Beyond the Paperchase: Innovative Education Models That Catalyse Human Flourishing
Region
Singapore
Researcher
Tasnim Abdul Hadi
Institution Lien Centre for Social Innovation, Singapore Management University

Goal

Education is an enabler to human flourishing, a tool that is associated with liberation but also oppression. While pedagogy and content have undergone changes -- especially in how education can promote holistic development or enable academic success for children from diverse backgrounds -- a systems approach that goes beyond a paperchase is lacking. If we are to shape our world into one that is more vibrant, just, and inclusive, education as an enabling mechanism would benefit from a reset that liberates, and promotes equitable access for a civilisational impact. From an ecological systems perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), identifying and managing risk and protective factors ensures better success in all students. Academic success, however, is not the end goal; therefore we also recognise at least six contributing domains (VanderWeele, 2017): happiness/life satisfaction; mental/physical health; meaning/purpose; character/virtue; close relationships; and financial/material stability. Lines of inquiry include "What does flourishing mean to the various stakeholders involved?" and "How do we harness lessons learned from studying informal and formal education systems?" The goal is to effect a systemic impact for learners to be equipped with the tools and experiences that enable sustainable flourishing across personal, community and civilisational dimensions in Asia.

Opportunity

While research has examined how education systems can create viable economic opportunities, little is known about how those systems promote holistic flourishing. Critically, how can traditionally-valued knowledge and formal learning systems in Asia synergise and be leveraged to create a conducive environment for flourishing in domains beyond financial/material stability? Institutions like Singapore Management University recognise the importance of integrating education with industry, innovation, and internationalisation, through research and an experiential pedagogy. Our idea is that education incorporates learners' agency with relevance to society to enhance learning engagement and encourage mastery, leading to "the flow" of optimal experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Roadblocks

1. A lack of consensus on the domains to be studied under the definition of holistic flourishing
2. Managing expectations of various stakeholders such as parents, educators and policy makers
3. Conflict between traditionally held values and widely accepted modern practices
4. Inter-generational differences in attitudes concerning the relevance of traditional practices in modern society
5. Relevant and important government bodies might lack political will and resources to examine their education systems
6. Skepticism and resistance to implement lessons and ideas gathered (by schools or communities)
7. Concerns on exploitation of vulnerable communities of whom information and lessons were gathered

Breakthroughs Needed

Take a human-centred design approach to designing the research and programmes implementation, involving communities that we are seeking to learn from to ensure all perspectives are included to result in better understanding of holistic flourishing.
Develop buy-in from school administrators, teacher training institutions and PhD programmes -- creating the educational value proposition so that teachers are familiar with ideas informing new models of learning and education aimed toward human flourishing, and see the value of adapting pedagogy and curricula accordingly.
Create an organisational value proposition for businesses, ground-up initiatives and informal learning organisations to support them in adapting their engagement with education in a holistic manner (which also achieves their organisational goals). This makes for better facilitation of industry-education collaborations and best practices with a purpose-driven orientation, not just meeting organisational goals but also holistic goals related to societal flourishing and sustainability.
Convene multi-sector dialogues involving public, private and people sector representatives to foster common ground, resource sharing, and systematic efforts in the purpose of education beyond financial/ material stability or academic achievement (the "paperchase").
Recognition of, and the willingness to purge, the oppressive aspects of education systems that fail to promote human agency, social mobility and justice, equitable opportunities.

Key Indicators of Success

3 years: A gauge of openness of education institutions/ ecosystem players to define human flourishing beyond academic success and their level of commitment to adapt systems to that end, research completed on time, number and variety of stakeholders engaged;
5 years: Data that validate models incorporating contextual insights, number of pilot programmes and participants enrolled, number of additional research commenced and completed;
10 years: Number of small grants given out, programmes run, multi-sector and cross-country sharing and collaborations; toolkit completed and number of toolkits given out, number of locations where toolkit is being used; stories of change

Disclaimer

These research ideas were submitted in response to Templeton World Charity Foundation’s global call for Grand Challenges in Human Flourishing, which ran from September through November 2020.

Opinions expressed on this page, or any media linked to it, do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. does not control the content of external links.