Due: 5th September
Poipoia te kākano kia puawai
Nurture the seed, and it will blossom
Schools are used to change, with new cohorts of students arriving regularly, new staff coming on board, new Ministry initiatives and even the changes schools had to make literally overnight with Covid-19 restrictions. But this doesn’t mean change is easy; in fact leading change can be one of the most challenging aspects of school leadership. Coupled with this, Vivianne Robertson, amongst others, talks about the sheer number of changes happening in schools and questions whether all changes are actually positive. Some changes are important and necessary though, if we are to improve outcomes for learners, and the best changes will have transformative outcomes for both staff and students.
Once we are sure we are driving a meaningful and important change, it is vital to have a plan for how you might go about achieving this change, and then sustain it. All too often a good change is implemented but goes off course or loses traction due to poor implementation. Equally, a powerful and effective change can be implemented but slips when the next new initiative comes along, or the ‘baby is thrown out with the bathwater.’
Provocation:
Read the following article by Mark Osborne in ‘Set’ Magazine – https://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/set/articles/inviting-innovation-leading-meaningful-change-schools
Reflect:
- Share a change you are currently leading or will be leading in the near future. Is this a technical or an adaptive change?
- Think of this change in detail, breaking it down into (a) things that can continue and (b) change that really must happen.
- Share your plan for how you might get people to believe in the purpose of the change and how you can help people to build the necessary skills to implement the change. You may want to draw from the other resources in reflecting on this part of the provocation.
Optional Resources:
https://www.gettingsmart.com/podcast/michael-fullan-on-leading-in-a-culture-of-change/
https://michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/13396067650.pdf
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/05-viviane-robinson-calls-for-quality-conversations/id1451212671?i=1000438071905 – The part of the podcast that focuses on schools and change/innovation is from about 13:40
https://www.kotterinc.com/research-and-insights/transformation-in-education/
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-change-leader
https://leadinglearningconz.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/developing-readiness-for-change-osborne.pdf
28 Responses
Currently, I am not leading any change at my school. If I did have the opportunity to do so, I would love to work with Leslee Allen’s Maths Scope and Sequence with the teacher of our Year 0-2 class. She has commented that she would like some direction around teaching maths – i.e where to start, what to cover, what resources to use. (She does have a maths programme in place, of course, but has signalled she would appreciate some support in this area.)
I think for me it would be a primarily technical / first order change. I did start to work through the Scope and Sequence at a previous school, and I have followed Leslee’s work for some time. For our Year 0-2 teacher, I think it would be more of an adaptive / second order change. Quoting the Mark Osborne reading (page 4) “…if the goal is to raise student achievement, working alongside teachers to improve the quality of teaching offered to students has an effect size three times that of solely focusing on providing inspiration and motivation.”
Claire, you have a wonderful opportunity to make a valuable change in teaching and learning of Math. I would encourage you, with your acting principal’s blessing, to work with the teacher of Y0-2. It would be a huge benefit to this teacher (who is open to learning) and the students.
I am not too sure about the changes that I am involved in or creating at school.
However, one of the massive changes in our school is the NCEA Level 1 for English. As a teacher who has been teaching Year 11 this year, as well as Deaning this cohort, it has been pleasing to see the students enjoy the teaching and learning of this year’s NCEA changes, although at times a lot of us teachers didn’t feel confident or confused at what NZQA was asking of us to do, as a team we worked together to ensure that we were doing our best to meet NZQA’s requirements, as well as the students learning needs.
I have found that working together as a team – especially our Year 11 English team – has helped us feel relieved and at ease with all the teachings and adapting to the changes in Level 1 English. When we’re all collaborating and sharing our voices in this space, I feel empowered and encouraged to teach Year 11 English, given that we’re all on the same page and have accepted each other’s ideas. I give big ups to our HOLA of English, who is also teaching Year 11, for creating a space where even when we make mistakes, she always reminds us that it is a learning curve and that mistakes helps us to improve and do better for next time. It has been a very encouraging experience!
It is so affirming when your HOLA is working alongside you in the way that you describe. It gives you confidence when they are not just telling you what to do but showing you as well and then sharing both successes and failures. This is an excellent way of leading because it makes people confident enough to share failures as well thus enabling learning for all. You have such a lovely caring nature Erica that people will seek out a place in your team.
The current change I am leading within my school is the use of digital technologies to support learning and workload. This includes the use of Ai for educators and a STREAM Room for students. These have both been projects that have developed over the last few years and will continue to develop and change based on needs within the school and the ever-changing digital information world.
While this for me is a passion, I understand that this is a huge shift in pedagogy and approach to teaching and learning for others. As Mark discusses in the reading, change is complex and often multifaceted. With this in mind, I reflect on how I started this project and the key learnings I have taken away. I first focused on developing the skills required to create change. I sourced PLD funding for our kura and I organised facilitators to model lessons and work alongside kaiako and within teams to develop ideas and links through planning and teaching. While this was well received, it lacked longevity. What it did do was to help identify other kaiako who had a passion for technology within our kura and I have been able to bring them along in our waka.
The Kāhui then worked to create learning progressions and resources on what the use of DT (digital technologies) might look like in a classroom. We have since been able to use this as a resource for kaiako asking – where do I start?
This year, as a group of passionate kaiako in our kura, we worked alongside our principal and created a STREAM Room. This room has a range of activities; STEM, Robotics, 3D Printer, Lego and more, the development of this space has been the next step in our journey.
Knowing that – just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. I have made an effort to make myself available to work alongside kaiako using the space, specifically targeting kaiako who lack confidence. We have also encouraged budding classes together to use the space and run a range of PLDs for kaiako who are curious and want to learn. My principal has also supported this by including PGs linked to our Kāhui focuses, one being DT. I also worked with the digital team to create slide resources on how to use everything within the space. These are on our school drive, and follow a similar format – What is it? How do I connect? How can I play? How can I learn? These lessons can be used in the classroom and then used while in the STREAM Room.
Overall this has been well received and we have multiple classes using the space. I have worked with kaiako and classes from Y2-Y6 and most of our kaiako have spent some time in the room either training or with their classes. As a group, we have sought feedback, made adjustments and attempted to resolve barriers. Our next steps are to find ways to build on what is currently happening and develop lessons for kaiako that integrate into current curriculum programmes.
Knowing my audience within my school has taken time and I have learned that if kaiako can see value, they will listen and engage. So whenever I am pitching a new topic or idea, I target that aspect. I also ask and listen to the barriers – what is it that is stopping you, and how can I relieve that barrier? This can be a fine line, as some kaiako will use this as an excuse to avoid the new learning and instead try to get you to do it, however, just like students, sometimes they need a few supports put in place for them to succeed.
My next change is the introduction of Ai to support teacher workload. My first intro session is next week and I know there will be a range of responses. I am excited to share some tips and tricks and potentially have some fun with Ai. I will use the reflections and lessons I have learned and target the ‘why’ before engaging the ‘what’ and moving into developing skills and understandings.
Jackie, the strategies/steps that you have employed to implement change in your Kura and Kaahui Ako are excellent. I would very much like to visit your school as I am interested in Ai and the STEAM Room.
Absolutely! We love visitors!
A change I am currently implementing is through my WST Kaahui Ako role where my groups focus is Writing. We would like to create a sense of common language and continuity across all of our schools, so students transitioning either through to a different school or going up to their new year group and moving schools, will feel comfortable with the common language going through their school years – Years 0-13.
Within the reading, I took note of this:
Change often leads to people feeling personally threatened because the skills and strengths for which they have been valued and respected in the old order may not be as important or valued in the new order. This acknowledgement is crucial for leading change because we know that if people are feeling threatened or unsafe, they are less likely to fully engage the rational, logical part of their brain.
We talk a lot about this within our WST group, as we don’t want people to feel it is threatening or see this as ‘extra work’. Because of this, each of us tried it out as a ‘prototype’ in our own classrooms first. Together we collated a Lego man template that displayed the different language we wanted to see and hear across all of our schools – starting with executive functioning, down to sentence structure. The idea of the Lego man was to show that like the man, writing needs to be built upon to create the whole picture. We implemented a ‘pre interview’ with our target writers with a series of questions to gauge their thinking of Writing and to see what they already knew about the language we were trying to implement. After a 5 week trial with the Lego man template in our classrooms with explicate teaching around the language (some new, some not) we did a post interview with our students and at a meeting gave feedback about how our classroom inquiry with the Lego man went.
Because we did the work ourselves and ‘tested it out’ – We were able to get a gauge on what worked well and what didn’t. This will now help us to prepare to visit all schools and introduce our idea.
From here, we hope schools will take the idea on board and work on a way to implement it in a way that suit their own school environment.
There is no new learning to be done here – we are just trying to get some common language among all of our schools so students may have a better sense of understanding or even a sense of knowing for students as they see the same thing around all schools and all classrooms.
Femke, the goal of a seamless approach/practice (Y0 – 13) to Writing in your Kura and Kaahui Ako is quite a challenge but an important and achievable one which will produce better outcomes for students. Love your approach to achieving this gaol and the successes that you have already achieved. All the very best.
I am currently co-leading a change initiative in my role as a WSL focused on structured literacy, driven by data collected that revealed gaps in literacy knowledge.
Leading change in any educational setting, as outlined by Osborne, begins with strong leadership and a clear vision that sets the school’s direction while leaving room for creativity and experimentation.
Our vision provides clarity on the ultimate goals of change while allowing flexibility to explore new ideas and approaches. A key element of this process will be to foster a collaborative culture that values shared leadership; meaning empowering both teachers and students to actively participate in shaping the change process.
By encouraging a sense of ownership and engagement, we can cultivate an environment where everyone feels responsible for driving positive transformation. Osborne also emphasises that any meaningful innovation must be rooted in real educational needs, focusing on improving student outcomes rather than pursuing new trends for their novelty. This approach will ensure that changes are relevant and purposeful, directly addressing the core mission of education. Finally, for change to be truly sustainable, Osborne stresses the importance of ongoing support, professional development, and continuous reflection. We will provide a support programme that is adaptive depending on the needs of the students and teachers. This will enable new practices to be refined and firmly embedded over time, ensuring that the benefits of change are long-lasting and impactful.
Bronwyn, I love your shared vision & key element, and that this has been your starting point, (the “Why” and the “How”). Also your approaches to driving positive and sustainable transformation are excellent.
I am currently leading an adaptive change in our school’s ELL (English Language Learner) processes. We are reassessing our current assessments and practices to ensure that all ELL students feel valued and succeed in their learning. In terms of continuing practices, we will maintain our commitment to fostering a supportive environment for these learners, including current strategies that have proven effective in building relationships and inclusion. However, the change that must happen involves refining our assessment tools to better capture ELL students’ progress and adapting our teaching to be more culturally responsive and targeted to diverse learning needs.
To gain buy-in from staff, I plan to emphasise the value of this change by aligning it with our shared goal of student success. By illustrating the direct impact these updates will have on improving outcomes for ELL students, I hope to create a sense of purpose. Additionally, I will provide professional development opportunities focused on building the necessary skills for teachers, such as effective ELL strategies and differentiated instruction. Drawing from Mark Osborne’s ideas on inviting innovation, I’ll foster a collaborative culture where teachers can share experiences, experiment with new approaches, and receive ongoing support to ensure sustained implementation.
I’m part of the team leading Niho Taniwha PLD with staff to enable staff to use the model to reflect on their departments and our school and to implement change to improve learning for our Māori students. This is – for many staff – a technical change, where staff can add to already strong systems (e.g. PE starts everything in the concept of hauora and they do a lot of great work with Māori games and warm ups – and have had some excellent PLD in this – so for them it may be extending the work they already do). However, for some staff this is adaptive, for a variety of reasons, including we have several staff who are newly arrived in Aotearoa and have come from vastly different education systems.
The change is necessary and important; too often in our PLD we get stuck in the ‘why’ i.e. why our Pasifika and Māori students have inequitable outcomes to our Pākehā students, and never get to the ‘how’. This leads to staff feeling stuck and negative, and also leads to great learning never being taken anywhere to enact change. We have a large team of staff (me as an ASL, our 3 WSLs, our SCT and several HoLAs) who attended the Niho Taniwha course, and it’s essential that when we have professional learning we are able to bring it back and use it.
I think the key thing I took from the reading was the idea of bringing people along with you and giving staff ownership over the change. The way we are framing it is giving departments time to stocktake what they already do and then picking an area where they want to work collectively to make change. In my department (English) this might look like the development of our year 9 programme, centred around the value of manaakitanga (which is something I really want us to do), or looking at the deliberate inclusion of Māori texts, concepts and values across year groups in a holistic way, rather than in the tokenistic way we sometimes fall back to (i.e. we studied a Witi Ihimaera short story, that ticks that box).
We have a staff member complain about the PLD as they have a wealth of knowledge and experience and felt like they were being taught what they already knew, and the approach from the team has been, “we hear you! Join us!” and with that consistency of message they might join the PLD team.
I think the other thing is that it’s important that it is modelled by everyone. We have had a bit of a culture of people organising meetings during PLD, which results in staff – often senior staff – not modelling the change we want to see and so people not seeing the value of what we are doing.
Your last point about senior staff choosing to attend activities other than designated PD troubled me as it must you. It is such a worthy goal to have decided to improve learning outcomes for the Maori students in your care and as one of the leaders of this initiative I wish you every success.
I will say it has massively improved this year as PLD has been moved to the morning from the afternoon (which was done in part to shift the culture). Less chance dramas of the day impact on people making PLD and more likelihood of people being fresh and engaged first thing.
A school wide change that I am currently leading, is about my school introducing an idea for a positive change for our school-wide culture. This has also been significantly influenced by our Kahui Ako P.L.D. initiative.
This has a direct correlation for our staff because our focus should always be that of the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of our student learning and their whanau.
Our staff decided to specifically focus on our tamariki’s understanding of who they are and where they come from in terms of their respective Cultural Heritage and whanaungatanga. We initiated several PLD’s involving the whole staff, with M.o.E. speakers and other Agencies. As a follow-up, teachers took their learnings from these PLD’s and as a team planned a course of action. This is where they could implement some of these strategies and ideas within their own individual classroom programmes, involving all class levels. The plan was to create something that would be long term and sustainable. Students decided to honour someone very special and significant within their own whanau, by creating their own taonga (treasure) for that person. I as the leader of Technology through PLD’s, was able to model the design process with staff. I also was able to guide them through the whole process of making the taonga. We have ongoing reflection in staff meetings about student progress and any support needed. On completion, we will be having a positive celebration with a special sharing time with invitations for respective whanau and the celebratory ‘taonga’s’ given out. We can use this acquisition of new knowledge, skills with appropriate future PLD’s, to bring about a sustainable and positive ongoing future change. For our future sustainability, students have chosen as their next project, making our school a ‘zero waste environment’.
What an exciting change initiative, Pratima! How wonderful that the students are taking the lead on the next (very important) project.
One change I have recently took the lead on was to offer a new course at Level 1. As a pastoral dean we have identified that our Year 10 students coming through into year 11 (Level 1 NCEA), require greater support, and academic choices than might be currently available. An opportunity for them to have an outdoor education/health/leadership course designed where the focus is about the ‘doing’ and creating and ‘leading in action’ is the focus. We have been given the go ahead to offer this in 2025 (as a pilot and as long as we have enough traction from students). We are excited to see how students will respond and if there will be enough appetite for this course to intend take flight in 2025.
The next change I am trying to lead is a large upgrade of our two gymnasium spaces. They lack aesthetic appeal, as well as connection to place and school. It has been a frustrating process to lead, being passed from one person to the next during the proposal stages. There is now some traction but ‘patience’ is also one of the traits I need to work on, when dealing with a variety of people and trying to gain the answers or next steps required.
The new course sounds great and I hope it does well. With regard to the repackaging of your spaces, I think there’s a need to form some strategic alliances. Have a think and see whether you teach any board members’ kids for a start. Find someone in the graphics department to draw up what you want and make a ‘dream board’ that everyone can see.
Great ideas Geraldine. I hadn’t thought about the board connections, but have been in touch with our spatial design faculty who have been most helpful in the initial stages. I am currently in kahoots with the communications team who have been really helpful and see the value in wht I am trying to achieve. Watch this space.
At the moment, I’m not leading a change at school, but if I were, I’d like to imagine a scenario that aligns with my interests. I’m passionate about the arts, and I believe they play a crucial role in students’ holistic development. So, let’s say I’m leading an initiative to integrate more arts into the Year 7/8 curriculum at Bohally.
This wouldn’t just involve adding a new subject or resource; it’s about embedding the arts into existing subjects—such as incorporating drama into history lessons or using music to enhance understanding of mathematical patterns. Given this, I consider it to be more of an adaptive change, as it requires a shift in mindset and teaching practices among the staff.
In terms of what could continue, the current subject structure would remain the same—Maths, Science, English, and so on—but with a new approach that integrates the arts. Teachers would also continue their collaborative practices, but now with an added focus on arts integration.
However, there are a few things that would need to change. Firstly, we’d require professional development so that teachers can learn how to integrate the arts effectively into their teaching. The curriculum would need some adjustments to accommodate this integration, and we’d have to allocate resources—time, materials, and training sessions—to support this change.
To get everyone on board with the purpose of this change, I’d start by sharing the “why.” I’d present research and evidence showing the benefits of arts integration, such as how it improves student engagement, creativity, and academic performance. I’d also relate these benefits to our students, perhaps by sharing stories from my own classroom where the arts have had a positive impact.
Involving teachers in the planning process would be crucial. I’d want them to feel a sense of ownership, so I’d engage them early on in discussions about how arts integration could work in their subjects. I’d also share success stories from other schools where this has been done well and, if possible, invite a teacher from another school to speak about their experiences.
To ease into the change, I’d suggest starting with a small pilot programme. A few teachers could volunteer to try arts integration in their lessons, allowing others to see the change in action before fully committing.
Building the necessary skills would be key to making this work. I’d organise professional development workshops where teachers could learn practical strategies for arts integration. We could also set up a mentoring system where teachers who are more comfortable with arts integration support those who are newer to it. I think creating a shared online resource hub would be helpful too, so teachers have easy access to lesson plans, ideas, and materials.
Finally, I’d establish a continuous feedback loop. Regular meetings or surveys would help us assess what’s working and where we might need more support. This way, we could keep refining our approach as we go.
Hi Sorayah, Dave suggested reading over your post on this thread as I am going to (better late than never!) work on a hypothetical change situation too, as I’ve not really had the opportunity (at least recently) to lead any real change at my kura. I love your ideas, especially – as Dave points out – the way you propose arts be integrated into existing “core curriculum” areas.
Sorayah, integration of the arts into exisiting learning areas is an excellent approach given the pressures on curriculum coverage and time constraints. Beginning with the why, sharing success stories from other schools as well as from your own teaching, providing PD and resources and a pilot programme are excellent strategies in managing and sustaining this change.
One change I am looking at leading in the near future is introducing fortnightly workshops where teachers can opt in based on the needs of their students. There is a blend of technical and adaptive change.
Things we can continue, is to use the experts we have within the school to lead workshops. Maintain the focus on meeting the needs of the tamaiti.
Change that must really happen is to grow other staff in terms of their own leadership and sharing best practices more often, as their own colleagues do not get to view or discuss their successes frequently with their colleagues. Ensure there is structured times and opportunities to do this.
Reinforcing the importance of why change is needed and involving them in the planning process is important. Communicate the purpose clearly.
Co-create the workshop topics, involving teachers to decide the topics of the workshops based on the needs in their classrooms.
Provide opportunities for teachers to share their success stories and teachers to question and ask each other for support.
Ensure support and resources are provided. Teachers can reflect if a workshop has been beneficial, if changes need to occur, having their feedback heard is important and vital so teachers do not feel like their time is wasted attending PLD that has no relevance to them.
Lastly monitoring and adjusting the workshops when required.
Collaborative planning is key, “always together- always learning” as stated in Mark’s article. Always reflecting on “The Best way to achieve the Schools vision.”
I agree, Linda. We can have all the best plans in the world but sometimes we need to be humble and make changes along the way in response to feedback, especially when it comes to managing change.
A change I am currently leading is the implementation of Pr1me in the senior school. I view this as second order challenge as teachers have a specific way they like to teach mathematics and most have been using the same resources for many years.
Our current mathematics program is where our team follows a Long-Term Plan where the Strands are covered over a two year cycle. Each teacher chooses what resources they want to use to plan their mathematics program. We have one teacher who has been at our school for over 20 years, a beginning teacher and another experienced teacher but is in her 4th year at our school. As a team we wanted to get some consistency with our math program. Our assessment schedule and tools are the same.
One teacher wanted to trial Prime. Both the teacher and I attended a workshop together to get an overview of Prime. The workshop was with schools that were at different stages with Prime. This was great to get different perspectives.
We then shared what we had learnt with our principal. Our next step was to invite the Prime facilitator to a whole staff meeting to introduce the program/resource. It was made very clear to staff that this was just to see what Prime could offer us and we were not committing to it. This was important. We wanted all the teachers to be part of shaping the change and have the opportunity to share their opinions openly.
We also didn’t want to jump straight in without letting all the teachers have time to unpack what Prime could offer. We set up sessions with nearby schools who were using Prime for teachers to visit and see it in action. This helped to guide teachers through a possible change. I also visited schools as I am part of the teaching team.
Taking our time and unpacking the program together has helped to get everyone on board. Teachers have started to implement Prime this term and are doing it at their own pace.
We will continue to check in with other schools and our facilitator. We meet regularly to see how the program is working for teachers and our students. I am really happy with the way we implemented this change. It was done collaboratively, not forced on the teachers. Most teachers are on board and keen to continue with it.
Sheree, an excellent change strategy in having staff involved in the exploration process and decision making right from the beginning, rather than it being done for them and to them. Also, using other schools as a resource, who are at different stages in the implementation of Prime Math is another excellent strategy.
Our acting principal at Ahuroa School is keen to know more about Prime. He is (at very short notice) attending a BOT meeting about strategic planning for 2025 next week. Any pearls of wisdom / nuggets of advice would be very much appreciated!