Session Information
32 SES 01, Leadership and Organizational Development
Paper Session
Contribution
Rapid socio-economic, political and technological changes in their external environments put constant pressure on governments to continuously rethink the structural, managerial and curricular dimensions of their education systems to adapt to the demands of their surroundings (Darling-Hammond and Rothman, 2011; Rizvi and Lingard, 2011). Different countries have introduced varied educational changes and reforms. Governments often use education policy to reinforce national goals, enhance economic development and develop human capital. Yet, they may also dictate and enforce education to further political goals or the survival of a particular ideology or social system (Shirley, 2017). These policies may engender fluctuating praise especially under pressure from global demands to comply with standardised exams and achievement tables, often with negative repercussions for school discourse and daily practices (Waite, Rodríguez, and Wadende, 2015). Inter alia, it is suggested that the political rationale dominating these interventions and top-down imposition on schools regarding issues such as standards, curriculum, teaching and student assessment (Day et.al, 2007; Crossley, 2017).
At the micro-level, the school principal's administrative style plays a significant role in determining how government reforms are implemented (Flessa, 2012). Within this global trend for education reform, in collaboration with the two Israeli teachers' unions, the Israeli government has introduced two major education system reforms since 2009. The ‘Courage-to-Change’ reform implemented in high school and `New-Horizon` reform in elementary schools, pre-schools and junior high schools (Arar, 2014; Reingold, & Avidov-Ungar, 2018; Schechter et al, 2018; Tamir & Shaked, 2016). These reforms constituted a revolution in labour relations in the education system, since they were initiated by competing reform proposals of Israel's two teachers' unions, intended to introduce significant change in the education system, increase public support and reinforce their teachers' prestige (Tamir & Arar, 2018). These reforms restructured the teacher's role and introduced new teaching methods into schools (e.g., individual lessons for up to five pupils, and a check-in clock in every school). The reforms finally shaped by the government redefine the principal's and teacher's roles and modify traditional forms of school organisation, altering teachers' work hours, and the scope and nature of their work.. Principals were not represented in the reform negotiations process but were expected to apply the reform in schools, although their work conditions were harmed.
The research examine how school principals cope with imposed reforms, and why they sometimes apply the reform in ways that seem to contradict their interests?
Method
The research focuses on three educational systems. the state Jewish secular system, the state Jewish religious system and the state Arab system. Like other centralized reforms, intended to generate administrative-organisational change (Robinson and Aronica, 2015), the "Courage to Change" and the `New Horizon` reform, which is investigated here, aimed to respond to the public demand for improvement of the education system. Qualitative methodology was used for empirical data collection and analysis. In-depth semi-structured narrative interviews were conducted with the research population. The interviews focused on the principals' views concerning the reform`s implementation and the coping strategies they had developed. Interviewees were first asked about reactions of other members of staff to the reform instead of about themselves to decrease social desirability responses and then about the difficulties they had to cope with. The interview then discussed the new school structure. The information given by the interviewee during the discussion was then used to focus more specific follow-up questions. The sample consisted of 30 secondary school principals, 10 schoolteachers, and 10 education supervisors in Israel. The sample included 35 women and 15 men, 40 Jews (28 women and 12 men), and 10 Arabs (8 men and 2 women). While this was a convenience sample, it also represents, the ratio between the two populations in the two educational systems. The average age of the Jewish principals was 50 and that of the Arab principals was 43. The average age of the teachers was 39. The average age of the superintendents was 56. Eleven principals and five teachers work in state senior high schools and four principals and five teachers in vocational high schools. The interview protocols were transcribed by the first author who speaks fluent Arabic and Hebrew, and the second author who speaks fluent Hebrew, and underwent the four stages of analysis: “organising the data", “generating categories, themes and patterns", “testing any emergent hypothesis” and “searching for alternative explanations". The analysis aimed to identify central themes in the data, searching for recurrent experiences, feelings and attitudes. These were encoded, and reduced and emergent categories were gathered into central themes that could answer the research questions. Comparative analysis ensued, including comparison of any coded element in the emergent categories and sub-categories. Structured analysis and peer review were completed by the second author, enhancing the trustworthiness and reliability of the analysis.
Expected Outcomes
The study yielded five themes representing the principal's difficulties of the imposed reform: Inappropriate for the physical environment: Although principals are used to mediate reform to their teachers, seeing them as aiding their attempts to improve their school, they found this hard with the most recent reforms. Teachers hours in school were extended, and although some reforms blueprint promised better workspace to provide an appropriate place for teachers' supplementary work, but this did not transpire. Extra work without suitable remuneration: The principals received little compensation for the extra work engendered by the reform. The teachers' difficulties in implementation of the reform led to grievances and complaints although the teachers had expected that the reform would empower them, or at least will facilitate their work. Clashes between reforms: This was a relatively unique and rare situation whereby two competitive reforms were implemented simultaneously at the same school, although not parallel This engendered very problematic and difficult administration. Distribution of resources in contradiction to the principal's opinion: This relates to the principals' difficulty in adjusting the implementation of the reform guidelines to school reality. The principals claimed that resources were distributed inappropriately irrespective of the school's real needs and their priorities. Veteran teachers complain – commotion in the teachers' lounge: Principals are used to working to maximise school performance, support their teachers, and assist their professional development. When they meet resistance from the veteran often influential teachers, this constitutes a significant challenge. Arab principals wishing to meet the cultural needs of their teachers that have special cultural needs. The implementation of the reform was slow. The imposed reform, reflected the centralized policies of the education system that employed strict supervision and enforcement of the reforms in the schools, without giving the principals discretion to determine the character of the changes.
References
Arar, K. (2014). Deputy-principals in Arab schools in Israel: An era of reform. International Journal of Educational Management, 28(1), 96-113. Day, Christopher. Pam Sammons, Gordon Stobart, Alison Kington, and Qing Gu. 2007. "Studying Teachers’Work and Lives: Research Contexts". In Teachers Matter: Connecting Lives, Work and Effectiveness, edited by Ivor Goodson, and Andy Hargreaves, pp. 1-37. Berkshire, England: Open University Press and McGraw-Hill Education. Crossley, N. J. (2017). The Impact of Government Reform on the Conceptualisations of Professionalism in Compulsory Education in England; Considering the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers and the Teachers' Standards Through the Lens of Critical Discourse Analysis. Darling-Hammond, L. & Rothman, R. (2011). Teacher and leader effectiveness in high-performing education systems. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. Flessa, J.J. ( 2012). Principals as Middle Managers: School Leadership During the Implementation of Primary Class Size Reduction Policy in Ontario, Leadership and Policy in Schools, 11(3): 325-343. Reingold, R., & Avidov-Ungar, O. (2018). ‘There should be more cooperation in setting the policy’: Israeli stakeholders’ perceptions of their appropriate role in implementing a new educational reform. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-18.. Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2011). Social equity and the assemblage of values in Australian higher education. Cambridge journal of education, 41(1), 5-22. Robinson, K., and& Aronica, L. (2015), Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution that’s Transforming Education, Viking, New York, NY. Schechter, C., Shaked, H., Ganon-Shilon, S., & Goldratt, M. (2018). Leadership metaphors: School principals’ sense-making of a national reform. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 17(1), 1-26. Shirley, D. (2017). "Community Organizing and Educational Change: A Reconnaissance." Journal of Educational Change, 10: 229-237. Sugrue, C., & Solbrekke, T. D. (2017). Policy rhetoric and resource neutral reforms in higher education: Their impact and implications? Studies in Higher Education, 42(1), 130–148. Tamir, E, Arar K, (2018). High School Principal's Resources Allocation in An Era of Reforms. International Journal of Educational Management. 1-24. Tamir, E., & Shaked, L. (2016). What to do with the bounty? organizational patterns for the implementation of resources allocated by the courage to change (oz letmura) reform. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 15(4), 567-597. Waite, D., G. Rodríguez, and A. Wadende N. (2015). "Globalization and the Business of Educational Reform." In Second International Handbook in Globalization, Education and Policy Research edited by J. Zajda. pp. 353-374. Dordrecht: Springer.
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