Education Change

Leading Education ChangeSome Thoughts

The problem with establishing change in education

“Yet even with this impressive knowledge base and expertise about the strategic and cultural aspects of educational change, too many change efforts remain disappointing and ineffective. ... Successful school change on a widespread basis continues to be infuriatingly elusive.”

(Hargreaves, 2004)

What I knew about leading change BEFORE I did some research

Just because you like your vision, it doesn't mean that other people will

People are resistant to change. Such is the

emotional energy which is invested that any

teacher inevitably becomes emotionally invested in

their current practice.

It takes a lot of careful planning and persuading to

implement any change policy.

It takes energy and consistency to embed a change

policy

Change and emotion are inseparable. Each implicates the other. ... There is no human change without emotion and there is no emotion that does not embody a momentary or momentous process of change.

(Hargreaves, 2004)

My key thoughts at this point are:

How can the workforce be led to form a bond of

trust with the leadership so that the change policy

is accepted by a critical mass of the staff

body?

How can the workforce be made to take

ownership of change policy?

How should leadership maintain momentum in

embedding the change policy?

How should leadership enforce change policy?

I argue that:

Leading educational change requires leadership which has emotional intelligence as its core value when driving change.

Leadership must value and be seen to value what change means to the workforce.

FullanFrom the paper changing the context, 2003

• Change the situation and you have a chance to

change people’s behaviour in the short run and

beyond.... You need to create a community

around them, where these new beliefs can be

nurtured.

• You cannot get teachers working in collaboration without with out leaders guiding and supporting the process.

• He argues that capacity builds capacity

HargreavesFrom his paper “The Knowledge Creating School,1999”

This paper was in my view very forward thinking.

Hargreaves had envisioned a future where the

creation of knowledge would increasing become

dependant in an online social network.

Argued the need for auditing the profession needs

of the teaching body.

He acknowledges that staff need to feel the need

to tinker and gain ownership of newly created

Knowledge.

Bottery

• Major disadvantage of standardisation of change policies is a lack of trust. People feel distrusted and demoralised for they know that they are constantly the objects of surveillance.

• Also the through targets and performance force individuals into the playing of a game rather than concentrating upon the true development of any meaningful concept of a learning community. Hargreaves calls this "learning sects"

• Unhappy teachers do not make good teachers

My Current thinking on leadership

Leading educational change is a context specific, interdependent relationship of

leadership styles needed to elicit change, to support change and to enforce change.

Possible Research Themes

Investigating the impact of modern technology as an aid to the development of the

independent designing skills of youngsters

or

Investigating the whole school impact of introducing Math and English based starters in

Technology lessons.

Biblography• Bottery, M. (2004) ‘The Impact of Standardisation and Control’, in The

Challenges of educational Leadership. London: Sage• Chemers, M. M. (2002). Cognitive, social, and emotional intelligence of

transformational leadership: Efficacy and Effectiveness. In R. E. Riggio, S. E. Murphy, F. J. Pirozzolo (Eds.), Multiple Intelligences and Leadership.} Access from www.jlo.sagepub.com. Accessed 12/11/09

• Fullan, M (2003) ‘Changing the Context’ in The Moral Imperative of School Leadership. Ontario: Corwin Press.

• Fullan, M (1999) Change forces the sequel. Accessed from http://. Access ed 12/11/09.

• Hargreaves, A. (1999) ‘The Knowledge Creating school’.• Macbeath, J (2003) The alphabet soup of leadership’.• Schmocker, M (1999) Realizing the Promise of Standards-Based

Education. Accessed from http://mikeschmoker.com/promise.html. Accessed on 12/11/09

• Stacey, R. (1997) ‘Complexity and creativity in organizations’ in The journal of leadership studies. Accessed from http://jlo.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf/4/1/168. Access 12/11/09