**Abstract**

Complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory is offering new perspectives on the nature of learning in school classrooms. In CAS such as social networks, city traffic systems and insect colonies, innovation, and change are occasioned through nonlinear, bottom-up emergence rather than linear, top-down control. There is a growing body of evidence and discourse suggesting that learning in school classrooms, particularly in the early years and primary phases, has non-linear, emergent qualities and that teachers, school leaders, and educational researchers can gain valuable insights about the nature of interactive group learning by analyzing classrooms through a CAS lens. This chapter discusses the usefulness of a CAS framing for conceptualizing learning in primary school classrooms. It will explore key arguments, discuss relevant objections and draw on my own research to make the case for a measured application of CAS theory to primary classroom teaching and learning, explaining how it can support the development of innovative pedagogies.

**Keywords:** complexity theory, complex adaptive systems, emergence, teaching & learning

## **1. Introduction**

In this chapter, I discuss primary classroom pedagogy and assert that common portrayals of teaching and learning, particularly in media, policy, and some academic discourse, fall well short of capturing the complexity of what goes on in many classrooms. Traditional depictions of learning as linear, mechanistic, and in direct causal connection to teaching "input" remain dominant across education sectors, despite their failure to explain the unpredictable and uneven topography of pupil learning outcomes. Against this background, I argue that complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory may offer a useful non-linear alternative to the dominant linear, mechanistic thinking which dominates in many conceptions of school learning. In Section 2, I present the challenges and consequences of oversimplified conceptions of teaching and learning. In Section 3, I explain CAS theory and associated ideas in the context of education and explore arguments for and against applications of CAS thinking to classroom learning. In Section 4, I explore some pedagogical implications of conceptualizing classrooms and classroom learning through a CAS lens and discuss what these might mean for teachers.
