Session Information
32 SES 07 B, Resources and Resistance to Change in Schools
Paper Session
Contribution
A frequent comment made by experienced and senior teachers, in Masters level assignments in Educational Leadership and Management, has been that initiatives to implement educational change would be faced with ‘teacher resistance’. Inevitably such a mindset will itself hamper change: either preventing it or causing it to be promoted in what is pre-judged to be a hostile environment.
It is surprising that such a position should be passed about so routinely and without challenge. Indeed, the more one thinks about it, the stranger it seems. This paper will consider what is so strange about the idea, why it matters and the implications for both the management of change in educational organisations and leadership education. It is of course common for curriculum change to stall or even fail altogether. Why it matters is twofold: first because such a view acts to hamper change and secondly it does so in a way that blames participants. The strangeness comes from the persistence and taken-for-granted nature of the idea. In evolutionary terms, to persist and to be so taken-for-granted the idea must be functional; it works. Conversely the negative effect of a mind-set in which teachers (are known to) resist change is that a schema of confrontation is offered and in which there is judgement and blame.
Where the idea is especially successful is in facilitating inaction and lack of curiosity. The phrase ‘teacher resistance’ takes on the qualities of a mantra and distances the problem from leaders and managers. ‘What can you do?’ and ‘It is their(someone else’s but not my) fault’ support a steady state; however the steady state is dysfunctional and ultimately unsustainable.
Sustainable ways of dealing with educational change are essential for the productivity and sustainability of the process itself but also as the educational context for students as a demonstration of peaceful co-existence.
The time line emerging of 20 years is interesting in that it is also more or less the time elapsed since the work of Bascia and Hargreaves (2000):
‘There are two key factors which underpin what Sarason (1990) depressingly calls “the predictable failure of educational reform”. The first is that most reform efforts fail to understand the depth, range and complexity of what teachers do. They approach teaching in a largely one-dimensional way as a set of skills, beliefs and behaviors that can and must be changed ---and in doing so fail to grasp what teachers need to help them to change. They fail to understand the good reasons why many teachers persist with what they already do, or change in ways that reformers do not acknowledge. Second, reformers rarely recognize that what must be changed is an interconnected highly complex and profoundly political system which shapes and constrains the work of teaching and efforts to improve or transform is. (Bascia and Hargreaves 2000, p 4)’
The paper both celebrates thework of Bascia and Hargreaves,exploring the dark side of educational change by drawing attention to the fact that much is known about why educational reform so often fails and much of that is ignored,and also goes beyond itto consider the relationship between educational change and its management–the job of leadership. This paper presents an analysis of the challenge of assuming ‘resistance’ and proposes some ways of thinking through to solutions appropriate to an environment which is ambiguous as well as complex, uncertain and volatile
Method
In finding ways to reconsider the management of change this paper starts by noting the prevalence of the observation across contexts and jurisdictions. A distance-learning international Masters programme in Educational Leadership provided an uninterrupted set of observations over 20 years and additional teaching on other similar programmes confirmed the observation. Whether the assignments were written by men or women and irrespective of country or even continent, the comment, made across cultures and jurisdictions, appeared frequently over a period of 20 years. This paper presents an analysis of this observation and goes on to analyse the useful functions of resistance to change in an era of risk and uncertainty. The paper notes that explanations alone do little to redress ill effects and reviews research which offers the opportunity for teacher leaders to revisit educational change. ‘Teacher resistance’ may appear to be an explanation but it is in fact an advertisement that what is not understood is what is entailed by educational changes. This paper examines two interlinked aspects of leadership; understanding educational change and application of this understanding to management and leadership. The paper continues by synthesising ways in which educational change may be conceptualised. And the implications this has for leaders.
Expected Outcomes
Some teachers responded to a gentle push to consider what evidence they held as to the veracity of ‘change is prevented by teacher resistance’ and to hypothesise alternative explanations for disappointing outcomes of initiatives. Others found it difficult to consider that ‘teacher resistance might not be ‘a given’ let alone to problematise the idea. Taking an evolutionary perspective it is concluded that, for an idea to have settled in the discourse so powerfully, it must have some advantageous function. Inaction can be a place of safety for teachers and leaders, a way of controlling uncertainty; where the environment is chaotic, a resting place. The judgement of resistance can allow leaders to sidestep the difficult work of helping teachers fully understand or learn and practice new ways of working or even to abandon the effort altogether. Life and work include stress a force that is stimulating and beneficial as well as destructive; managing change in this context is the job of leadership The paper finds that the relationship between educational change and its management–the job of leadership-- is an identifiably weak point and goes on to conclude that leaders and managers can draw on superficial and weakly theorised ideas of change and at the same time, and somewhat surprisingly, fail to recognises the vital place of learning in change. Somewhat surprising since most if not quite all educational leaders have been teachers of one sort or another and have considerable intellectual capital in respect of learning processes. Ultimately the paper concludes that where leaders adopt a critical approach to the actual learning involved in educational change they will give themselves the opportunity of managing change more sustainably both in terms of instructional change and in terms of respect for individuals, an approach that offers some sustainability.
References
Bascia N and Hargreaves A (Eds) (2000). The Sharp Edge of Educational Change. London: Routledge Constable H, Farrow, S and Norton J(Eds) 1994 Change in Classroom Practice London: Falmer Fullan, M (1982) The Meaning of Educational Change London: Routledge Fullan, M. (1993) Change Forces. London: Routledge Fullan 2012 Breakthrough Deepening Pedagogical Improvement in Education in Mincu M E(ed) Personalisation of Education in Contexts: Rotterdam: Sense Fullan M (2016) The New Meaning of Educational Change London: Routledge fifth Edition Guskey T R (2002) Professional Development and Teacher Change, Teachers and Teaching,8:3, 381-391 Marzano R J 2003 What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Mincu M E (2015) Teacher quality and school improvement: what is the role of research?,Oxford Review of Education, 41:2, 253-269, Pass S (2004) Parallel Paths to Constructivism: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky Greenwich C; IAP Riding R and Rayner S (2013) Cognitive Styles and Learning Strategies Understanding Style Differences in Learning and Behaviour London: Taylor and Francis.com
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