Позитивные изменения. Образование. Школа будущего (Тематический выпуск, 2022)/Positive changes. Education. The school of the future (Special issue, 2

The third option, which seemed to us the most preferable, is the creation (or selection) of an educational model by a project team specifically created for the opening of the school. There are many examples of this model, and there are entire institutions that offer services for investors to open «turnkey» schools.

It is worth noting that teaching staff and school administrators often lack time to update practices, but this is an important component if we are talking about designing the School of the Future.

We think it is important to note a number of points.

Firstly, the work of any such project team must involve a research unit — a study of the territory, current approaches, situation, challenges, etc.

Secondly, the work of such a project team may not be limited to the framework of the "contract to create a school", but can continue in the future as a tool to support the School’s team. It could be a kind of a "academic council" that brings together specialists interested in the development of the school system, with expertise in this area. The existence of such a council could provide, on the one hand, an update of the approaches and practices used, taking into account the latest developments and technologies, and on the other hand, act as an aggregator and integrator of the experience of all the projects that are launched. It is worth noting that teaching staff and school administrators often lack time to update practices, but this is an important component if we are talking about designing the School of the Future.

If the investor is determined, and the investor’s vision of the project is at the level of a meaningful contribution to positive change in the educational system, it is likely to be not just one school, but a network of schools — newly opened or upgraded. In addition, the council’s activities can also include outside projects that, for example, need to share experiences and receive feedback, evaluate the social impact of their project, etc.

THE SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE: GROWTH POINTS FOR EXISTING APPROACHES

Based on our research, we identified the key important characteristics that the School of the Future must have, including the ability to create an individual educational path for a child, inclusivity in the broadest sense (for both gifted children and children with disabilities), lack of selectivity, including by the criterion of affordability, etc.[21] Let us consider some ways in which these characteristics might be taken into account when building the School of the Future.

First of all, it is worth noting two important related characteristics — inclusivity and individualization of the curriculum and the educational environment as a whole. It seems that the School of the Future, if we see it as a tool for creating impact, positive social change, is a School "close to home", accessible to any family, both geographically and financially. In fact, this situation of relative homogeneity and accessibility of school education can be observed in many countries around the world, including «model» schools, for example in Scandinavia. And this is one of the important differences between the existing strategies of impact investment in Russia, which is quite understandable: if it is possible to open one school, let it be the one with the highest level of selection and it will be attended by the «smartest» students not only of the city, but also of the country. In this case they will inevitably show high results in Academic Olympics, get high USE/IB scores and enter the best universities in Russia and abroad, which gives clear and easily measurable social effects. Another strategy is to select more on the basis of financial considerations. By the way, it is obvious that not every family, even in Moscow, can afford the Brooks International School, which costs more than 2 million rubles a year. But it is very likely that such a school will give better opportunities for admission to foreign universities, knowledge of English close to the level of a native speaker, etc.

At the same time, 80 % of the remaining children will continue to go to school with classes of 40 or drive across town to a really good school where they managed to get in. Remembering the Pareto principle, we can certainly hypothesize that 20 % is enough to change the quality of life for the remaining 80, but we cannot always expect them to return when they graduate overseas.