By Ken Spero
We don’t have a knowledge problem in professional learning.
We know a great deal about how people learn. We also have a clearer picture than we’ve had in a long time of what teachers need – more flexible support, stronger collaboration, and opportunities to rebuild confidence in the work.
What’s still missing is the connection between those two.
A recent piece from Learning Forward, The Science of Learning: A Blueprint for Instructional Improvement, pulls together what decades of research have shown: learning improves when people are actively engaged, applying knowledge in context, receiving feedback, and reflecting over time. It also reinforces something that often gets less attention – learning is social and shaped by the environments in which it happens.
At the same time, an article from Education Week, Flexibility and Teamwork Are Key to Rebuilding Teacher Confidence, Morale, focuses on what teachers are experiencing right now. The emphasis is less on content and more on conditions – flexibility, teamwork, and the kinds of support that help people regain confidence in their practice.
These are not separate conversations. They are describing the same issue from different angles.
Where the Disconnect Shows Up
The science of learning is relatively clear. People learn best when they are doing the work – thinking, applying, adjusting, and reflecting.
But much of professional learning still doesn’t operate that way. It remains largely passive, often disconnected from the kinds of decisions educators actually face, and frequently experienced in isolation.
At the same time, the challenges described in Education Week – confidence, morale, and the need for stronger collaboration – are not primarily about access to information. They are about experience.
Confidence tends to come from having worked through situations, seeing how decisions play out, and building a sense of judgment over time. That process is difficult to replicate in traditional formats.
The Space in Between
We’ve generally been good at two things: providing theory and leveraging on-the-job experience. What’s been less developed is the space between them – structured opportunities to practice before the stakes are real.
That’s the space where educators can try approaches, see what happens, and reflect on their thinking in a way that is grounded but still safe. It’s also where the social side of learning has a chance to take hold, because those experiences can be shared, discussed, and compared.
This is where the alignment between the science of learning and current conditions in schools becomes more practical.
Where Simulation Fits
Simulation-based learning sits naturally in that middle space.
From a learning science perspective, it incorporates the elements we know matter. Participants are actively making decisions, often in situations that require prioritization and tradeoffs. They are applying knowledge in context rather than recalling it in isolation. They receive feedback through the way scenarios unfold, and the experience itself creates a natural entry point for reflection.
At the same time, it addresses the needs highlighted in Education Week.
It provides a way for teachers to build confidence through repeated, low-risk experiences. It creates a shared reference point for teams, which makes collaboration more concrete. And it can be used flexibly – individually or in groups, synchronously or asynchronously – without losing the integrity of the experience.
Perhaps most importantly, it reinforces the social dimension of learning. Even when participants move through a simulation on their own, the value increases when those experiences are brought back into a group – through discussion, comparison of decisions, and reflection on different approaches. This can easily manifest, organically or by design, in PLC’s, Mentor/Coaching conversations, team meetings, or informal conversations.
Implications for Teachers and Leaders
While much of the current focus is on teachers, the same dynamics apply to school and system leaders. The complexity is different, but the underlying need is similar: opportunities to develop judgment in situations where there are multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and no clear answers.
In both cases, the combination of experience, feedback, and reflection – grounded in real-world context – becomes the driver of growth.
From Alignment to Design
Taken together, the Learning Forward and Education Week articles point to something that is not especially new, but is still not consistently reflected in how we design professional learning.
We know how people learn.
We also know what educators are asking for.
The opportunity is to bring those together more deliberately – by designing experiences that are active, contextual, social, and flexible enough to meet the realities of the work.
That doesn’t require starting over. But it does require filling in the space that has been underdeveloped for a long time.
References
Learning Forward. (n.d.). The science of learning: A blueprint for instructional improvement.
https://learningforward.org/journal/applying-the-science-of-learning/the-science-of-learning-a-blueprint-for-instructional-improvement/
Education Week. (2026). Flexibility and teamwork are key to rebuilding teacher confidence, morale.
https://www.edweek.org/the-state-of-teaching/2026/teaching-learning/flexibility-and-teamwork-are-key-to-rebuilding-teacher-confidence-morale
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