The Simple, the Complicated, and the Complex: Educational Reform Through the Lens of Complexity Theory

This paper explores the nature of complexity theory and its applications for educational reform. Itbriefly explains the history of complexity theory and identifies the key concepts of complex adaptivesystems, and then moves on to define the differences between simple, complicated, and complexapproaches to educational reform. Special attention is given to work currently underway in the fields ofhealthcare, emergency management and ecology that draws on complexity theory to build more resilientand robust response systems capable of adapting to changing needs and of identifying key pressure pointsin the system. Finally, this paper presents several examples of educational reform programmes undertakenworldwide that have implemented complexity theory principles to achieve positive results. It alsorecommends involving multiple stakeholders across the different levels of governance structure, increasinglateral knowledge-sharing between schools and districts, and transforming policy interventions to bringgreater flexibility to the reform process. This move toward feedback-driven adaptive reform allows forbetter targeting of programmes to specific contexts and may prove a key way forward for educationalpolicymakers.