Then there was thinking time. Challenge and excitement went hand in hand and led to many long discussions. The importance of the curriculum, which covered the five threads of the Initiative’s vision, lies in its synthesis. The research links together and demands a rethinking of how we organise learning. It requires the reader to re-examine school structures and to look at learning before and after school, both in early years and beyond school age, and at home during free time. It challenges every adult to ask themselves what were their most significant learning experiences, and to realise how much they learned from their parents and from other adults in the community.

The world our young people will inherit will be vastly different to the one the present system of education was designed for. Today’s young will be challenged by an alarming number of problems – from environmental issues to an ageing population. They will have to answer questions that we have largely ignored. What is needed is independent minded individuals who have the greatest possible stake in their own futures and who can perform to their full potential. The research of the last few years has provided us with the evidence that we were on the right track when we tried to create learning communities 10 years ago. Such proof surely places a burden of responsibility upon us. It cannot be ignored.

The many understandings emerging from the work of the Initiative must inform our thinking and demands of us a radical set of moves. You can not simply tinker at the edges of the present system and expect to succeed. This is a time to be bold. We all need to start taking time out to think about what the findings being outlined by the Initiative could mean for schools, community and most importantly the future of children.

The Initiative does not tell us what to do. It gives us a framework within which we are challenged to develop our own strategies for change. Each country, district, or community starts from a different place and faces a unique set of challenges. Yet the basic issues are universal. Voices calling for change come from a wide variety of experiences and countries. Education can no longer be seen in isolation, and despite its complex and expensive infrastructure it is part of the fundamental shifts currently rocking the rest of society. The choice for those of us who have dedicated our lives to education is whether we will lead or resist? Teachers understand the problems and respond with warmth to the arguments the Initiative has developed. There is a natural and sympathetic response from all those who work closely with children. It is the clash between the demands of the present system and the way children learn how to learn which frustrates teachers. Sharp boundaries between school and community lead to suspicion, misunderstanding, and lost opportunities.

It is not enough to listen and agree with a rush of excitement and then allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the scale of the changes needed. We have a unique opportunity to respond now. The Initiative has shown how some of the challenges can be met in its papers and presentations entitled “Upside Down and Inside Out: Why Good Schools Alone Will Never Be Good Enough to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century.” Now it is up to all those of us who care about the future of children. In its planned expansion in Dublin the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Learning and Community Development will create opportunities for educational innovators, graduate students, policy makers, and others to learn how it is that people learn and develop the skills necessary to function successful in rapidly changing environments. I have had the privilege of becoming the first such Fellow of the 21st Century Learning Initiative.

Each Fellow will be expected to interpret their new understandings within their own particular environment. I knew when I first listened to John Abbott in 1988 that what we were doing, even in good schools, was not enough. I quickly discovered that schools alone could never deliver the learning opportunities needed by all children. It is clear that learning and schooling are not synonymous. By now there are no excuses for delay in developing more inclusive models of learning. Scientific understanding has proved that we were right in moving learning beyond the classroom. The message of the Initiative’s synthesis may not be popular amongst those who want quick and easily evaluated solutions to the problems of the preparation of the world’s young people for the future, but teachers know instinctively that this is the way forward. I hope that there are some amongst the leaders and policy makers of the world who have the vision, courage and long term commitment to stop, listen, and act. Young people are not simply interested in short-term goals – they want to feel capable of facing the world in 2030, 2040 and beyond.

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