In this White Paper we do not seek to provide a detailed review of the field, but rather an immersion in the issues and actions in the pre-K -12 school system that are rapidly forming what might become a social movement. We will not address movements that are counter to overall systems improvement and deep learning. Only to say if they fail to generate widespread deep learning they will fail. We define deep learning later in more depth but for now let’s say that it concerns a radical re-positioning of the learning relationships among all the major players: not only students, teachers and families, but also educators at all levels, policy makers, and society as a whole. Additionally, deep learning focuses on a set of fundamental learning outcomes that represent a system change. It is for these two reasons that we view it as an emerging ‘social movement’. Our thinking in this paper has been especially informed by our development and participation of in the global initiative ‘New Pedagogies for Deep Learning’ (www.npdl.global) that involves seven countries and over 1,000 schools: Australia,Canada, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Uruguay, and the United States. For the past 5 years we have been immersed in the factors that hinder and facilitate the adoption of deep learning in systems, schools and classrooms. In this work we have been interacting with a broad range of those involved in the deep learning movement ranging from very young children to policy makers. In NPDL we have been working in partnership with schools to change the nature of learning through changes in: pedagogical practices (such as collaborative inquiry); learning partnerships (between and among students, teachers, families and communities); learning environments (the redesign of learning within and external to schools); and leveraging digital (for deeper learning). We are focusing particularly on global competencies that we call the 6Cs: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. In this paper we draw from this work but do not report on it systematically (for the latter, see Fullan, Quinn, & McEachen, forthcoming). Our focus here is on what deep learning is and why it matters, how far it has developed in schools and classrooms over the past 5 years, and where we expect it to lead. We will find that deep learning is very much at the early phase of development facing certain obstacles embedded in the status quo, but we will also argue that the forces favoring the further development of deep learning are considerable, including the potential massive mobilization of students and teachers toward a new world of learning that ‘engages the world to change the world’ as a personal and collective way of fulfilling ourselves.

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Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Chapter One: Deep learning: What it is and why does it matter? -- Chapter Two: The Current Scene -- Chapter Three: Micro-level Change -- Chapter Four: Macro-level Change -- Chapter Five: Future Scenarios and Recommendations -- References.