Health Promoting
Continuous Learning Sustainable
Education System
Colleen M. Stanton
Ph.D. Candidate, OISE, University of Toronto
R.N., B.Sc.N., B.Ed., M.E.S., M.B.A.
Bob Harper
B.A., M.Ed.
November 22, 2011
Overview of the Presentation
1. Introductions
2. An Ecological Approach to Health
3. Building on Questions and Findings from
Previous International Research
4. Doctoral Research in Health Promoting
Continuous Learning Sustainable Systems
5. What Can We Learn from this Research?
6. Conclusion
Colleen Stanton has 30 years of extensive experience as a:
• registered nurse; community health nurse in public health;
• teacher (children, youth, graduate students);
• health promotion consultant;
• researcher, evaluator, planner;
• teacher in graduate programs – (Masters in Nursing & Health Studies);
• senior health promotion manager in public health;
• initial management committee of the Ontario Healthy Communities
Coalition;
• member of the Ontario Healthy Schools Steering Committee.
Focus: Leadership towards healthy sustainable families, schools, workplaces,
communities, cities and regions.
3
Bob Harper has 39 years of extensive experience as:
• Coordinating Superintendent of Education for a large school board
in Ontario for ten years
• Member of the Senior Management Team for 15 years
• Worked in various roles in the education system for 39 years as a
teacher, principal, superintendent, coordinating superintendent
• Most recent portfolio was as Coordinating Superintendent of
Workplaces and Learning Environments
• Focus on healthy schools, eco-schools, plant services, international
education, continuing education, transportation, etc.
• Expertise in secondary education
• Member of the Ontario Healthy Schools Steering Committee
Focus: Leadership Towards Healthy Sustainable Workplaces & Education
Systems
4
An ecological approach to health…..
• A key step would lie in understanding
health as a pattern of relations rather than as
a quantitative outcome.
• A pattern though is not a fixed matter but
‘primarily’ a dance of interacting parts…..
• This opens the possibility of understanding
health as a process.
(Kickbusch, 1989).
5
A shift from a deficit model of disease to
an asset model of health potentials
inherent in social and institutional settings
of everyday life (Kickbusch, 1996)
6
Is dynamic, interconnected, and
characterized by interrelationships,
interdependencies, and synergies.
(Capra, 1982; 1996)
7
Health promotion is the process
of enabling individuals and
communities to increase control
over the determinants of health
and thereby improve their health
(WHO, 1986).
8
Moving Towards
Open Design and Emergence
How can we begin to describe and
understand health as a process, as a
pattern of dynamic interrelationships, as
potential, as synergy? As a open living
system? As a pattern of open design and
emergence?
9
Building on Previous Research
• Completed an international research study
entitled a Systems Approach to Health
Promoting Schools, 2004;
• Summary published in the IUHPE Promotion
and Education, Volume XII, No. 3-4, 2005;
• Interviewed 35 key informants – system leaders
working to promote healthy schools around the
world;
10
Open Living Systems
Evolve & Grow
• The previous research identified six core
elements and a framework for a systems
approach to health promoting schools;
• Identified key challenges and
opportunities of creating a systems change
process towards health promoting
schools.
11
Core Elements of a Systems Approach to
Health Promoting Schools, 2004
Knowledge and Appreciation of
Continuous Learning and
Sustainability
Shared Vision
Collaborative Culture
Interconnectedness Interconnectedness
with with
Internal/External Referent Structure Internal/External
Environments Environments
Overarching Strategy
Personal/Professional
Development/Learning
Evaluation and Monitoring
Knowledge and Appreciation of Knowledge and Appreciation of
Health & Health Promoting Systems Change
Systems (Holistic, Integrated Approaches)
Holistic, Ecological, Systems Approach)
12
Key Questions
• How and where is health created?
• What creates health in large organizations, workplaces, and
systems?
• How can a health promoting system support the core business of an
organization (in this case a school board)?
• How can we link health promoting systems with learning systems?
• How can we work with others to build a common and shared vision
and strategy that meets the needs of all stakeholders?
• What should we call this “entity”?
• A health promoting sustainable school? A Living School? An
Effective School? A Learning School?
• What are the essential aspects of the system design and how can it
remain open and flexible enough to grow and evolve?
13
Key Questions
• How do we ensue the word “health” does not get in the
way of developing a common and shared vision?
• What type of leadership would enable this large open
systems change process?
• What type of ongoing evaluation, monitoring and
scanning would be helpful but not limit our thinking,
our learning and our ability to allow emergence?
14
Key Questions
• How can we share our experiences locally,
provincially, nationally and internationally?
• Is there a role for technology and international
learning forums?
• How can we involve and engage people across
the world in learning and sharing?
15
Quotes from Key Informants
“Working to create health promoting
schools involves a paradigm shift. We
need to recognize that this is an integral
process. It is a challenge to see the world
differently. Change is messy. We have to
embrace it and reorganize at a higher
level. It takes “big brains” to make this
happen.”
“16
Quote from Key Informant
“It is not possible or desirable to create the
model of a health promoting school. Every
model is a result of dialogue and
consensus among its “constructors” and
has meaning within a certain value-
framework in a particular context. The
health promoting school is more of a
process of contextual interpretation than
an outcome of the implementation of
global principles.” 17
Quotes from Key Informants
HPS requires that people:
• can see the big picture; value a child and youth
centred society;
• be comfortable with ambiguity and change and
believe that by working together we can make a
bigger difference – build synergy exponentially;
• believe that by working collaboratively we can
get a greater return on our investment;
• appreciate that systems change requires ongoing
dialogue and developing shared meanings.
18
Key Findings
The development of health promoting continuous
learning sustainable systems require that we focus on
developing the capacity to:
• authentically share power, distribute leadership and responsibility
through empowering self-organizing processes;
• build authentic, open, honest relationships through collaborative
partnerships, networks and communities
• increase our capacity to take risks, be creative and be comfortable
with deep dialogue and diversity;
• learn to be comfortable with turbulence, non linearity and the
messiness of change;
• move from top down, designed, approaches of management and
control to more guided and emergent, creative approaches to
learning and change.
19
Key Findings
While the content and curriculum of a healthy
sustainable school system is important, it is
really about an ongoing systems change process
of relationship building, collaboration, ongoing
feedback looping, paying attention to
disturbances, distributing and sharing
leadership and power, appreciating diversity
and facilitating open environments that promote
deep learning and emergence.
20
Research Questions
1. What are the top three system environments that have
the most influence or enable the emergence of health,
wellbeing, continuous learning and sustainability for
individuals and for the organization as a whole?
2. What are the interrelationships, patterns and synergies
between these top three (3) system environments?
3. Are there one or two system environments that might
be considered the key synergy point(s) for this systems
change process?
21
System Environments That Promote Optimal Health,
Wellbeing, Continuous Learning & Sustainability
Knowledge and Appreciation of
Living Systems,
Change & Sustainability Lens
(Holistic, Systems Approach)
System Environments*
1. Leadership (Shared and Distributed)
2. Culture of Continuous Learning
(Intellectual Environment)
Interconnectedness Interconnectedness
with 3. Interrelatedness of Work & Life with
Internal/External Internal/External
Environments 4. Meaning/Purpose/Connectedness Environments
5. Collaborative Culture
6. Health Promoting Physical Environments
7. Health Promoting Social/Emotional
Environments
8. Work Organization/Design/Emergence
Knowledge and Appreciation of Knowledge and Appreciation of
Health & Health Promotion Lens Continuous Learning Lens
(Holistic, Ecological, Systems Approach) (Holistic, Systems Approach)
22
Different ways of
understanding and
appreciating systems
3 Major Lenses of a HPCLSS
Health Promoting Systems
Continuous Learning Systems
Living/Sustainable Systems
24
Health Promoting Systems
• Trevor Hancock, M.D., Ministry of Health, Public Health Consultant,
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Irv Rootman, Ph.D., Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Lawry St. Leger, Ph.D., Deakin University, School of Health and Social
Development, Australia
• Harvey Skinner, Ph.D., Dean, Faculty of Health, York University, Canada
• David Rivett, Previous Coordinator of ENHPS, World Health Organization
• Cameron Norman, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada
• Allan Best, Ph.D., University of British Columbia, Canada
• Michael Goodstadt, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada
25
Continuous Learning Systems
• Carol Rolheiser, Ph.D., Previous Associate Dean, OISE, University
of Toronto & Current Director, Centre for Teaching Excellence and
Innovation, University of Toronto
• Blair Mascall, Ph.D., OISE, University of Toronto, Canada
• Stephen Anderson, Ph.D. OISE, University of Toronto, Canada
• Ken Leithwood, Ph.D., OISE, University of Toronto, Canada
• Lyn Sharratt, Ph.D., OISE, University of Toronto, Canada
• Marilyn Laiken, Ph.D. , OISE, University of Toronto, Canada
• Michael Fullan, Ph.D., OISE, University of Toronto, Canada
• Andy Hargreaves, PhD., Lynch School of Education, Boston
College, MA
• Bryan Smith, Ph.D., President, Broad Reach Innovations, Markham,
Ontario, Canada
26
Continuous Learning Systems
• Cristina D’Arce, Ph.D., President, Society for Organizational
Learning, (SOL), Brazil
• Doug Reeves, Ph.D. & Elle Allison, Ph.D., Renewal Coaching for
Sustainable Change for Individuals and Organizations
• Jack Miller, Ph.D., Professor, OISE, University of Toronto, Holistic
Curriculum & Holistic Learning;
• Alma Harris, Ph.D., Professor, University of London, UK
• James Spillane, Ph.D., Professor, Northwestern University
• Mary Anne Archer, Ph.D., Professor, OISE, University of Toronto
27
Living Sustainable Systems
• Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., Berkley California, United States of
America
• Margaret Wheatley, Ph.D. , Berkana Institute, United
States of America
• Michael Fullan, Ph.D., Previous Dean, OISE, University
of Toronto
• Andy Hargreaves, Ph.D., Lynch School of Education,
Boston College, M.A.
• Gareth Morgan, Ph.D. , York University, Schulich School
of Business, Ontario, Canada
• Glenda Eoyang, Ph.D., President, Human System
Dynamics 28
Data Collection Methods and
Criteria for Sampling/Selection
• Preliminary Interviews (10)
• Semi-Structured Interviews (60)
– District Level (14)
– School Level (46)
• Review of Key System Patterns with Systems
Thinkers and Change Leaders (Internal/External)
29
Findings
30
System Environment #1:
Leadership (key enabler)
1. Appreciation of human qualities, relationships, respect for life;
2. Authentic sharing of power, control, empowering forms of
distributed/shared leadership;
3. Promotes meaningful and authentic input into decision-making;
4. Creates a culture of continuous learning, deep dialogue, risk taking
and innovation;
5. An appreciation of diversity - diverse opinions, ideas, cultures,
worldviews, mental models;
6. Creates a culture of collaboration, networking and community
building.
31
System Environment #2:
Culture of Continuous Learning
1. Capacity to adapt to change and generate/co-create
new knowledge, wisdom, and ways of knowing;
2. Capacity to take risks, be creative and learn from
mistakes;
3. Capacity to access and synergize resources to address
complex issues in personal and organizational lives;
4. Appreciation of diversity – diverse cultures, opinions,
worldviews, ideas, ways of learning etc.
5. Meaning, purpose, coherence and consciousness
32
System Environment #3:
Interrelatedness of Work & Life
Individual and Organizational Levels:
1. Increased awareness that we are interrelated and
interconnected to each other and to the whole;
2. Appreciation that we are open systems nested within
broader open systems (individuals, family,
organization, community, planet);
3. Increased awareness that we are all part of something
bigger than ourselves and working towards common
good, moral purpose, collective purpose
4. Capacity to address specific issues related to
interrelatedness of work and life (quality of life) – e.g.
generational issues, more flexible work hours, life
stages, opportunities to return to school, time off with
family, caregiver support, mentoring and support
during difficult and stressful times, etc.
33
System Environment #3
Interrelatedness of Work & Life
5. Increased awareness and appreciation of the need for
renewal, regeneration, and rejuvenation;
6. The capacity to deal with loss, change and growth;
letting go and moving on;
7. Increased emergent properties of compassion, caring,
empathy, forgiveness, global awareness, ecological
awareness.
34
Findings:
System Patterns
Leadership was identified as the major enabler of a
healthy sustainable learning system for individuals and
for the organization as a whole.
Guided and emergent forms of distributed leadership
(DL) were reported as promoting the highest levels of
optimal health, wellbeing, continuous learning and
sustainability for individuals and for the organization as
a whole.
35
Hargreaves’ Ladder of
Distributed Leadership
• Anarchy
• Emergent distribution
• Guided distribution
• Progressive delegation
• Traditional delegation
• Autocracy
(Hargreaves & Fink, 2006)
36
Schools with
Guided to Emergent
Patterns of Distributed Leadership
Exhibit characteristics and conditions of a HPCLSS such as:
• increased sense of empowerment;
• increased ownership and commitment;
• positive continuous learning environments;
• sense of meaning, purpose and connectedness;
• patterns of flow, appreciation of diversity;
• sharing of power and control; sense of “voice”;
• ability to cope; be resilient with increased workload and change;
• increased capacity to support each other socially, emotionally,
intellectually, physically, and spiritually;
• increased creativity, use of technology;
• increased capacity to integrate multiple initiatives and programs;
• Increased awareness of interrelatedness with emergent properties
of compassion, caring, empathy, forgiveness, global awareness and
environmental awareness.
37
Schools with Emergent Patterns of
Distributed Leadership
• There is an increased sense of aliveness, awareness and
consciousness…. capacity to grow and evolved …the
individual and collective systems are becoming more
complex;
• There is a growing appreciation of interrelatedness as
individuals, as organizations, communities and the
global environment/planet;
38
Findings:
Diverse Leadership Patterns
There are two very different leadership patterns across this
District.
• Leadership in one large area of the system is more open,
emergent and self-organizing;
• Leadership in another large area of the system is top
down, very directed, with pre-determined goals and
objectives;
• These can be termed “organized” & “self- organizing”
systems. (G. Eoyang; M. Wheatley; F. Capra);
39
Patterns of
Continuous Learning
• There is a strong culture of continuous learning in this
organization. The majority of the key informants
reported this to be health promoting for them as
individuals and for the organization as a whole.
• Staff (superintendents, principals and teachers) who are
nested under more closed top-down leadership
environments reported their learning environments
were not health promoting or sustainable because the
learning agenda was pre-determined, not personalized
and meaningful to them.
40
Patterns of Interrelatedness
• While health and wellbeing is being created in this
organization/school district through the leadership,
culture of collaboration and culture of continuous
learning, there is a need for greater appreciation of
individual health and wellbeing in key areas: increased
flexibility re personal needs; time off; more attention to
generational issues; more attention on ensuring balanced
work and family life; opportunities for rejuvenation and
renewal.
41
Patterns of Interrelatedness
• Key informants (teachers and principals in particular)
would like to see the continued expansion of
international networks, exchanges, volunteer work
opportunities, teacher training programs that promote
their continuous learning and growth.
• At the organizational level, there is a need to consider
how principal and vice principal leadership is
encouraged, developed and sustained on an ongoing
basis – paying more attention to various forms of
distributed leadership, the selection process, how and
when principals are recruited and transferred,
opportunities inside and outside the system for renewal,
rejuvenation, continuous learning. 42
Striking Patterns:
A Summary
• Throughout this system one of the striking patterns is
the creation of health, wellbeing and sustainability in the
areas of the system where the leadership is more open,
draws on guided to emergent leadership patterns and
facilitates emergence, creativity and innovation.
• In these school and system environments, individuals
report higher levels of health, wellbeing & sustainability.
• They describe feeling alive, a sense of wellbeing, support
from their colleagues and supervisor, openness to new
ideas and creative approaches, and a true sense of
respect for life, caring and appreciation of diversity.
• They describe many examples of emergence or co-
creation of new ideas, programs, structures, and ways of
seeing the world. 43
Striking Patterns
• Another striking pattern is the emergence of empathy,
caring, compassion, forgiveness, and increase global and
environmental awareness in schools exhibiting higher
forms of DL, deeper learning environments and
increased interrelatedness. This pattern was identified in
more open caring, emergent leadership environments.
• When emergent leaders (supervisory officers, principals
and teachers) are nested under more autocratic and top
down leadership they reported feelings of stress, ill
health, inability to grow and learn deeply, a lack voice,
choice and a lack of empowerment. They also reported
increased absences from work. 44
Blockages of Flow
in the System
There are a few major “blockages” of flow in this
system that are influencing health, wellbeing and
sustainability and that need to be addressed
related to:
• different leadership philosophies, values and forms
(sharing of power/control; empowerment);
• different attitudes related to control, flexibility,
empowerment in some key areas/departments;
• a need for more openness to deeper learning – allowing
deeper learning to take hold through dialogue, taking
risks, sharing of knowledge and control etc.
• lack of flexibility in relation to human resource policies,
job design, flexible work hours, elementary union
management and relations.
45
What are the underlying
principles of a HPCLSS?
46
12 Principles of HPCLSS
1. Holistic, ecological living systems *
(systems are nested within systems)
2. Interrelatedness *
(interdependence, ecological awareness, meaning/purpose)
3. Relationships
(trust, cooperation, reciprocity, honesty, authenticity)
4. Diversity *
(resilience, culture, conflict, gender differences, etc)
5. Sharing and distribution of power, control and leadership
(empowerment, trust, distributed, shared leadership)
6. Collaboration, Networks, Communities *
(social networks, collaboration, sharing of knowledge)
47
Principles of HPCLSS
7. Learning*
(double & triple loop learning, feedback loops, adaptability, generativity,
creativity, social support, innovation)
8. Growth, Loss & Change
(generativity, adaptability, openness, flexibility, willingness to be disturbed)
9. Balance/Equilibrium/Disequilibrium/Homeostasis *
(integrity, balance, awareness, consciousness)
10. Meaning/Purpose/Coherence/Consciousness
(interrelatedness, integrity, ability to think towards the future, ecological
awareness/sensitivity, aliveness)
48
Principles of a HPCLSS
11. Flow*
(energy, interrelationships, dynamics, synergy,
ideas, resources, generative learning, knowledge,
waste)
12. Emergence* & Design
(creativity, novelty, innovation, risk taking,
new and flexible structures)
Health, Wellbeing, & Sustainability
(health, wellbeing, continuous learning,
“aliveness”, “spirit”, future, energy,
ecological awareness)
* These are the principles of all living systems
49
Learning
•What can we learn from this
research? What further research
can be done in this area?
Open Design & Emergence
Health promoting continuous learning sustainable systems
are moving from:
• traditional planned systems to a growing understanding of
complex adaptive learning systems;
• organized, designed systems to self organizing, emergent,
creative systems.
This involves an ongoing process of growth and development
and increasing complexity.
51
What can we learn from this research about integrating
health, wellbeing and sustainability into school districts?
• Health is created in our everyday work and home lives.
• Educators are beginning to more fully understand and
appreciate how health is created and co-created in their
own work environments.
• A growing number of educators are developing an
increased appreciation of the interrelationships between
individual, organizational, community, and global
health, wellbeing and sustainability.
• Higher more evolved forms of distributed leadership
(DL) can be enablers of health, wellbeing, continuous
learning and sustainability; while less evolved forms can
be disablers of health, wellbeing and sustainability.
52
What can we learn from this research about integrating
health, wellbeing and sustainability into school districts?
• Cultures of collaboration, continuous learning and
distributed leadership are generally health promoting,
but in order to be sustainable they need to be supported
by sufficient flexible resources and attention to ensure
balance, renewal, regeneration and resilience of staff;
learning has to be personalized, relevant and meaningful
to each individual.
• People need to be supported socially and emotionally
through difficult change and life processes; and the
challenges of loss, change and growth – individually and
collectively.
53
What can we learn from this research about integrating
health, wellbeing and sustainability into school districts?
•In human/social systems, meaning, purpose, coherence
and consciousness are integral to health, wellbeing and
sustainability.
•Key informants reported that shared meaning, purpose
and coherence, and their awareness and consciousness of
this shared purpose was “ensuring the aliveness, health,
wellbeing and sustainability of their individual lives and
the life of the organization”.
•Meaning, purpose, coherence and consciousness is the
synergy point of this system.
54
What can we learn from this research about integrating
health, wellbeing and sustainability into school districts?
• It was important to create flexible, open, adaptive
structures to begin to dialogue and think about how to
fully integrate curriculum and portfolio areas across this
system.
• This began the process of building deep understanding
and ongoing commitment and ownership by all staff
throughout the system. Staff were beginning to come to
a deeper understanding of their own health, wellbeing
and sustainability and the interrelatedness to the whole.
55
What can we learn from this research about integrating
health, wellbeing and sustainability into school districts?
• Research that is currently underway in the education
system needs to be shared and understood.
• For example this particular research was built on the
research of key educational leaders in the areas of:
distributed leadership; organizational learning; learning
organizations; systems change; and collaborative
learning environments.
• This requires having researchers and professionals
working across a number of diverse fields including
education and health.
56
What can we learn from this research about integrating
health, wellbeing and sustainability into school districts?
As members of professional learning communities,
communities of inquiry and practice – teachers,
principals, superintendents, senior leaders,
parents, trustees, students have extensive
knowledge, skills and capacities to design and
work towards creating a vision of healthy
sustainable learning systems in collaboration with
community partners.
57
New Portfolio and
Open & Flexible Learning
Structure Created
• New Portfolio was created to address Healthy
Workplaces and Learning Environments;
• Linking and Integrating Healthy Schools, Eco-Schools,
Safe Schools, Outdoor Education, Positive Climates for
Learning;
• Wanted to give workplace wellbeing a key focus in the
organization;
• Wanted the process to be owned by the everyone;
• Wanted to increase overall understanding and
appreciation of leadership, learning and interrelatedness
in health, wellbeing & sustainability. 58
Towards Health Promoting, Continuous Learning Sustainable Systems
Ongoing growth patterns of increasing complexity, non linearity, openness,
health promoting relationships, empowered shared distributed leadership,
shared meaning & purpose, diversity, voice, choice, collaboration, coherence
and deeper adaptive and generative learning
Closed System Designed/Planned, Fairly More Open, Guided/Facilitative Emergent/Assertive
Autocratic, Top-Down, Closed, Aligned, Linear Approach Non-Linear Approach
Structured, Linear Approach
Approach Facilitates emergence, creativity,
People reported that the overall openness within the agreed upon Clear on shared purposes and
Structured, aligned, little framework, goals and outcomes framework and purpose. values, while promoting
choice, voice, input and are pre-determined and Becoming more complex and shared creativity, emergence,
ownership established by a few; They have non-linear; has developed their openness, innovation, risk
Work is delegated and little or minimal input into own structures for collaboration taking, increased flow, voice,
learning is organized at important decisions affecting and community building and empowerment, increased
the top; people are their work and life. This leads to does not stop emergence; still choice, involvement, increased
frustrated and reported frustration, dis-connect with fairly structured and people work growth, learning, double and
feeling stressed, lack of individual and organization collaboratively. People reported triple loop learning etc.
opportunities to grow and meaning and purpose; little feeling healthy, enjoying ongoing Very high levels of health,
learn, and be themselves input; feelings of collaboration and community wellbeing and sustainability
and contribute tot the disempowerment, lack of voice, building; learning with others; reported. Very high levels of
whole. Detailed planning lack of choice. There is very and there is flexibility in work life empowerment, self knowledge,
and analysis is used to superficial learning as the balance, and wellbeing. deep sense of contribution to
ensure predictability and outcomes and goals are already Data requirements are developed the whole; able to question
people feel they have no pre-determined and they have together by a team and they are authority and ask difficult
input, voice, or choice. limited input. Use of monitored and changed on an questions – deep dialogue etc.
They feel like “pawns” in quantitative data is very ongoing basis. Synergizes There is a strong sense of
the system. A few frustrating, lacks meaning and is existing resources and may access interrelatedness with
reported having to take time consuming and not helpful. some new resources. environmental and global
sleeping pills and taking Does not access or synergize There is a culture of honouring activities – locally and globally.
time off work. resources, talents, capacities. and respecting each individual’s Utilize both qualitative and
59
Feedback looping is used to strengths and the need for self quantitative data and involved
regulate and keep the “status determination, empowerment, in research
Thank You