Public schooling has been a pillar of organizing and impacting society for centuries. But in the last 150 years, US public schools are expected to do more and more in bringing up the youth. School used to be a place to teach essential skills and disseminate some fundamental values. However, social and emotional learning was the responsibility mainly of the family and the social groups they occupied. Now, the contract has changed. 

In this piece written for Temple University, we see the growing list of society’s expectations of schools and teachers. While the list contains a host of essential subjects, their weight is being pushed more and more onto teachers and school programs rather than other areas of society.

But, as the authors of this piece suggest, “[s]ocial and economic conditions demand that we unfold the full potential of every child. Our futures are tied to their success as never before. But this is a job for all of us. Our schools cannot do it alone. We must all come together in a great conversation and help our schools remove the obstacles to student success both in and out of schools.”

So, how can we start this great conversation? How can we change our expectations of what school could be and share the load of cultivating thriving youth?

Regarding bringing up our youth, let’s look at another system outside of the home where we place this responsibility. 

Early child care is where many children get their start in education. So, what better than to set this kind of learning environment up in an empowering way? In this article from The Conversation, we learn about the enormous benefits of training child care educators in entrepreneurial leadership. Entrepreneurial spaces emphasize collaborative problem solving, foster creative thinking, and ask us to reflect on current practices. These models also improve educator, child care provider, parent, and child engagement.

What’s more, these kinds of entrepreneurial leaders begin to see their roles as collaborative and purpose-driven rather than hierarchical. Therefore, if we want more civic and community engagement, what better place to start than in our early childhood care?

Thinking beyond early childhood learning, how can we better improve classroom outcomes for college students? According to Virginia Tech, one way is to enlist the help of undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs). 

In a recent post about campus experience, the university highlights the impact of their Engage Undergraduate TA Program. The program benefits students, faculty, and learning experiences. From offering more engaging group work to enabling more extensive facilitator/student interaction, the growing TA program could be a model for the value of peer-to-peer learning in other teaching environments. 

With the continued complications of COVID-19 for our education systems, teaching assistants allow for a more robust and rewarding learning experience. Even outside of the pandemic conditions, this more collaborative teaching and learning offer us a viable path towards our educational goals.

Trends in education show us that learner-to-learner relationships are critical. While teachers need to lead certain parts of the education process, peer-to-peer learning can immensely benefit understanding and practicing a concept.

In this piece from Edutopia, we learn about a tool developed as part of inquiry-based learning, the Question Formulation Technique. This method is especially beneficial for students who have been set in their other-directed ways of learning.

This classroom technique helps emphasize the importance of staying in the question phase of discovery. As those who follow ELI know, we find this to be a critical part of the entrepreneurial process. Fully understanding and adapting our questions leads us to a deeper understanding and better and more unique solutions.