When any discussion begins on the best ways of teaching and learning, it is not long before the wisdom of Socrates is quoted: "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."
That's why innovative learning - as practised in New Zealand's ACG schools - embraces the strengths of traditional learning while readying pupils for a new world where tradition alone is not enough.
As recently as last year, the OECD's Schooling Redesigned: Towards Innovative Learning Systems, maintained knowledge is not stacked up somewhere, depreciating rapidly, and that schools have to respond by creating an environment of communication and collaborative flows.
ACG is New Zealand's largest provider of quality independent school education, with ACG students achieving more Cambridge International awards (University of Cambridge international examinations) than any other school in New Zealand. Cambridge programmes aim to prepare students for life - helping them to develop an informed curiosity and lasting passion for learning and to become confident, responsible and ready to tackle the demands of tomorrow's world.
As Cambridge International Examinations chief executive Michael O'Sullivan noted at a recent conference, young people are facing a different world of work from their parents. They will live longer and be more globally interconnected.
"So they're going to have to be equipped when they leave full-time education to keep learning new things in their lifetime in order not to become professionally redundant....We have to be able to see the world from other people's perspectives; we have to recognise the need to act together in order to solve problems such as global warming, climate change, energy scarcity, and more," O'Sullivan said.
"That really requires a new way of thinking in today's young people."
That new way of thinking, according to Nathan Villars, Principal of ACG Sunderland, is harnessed by innovative learning which comes down to one thing: great classroom teaching imbuing pupils with a love of, and passion for, learning which equips them to deal with a fast-changing world.
ACG pupils sit an end of year exam and are heavily involved with technology at school; Villars says those elements are important but not the be-all and end-all when it comes to the "kindling of the flame".
"There's some belief that somehow education content can be delivered with technology, that you can be anywhere, anytime, having it delivered by technology," he says. "That may possibly work at tertiary level, if it's just about content.
"But certainly with younger people it's about the pedagogy: the teacher and the relationship the child has with the teacher. The sort of passion for learning we are seeking to stimulate comes only through exposure to a passionate teacher."
The global Cambridge examination system is a prized educational qualification and Villars is chairperson of the Association of Cambridge Schools in New Zealand. He's clear innovation in learning is not solely about teaching to the test - but believes an end-of-year exam system allows teachers and students to explore questions to a depth and a quality that educators involved in internal assessment benchmarking of NCEA simply do not have the time for.
"Building that skill set in teachers needs clarity and clear leadership," he says. "It takes significant professional development time to support teachers to do this in the classroom."
Villars says many parents are now looking for characteristics of a school that are both deeply traditional (such as uniforms, values-based cultures and the like) yet cutting edge in the classroom.
Many of the ACG schools use technology to support the teachers - all have a learning management system called Blackboard, which supplies notes and materials, tutorials on and on-line tests, an on-line grade centre that parents can also monitor. Some adopt a certain amount of social media, such as blogging. But it sits alongside lessons the teacher has created ("it's not random googling," as Villars puts it).
The research into learning is ongoing, with Cambridge updating study and delivery of its exam system about every three years.
ACG students bring their own devices to Villars' school and message their teachers as they study at home so issues and questions can be addressed immediately in the next day's class. Junior classes are now learning to write simple code, a development directors of learning have adopted for the schools after studying the research.
Right now Villars is noting a strong drive from students (and their parents) towards maths and science subjects, reflecting a societal swing to tech. There is also strong interest in design technology and business topics.
With knowledge in these fields changing so rapidly, educators have to actively review their strategies, becoming much more collaborative and inter-disciplinary in the way they approach their practice - collecting evidence and evaluating their own performance as much as they test and examine their students'.
"Certainly we put technology around the teacher to enhance learning - but we integrate it," says Villars. "It's a tool but it certainly isn't the whole tool kit."