Doing it for, doing it to or doing it with?. By: Earle J Warnica Ed D Professor of Education American University of Ras Al Khaimah United Arab Emirates.

Doing it for, Doing it for,

doing it to doing it to

or doing it with?or doing it with?

By: Earle J Warnica Ed D

Professor of EducationAmerican University of Ras Al Khaimah

United Arab Emirates

“Education reform isn’t exactly rocket

science: it’s tougher,”

Dr. Mick Randall, in The National, 12/28/09

Overview

Brief description of reforms in Ministries of Education of UAE and Oman

Were they successful?What the literature says about making reform

work: what does work? Proposed Reform Model Conclusion: When are schools “good enough”?

Common Features of Oman and UAE Reforms:

both were “top-down” models both started with reports by outside consultants group both had a vision: world class education both hired foreign advisors to lead reform both had strong support from government

Observation by Observation by PresenterPresenter

Oman’s reform was a relative SUCCESS.UAE’s reform was a relative FAILURE.

WHY??WHY??

Then why did one reform succeed

- while the other did not?

Let’s let the literature help us

decide.

Michael Fullan (1988)“Resistance to reform is a reality to be

recognized and to overcome.”

“Reform often misfires because we fail to learn from those who disagree with us”.

“Resistance can actually be highly instructive”.

Judith Zimmerman (2006) “Resistance is a major factor in reform failure”

- provided research-based strategies to promote change and steps to overcome

resistance:

shared decision-makingprofessional developmentprincipals’ modeling preparedness for limiting resistance.

Art Costa in “The School as a Learning Community”

“changing public education is like. . .

moving a cemetery;after you’ve done all the work,

you still have a cemetery”.

Sergiovanni (2007)

. . . building community must become the heart of any

school reform effort

Hedley Beare (2001)There is a fixation with the status quo of education:

“If we remain wedded to the way education is currently provided we cannot imagine other ways.

We need some imagination, some fantasy, some new ways of thinking

– some magic, in fact.”

Roland Barth “Rarely do outside school remedies work their way into the fabric of the

schoolsor into the teachers’ lives,

and more rarely into the classrooms.

Therefore they only offer a modest hope of influencing

the basic culture of the school”.

Roland Barth

“Too much emphasis has been placed

on reforming schools from the outside through policies and mandates.

Too little has been paid to how schools can be shaped from within”.

Stoll and Fink

'Many of our schools are good schools

if only this were 1965'.

‘Are we educating students for our past or their future?’ (Anon.)

Peter Senge (1994)

“You cannot have a learning organization

without a shared vision.”

“A shared vision provides a compass to keep learning on course

when stress develops.”

Michael Fullan (1994)

“Neither top-down nor bottom-up strategies for educational reform work;

What is required is a more sophisticated blend of the two”.

“What matters most is local motivation, skill, know-how and commitment””

Kalman R. Hettleman, 2010,

“It’s the Classroom, Stupid (School Reform Where it Counts

most)”.

“education administrators resist change, protect their turf . . .”,

and mismanage classroom instruction due to their lack of management skills”

Kalman R. Hettleman, 2010,“Management reforms must find their way

onto the public radar and into classroom teaching and learning.

Even the best and brightest teachers must get more support than they now get.

It’s the classroom, stupid. The future of school reform won’t succeed otherwise.”

Howard Levin, Stanford Professor of

Economics

“A school isn’t good enough

until it is good enough for our own children.

In fact, it’s not only that it must be good enough for our own children,

but it must be the dream school we want for our children”

What can we conclude from the literature?

The school is the unit of change.The key to successful educational reform is

leadership. And leadership is not restricted to principals,

nor is leadership synonymous with management.

Successful reforms require leadership by teachers and by principals.

Applying the Research to UAE and

Oman

Led by Local Omani educators in MoE (the public face of the reform was Omani)Many Omanis in MoE were sent abroad

for graduate study in education and returned to senior leadership positions

Foreign Consultants “advised” and mentored but decision-making was Omani

“doing it with”

Oman’s reform was gradual and spread over several years

All stakeholders were involved, trained, and ‘won-over” – teachers, principals, zone officials, parents, public

• Professional development was comprehensive, and sustained over many years

• The vision became their own

• Schools have reformed and continue to reform

UAE Reforms

Office of Policy and Planning was established to lead the reform – all foreign educators

Ministry was reorganized by OPP

Little to no input from senior MoE staff

After the fact, MoE staff were informed and expected to “buy in”

Met by “passive resistance” by MoE leaders, zones, principals, teachers

Minister received and approved the reforms

But – most reforms were never implemented

Reforms were perceived to be “foreign”, and could not work in UAE

“Passive resistance’ had become “active resistance”!

UAE Reforms

One bright spot (a glimmer of hope) in the UAE reform movement:

Madares Al Ghad (MAG) program ‘Schools of The Future’

has had some success in the approximately forty project schools and is in the third year of implementation.

It remains to be seen if the Ministry and government will expand MAG across the

nation or simply let it die quietly.

A government in a hurry said

“Do it for them”

But locals perceived that foreigners were there to

“Do it to them”

Implementation did not happen

Implementation never happened

even though new standards had been developed or adopted

for curriculum, assessment, teachers, principals,

professional development

Syndrome

It could be argued that in UAE MoE:

“Talking about reforms is as good as having done them”

in UAE reform?

New Minister (2009)

Contracts cancelled for foreign consultants/advisors

New reform plans being developed – virtually the same focus as the previous

Maybe this time the reforms will be implemented?

A Model for Educational Reform

Educational Reform and Improvement Model

School-Based with external input

Bottom-up with Top-down support

The Modelindividual schools within pods of schools

teachers and principals as leaders of the reforms

MoE Educational Zone in a support role

The ModelUAE federal Ministry of Education in role of setting national standards and policies

universities and colleges in collaborative role with schools and pods of schools

The school as the basic unit of changeSome teachers and principals in graduate study

Each school adopts its own plans and priorities for change

Teachers and principals enrolled in graduate education programs take the lead in reforming their own school and contribute to the reforms of the pod of schools

The school as the basic unit of changeStaff professional development (PD) should be

focused at each school or pod of schools; large scale PD program imposed and delivered from above have little impact on schools and learning

Parent and community information and support

Pods of SchoolsFeeder schools, geographic proximity

Collaboration and support between schools of the pod – teachers and principals

Regular meetings to share and learn together

Joint professional development as needed

Ministry of Education Education Zone

Agreement with the reform model, plans; support to each pod and school within the pod to implement

Relaxation of some existing policies and procedures to allow/encourage innovation

Changed role of supervisors to be supporters of reform, not inspectors and maintainers of status quo

Ministry of Education UAE

Professional development as requested by the

schools/pods and within the MoE

professional development standards

Ministry of Education UAE Nation-wide standards for curriculum,

assessment, examination reform, professional development, standards for teachers

Nation-wide professional development as required for the implementation of the various MoE standards

Ministry of Education UAESupport for education zones and

schools/pods reforms through relaxation of existing policies and procedures

Financial incentives and support for zone and local reforms

Universities and Colleges Faculty members involved in each pod of

schools: team-work, collaboration, advising, modeling

PD assistance when requested

Graduate programs (M Ed) for teachers and principals

Grad program learnings put into practice in schools

So - What can the MoE do?

- Trapped with “in the box” thinking (not “outside the box”).

- There are so many educational “boxes”:

textbooks, teaching methods, examinations, traditional supervisors (promoting practices of the last century), poorly educated teachers, old rules, policies, procedures and ways of thinking, virtually guaranteeing that nothing will change.

MoE

MoE An education ministry needs education!

Senior leadership, department directors and key personnel are desperately in need of graduate study in education.

Accept and support a new model of reform

How will we know when education reform in UAE becomes a reality?

When Ministry leadership, educators and parents at all levels deem that they will send their own children to government schools.

Until that happens, the schools are neither “dream schools” nor “good enough!