In an episode of Voices for Excellence, host Dr. Michael Conner, CEO and founder of Agile Evolutionary Group, was joined by Jody Bloyer, Deputy Superintendent of Racine Public Schools in Wisconsin, to explore what education must look like in the years after COVID-19. The discussion focused on changing student needs, social-emotional learning, community partnerships, wraparound support and the challenge of creating learning environments that are better aligned with the generations now moving through schools.
Social-emotional learning cannot sit outside academics
One of the clearest ideas is that academic learning and social-emotional development should not be treated as separate priorities. A student’s ability to communicate, persevere, collaborate, manage difficulty and feel that they belong all influence how effectively they learn.
That matters even more when we consider how different the experiences of today’s students have been. Some of the children entering school now were babies during COVID-19, while older students have grown up in a world shaped by instant access to information, digital communication and rapid feedback. Schools are therefore teaching students whose social and learning experiences may look very different from those of previous generations.
The response cannot simply be another programme added to the timetable. These skills need to be developed through everyday teaching, relationships and the wider environment surrounding the child.
Education extends beyond the school walls
Young people are influenced by far more than the people they meet in classrooms. Families, community organisations, coaches, businesses, local government, police, faith groups and other adults all form part of their wider support system.
That creates an opportunity for schools to think differently about partnership. Rather than seeing the community as something outside education, schools can treat it as part of the learning ecosystem.
The practical question becomes: what tools can we give the adults around young people so they are better equipped to support them?
Those tools may look different in different settings. What works for a teacher may not be what a parent, coach or business owner needs. The aim is not for everybody to do the same thing, but for the people around a child to understand what they are collectively trying to support.
Layer support instead of competing for it
Communities often have many organisations trying to help the same families, yet those organisations may still work independently. Schools, local authorities, community groups, police and other services can find themselves addressing similar problems without a shared view of what is already happening.
A more useful model is to layer support rather than compete for the same space.
That means understanding which organisations already have strong relationships, where resources already exist and where genuine gaps remain. It also means recognising that one organisation does not have to own every solution.
Community connectors are one example of how those gaps can be bridged. People who understand both the school system and the community can help families navigate support, particularly where previous experiences have created mistrust or distance between families and institutions.
When those connections are strong, support becomes less fragmented and the school becomes part of a wider network rather than an isolated service.
Design for the learners in front of us
Schools also need to confront a simple reality: today’s students do not learn in exactly the same environment their teachers did.
Gen Z and Generation Alpha are used to immediate feedback, digital interaction and experimenting with technology. That does not mean every lesson should revolve around a device, but it does mean education has to think more carefully about how technology, including AI and mobile phones, can be used productively.
The answer is a blend. Students still need direct teaching, deep thinking and human interaction, but they also need opportunities to collaborate, explore, experiment and solve problems.
This demands change from adults too. Educators naturally return to approaches that are familiar and have worked before. Moving into something different can create its own form of productive struggle, which is why leaders need to give teachers both the support and the permission to experiment.
Make it safe to try
Meaningful innovation rarely arrives perfectly formed. New approaches need to be tested, reflected upon and improved.
That requires a culture where educators can be open to the reason for change and still feel safe enough to try something unfamiliar.
A lesson may become noisier. Students may take an unexpected route through a task. The learning may look less controlled than a traditional classroom, but that does not automatically mean it is less valuable.
Students already experience this kind of learning outside school. They try something, fail, adjust their approach, work with others and try again. That persistence is part of learning, and schools can create more space for it.
The challenge is not choosing between structure and experimentation. It is finding the right balance between them.
Connect learning to the real world
One way to make that learning more meaningful is to connect academic subjects to experiences beyond the classroom.
Career pathways, project-based learning and apprenticeships allow students to see how English, maths, science and other subjects connect to areas they may want to pursue later. The curriculum does not disappear. It is placed into a context that helps students understand why it matters.
That also opens schools to expertise from outside education. Businesses, professionals and community organisations can contribute knowledge and experiences that make learning more connected to the world students will eventually enter.
Grace, commitment, belief and joy
Changing education is not quick work. People will move at different speeds, and creating new systems requires enough grace to bring people with you rather than expecting everybody to change overnight.
It also takes commitment and belief: commitment to continue when progress is difficult, and belief in the students, families, educators and communities involved.
And there has to be joy in the process. Education can become so focused on improvement, accountability and systems that it loses sight of the people those systems exist to serve. Strong schools need both structure and humanity.
The future of education will depend on schools becoming more connected to their communities, more responsive to changing learners and more willing to rethink where learning happens and who gets to be part of it.
