Traditionally, ‘people’ in the education system are viewed as either students or teachers. The role of the teacher in this scenario is already deeply complex: they need to understand what to teach; how to teach it in a differentiated and personalised manner; how to identify learner growth; how to provide feedback and feedforward; how to build relationships; how to manage behaviour and support trauma; how to coach; how to create a culture of learning; how to complete administrative tasks; how to be an advocate for learners; how to collaborate with parents and carers, and more.

So, how can we shift some of that pressure from the single node of a teacher out to a wider ecosystem that can support and enrich the learning experience? How can we connect learners and educators to other sources of learning that are considered equally valid to the learning that happens in a school? How can we credential ‘non-classroom-based’ learning so that its value is recognised as part of the learning journey and integral to the learning profile of a student?

There is still a place for the traditional teacher/student relationship. However, broadening our understanding of the ecosystem takes the pressure off teachers to be “everything at once”. Shifting the focus away from the traditional view of people towards an ecosystem view also enables greater equity and access to resources. Knowledge in a community is no longer held by a few experts: it is shared and distributed. Reframing the view of ‘people’ in education to an ecosystem allows students greater access to this knowledge.

People can be:

• teachers and learners

• designers, coaches, online, part-time

• external experts