Re-Humanising the System

From Compliance to Coherence

We began this series with a structural critique: our education system is built like a pipeline in a world that demands an ecosystem. We looked at the “missing middle” where young people fall through the cracks, the narrow metrics that fail to recognise who they are, and the wait for policy that often feels endless.

But as we close, the question shifts from “What is wrong?” to “Where are we going?”

The answer, somewhat paradoxically, is that technology is forcing us to become more human.

The AI Mirror

Matt Sigelman of the Burning Glass Institute recently shared a profound insight about the impact of AI on the workforce. His data shows a “hollowing out” of entry-level knowledge work. The tasks we used to give graduates—summarising documents, basic coding, drafting emails—are being automated.

Sigelman argues that this creates an “Expertise Upheaval.” If the bottom rung of the ladder is gone, how do young people climb?

The answer isn’t to teach them to be better at being robots. It is to double down on the things AI cannot do. Sigelman’s data points to a rising premium on human skills: curiosity, connectivity, and the ability to navigate complex, ambiguous systems.

AI holds a mirror to our education system. It reveals that our obsession with content recall and standardised testing is a race to the bottom. If a machine can pass the exam, the exam is measuring the wrong thing.

From Complicated to Complex

For decades, we have tried to “manage” education as a complicated system—like a car engine. We thought if we just tuned the parts (better curriculum, tighter assessment, more reporting), the machine would run smoothly.

But education is a complex system—like a forest. It is relational. It is emergent. As researchers Hecht and Crowley argue, learning happens in the messy interactions between people, not in the clean lines of a policy document.

We have tried to pave over this complexity with “systems of record”—LMSs, compliance checklists, and rigid ATARs. We tried to make the forest look like a factory.

But the factory is closing.

The Generative Ecosystem

We need to move from compliance (doing what you’re told) to coherence (connecting what you know).

A coherent learning ecosystem is one where:

1. Recognition is Broad: We value the care work, the community leadership, and the creative projects as much as the calculus test. (Article 2)

2. Agency is Central: The learner owns their story. Their “Self-Sovereign Identity” allows them to carry their evidence from school to VET to work without asking for permission. (Article 4 & 5)

3. Technology is Connective: We use AI not to grade students, but to help them curate their own portfolios and find their own pathways. We use digital credentials to build trust between strangers, not to gatekeep opportunity.

Recombining the Pieces

The exciting news is that the components of this new system already exist.

We have the Human Capability Standards. We have digital wallets. We have Big Picture Learning designs. We have employers crying out for adaptable talent.

We don’t need to invent new parts; we need to recombine them.

We need to let the “missing middle” be a place of experimentation. Let a high school partner with a local startup issue a microcredential that actually leads to a job interview. Let a university accept a “learner profile” instead of an ATAR for 20% of its intake.

The Final Shift

Ultimately, this is a shift from an industrial logic of scarcity (ranking students to see who is “best”) to an ecological logic of abundance (recognising that every young person has a contribution to make).

If we build this—if we co-create an ecosystem that recognises the whole person and gives them the agency to navigate their own future—we won’t just solve the “productivity puzzle.” We will solve the belonging crisis.

We will build a system where every young person can look in the mirror—and at their digital record—and see a story they are proud to own.

This concludes the 5-part series on Rethinking Readiness. Thank you for reading.

Previous: Self-Sovereign Learning Identity: Who Owns Your Story?

If you’re curious about the rest of the series, start with the first post - From Pipelines to Living Learning Systems: Rethinking Readiness for a More Human Future