Five Themes for 2023- BQI

Artificial Intelligence – The second half of 2022 was literally breathtaking in terms of how quickly advances in generative writing, art, and other AI tools have taken hold. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that nothing will have more of an impact on how we think about the practice and outcomes of education moving forward.

Regenerative Design – It’s a hard reality to acknowledge, but it’s now clear that our environmental challenges are becoming more and more difficult to overcome, and that our students will be living as adults in a period of great disruption and hardship. There is now a compelling argument that schools must redesign their most fundamental systems, practices, and pedagogies to focus on the regeneration of all life on the planet.

2043 – Given the uncertainty of what’s ahead, it’s more important than ever to develop cultures and systems that have “one foot in the future.” School communities must engage in building the collective capacity to develop a futures lens through which to make every decision about the experience of school they create for students.

“Epistemic Humility” – With the increasing scale and complexity of the information we are being subjected to every day, individual educators and school communities must now learn and employ new strategies for separating fact from fiction, determining truth, and creating and contributing knowledge in ethical and effective ways. The very nature of literacy is in question.

Urgency – The last few years have taught us that we no longer have any time to waste when it comes to a focus on relevance, wellness, justice, and sustainability in schools. 2023 may very well be an inflection point where we either commit to interrogating our current missions and visions and move to articulate new ones, or we risk being overwhelmed by the existential challenges that now face teaching and learning and education writ large.

We know this is a pretty heady list. But we also know that these are the realities of our times. There are challenges, for sure, but there are also opportunities to do great and meaningful work this year. We hope to engage in these and other topics in ways that continue to make you think, and, importantly, act.