There is a provocative conversation going on over at the future of education NING site.  If we are going to reform education or see a breakthrough in education strategies, self directed learning is important.  The conversation is entitled  Self Directed Learning May be THE most important skill for learners! and I thought I would give a quick synopsis here:

It started when a friend of mine started to teach on line and commented that her students who were not self directed were the ones who were struggling.  If we believe the stats of Christensen et al in Disrupting Class then within the next 10-15 years over 50% of all education will go on online. Therefore her comment today that her undergraduates are suffering because they are not self directed learners and that they have to be online strikes home.

Ryon Patterson brought in the connection with global awareness and education, but was hesitant about online as children need personal interaction (for that matter we all do).

Ken Long presented skepticism about too much "go our own way" elements in education, especially when it comes to certifiable results.  He ended with this comment: i think that's short sighted and self centered, and presumes that only your own education matters. In the long run this will undervalue the work of knowledge centers, and then it will be back to the wild west with no way to rely on the quality of whatever hits your search engine results. There are no "quality" economies of scale, and no incentive to create multi-person knowledge centers/projects
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According to current trends in education, one of the six possible scenarios discussed as part of the future(s) of education project, as designed by the OECD, show schools as focused on laying the foundation for life long learning through focus on experimentation and innovation. In this case we will likely see a variety of learning environments across a variety of locations and partnered with outside resources such as the media industry. Dependent upon an equality across different schools, this scenario requires society to agree on the value of schools and to fund them adequately so that teaching becomes an attractive job opportunity. Classrooms becomes open learning environments with teams of potential adults working on an as needs basis and paid under a variety of contractual arrangements. These organizations continue to maintain their power due to the fact that they are certified to assess and bestow graduation credentials but they also work in an environment where other types of certification are equally acknowledged and honored, so students may be working towards multiple ends in the same school.

Because people will live longer, life long learning will become a client base and meeting those needs with both curriculum and counseling will be seen. This scenario also includes a consistent drive for improvement and for the inclusion of those populations marginalized by the system. Because of these last two, and because government supports these frameworks for education, low quality programs disappear and high quality programs for marginalized populations become the norm.

Technology is a tool for networking and learning and is used throughout and staff upgrade their educational models through innovation in these areas. While teaching may be seldom a lifetime profession during the time they are involved staff are innovative and frequently work with outside expertise through the use of IT.

The OECD itself says:

In this scenario, schools function as focal learning organizations, revitalized around a knowledge agenda in cultures of experimentation, diversity, and innovation. The system enjoys substantial investment, especially to benefit disadvantaged communities and maintain high teacher working conditions.

You can follow this link to read more about the geopolitical and attitudinal conditions that likely predict and support this scenario of greater bureaucracies for the management of schools.