All of these characteristics can be included in any school program that can be determined and regularly updated/adjusted by the "academic council" described above. It turns out that we are talking about introducing the fundamental principles and landing them in a specific territory and in a specific community, on the basis of a specific educational program developed with the participation of the academic council and the team of the school itself. Thus, it is not the specific elements of curricula that are proposed for implementation, but the criteria for developing such models for each particular school. It is important that the school team has the freedom to plan its activities. As many experts noted in our study, this is the component that is missing from the curricula of «average» secondary schools in Russia. We are talking about both the possibility of independent planning of learning activities, and the ability to independently determine the content of the necessary methodological tools, the procurement of exactly what is required, etc.
We see great potential in developing the idea of the School as a center for community development. We assume a broader understanding of community than is commonly used for schools, usually involving the creation of a community of parents and alumni. In our case, we are talking about the School as the center for the development of the entire area in which it is located. And this is a mutual exchange: by developing the area, the school, in turn, develops itself.
How can this interaction be organized? In our opinion, it can be about creating a fundamentally new educational environment, which will include all the opportunities offered by the local community. It can include local authorities, businesses, non-profit organizations, and generally all residents of the area. School thus becomes a school based on real life. In other words, why should we model life in the classroom when it is all around us?
Here it is worth recalling the ideas of Anton Makarenko and other educators who spoke of the importance of introducing real life to children and the value of such experiences for them. This should also include consonance with the peculiarities of the course of age-related crises, which fall on the school years, when the characteristics and attributes of adulthood are important, professional self-determination occurs, etc. It is worth noting that this idea of a "school for life" is at the heart of many modern approaches, from the Finnish educational model to phenomenon-based learning.
How can such an idea be put into practice? In our view, it may be a matter of research first, aimed at "inventorying the resources" of the local community. What organizations exist in the area that are willing to cooperate? What resources from such organizations could be used in the educational process? By resources we mean both immediate resources (available premises, equipment, etc.) and areas of expertise, as well as areas of tasks that could be accomplished by students. In the process of creating such a map of the area, especially when it comes to just starting a project, the issue of staffing for the school can also be addressed. As noted by the experts in our study, attracting people who are eager, ready and excited, who are in love with their field of expertise, not always even with a pedagogical education, is one of the trends in the market, at least in private school education.
By understanding the available resources, we can begin to plan their integration into the educational process, both in the program of mastering specific academic subjects and project activities, conduct hackathons to solve local community problems, lectures by invited experts from among local residents, summer internships, provide opportunities for part-time work for students, opportunities to learn skills under supervision, develop business plans for businesses, participate in volunteering and many other activities.
We see great potential in developing the idea of the School as a center for community development. And this is a mutual exchange: by developing the area, the school develops itself.
On the other hand, there is a mutual exchange — the School also provides available resources to be used by local residents under different conditions beneficial to all parties, to the extent that does not harm the educational process, but allows the use of resources as efficiently as possible.
Speaking of the possibilities that such an educational environment «extended» to the local community can provide, we can list a large number of positive effects, which, for example, characterize the Scandinavian educational model. This includes developing soft skills, systems thinking, understanding the context of phenomena, developing an entrepreneurial mindset, and many others. One cannot ignore the vast possibilities of forming a so-called "social portfolio", which has long been part of many educational programs at various levels (from IB to the Stelify program at the University of Manchester[23]). It is also worth mentioning the great potential of active development of the area with such community consolidation as an additional impact effect.
Of course, the implementation of this approach will require the solution of many issues, from the adaptation of the environment to the requirements of legal rules applicable to children to safety issues, seemingly difficult to overcome. However, the experience of other countries that have succeeded in creating a School open to community interaction gives hope for the viability of such a concept in Russia as well.
As we noted earlier, it seems that one of the fundamental principles of an effective impact investment strategy in schooling is collaboration and openness to engagement. This manifests itself at the level of tactical decisions — the activities of the "academic council" (the coordinating, project center for the opening of the Schools of the Future). It brings together leading experts who translate best practices in school education and are able to adapt it to the changing reality, not only keeping up with the times, but also being ahead of them. Or in the implementation of the principle of the School’s openness to the local community, combining the resources of all members of this community.
But the principle of cooperation and openness is also important for creating positive change at the level of social impact, that is, at the level of communities, areas, society, and the country as a whole. And this requires consolidation of the efforts and strategies of all parties interested in such changes. It is quite possible to build one School, but when there are many such Schools, when it is not necessary to move to another country or even another district to study in them, when the quality education of the future is available to every child, we can really talk about systemic change and meaningful impact.
In conclusion, we must say that the Positive Change Factory is ready to take on the role of a unifying methodological center for creating systemic changes[24]. Our standard of activity involves planning and evaluating projects in the field of impact investments based on the evidence-based approach, openness of the data obtained and, most importantly, interest in systemic and significant changes of the living standards of the society.
23
An undergraduate program in which students are encouraged to build their own trajectory of social service implementation and self-development in the public sphere.
24
The Positive Changes Factory is a platform for creating and developing positive change projects in various areas of human activity and society. Read more about the project: www.positive-changes.ru