10 Feb Towards an Adaptive Education System
Posted at 10:49h
in Learning and Teaching
Australian school education faces three major challenges: improving student learning in core academic areas; better preparing young people for adult life; and closing the gap between the nation’s educational have and have-nots. The only way to tackle all these challenges at once is to make our education system more adaptive. (Grattan 2017 Report Summary)
With LEADing Lights, an adaptive education system includes environments in which people are empowered to take action for the benefit of our students and communities. We created a People-Environment-Action Model to show the kinds of integrated connected environments that are well suited to growth across the system.

Leading Lights enables an adaptive system as detailed in the table below:
Report | LEADing Lights Components |
---|---|
Teachers and schools must be better able to track the progress of their students over time in ways that directly inform their teaching. | A single digital credential identifies each student and all information Centralised data actively used in Dynamics 365 and archived in data platform Analytics Data visualizations for staff, students and families |
We need to continue building better ways to spread and share information and practices, both within schools and across schools. | Leading Lights website and News, using a bot Content sharing in Stream and the Claned system Professional learning communities and classes in Teams Sharing and collaboration in SharePoint and Office 365 Measures of progress using Technology Integration Matrix Tools |
Australia should make better use of its most expert teachers, using them to teach other teachers and spread evidence at scale. | Training programs including Skype webinars, Stream tutorials, Claned boards Teacher sharing events and communities Teams PLCs Sway and OneNote playbooks and guides |
Teachers and school leaders should do more to embrace the benefits that come from standardising elements of teaching practice. | O365 Education Resources aligned to curriculum Claned content sharing |
Schools and systems need to innovate more systematically and intentionally to prepare their students for a changing world. | Virtual school with courses taught in Teams with Claned content Student use of Minecraft, Skype, Imagine Academy Partnerships with community youth organisations |
Policy makers need to change the way they think about system leadership. In an adaptive education system, the ultimate role of the centre is system design. | Dynamics and Cortana Intelligence for reporting to guide policy Collaboration across regions and schools Program research enabled by the Azure data platform |