Why Purpose Learning Matters

by the WORLD LEADERSHIP SCHOOL

Over the last decade, schools have made a broad shift away from content memorization to skills mastery. But even competency-based learning can feel meaningless unless it is designed around the humanity of each student. Purpose learning allows students to explore two basic human questions: “Who am I?” and “How do I connect to the world?”

Purpose learning has profound implications for the future of K-12 learning, including how we assess students, organize the school day, divide knowledge into subjects, and define what it means to be a teacher — and a student. It will require a total reboot of school as we know it and it’s already taking form every day in hundreds of schools around the world.

We believe that having a sense of purpose is not a skill alongside grit, growth mindset, or self control. It is the capstone skill from which these other skills ensue. In an age of artificial intelligence, where everything that can be automated will be automated, our uniquely human ability to tell stories, make meaning, and follow purpose will be more important than ever.

Purpose Learning allows each student to navigate college and life with more direction and clarity. As the world accelerates and becomes increasingly connected, purpose helps students manage volatility and contribute to the common good. Our world needs next-generation leaders more than ever.