During this week and the first week back at work in January
the common thread in my work has been about coping with change. I decided I
should spend some time thinking about how to manage change as this appears to
be what I have had to be managing over the past few weeks. At teachthought.com the
five strategies for dealing with change have been outlined. Reflecting on them
will assist my work... I hope.
The first strategy is to 1. Manage the perception.
Many people see change as something that just happens,
something that’s “done to them” without their consent and outside their
control.
In our role in schools we have the opportunity to
encourage people and empower them by encouraging them to have input into the
new curriculum so that they have more control and more “buy in” .
Research shows that a greater sense of ownership is more likely to lead to
successful change implementation within schools.
2. Make change a part
of school culture.
This is our current greatest challenge as change is anathema
to many of those with whom we work. Finding small but visible changes
that make a positive difference is essential. Finding small “wins” to
accumulate, so that staff members become more open to trying out new things.
The process for implementation of Ready Gen has been fraught and has had
unintended consequences. It is important not to hide this but to turn it into a
learning experience. Dealing effectively with setbacks is critical if change is
going to be an accepted part of a school’s culture. Unfortunately we have had
to jump in with both feet, and “impose” this significant change on staff before
they are comfortable with new ideas. The challenge is to ensure that the
program isn't doomed before it’s even started.
3. Appreciate
the skeptics.
Making the most of the skeptics in the mix is important as
they ask the tough questions. If someone poses a reasonable question for which
we can’t provide a reasonable answer then we need to rethink something that’s
being proposed. It’s great to be optimistic about new initiatives, but the
skeptics are the ones that can keep us grounded in reality
4. Know the
history of change within the organization.
We know that there has been great change over a very short
period of time- teachers evaluations, the common core learning standards, the
political landscape in the city. Keeping in mind our successes in the past and
acknowledging and using them may help us addresses the risk of teachers
becoming jaded about new ideas making them more reticent to try new things.
There are no hard and fast rules, but as with many things in life, looking to
the past can provide vital information regarding how things may (or may not) work
moving forward.
5. Always be
aware of preconceived notions.
There are many stakeholders in education, students of
course, but also administrators, teachers, and parents.
All members of the latter three groups have been to school
and most of them have some preconceived notions as to what school should be
about. After all, the structures of school (both physical and metaphorical)
have changed little over the past 200 years. However, maintaining this status
quo is counterproductive. We must consider and respect individual notions of
what school should look like, while at the same time convincing people that
what is being implemented will be better.
Not all preconceived ideas can be dispelled, but being aware
of people’s preconceptions (and yes, prejudices) can help as we formulate
strategies and frameworks for implementing something new, and hopefully better.
opportunities for learning and achievement for students.
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