The elusive nature of whole system improvement in education

Whole system improvement—where the vast majority of schools improve—is difficult to achieve. Some jurisdictions use what turns out to be ‘wrong’ policy drivers like testing and evaluation. Rather, success turns out to depend on changing the culture of schools and their relationship to the infrastructure of policies and regulation. I examined the six cases studies in the light of whole system change criteria. Two of the case studies, South Africa and India, represent limited but useful examples in that they focus on basic skills like literacy. A second set of two studies, Escuela Nueva and LCP in Mexico, represent strong examples of how bottom up strategies can spread to significant levels. The final two, Long Beach in the US and Ontario, are strong examples of how deep change can be accomplished by focusing on a few core priorities and then building a culture over a number of years to support and sustain the changes. The paper then draws conclusions about the conditions that will be required for large scale change to occur.     

Frontier man: A Festschrift tribute to Andy Hargreaves

Throughout his career, Andy Hargreaves has continuously pushed the boundaries of knowledge and practice in the field of educational change. He has broken new ground so often that I have come to think of him as a “frontier man.” Andy has also been a generous mentor to colleagues and students enhancing the level of scholarship and expertise in his field. His pioneering work around the culture of teaching and school change has resulted in brilliant treatises that have prompted reflection and action among educators over the years. In this tribute, I reflect on Andy’s work over the 25 years that I have known and collaborated with him as a friend and colleague highlighting his contributions to the field of educational change as a researcher, writer, teacher, and a highly respected consultant.     

The Learning Consortium: A School‐University Partnership Program. An Introduction

ABSTRACT

Induction experiences of beginning teachers in schools that were classified as more effective or less effective on the basis of student achievement are compared. Classroom observations, interviews, and a “Beginning Teacher Questionnaire” were used to obtain information from teachers in the two groups. Three areas of socialization were examined: assistance, monitoring, and team‐building. Results indicate that historically more effective schools were more supportive of their beginning teachers. In addition, outcome data regarding teacher performance provides evidence of more effective teaching among teachers in more supportive schools, even though initial teacher effectiveness, levels of experience, and educational attainment were not different for the two groups.     

Overview of the innovative process and the user

The focus of this overview is on the role of the user (student, teacher, parent) in the process of educational change. In the first section research literature is reviewed by critically examining the assumptions of existing models and approaches to educational change, and by analyzing evidence on actual user experience with educational innovations. The main conclusion is that the modal process of change whereby innovations are developed external to schools and then transmitted to them has led to no significant change at the user level. In the second section of the paper, the analysis is extended by relating the basic contentions and findings of the authors in the present issue to the criteria for effective change identified in the first section. These articles provide important state-of-the-field analyses of various aspects of school innovations in organization for learning and in curriculum. The overall conclusion in the final section is that a radical restructuring of the role of the user and a complete reversal of the direction of influence in the process of change are required if effective innovations are to occur. Finally, the main principles and elements of reform—techniques, activities, organizational forms—necessary to support this active user role, and other factors beyond the user level that might impinge on this role, are outlined.

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Résumé Cet article concentre l'attention sur le rôle de l'usager (étudiant, professeur, parent) dans le processus de l'évolution en éducation. Dans la première partie, l'auteur passe en revue les rapports de recherches et se livre à une étude critique des hypothèses servant de base aux modèles existants et des moyens d'aborder le problème de l'évolution en éducation; il analyse par ailleurs les preuves sur l'expérience réelle de l'usager en matière d'innovations éducatives. La conclusion principale tirée de cette étude est que le processus conditionnel de l'évolution, selon lequel les innovations se développent d'abord à l'extérieur de l'école pour y être communiquées par la suite, n'a pas abouti à un changement important au niveau de l'usager. Dans la deuxième partie, l'auteur pousse plus loin son analyse et compare les affirmations et les découvertes de base des auteurs de la présente publication, auteurs qui se sont penchés sur ce problème aux critères indispensables à l'évolution et identifiés dans la première partie. Ces articles renferment d'importantes analyses sur l'état du problème et sur les aspects relatifs aux innovations scolaires en matière d'organisation en vue de l'apprentissage et du programme d'études. Dans sa conclusion générale, exposée dans la dernière partie de l'article, l'auteur affirme que si l'on veut aboutir à des innovations efficaces, il faudra procéder à une restructuration radicale du rôle de l'usager et à un renversement complet de l'orientation de l'influence qui s'exerce dans le processus de l'évolution. Il énumère enfin les principes et les éléments fondamentaux de la réforme qui sont nécessaires à appuyer ce rôle actif de l'usager: techniques, activités, formules d'organisation—ainsi que les autres facteurs qui dépassent le niveau de l'usager et qui peuvent empiéter sur le rôle en question.

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OISE

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I would like to thank Andrew Effrat and Paul Paschke for their many valuable contributions in developing this issue, and Glenn Eastabrook for many ideas included in the introduction. I would also like to thank Nancy McIntosh for typing this introduction, and Barbara Finch and Catherine Cragg for their extensive editorial work.     

The future of educational change: system thinkers in action

In addressing the future agenda of educational change, this paper advances the notion of sustainability as a key factor in developing a new kind of leadership. This new leadership, if enduring, large scale change is desired, needs to go beyond the successes of increasing student achievement and move toward leading organizations to sustainability. Currently, there is a lack of development of leaders toward system thinking. An argument is made for linking systems thinking with sustainability in order to transform an organization or a system. In order to accomplish this goal, it is necessary to change not only individuals but also systems. The way to change systems is to foster the development of practitioners who are “system thinkers in action.” Such leaders widen their sphere of engagement by interacting with other schools in a process we call lateral capacity building. When several leaders act this way they actually change the context in which they work. Eight elements of sustainability, which will enable leaders to become more effective at leading organizations toward sustainability, are presented. Within the explication of the eight elements, prior research is considered, difficulties are surfaced, and challenges are issued to change contextual conditions in order to effect large scale, sustainable educational change.Adapted from an address at American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, 2004.     

Learning and the pandemic: What’s next?

PROSPECTS - This article highlights key points with respect to each of the following: 1) School systems around the world were stagnant before Covid-19 and had been for some time; 2) Therefore there...