In a world marked by rapid change and uncertainty, educators across the globe are facing a raft of big questions.

Who do we wish our learners to be? How can we help them to engage thoughtfully and ethically with complex global issues? What does it mean to be human in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence?

It’s not easy for teachers, themselves grappling with a complex, ever-changing world, to find answers to these deep questions.

This is why at Nord Anglia we have been working to try to answer these with our Dispositions for Engaging Learning Today (DELTA) research project , developed in collaboration with Project Zero, a research centre at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

This year-long collaboration brought together 30 Nord Anglia teachers from across the globe with Project Zero researchers.

Together they engaged in deep inquiry, co-designed classroom strategies and tested new approaches to encourage meaningful learning. Specifically, they explored how thinking routines could support students in developing the dispositions needed to thrive in today’s world.

17 routines to guide teaching

The outcome from this work has just been completed in the form of 17 new thinking routines designed to help students to organise their thoughts, ask better questions and reflect more deeply.

Each routine is built around Nord Anglia’s six Learner Ambitions: creativity, curiosity, compassion, collaboration, critical thinking and commitment - the skills we believe to be essential for success in life beyond school walls.

The 17 routines are listed as follows:

• Curiosity: “Know, Not Know, Want to Know”, ”The Whys of the World” and ”Curiosity Dig” help students to identify gaps in their understanding and formulate meaningful questions.
• Compassion: “Suppose It Were Me”, “Self-Compassion”, “More Than Other” and “Classroom Compassion” encourage empathy by prompting learners to consider others’ experiences.
• Collaboration: “Dodging Groupthink” and “Frame, Re-Frame” support independent thinking within group settings.
• Critical Thinking: “Think That. Stand Back. Push Back”, “That Was Then; This Is Now” and ”M&Ms: Messenger. Message, Sure?” guide students to examine assumptions and challenge ideas constructively.
• Commitment: “Appointments With Myself”, “Bridge to the Future” and ”When-Then” promote self-reflection and personal goal setting.
• Creativity: “Think. Share. Think Again” and ”What If Instead…” encourage iterative thinking and idea development.

Of course, we don’t expect teachers to deliver these new thinking routines unsupported.

All Nord Anglia teachers will receive dedicated professional development, including workshops, online modules and ongoing coaching.

This training will be delivered jointly by our education research team and Project Zero, and has already begun in several schools.

Importantly, DELTA is not a one-size-fits-all approach; each school will be able to adapt the routines to fit their context, ensuring relevance and impact for every learner in every country.

To begin with, the 17 routines will be worked on within Nord Anglia schools to help our staff embed and refine them, before sharing them with the global education community later next year.

Monitoring impact

Measuring the impact of an initiative like DELTA requires more than just tracking exam results, and, as such, we are committed to a robust, research-informed approach to evaluation.

This includes gathering feedback from students and teachers, observing classroom practice and analysing how the routines influence not just academic outcomes but also student wellbeing, confidence and engagement.

This is work we will do in collaboration with Project Zero, ensuring that their input is with us from start to finish.

Looking ahead

Ultimately, in an era where AI is transforming almost every aspect of society, it’s easy to focus on technical skills alone as the key to students’ futures.

But education must do more, it must nurture what makes us human. DELTA is about helping students to explore that humanity; to think critically and creatively, to collaborate with purpose, to care deeply and to make ethical choices.

If we can do this, we’ll ensure that young people have the qualities that mean they are not just prepared for the future but are empowered to shape it.

Dr Kate Erricker is Nord Anglia’s group head of education research and global partnerships

For essential weekly intelligence on the international schools sector, sign up for the Tes International newsletter