Apologies, this was not posted yesterday due to illness!
Module 9: Whakataurite i ngā Huringa (Navigating Change in Education): This module equips you with the knowledge and skills to effectively navigate and lead change within the education system, fostering a culture of continuous improvement while ensuring the wellbeing of staff and ākonga.
“Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua”
“Look back to the past, strive for the future.”
Due: 8th September
Module Objectives:
- Understand the change process.
- Develop change management strategies.
- Build a shared understanding of the need for change.
- Lead and support staff through the change process.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of change initiatives.
A Harvard University study published twenty years ago, and various other research sources, such as the more recent study by David Leonard and Claude Coltea from Gallup, (published in Business Journal in 2013), estimate that 70% of all change initiatives in schools fail. As recently as 2016 in New Zealand this statistic was still quoted as relevant to understanding sustaining change in the presentation by Randy Pennington, Business Strategist and author, to NZSTA and available here: https://vimeopro.com/nzsta/govtalks/video/145795736.
The National Aspiring Leaders programme is committed to supporting delegates and ensuring growth in leadership skills, in this case by reflection on your role in change practice in your school. This will be achieved by supporting your exploration of change research sources against your current experience, particularly of change management and change leadership.
Reading: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YcwSPqd5k3yWUMe1yFIvEz3-ulMqwQJE/view?ts=689bc6d8
Task: Reflect on this reading in light of your own practice and discuss your reflections with your learning partner. Post on the forum as a partnership, your joint reflections. You may use some of the following prompts to support your reflections:
- Understanding of change management vs change leadership
- Essential skills for leaders of change
- Key reflections/learnings about change leadership
- Creating a culture which supports change implementation
- What I need to develop further
Assessment:
- Completion of reading.
- Discussion with learning partner(s).
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
- Submission of reflection on the forum.
7 Responses
This article was very timely for me as at our school we are all very new to our leadership roles including our Principal and DP’s. This article reminded me of the importance of a shared vision and in order to instigate change, all must be on board from all levels. Change also goes through a series of phases and TAKES TIME. With our complete change of leadership in our school, it is important to give time and patience at all levels so that we can move forward as one cohesive unit.
The article was quite eye opening when comparing Change Management and Change Leadership. Leadership is active and purposeful with clear urgency, vision and planning. This is something that I have seen and learnt first hand this year.
I find myself in a very unique and promising position as my team are either new to the school or to teaching (a BT, a recent hire to the school and a teacher in their first ear of being fully registered). I am in the position of creating as opposed to change per se. Howver, the points covered in the article are just as relevant and powerful for this situation.
How great to have an opportunity to fully create how your team works. Having fresh new perspectives can bring exciting new ways and ideas.
This reading gave me a few moments where I needed to pause for the idea to sink in. For example, the notion that “bad [business] results can be a blessing and a curse”. When have I ever considered bad results to be a blessing?! Perhaps I have, when they have motivated me to change things or to get creative with new approaches to old problems, but at the time I certainly did not bask in blessing! But, sitting in the discomfort of bad results gives me reason to look carefully at what is going on.
I’ve also been very aware, in my own step up to leadership, that it is tempting to throw away every existing system – any new thing will surely be better than the old! Perhaps it’s better to think about why these things have stood the test of time, and how to enhance or add to them as pillars opposed to cutting everything back. Changing anything that is long standing will need a fair amount of universal support. The reading says: “Transformation is impossible unless hundreds or thousands of people are willing to help, often to the point of making short-term sacrifices.” – there aren’t hundreds or thousands in our school, but a fair number of experienced people who know what they’re doing. They need to be on board to change things they believe are good – or good enough.
Ironically, I’m sitting in my kitchen looking at my two peach trees outside the window. They’re covered in blossoms – but only on the new growth. I cut them back pretty hard in the summer….
Both Kylee and my reflections’ emphasized the critical role of a shared vision. We both talked about how, without a clear direction and a collective belief in the necessity of change, any effort is likely to fail. Kylee noted the need for a leadership team to believe “business as usual is unacceptable,” while I highlighted the difficulty of convincing experienced people to change. We also discussed how change can’t be a solo effort; it requires a core group of influential individuals who can champion the vision and influence others and that this can often be from outside of the immediate leadership team. Another point was ensuring the longevity of the change through continuous communication. I could see a lot of value in this as I work through my own change leadership and mangement in the literacy space at my school.
Totally agree regarding collective agreement in the necessity for change. This is something I’e spent a lot of time on this year, wondering about if I will have collective agreement, and what to do if I don’t have it!
I found this module relevant to education as change is so constant. It made me reflect on changes that have been made in the past and why they haven’t been implemented as hoped. Having a clear vision resonated with me as I think this is what staff need in order to be motivated to change. As a middle leader, it is clear to me that I also need to have the vision in the front of my mind, as middle leaders tend to take on the feedback. A relevant example is the proposed timetabling change at our kura. This was suggested previously, and a few staff said no, so the change wasn’t made. Middle leaders and senior leaders need to be willing to confront these barriers and reinforce the vision.