1. Managing Change

2. Managing Change
How does its implementation relate to school/college culture?
What drives it?
What theoretical models are there?
How do people respond to it?

3. What influences the effectiveness of change?
Discuss with a neighbour a change that you think has worked and one that has not worked.
Identify the factors that seem to influence whether change is effective.

4. Steady drip of change
Change can be seen as ‘discontinuous’ or ‘incremental’ (Nadler and Tushman, 1995), in other words, changes may be systemic and large scale, or small and predictable, building on what went before.

5. Revisit school cultures
Stoll and Fink (1996) Changing Our Schools

6. Features of the school learning context (Stoll et al, 2001)
The particular mix of pupils
Relationships – between staff
Morale
History
Culture
Micropolitics
Support staff
Structures
Leadership.

7. Mintzberg (1994, p. 27)
“Never adopt a technique by its usual name. If you want to do re-engineering, or whatever, call it something different so that you have to think it through yourself and work it out on your own terms. If you just adopt it and implement it, it is bound to fail”

8. Fullan (1997, p. 3)
“The starting point, then, for thinking about and conducting leadership for change is to be deeply and explicitly aware that there is no set of techniques or methodologies that can do the job. Rather, the best of techniques are tools in the service of a mind set and associated knowledge and skills which have been earned through the hard work of action and reflection and which are continually honed through learning on and off the job.”

9. Fullan speaks

10. School’s phases of development (Fink, 1999)
Creativity and experimentation
Overreaching and entropy (degradation of energy)
Survival and continuity

11. Huberman: teachers’ life cycles
Easy or painful beginnings (first few years)
Stabilising (from 4 to 8 years): feeling at ease in the classroom; commitment to the profession
Experimentation or reassessment: exploring alternative approaches; or disenchantment and self-doubt

12. Fink, D. (1999) The Attrition of Change: A Study of Change and Continuity
Do you agree with the author that there is a ‘life cycle’ in organisations that resemble what others have described as ‘teacher life cycles’. If you agree, what are the similar features? If you disagree, what is it that is distinctive in organisational histories compared to personal histories?
What does the author mean by ‘attrition of change’?
Do you think that constant innovation and experimentation is necessarily a positive feature of effective schools? Is conventionalism (p.271) always less admirable than hope and innovation?
To what extent do you consider the author’s final decision to focus on six interrelated lenses as frames through which to view ‘Lord Byron’ useful?
Can you identify defining or critical moments in the organisational history of the school?

13. Wiliam (2010)
Government policy-makers focus on schools rather than teachers. Only 7% of GCSE variation is due to school effects – individual teacher quality is far more important (Wiliam, 2010).

14. Theory in use vs espoused theory
Argyris and Schon (1974) pointed to a possible conflict between people’s espoused theories – what they say they believe – and their theories-in-use – what they actually do, and argue that it is important to achieve congruence between the two.

15. Reasons for change
Spend 3 minutes writing down all the reasons for initiating change in your experience.

16. Reasons for change (Fullan, 2005, p. 17)
“What can we conclude about the sources of innovation? First, there is an abundance of ideas out there, and if anything, they will continue to expand. Second, policies and programs are often imposed on schools in multiple disconnected ways. Third, even if there is choice, schools and school districts do not have the capacity to say no in the face of innovation overload. Fourth, only a minority of schools and districts are tapping into more powerful teaching and learning ideas that are beginning to emerge from cognitive science.”

17. Reactions to change
“Change is a personal experience. It is necessary to recognise and attend to individuals’ concerns. Stress and anxiety are common early emotions” (Stoll and Fink 1996, p. 45).

18. Reactions to Change
Conforms, retreats, ritual response, rebels, innovates (Merton 1968)
Analysis of resistance (Everard and Morris 1992)
Transition curve (Carnall 2003)

20. Reactions to Change
Conforms, retreats, ritual response, rebels, innovates (Merton 1968)
Analysis of resistance (Everard and Morris 1992)
Transition curve (Carnall 2003)

21. Carnall, C. (2003) Cycle of Change

22. Hargreaves, A. (2004) Inclusive and exclusive educational change: emotional responses of teachers and implications for leadership
What does Hargreaves mean by ‘mandated’ and ‘self-initiated’ change (p.294)?
What are teachers’ emotional responses to these different types of change? Do you recognise these responses in your own feelings?
How accurate are teachers in identifying self-initiated changes? What might make teachers adopt mandated changes as their own?
What does Hargreaves mean by ‘inclusive’ as opposed to internal/external change (p.303)? Does this resonate with your own experience?

23. Practical models – based on an assumption of rational management
Force Field Analysis (Lewin 1951)
TOSIPAR (Evans et al 1989)
Basic Systematic Model (Everard and Morris 1996)

25. Example Suggest a change which you would like to adopt
Undertake a forcefield analysis for that change
Identify strategies to ensure the change happens

26. TOSIPAR Tuning in Objectives Success criteria Information and ideas
Planning
Action
Review
(Gold and Evans, 1998, p. 41)

28. Review of school leadership (Earley et al, 2012, p. 12)
“The need to develop internal school capacity and effective partnerships appear essential for schools as they navigate numerous national policy changes, within their particular contexts. There is a substantial risk however that the nature and demands of current policy change will disrupt the focus of schools and leaders from teaching and learning and their authentic improvement. The landscape is also uneven and there are signs that potential faultlines could be emerging between leaders across school phases, contexts and Ofsted gradings. These faultlines include not only school capacity, but also the ways in which school leaders view the potential impacts of and respond to new policies.”

29. Change (Groves et al, 2012, pp. 6-7)
The most successful leaders:
spend time scanning the horizon, anticipating change, and preparing for unknown eventualities
have a clear appreciation of the impact of spending decisions and plan ahead financially as far as possible.
prioritise staff development to equip people to cope with change and uncertainty
build trust and confidence at all levels
collaborate with other schools for mutual benefit.

31. References
Argyris, C., & Schon, D.  (1974) Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness.  San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Carnall, C. (2003) Managing Change in Organizations 4th edition. Harlow: Financial Times/Prentice Hall
Earley, P, Higham, R, Allen, R, Allen, T, Howson, J, Nelson, R, Rawal, S, Lynch, S, Morton, L, Mehta, P and Sims, D. (2012). Review of the school leadership landscape. Nottingham; National College for School Leadership.
Everard, K.B., Morris, G. and Wilson, I. (2004) ‘A Systematic Approach to Change’ in Effective School Management. London: Sage.
Fink, D. (1999) The Attrition of Change: A Study of Change and Continuity, In School Effectiveness & School Improvement, 10(3):

32. References
Fullan, M. (1997) Leadership and the moral mission of schools in South Africa. In W.J. Smith, M. Thurlow and W.F. Foster (eds) Supporting Education Management in South Africa. Montreal: Canada-South Africa Education Management Program
Fullan, M. (2005) The new meaning of educational change third edition. London: Routledge Falmer
Gold, A. and Evans, J. (1998) Reflecting on School Management London: Falmer
Groves, M, Goodfellow, M, O’Brien, B and Forster, S. (2012). Funding the future: how schools are responding to funding changes. Nottingham, National College for School Leadership.
Hammersley-Fletcher. L. and Qualter, A. (2010). Chasing improved pupil-performance: the impact of policy change on school educators’ perceptions of their professional identity, the case of further change in English schools. British Educational Research Journal, vol. 36, no. 6, pp

33. References
Mintzberg, H. (1994). The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. New York: Free Press
Nadler, D.A. and Tushman, M.L. (1995). Types of organizational change: from incremental improvement to discontinuous transformation. In D. Nadler, R. Shaw and E. Welton (eds). Discontinuous Change: Leading Organizational Transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Priestley, M., Miller, K., Barrett, L. and Wallace, C. (2011) Teacher learning communities and educational change in Scotland: the Highland experience. British Educational Research Journal, vol. 37, no. 2, pp
Stoll, L., MacBeath, J. & Mortimore, P. (2001) The change equation: capacity for improvement. In J.MacBeath & P.Mortimore (eds) Improving School Effectiveness. Buckingham: Open University Press
Wiliam, D. (2010) Teacher quality: why it matters and how to get more of it.