Download What is change? - An-Najah National University

QIF Language Arts Pre-Service Teacher
Education Development Programme
Workshop 1
The New Meaning of Educational Change
6th December 2011
Introductions
1. Join with colleagues from other universities and briefly
introduce yourselves.
2. In pairs, describe a learning activity or task that you do with
your students that you think is effective and that the
students enjoy. Explain what makes this a successful
activity.
3. Now take turns to introduce your colleague and the activity to
another pair.
Teacher Education Strategy in Palestine
A vision for teachers – a vision for change
1. Commitment to their students and to educating all of their
students.
2. Possess general knowledge, subject knowledge, use a
variety of teaching methods that respect students and make
them active learners, to improve and develop life-skills
including problem-solving and critical thinking.
3. Responsible for monitoring and guiding their students’
learning.
4. Think systematically about their practices, learn from their
experiences and continue to develop professionally.
5. Work with their colleagues as members of a community of
learners.
What is change?
Change involves:
 Systematic transformation of the education system; e.g.
Vision of Teacher Education Strategy and Standards for New
Teachers in Palestine; World Bank TEIP and QIF Projects;
 Structural change e.g. in organisation, policy, programmes,
courses;
 Changes to the culture of the system and mentality of the
stakeholders;
 Consideration of interconnections between diverse
components of the system - in this context need to consider
the interconnection between academic and teacher
preparation programmes and practice in school
What is change?
Discuss:
1. Who are the stakeholders involved in and affected by
change to the English Language Arts Programmes?
2. Who do you think is the most important stakeholder and
why?
What is change?
“If reforms are to be successful, individuals and groups must
find meaning concerning what should change as well as how
to go about it” (Fullan, 2001 p.xi)
Dimensions of change
Fullan (2007) suggests 3 key dimensions of change:
 New materials and resources
 New behaviours and practices
 New values, beliefs, attitudes and understandings
Where do you think change is most needed to create
quality English Language Arts programmes?
Dimensions of change
Change in practice normally precedes the deeper
change that may occur to values, beliefs and attitudes.
This means that those involved in change need to make
a commitment to taking on new behaviours and
practices, without necessarily knowing whether they will
be successful or not. The attempt to make new practices
work can be threatening, frustrating and deskilling.
Fullan (2007) calls this the “implementation dip.”
Dimensions of change
External Domain
The Change
Environment
Personal Domain
External source
of information,
stimulus or
support
Knowledge
beliefs and
attitudes
Enactment
Reflection
Domain of Practice
Professional
experimentation
Salient
outcomes
Domain of Consequence
The Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002:951)
Key Questions
Teacher Education Curriculum
To what extent and in what ways is the English language
teacher education curriculum effective in preparing
beginning teachers of English to realise the vision of the
Teacher Education Strategy in Palestine?
How can we make the English Language Teacher
Education Curriculum more effective?
Key Questions
Pupils
What do we want pupils to be able to do in English by
the end of grade 10?
Student teachers
What knowledge, skills, values and attitudes do
beginning English language teachers need to develop to
be able to help pupils to achieve this?
Teacher educators
What knowledge, skills, values and attitudes do teacher
educators need to be able to prepare student teachers to
be able to support and teach their pupils English
effectively?
Strategies for introducing change and
innovation (Kennedy 1987)
3 main strategy types
Kennedy (1987), citing Chin and Benne (1970)
identifies the following three main types of strategy for
effecting changes in human systems:
1. Power-coercive strategies
2. Rational-empirical strategies
3. Normative-re-educative strategies
Power-coercive strategies
• Changes based on sanctions of some sort, which force
people to change or act in a certain way
• Top-down: imposed from above
• Non-consultative
Power-coercive strategies: examples
 Introduction of new school textbook, or curriculum,
by Ministry of Education, with little or no
consultation with the ultimate users, the teachers
and the students
 Peer observation scheme in University
Department introduced by Head of Department or
Dean as a means of staff development
Rational-empirical strategies

People are rational beings who will adopt change
once they are shown evidence that it will benefit
those whom it affects

Information, once viewed in a positive light, will be
sufficient to bring about change.

Use of seminars, workshops, newsletters to diffuse
information
Questions
Kennedy (1987) identifies a number of shortcomings of
each strategy.
1. What shortcomings do you think there are, from the
point of view of promoting lasting change?
2.
Are there are any strengths in either approach?
Normative-re-educative strategies
 People act according to the values and attitudes
prevalent in a given society or culture;
 Accepting change may require changes to deepseated beliefs and behaviour: change is inherently
destabilising;
 This necessitates a collaborative, problem-solving
approach, with all those affected by change involved
in some way.
Normative-re-educative strategies (cont.)
 Dynamic potential: concerned not just with the adoption
of a specific innovation, but with “the process of
development that individuals experience as a result of
involvement, and which can lead to a continuing interest
in further change and development” (p. 164)
“Changing the culture of institutions is the real agenda,
not implementing single innovations .... when
implementing particular innovations, we should pay
attention to whether each institution, and the relationships
among institutions and individuals is developing or not”.
(Fullan 2007, 124)
Planning for change using a normative-re-educative
strategy
1. Importance of collaboration and interaction with those
implementing the change: “do not assume that your
version of what the change should be is the one that
should or could be implemented.” (Fullan 2007: 122)
2. Individuals need space to work out their own meanings
of the change - often through reflective practice, e.g. of
“trying it out”.
3. Be prepared for conflict and disagreement: these are
both “inevitable” and fundamental to successful
change” (Fullan 2007: 123).
4. Effective change takes time.
Creating conditions for successful change
What are key conditions for successful change?
 Shared vision - Shared vision is more an outcome of a quality
process than it is a precondition. Shared vision involves
shared goals, shared knowledge, shared commitment and
mutual respect
 Personal vision based on own values and beliefs
 Ownership
 Voice
 Inquiry oriented
 Initiative
 Collegiality
 Collaboration
 Support from others
Preparation for tomorrow
Could each participant please bring one or two
newspapers to the session. All will be revealed tomorrow!