How Might We Reimagine Learning Design and Support More Students to Become ‘Explorers’?

 My last post was a response to my reading of  Disengaged Teen by Anderson and Winthrop (which I have still not yet fully read) and particularly to their claim that:

“A shocking number of young people don’t see the point of school anymore.”

This post sets out to share how we might go about creating the conditions that will make school more relevant for these young people.

We simply have to find ways to help young people link what they are learning to the futures they are imagining for themselves.

In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, we face a fundamental question: How do we design learning experiences that truly prepare students for their future? As I've observed classrooms and engaged with educational research, I've become convinced that effective learning design must move beyond traditional approaches toward something more dynamic, connected, and student-centered.

By doing so we will have more chance of moving more students into the Explorer mode:

The Power of Inquiry-Based Learning

Shifting to inquiry-based learning offers several compelling advantages. First, it amplifies student voice and choice, giving learners greater ownership over their educational journey—which naturally increases engagement and commitment. Second, it transforms classroom dynamics from passive schooling to active learning. Third, and perhaps most importantly, developing inquiry skills equips students with lifelong tools for tackling new learning opportunities in an ever-changing world.

However, making this transition isn't without challenges. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is the fundamental shift in classroom power dynamics. As educators, we're accustomed to being in control, to being the content experts, to delivering information in ways we determine best. Inquiry-based approaches require us to embrace partnership, joint ownership, and a certain level of unpredictability.

Foundation Principles for Effective Learning Design

Through my exploration of educational research and classroom practice, I've identified several core principles that should underpin effective learning design if we wish to move more students into Explorer mode (high engagement and high agency):

1. Learning Needs to Be Connected

When we teach subjects in isolation, we dramatically reduce opportunities for students to form meaningful connections across disciplines. The OECD's publication "The Nature of Learning" emphasizes "Building Horizontal Connections" across knowledge areas, subjects, communities, and the wider world. This integrated approach deepens understanding and increases relevance for learners.

2. Learning Needs to Be Co-constructed

For genuine engagement, students must feel connected to their learning—not like they're on an educational assembly line where timing, pace, and context are predetermined without their input. This doesn't mean abandoning our responsibility to cover important concepts and skills; rather, it means inviting students into meaningful conversations about how that learning unfolds.

This aligns with what many of us know as "Learner Agency" - giving students the power and choices to take meaningful action and witness the results of their decisions.

3. Learning Needs to Be Collaborative

The ability to work effectively in diverse teams with strong interpersonal skills is vital in today's workforce. Our classrooms should reflect this reality by making collaborative learning the norm, not the exception. Collaboration (whether student-student, teacher-teacher, school-school, or school-community) prepares students for an increasingly complex world.

Additional Key Principles

Beyond these foundational elements, effective learning design should also embrace:

• Personalization: Recognizing and accommodating the unique needs, interests, and learning paths of individual students

• Authenticity: Creating learning experiences connected to real-world challenges and opportunities

• Dispositional Development: Cultivating the mindsets, attitudes, and approaches that support lifelong learning

Putting It All Together: A Vision for Modern Learning

When we integrate these principles, we arrive at a powerful vision for education: 

Learning that is personalised, authentic, and connected locally and globally prepares students for their lives in the 21st century. It is centred on co-constructed high-interest projects, drawing on a range of specialist subjects, with opportunities for hands-on application and partnering with the community. There is a genuine outcome from the learning and students are partners in designing the learning.

Implications:

What could schools do to reflect the key principles above?

• Explore models of Project-based learning. In Future Directions in New Zealand schooling: The case for transformation (Centre for Strategic Education, 2017), McIntosh argues that project-based learning is a model that meets the requirements needed to transform teaching and learning (p.14). A clear model that all staff understand and commit to and through which students are scaffolded is essential to provide rigour and prevent low quality experiences and outcomes. The following links could be a good place to start:

• Best brief introduction to current thinking I’ve seen for a while

• Buck Institute for Education is very useful not only with the ‘why’ but awesome for the ‘how?’ - great, easy to use tools

• Wiggins’ model of Understanding by Design used by the Science Leadership Academy

• Make every effort to provide opportunities for learning to be connected across subjects. Even with a traditional, single-subject timetable it’s not difficult to change mindsets and school practices to enable students to establish connections. 

• Schools could start by determining common themes that could drive learning contexts across the whole school or particular year levels. This would, at least, allow all subjects to connect to the common theme. 

• Meeting structures could be turned on their head and regular meetings for the common teachers of each class to discuss how learning could be connected across more than one subject. Students could work on high-interest projects which they have had a say in creating in classes timetabled for 2 or 3 of their subjects. Completing one piece of work, drawing on several subjects and being supported by several teachers will not only result in a quality outcome and deeper learning, but reduce workload for students and for  teachers. Perhaps Departments could be required to find times to run their meetings when necessary, rather than having them scheduled.

• Teachers in all classes could share with their students the responsibility of determining the context in which learning could take place. Teachers would still take responsibility for developing the important learning/achievement objectives but invite students to be design partners in determining the context.

• Rather than informing a class that they are studying Migration and that they would do this by learning about Victorian English people and their migration to and settling in New Zealand, a Social Studies teacher could explore with students the concept of Migration and establish its worthiness of study. They could then invite students to suggest which example of migration from across history, or in the present, they (individuals, small groups) would like to explore to increase their understanding of this concept. Teachers and students would design activities together which allow the important learning objectives to be met.

• Wherever possible, provide multiple opportunities for students to provide evidence of their learning (UDL). 

• If all students have to write an essay to show their understanding of an important science concept, then those who are poor essay writers will not do well, despite perhaps having a high level of understanding of the science concept. As long as the learning objectives can be met allow students to show their understanding, whether it be by essay, piece of art, spoken word.

• Include some contact or experience with the community or expertise from beyond the school in all planning of learning programmes.

• At the very least, this could be a guest speaker/facilitator but can include off-site visits, individual/small group mentor relationships, on-line communication and connection with expertise, or a client relationship.

• Encourage the public exhibition and discussion of student work.

• At the very least, this could be presenting findings back to the class with high expectations of how to make a quality presentation and how to provide quality feedback but can include presenting to students from outside the class or at another school, parents, and mentors and clients who have been involved in the learning.

• Think about where these presentations should take place. The school might be appropriate but so might a community space (library, parks, malls), a conference or place of work.

Moving Forward

Implementing this vision requires courage - the courage to relinquish some control, to embrace messiness, to build strong relationships with our students, and to be transparent about learning expectations while inviting co-design of learning tasks.

The journey toward this kind of learning design isn't always smooth or linear. There will be growing pains. But when we see our students engaged, empowered, and developing the skills they truly need for their futures, we'll know we're on the right path.

What steps are you taking to reimagine learning design in your educational context? I'd love to hear your thoughts and what you are attempting.

How Might We Promote an Explorer Mindset?

I’ve been enjoying making my way slowly through Disengaged Teen by Anderson and Winthrop.

Engaging young people in school is a worthy aspiration and it has been focusing our attention for many years.

Many of us have hunches that young people are less engaged than they may have been in the past. Sometimes there is clear evidence to support these hunches:

• Our government tells us kids are disengaged because of PISA results evidence

• Our government tells us kids are disengaged because of attendance statistics

• Parents tell us kids are disengaged because, especially in their teens, they often seem reluctant to go to school or to give it their very best while there

• Teachers tell us that students seem more difficult to engage and often put this down to the pandemic experience

These beliefs then set us off in the direction of measuring engagement and the impact of any interventions on things like achievement data and attendance data. But might we be looking at this incorrectly.

What do the students say?

Well, the authors, on the 3rd page of their book, report:

“A shocking number of young people don’t see the point of school anymore.”

They produce evidence that the decline in achievement and engagement has been occurring around the world for at least 10 years, well before the pandemic.

Their years of research led them to develop this framework which identifies 4 modes of engagement:

Their work describes the importance of agency in achieving meaningful engagement; a type of engagement that enhances their ability to learn and adapt, which the authors argue:

“is not a nice-to-have but a must-have. It is the price of entry for a meaningful life.”

They certainly have sympathy for teachers who, “are sandwiched between a system that demands preparation for tests, restrictive accountability standards, and parents who insist their kids excel in a system not serving them well.”  But they report that, “In classrooms where teachers encourage agency, kids who explore get better grades.” 

Whenever I talk with adults about how they learn best in their current lives they often talk about needing to feel some level of control in how they go about the learning, that they are stretched to reach a goal but also have support to get there, that something is challenging but achievable.

The authors claim that this is also true for young people:

“The magic place for learning lies between challenge and support.”  and:

“Rigorous research across multiple countries shows that in classrooms where teachers support students’ agentic engagement, kids get better grades and do better on tests.”

The book delves deeply into the 4 modes of engagement identified in the above framework.

The 4 modes of engagement they identify are Resister, Passenger, Achiever, and Explorer. Resisters use their agency to let you know school is not working for them. Passengers coast in low gear (scarily they suggest this may be 50% of kids). Achievers work hard and 'do well' but are often fragile as it's all about the grades. Explorers are deeply involved and engaged in their own learning.

Passengers

"They don't see the relevance of what's being taught to their life and ability to solve problems in the world. Math becomes a series of formulas to memorize instead of tools to use to build new technology to solve climate change. History becomes a  series of dates to remember rather than the forces that shape our current politics."

We can move students out of the Passenger zone (disengaged and coasting) by linking learning to what the student is interested in.

Achievers

Being in Achiever mode may seem to be the ideal place to be.

“Young people in Achiever mode have internalized that doing well at school is important, and it has become a central motivation for them. Thus they build excellent work habits and real-life skills : time management, getting things done, doing things well.”

But, the authors found that many kids in Achiever mode are not enjoying school even though they are performing well:

“These students in unhappy Achiever mode are often plagued by perfectionism and haunted by fear of failure. They have the worst mental health outcomes of all students, even those who are deeply engaged.”

We can move students out of the Achiever zone by supporting them to practice trying things, falling down, reflecting on why they fell, and getting back up and trying again.

Resisters

Resisters show they have agency but point it away from learning because they are not engaged. They show this by avoiding going to school, or by quietly avoiding work and missing deadlines, or by disrupting class.

We can engage them simply by linking learning to their interests. In fact, one of the easiest shifts through the zones is from Resister to Explorer zone simply by linking learning in such a way.

Explorers

Explorers have agentic engagement:

"[Explorers] connect their interests to what's being taught...they make suggestions about how to do the work they are asked to complete...they seek help to investigate things they are interested in...they express their preferences."

I’m only halfway through the book and plan to post on how we move students into the Explorer zone (engaged and agentic) and how we keep them there.

How Might We Lead Through The Lens of Two World Views?

*Disclaimer

• I’m a male Pakeha New Zealander born in 1958 (Baby Boomer!)

• I gained an MA in History with a focus on NZ History (received and delivered through the lens of one world view)

• 66% of my teaching and leading in schools occurred in communities of high Māori populations (Ngāruawāhia and Ōpōtiki)

• Largely through the lens of one world view

• I’ve made several forays into learning te Reo, including University of Waikato Certificate of Māori Studies. 

Last week I spent a day in a hui with 11 people who I would consider some of the deepest thinkers not only about our education system, but, more importantly, about what the characteristics of and a vision for a future-ready education system for Aotearoa could be.

What one of the participants said hit me like a bolt of lightning. To paraphrase, she said:

“Actions since 1840 have let down both partners to Te Tiriti. Te Tiriti promised that 2 world views would shape our country. Ours (Māori) has been problematised and you have missed out on experiencing the world through ours.”

I spent the rest of the hui moving through a range of emotions as this insight rattled around in my head (and heart). I thought about my 42 years of teaching and struggled with feelings of regret that all of those years passed by without the benefit of the insight described above.

Yes, I had attempted to upskill my own te Reo. Yes, I had participated in many wānanga and noho. Yes, I led the committee that constructed a wharenui, Te Huingaongawai, on the grounds of Ngāruawāhia High School and worked with others to create a Year 9 Bi-lingual Class (which later became a Rumaki). Yes, I stopped all suspensions at Ōpōtiki College (which had impacted disproportionately on rangatahi and whānau Māori).

But all of this had been done through the one world view. All of it occurred within the structures and processes that stemmed from that one world view, so there was no challenge to the basic status quo and attached hierarchies of power and influence.

Of course, the consequence of designing our system, structures and processes through the one world view is the high levels of inequity that we experience.

Participants at the hui all agreed that what we have got from the system designed by one world view (inequity) is a result of purposeful design. The system is doing exactly what it was designed to do!

It has been designed in such a way that many, including indigenous learners, do not see themselves and the values embedded in their view of the world in the very place that is charged with the responsibility of overseeing their growth and development. The response from such learners seem to be to suppress who they are and what they value and believe to fit into the system or to push back, disengage and retaliate.

Even just the simple fact that until quite recently many schools had rules banning pounamu as part of their jewelery rules (some, I suspect, still do) reinforces that. Even more revealing is the voice of rangatahi and whānau Māori which describes the relentless racism they experience in their everyday experience of school.

The good news is that if we designed the system to have these specific outcomes we can design a system that has different outcomes.

It doesn’t have to be this way!

The even better news is that we have elements within the wider system that are proven to be effective which could form the starting point of a re-design.

Russell Bishop and his colleagues have done the research and designed frameworks to support the conditions that need to exist in schools that support more equitable experiences and outcomes. This has been presented to the sector through Te Kotahitanga and, more recently, Teaching (and Leading) to the North-east.

As well, there is now clear evidence that students who experience Kura Kaupapa, Kura-a-Iwi etc approaches achieve high levels of success.

All of us in education realise that connection with our community is crucial. My world view has resulted in schools driving that connection and generally informing whanau what they will be doing. I suspect that the world view driving the Kura models is one that results in whanau telling kura what they will do for their child.

The hui I attended has committed to doing some work around developing a future-ready vision for our system (not just individual schools). I am excited about this work progressing through the lenses of two world views as promised by Te Tititi.

At the same time as these thoughts are rattling around in my head I’ve been enjoying a re-acquaintance with NZ literature (a place where different world views can be brought to life). Reading Becky Manawatu’s Auē and Kataraina  and Tina Makareti’s The Mires have certainly brought two world views to life for me, including the consequences of having one suppressed. Right now, I have almost finished Monty Soutar’s first in his Kāwai series, which will be followed up by reading his second. I am learning more about Te Ao Māori from these than I ever did from my own schooling and my Masters degree.

Thanks to all the participants in that hui for contributing to the rattling in my head. Long may it continue.

How Might We Go About Unlocking Student (and Teacher) Engagement?

Near the end of January Derek Wenmoth and I facilitated a 2 day Retreat as part of our Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus (RRR) programme for 18 secondary and primary APDPs from across Aotearoa/NZ. As with our last year’s Principal RRR Retreat the feedback has been extremely positive:

Realistic and relevant, inspiring and helpful, a collaboration that flows and makes sense.

The best two facilitators I've had the pleasure of working with!

This week Derek and I completed our first round of 1-on-1 remote hui with each of the participants to support them to focus on their plans captured in their Experimental Design Canvas while dealing with the inevitable tsunami of operational matters APDPs have to deal with, especially at the start of the year.

The common words to describe how they were feeling a couple of weeks in and looking forward to our contact again in 3 weeks time were;

Energised, Optimistic, Connected, Proud, Relieved, Organised and Ready

It was at the Retreat that Derek shared a new book he had just come across, The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better by Dr Rebecca Winthrop, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, and journalist Jenny Anderson.

He used a cool matrix similar to this one here to explain the 4 modes of student engagement:

It was a real moment of clarity for me. 

I have been doing a lot of work in schools helping them develop an appropriate pedagogical model for their school contexts. They have each settled on their own core values and beliefs about learning which has led to the agreement on a set of principles, or guidelines for action, that result in a set of teaching practices being agreed upon. In all cases, the particular sets of values and beliefs point to each school having a clear desire to develop Learner Agency as the central driver of their pedagogy.

At that point we make use of Derek’s co-authored Agency By Design to begin the process of identifying the practices we need to have at the core of our pedagogy which will bring their core values and beliefs to light.

But it was the pivotal role Agency plays in lifting engagement from the Achiever  to the Explorer mode that provided the clarity.

The authors argue that students can be Passengers who cruise along doing the bare minimum as a result of not being engaged AND having no sense of agency or influence over what is being learned. They can be Resistors who have no engagement with the learning but use the agency or influence they have to push back and to make clear they are not engaged.

We might believe the Achiever mode would be the desired state. These students certainly work hard and gain very good results, but this is usually at the cost of fear of failure and high levels of anxiety.

It is the Explorer mode we should be aiming for where students are engaged BECAUSE OF the agency and influence they have in what they are learning. When young people are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.

I have referred to this matrix in 2 school workshops since and it has helped to build buy-in for the pedagogical approaches the schools are implementing. Also, at one of my RRR 1-on1s last week a participant described how she had used it when workshopping with her staff to create buy-in for their new approach to Writing.

I haven’t read the book yet (it is on order) but there’s a good discussion with one of the authors on Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan (RNZ) which gives more insight.

The good news is that the authors promise that the book outlines some easy and simple adjustments teachers can make to their practice to increase the level of agency and move more learners into the Explorer mode.

While listening to the interview I couldn’t help but reflect on our journey to open Hobsonville Point Secondary School and our determination to focus on Innovate by personalising learning, Engage through powerful partnerships and Inspire through deep challenge and inquiry. This required us to be serious about Learner Agency.

This determination meant we had to combat a level of negativity from others in the sector and from media (The School With No Rules, NZH etc), and work hard to win the confidence of parents who thought they would be happy for their kids to be Achievers and not Explorers.

The easiest to convince were the kids, because they were the ones being engaged because they had influence! (I’m sure the glasses I’m looking back through have some tint of rose! Not all, obviously, were deeply engaged, but I had never experienced such a consistently high level of engagement before.)

Supporting schools to develop an appropriate pedagogical model for their context which has the intention of providing the most opportunities to move their students into Explorer mode is what I am focusing on in all of the schools I am working with.

We follow a fairly straight forward model that results in teams, and eventually, the whole staff co-constructing the deeply held beliefs about learning that will drive agreed practices.

Along the way there is a strong focus on student voice and involving them in stages of co-construction.

Get in touch if you think this is something your school may be interested in.

Finally, reflecting on the title for this post and the reference to Teacher Agency:

When we make minor changes to our practice, based on collectively held beliefs about what makes for deep learning, and when we invite students into that process, we feel powerful in our belief to make a difference and to move more students into Explorer mode. The ability to commit to that is Teacher Agency.

Best wishes