly complex global landscape, education systems need to respond to the diversity of learners' needs through innovative collaborations that bring actors togethers in strategic ways that support learning outcomes. This panel will explore how, through the innovative collaborations found in Learning Teams, education systems can be strengthened and demonstrate resilience.

Learning team approaches were put forward in the Transforming the Education Workforce report (2019) as a way to re-think the design, support and functioning of the education workforce. Learning teams were referenced in the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP) Smart Buys Report (2023) as a promising investment but with limited evidence. Ongoing research is investigating a typology of learning team approaches, synthesizing the evidence that show their impact, and documenting case studies of how they have been harnessed to improve foundational learning.

Learning team approaches aim for groups of education professionals that collaborate at every level—classroom, school, district, and central—to ensure learning for all. There is no one model for these teams; they are different in every context and at every level in the system. They can include qualified teachers, specialist teachers, volunteers, pedagogical coaches, and school leaders and managers. They also can engage professionals from other sectors where relevant, such as health and welfare specialists. Learning teams intentionally engage parents and the wider community to draw on local knowledge and support. Although education rarely employs formal team-based approaches, examples of informal collaboration already exist in many systems, with teaching assistants, specialists, school leaders, and parents working alongside
teachers and students. However, roles beyond that of the teacher are rarely supported systematically to leverage their skills and expertise.

Learning team approaches put the social and relational aspects of educational change front and center. The concept of a learning team approach draws on social network theory, which emphasizes the importance of how formal and informal relationships and networks inhibit or promote change through knowledge transfer and behavior shifts, rather than just explaining impact in terms of the isolated characteristics of individuals and organizations. Learning team approaches acknowledge that there is often existing human capital in education systems that is neglected, and therefore, existing skills and areas of expertise are underutilized. However, learning team approaches focus on the nexus of human and social capital, rather than focusing on investment in human capital alone. In their 2012 work on professional capital in education, Hargreaves and Fullan highlight the importance of human capital and social capital, but the authors emphasize that human capital as a lead strategy is not as influential as social capital. They note that it is more effective to “use the group to change the group,” as evidence shows that investing in the collective capacity of a group is more impactful than just supporting the
skills of individuals.

A multi-country research agenda currently underway aims to develop a typology of learning teams, identify foundational factors for their effectiveness across contexts, highlight barriers and enablers to scale, and illustrate how they succeed and become embedded in education systems. During this panel, researchers will present findings that point to how learning teams convene and are agile in their response to emerging challenges. Research findings from various contexts will offer insight into the actors in learning teams, their motivations, and how activities are collectively driven towards a shared goal or purpose. Perspectives on implementation from Uganda and Honduras will offer valuable evidence and insight into building learning teams as a means of embedding sustainable, community-based solutions to long term learning poverty.

Across the presentations, attendees and discussants will engage in dialogue around practical ways to enrich and strengthen a learning team approach as a means of bolstering resilience in the midst of shifting education landscapes.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Deborah Kimathi, Learning Generation Initiative, EDC

Individual Presentations

• Learning Teams: Case Studies from Kenya and Nepal - Alison Sarah Buckler, The Open University; Freda Wolfenden, The Open University, UK

• Empowering Grassroots Stakeholders: Findings from the Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance Research - Renaud Comba, UNICEF

• Powering Community Education Teams: Working Together to End Learning Poverty in Uganda - Luke Tyburski, Building Tomorrow

Discussant

• Kwame Akyeampong, The Open University