An interview with Kevin Bartlett, Co-founder of CGC

Having collaborated with Common Ground Collaborative, we had the honor of inviting co-founder Kevin Bartlett to our school a few days ago. Kevin has held leadership positions in many countries including the UK, Belgium, Tanzania, Austria, and Namibia. He has co-designed accreditation systems for The New England Association of Schools, The Council of International Schools, and The European Council of International Schools.

Parents, kids, and teachers interacted with him, and it was a splendidly informative experience. We have compiled a few bytes of our interview for you:

About Common Ground Collaborative

Kevin spoke about the inspiration behind Common Ground Collaborative. After years of seeing just how complicated schooling has become, he realized that a systemic approach was missing, which would have otherwise closed some gaps that we see at school. There are gaps between business and learning, students and teachers, parents and teachers, and between what a school promises and what it delivers. A combined, coherent system that’s efficient and effective in causing an impact was needed here.
“We began to see schools not as factories where children are shunted through at a certain pace but as living organisms. In the end, we distilled learning down to its absolute essence, and created a system that has 4 D’s.”

About the four D’s of learning

Kevin expressed that CGC follows the 4 D’s of learning – Define, Design, Deliver, and Demonstrate.

  1. We define learning to answer the question, “What is learning and why we do it.”
  2. We then tackle the learning design question – What’s worth learning and how does it all fit into a curriculum program?
  3. Then the teaching question – How do we deliver learning in the most powerful ways and create in every classroom the learning culture?
  4. Finally, nothing counts unless we demonstrate So, how do we assess, record, and report for learning?

About working with Pioneer World School

According to Kevin, the education system right now is disturbingly profit-oriented and lecture-dominated. Pioneer World School is a step ahead in focusing on education rather than the profit and adopting various teaching methodologies to make learning effective and easier.
“It has been extremely good working with Pioneer. We are putting a team together, and we are honestly enjoying it. We’ve been talking for about 6 months, and I have been here for about 3 days. We are going to do a lot of planning, and I’ll be back in June for the new plan and steps. It is a 3-5 year project, and we are mapping it out based on what will have the highest impact on all the kids.”

His advice to parents

The interview rounded off with some great advice to parents wherein he suggested that they take every opportunity to understand the systemic approach that CGC and Pioneer World School are together bringing in. Only then can parents be a genuine partner in their child’s education.
“We are closing the gap between parent and teacher by simplifying learning and the system.”
 We thank Kevin Bartlett and the entire team of Common Ground Collaborative for working with us to make learning as effective as possible with globally recognized standards and tools. We hope to bring a massive change in the way education is perceived and understood, thereby helping our kids prepare for the future and the challenges it beholds.
 

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