Leading educational change in the 21st century: Creating living schools through shared vision and transformative governance

Abstract

This article provides a critical overview of national and international efforts to shift education to what has been commonly called 21st century learning. Governments, non-profits, and corporate consortiums are in large part responsible for education reform designed to re-conceptualize K12 education for the 21st century. The article introduces an integrative transformative educational concept called the Living School that connects K12 educational reform with Education for Sustainability, sustainable community development, and individual well-being. Brief portraits describe schools that reflect Living School attributes. Ambitious initiatives to transform education for the 21st century require enlightened leadership and governance structures for scalable, system-wide reform. This paper offers an alternative vision for educational leadership and governance to support education reform based on a holistic approach to sustainable community economic development. An interdisciplinary model of professional learning to prepare education leaders for an alternative vision of education leadership is proposed.