The Process of Making Changes

Throughout my working life (teaching and non-teaching), I've worked for, with and under many different people with different leadership styles. I have started to recognise what I really value in a leader, and what isn't as effective for me and my development. I'm now at the point in my career where I am wanting to up-skill to be able to become a leader of others, so The Education Hub's webinar 'Shifting the focus from change to improvement' caught my eye (Distinguished Professor Viviane Robinson). The session was focused around making changes and why/how these changes are being made.

There were several questions that left me thinking, as outlined in my sketchnote. One question in particular was related to listening to staff and students before making any changes, or suggesting new initiatives. The biggest thing that I took away from this webinar was how important that is. To really stop and listen to why someone (or why a group of people) are doing something the way they are currently. They are going to have understandings, evidence, observations to justify their reasoning, which you may have not considered, even if you are their leader. From this conversation your change/initiative/proposal may adapt, using the knowledge and feedback you now have. Don't just make this decision on your own, listen to the why, listen to your colleagues, include them in your decision-making process.

The second takeaway for me, was what are the different puzzle pieces that contribute to the problem or issue you are suggesting to adapt/alter. From conversations with staff and/or students, you may find there are several factors at play for the low achievement for example, not just how the unit of learning that is delivered. For instance, there may be low achievement because the teacher needs support with behaviour management, or the class sizes may be too big for 1:1 support, or they don't have the content knowledge to deepen learning for higher grades. All of these puzzle pieces will contribute in some way, some more than others. So if the major puzzle piece is the need for professional development around behaviour management strategies, but they are offered a course on deepening content learning, this won't support success toward increasing student achievement for that particular staff member. Reiterating the importance of including your colleagues in the process of adaptations/additions/changes etc.

Finally, Viviane discussed in detail her theory engagement model, as pictured alongside, which is explored in her book Reduce Change to Increase Improvement. Put simply, the first step before making any changes is for parties to agree on the proposed problem. From there, evidence to suggest why this is a problem needs to revealed. This step obviously includes discussions with staff as aforementioned, but can also include open and honest conversations with students, lesson observations and assessment data. Evaluating the evidence gathered, considering the overarching problem and discussing the alternatives is step three. To conclude the cycle, the new ideas/resources/suggestions are to be trialled and implemented. The cycle of course continues to repeat itself, to determine what the long term changes are for staff and ultimately students (positive and negative).

Overall, I recommend watching this webinar for any new leader, or anyone like me who is aspiring to be a leader. It really leaves you thinking about the importance of consultation before diving into any changes!