Introducing the … Managing Change in Times of Uncertainty
A case for change…
“ schools frozen in time…”
“ a yawning chasm …separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside.”
"achievement gap" between social classes
So how do we resolve this…?
School Review & Development
Schools are ‘organic’, constantly evolving organizations.
Need to take account of:
curriculum changes
change in staffing, students
social and policy changes
community expectations
etc.
Need for a process of regular review and development.
Key questions to resolve
What are the characteristics of a high performing school?
How do we recognise these factors?
Test results - empirical
Self review - ecological
On what evidence?
What measures do you use? Are measures necessary? Would a rubric be better?
What drives your process?
External agendas?
Whole school scan – where are you at?
Pedagogical practice?
Student achievement data?
ICT?
Assessment?
Community opinion?
School vision and values?
Some assumptions
Based on process of school review in Australia/NZ
School governance/management highly devolved
Flexible curriculum, schools able to develop own curriculum
ERO providing external review, moving to devolving to process of self-review (away from compliance)
Widespread use of quantitative indicators of school performance (as distinct from national testing etc.)
Philosophical Frameworks
Draws from traditions of practitioner research and reflecting in action ( Agyris and Schon )
Takes an ecological view of organisational change and development ( Hargreaves , Fullan et al )
Importance of leadership ( Vivianne Robinson )
Understanding personal change ( Holt )
Moral Purpose
“ Moral purpose is our social responsibility to others and the environment…
School leaders with moral purpose seek to make a difference in the lives of students. They are concerned about closing the gap…
They act with intention of making a positive difference in their own schools as well as improving the environment in other local schools…
Sustained improvement of schools is not possible unless the whole system is moving forward.”
Michael Fullan
Values, Beliefs, Principles and Practices.
How we operate in our schools and classrooms is a reflection of our core values and beliefs.
Our Beliefs
Our beliefs are the truth
The truth is obvious
Our beliefs are based on real data
The data we select are the real data
Challenges:
Understanding the “current realities”
Understanding the thinking of others and myself
Mental Models Mental models are the assumptions & stories which we carry in our minds of ourselves, other people, institutions, & every aspect of the world. Differences between mental models explain why two people can observe the same event and describe it differently; they are paying attention to different details.
Changing schools…
“ Schools may be the starkest example in modern society of an entire institution modelled after the assembly line. This has dramatically increased educational capability in our time, but it has also created many of the most intractable problems with which students, teachers and parents struggle to this day.
If we want to change schools, it is unlikely to happen until we understand more deeply the core assumptions on which the industrial-age school is based”
Peter Senge
The Ladder of Inference Argyris & Schon, 2000 I adopt beliefs about the world I draw conclusions I make assumptions based on the meanings I’ve added I add meanings (cultural and personal) I select data from what I observe Observable ‘data’ and experiences The reflexive leap (our beliefs affect what data we select next time) I take action based on my beliefs
What is EPS2.0?
An online tool designed to enable educators to:
understand the “big picture” within which their school is located
identify areas of strength and weakness in their school
plan strategically for future development.
Why is EPS2.0 useful?
Principals and teachers are often immersed in the immediate concerns of their school/class.
EPS2.0 provides an objective way of looking at the “bigger picture”.
Provides a multi-dimensional picture specific to each school.
How does EPS2.0 work?
Uses teachers’ own experiences as the basis of reflection and feedback
Individuals respond to statements in an online survey
Responses are combined to provide an objective overview
Feedback can be interrogated interactively online, or printed out as a final report
Three dimensions Philosophical Frameworks: deep exploration of the fundamental nature of educative purpose, learning, knowing and knowledge Techniques, Strategies, Structures: the tools to implement the philosophical frameworks including the design of the use and allocation of people, time, space and place Community & Culture: the development of a learning culture and learning community
18 Elements
Provides a “birds eye view” of the feedback across all 18 elements.
The colours in each element represent the strengths and weaknesses in each dimensions, depending on how far from the centre the colour bar reaches.
Four Tests
The responses within each dimension can be interrogated according to the following four tests:
Robustness – processes up to the task
Are the processes robust enough?
Collectivity – participation and contribution
Who is participating and to what extent?
Consistency – relationships of the parts to whole
Is the application consistent, across everything?
Congruence – the desired effect
What is the relationship between theory and practice?
Starting the Survey
School administrator registers school and distributes an access key to all staff
Access key must be kept confidential to ensure validity of school data
Individual staff may enter a PIN to enable them to return to the site to complete the survey or to review their results
Selecting a role
EPS2.0 requires users to designate their role
This enables greater levels of interpretation of the data when the final results are published
Schools should determine who will identify themselves as school leadership for the purposes of this survey
Responding to statements Click on ‘submit’ when all statements on the page have been responded to. Click on the bar to make marker appear. Slide marker to position that best indicates your response. Click on ‘comment’ to make comments box appear. Indicator bar shows progress through the pages of the survey. Enter comment if appropriate (140 character max.)
Viewing feedback
Once completed, an individual teacher may view their personal results and explore the interactive feedback
Whole school feedback can be viewed once all staff have completed the survey
School results
Element View
Each element can be viewed in terms of how the four tests apply:
Robustness
Collectivity
Consistency
Congruence
Slider view Each of the elements is linked for further analysis Interactive sliders enable exploration of the “what-if” possibilities Different views can be obtained by switching on or off the different groups Indicator statements change as the slider pots are moved, showing progressions for growth and development
PDF report views Top statement shows overall response across all four tests. Indicator statements reflect the position shown by the median marker. Individual responses shown for each of the four tests. Coloured bars reflect different roles. Black marker shows the median position.
Where to next? Where to next prompts included for each element in the PDF report.
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