Sustaining Project-Based Learning: Identifying common roadblocks

The world is constantly evolving, and how students live, learn, and "play" is changing. As educators, we must adapt to prepare students effectively for our ever-changing world. Over the past few years, youth development programs have had to start offering virtual-only or hybrid programs to accommodate isolation needs. In the work world, many professions have already shifted to completely remote work. We are preparing students for a new type of workforce, with careers that may not exist yet!

How do we prepare students for the unknown? We can start by cultivating a learning environment where students focus on solving real-life problems using an inquiry-based and interdisciplinary approach through project-based learning.

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When implemented well, project-based learning can:

• Enhance students' problem-solving and critical-thinking skills

• Improve students' attitudes toward learning

• Boost students' academic competence and confidence

• Sharpen students' ability to work collaboratively & resolve conflicts

• Foster a culture of academic risk-taking

• Develop students' project management skills

• Address the needs of diverse learners

• Increase students' social-emotional skills

• Introduce students to various careers

You already know the benefits of project-based learning and even desire to employ a constructivist teaching method in your school. The challenge is creating and executing a strategic plan that aligns with your vision and supports teachers' professional development needs.

Do any of these statements resonate with you?

✔ You launched a PBL initiative at your school, but after a year of slow progress, the mission was abandoned, and your team began focusing on something else.

✔ Your website lists project-based learning as a philosophical pillar, but it's not consistently implemented in all classrooms.

✔ You once had a successful PBL initiative, but due to attrition, only half of the staff remaining are skilled project-based educators.

✔ Your teachers already feel overwhelmed with implementing multiple mandates simultaneously (eg: new literacy, math, or SEL curriculum), and are reluctant to consider implementing PBL.

✔ You mandated that teachers facilitate PBL in their classroom before ensuring the human, monetary, or social capital existed to support them, and now execution has stalled.

✔ You excitedly announced your PBL initiative to your teachers, who expressed concerns about the possible challenges associated with switching to this instructional method.

✔ You shared PBL resources with your teachers but have yet to see a change in their instructional practices.

✔ When you surveyed teachers about their experience with PBL, feedback showed they attributed their lack of progress to inadequate preparation and support from leadership.

While you believe that project-based learning is an effective instructional methodology, you are starting to think it may not work for your school or your students.

The truth is that building a project-based learning culture is a journey.

Let's imagine you are taking a road trip to an unfamiliar location. You will most likely encounter a detour, dead-end, or roadblock when traveling long-distance. My grandmother and mother live 2.5 hours away from me. Although I take the same route each time I visit, there is a detour at least half the time. They are typically doing some construction. Because it is a rural area, most of the route doesn't involve taking a major highway. So when I see the detour sign, I sigh because I don't know how far out of the way it will take me; therefore, I don't know when I will get there. But I know I will get there eventually.

Similarly, obstacles may appear as you foster a community of high-performance, project-based educators capable of facilitating rigorous, relevant, real-world learning experiences. Here's an example of a potential detour. Let's say you underestimated what it takes to launch and sustain a PBL initiative, and you send a few teachers to a short conference, expecting them to return and train the rest of the staff. Basically, you tried to do a train-the-trainer model. However, the initial training wasn't structured to accomplish that goal. In fact, the workshop wasn't designed so that the teachers who attended the conference would have enough skills and resources to teach via project-based learning immediately. 

Research shows it takes more than a one-off workshop or one-day conference without follow-up support to produce high-impact, project-based educators. After realizing this, you decided to consider another method of professional development, a detour, or an alternative route.

Another type of obstacle you might face while driving is a dead-end street. A dead-end street has no exit; the only option is to turn around and retrace your route, which leads to no progress. An example of a dead-end street while launching your PBL initiative would be if you sent teachers to training, expecting them to return and implement what they learned in their classrooms. However, when you conducted learning walks or checked in with teachers, you found no one facilitated a PBL experience. So you spend time, energy, and most likely money to receive nothing in return.

You could also experience a roadblock, an obstruction like a barricade to halt traffic, thus slowing progress. In PBL terms, you may have experienced a roadblock if you once had a team of highly skilled project-based educators. However, due to attrition, only half of the remaining staff are skilled project-based educators, so only those teachers have implemented PBL in their classrooms. Unfortunately, whether or not a student engages in a memorable PBL experience in your school depends on the assigned teacher in your school. 

Which scenario do you resonate with the most? Have you experienced a detour, roadblock, or dead-end on your project-based learning journey? I suspect you've experienced something similar or may know of an instructional leader who has shared a similar story. The great thing about roadblocks and detours is that they are temporary, which means there is still a path available to reach the destination, and a map or guide can help you achieve your goal faster.

It’s common to experience roadblocks on your project-based learning journey. Let's explore three common roadblocks you must overcome to build an impactful and sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming you and your teachers.

Roadblock #1: Lack of Clarity

You know that project-based learning leads to a deeper level of knowledge that students can apply to contexts beyond the classroom. However, it's unclear how your current initiatives, curriculum, and culture align with a PBL methodology, so it may feel disjointed. At this point, you and the teachers may feel like a dozen initiatives are happening, and it's becoming overwhelming. You are eager to shift your school from a passive to an active approach to education, and ideas are infinite. Now, your idea needs a comprehensive strategic plan ready for execution.

Roadblock #2: Lack of Competence

When I say the lack of competence, we know that being competent in something means the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. We all are incompetent in something until we gain the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve mastery. I like to name that because sometimes people get offended when discussing incompetence, but I don't mean to sound demeaning. Somebody once told me to use the word confidence instead of competence because it sounds less harsh. Sometimes, those two words are used interchangeably. However, confidence refers to a person's belief in their abilities, and competence refers to one’s actual ability to do something well. Often, competence fosters confidence. 

You may have teachers excited to foster the next generation of changemakers by providing students with opportunities to tackle problems in their school and community via project-based learning. Now, you need to provide the proper training, coaching, mentoring, resources, etc. to support their professional growth.

Roadblock #3: Lack of Capacity 

You launched project-based learning in your school, and initially, it was successful. However, over time, you noticed a decline in this instructional method usage in classrooms. Now, you need adequate systems, structures, resources, and routines for long-term sustainability.

If you have experienced at least one of these roadblocks (or would like to avoid them), let me share how we have supported leaders in overcoming these obstacles to strengthen educators' capacity to implement equity-focused instructional practices via project-based learning.

Building a low-burden, high-impact, and sustainable project-based learning initiative at your school site has three phases. Since they are interconnected, educators often revisit the three phases depending on the unique situation or stage of the journey.

Gain Clarity → Boost Competence → Build Capacity

To gain clarity, ask yourself: What do teachers need to know about the what, why, and how of your project-based learning initiative? I mentioned earlier how important it is to think through how PBL will align with your school's culture, curriculum, and current initiatives. You have to be able to articulate this to teachers to gain buy-in.

To boost competence, ask yourself. What support do teachers need to feel competent and confident in facilitating PBL with students? You may already know this based on previous attempts to launch an initiative. If not, give teachers a survey and ask them.

Next, to brainstorm how to build capacity, ask yourself, What type of ongoing support and structures do teachers need to sustain PBL at your school site? Remember, it's not enough to send teachers to a one-off workshop and expect proficient project-based educators the next day. How will you continuously support teachers on their professional growth journey?

While the three questions above may seem simple, answering them requires deep thinking and reflection. This is a necessary first step in preparing teachers to build a project-based learning culture in their classrooms.

If this article sparked your curiosity, follow this series. In each article, I share how to overcome each roadblock.

• Roadblock #1: Move from lack of clarity to gaining clarity

• Roadblock #2: Move from a lack of competence among your instructional staff to fostering a team of highly skilled project-based educators

• Roadblock #3: Move from having a lack of capacity to launch a project-based learning initiative to identifying and obtaining the human, social, and monetary capital necessary to sustain the practice.

Read Next > Sustaining PBL: Gaining clarity with a vision