Managing shifting sands in education: A challenge and/or opportunity for educational leadership

EMASA 2011: Cape Town South Africa

A presentation by: Freddy James (Ph.D)

Lecturer in Education Leadership, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine,

Trinidad

Overview of the presentation

1.Deconstruct the metaphor of shifting sand by: Analyzing the impact of shifting

sands

2.Discuss whether it is a challenge and /or

opportunity for educational leadership

3.Propose a model for leading educational change

The impact of the change depends on….

Whether the change is: real

or

symbolic?

The location and environment

Whether it is in an open space: Easily displaced

Whether it is in a contained space: Supported by a structure

The nature of context

Context

Internal Context

The internal context includes

External Environment

The external context includes

•A deliberate attempt to change

•Unintentional: caused by changes in either:

1. the internal or2.external environment

Change occurs through…

All change poses a challenge: It is something to surmount

Whether the challenge is surmountable depends on:1.How flexible the organization is2.Whether the internal structures are: •Strong•Weak3.The capacity of the organization4.The commitment5.Culture6.The people and7.The relationship8.The response to change

BUT….

Regardless of the nature or sources of the change

Whether small or big…

Change needs to be managed(Fullan, 2000)

AND….

All change presents an opportunity foreducational leadership

Reforms fail when the school leadership is ineffective, unsustainable and not focused on capacity building and empowerment.

Why reforms fail?

Effective leadership is necessary to facilitate mediating variables such as teacher motivation, classroom activities, school culture and organizational direction, all of which impact on teaching and learning and influences student outcomes,

Not only is effective internal leadership in the school important for improvement, but equally as important is the relationship between the external and internal leadership when both are engaged in the reform process.

(Chrispeels and Harris, 2006)

In order to be effective school leaders require:

•training in basic leadership practices;•acumen to be responsive to the contexts within which they work•the ability to distribute leadership and •the capacity to motivate and gain staff commitment.

Leadership is about ensuring that schools have the capacity to improve and sustain the improvement

(Hargreaves, 2007 and Harris & Lambert, 2003)

Leaders build this capacity by empowering all members within the organisation to lead and develop.

This occurs through establishing professional learning communities based on trust and meaningful relationships, with the concomitant organisational arrangements,

Why reforms fail?

Reforms can fail when the locus of control resides outside the school, whereby those who have to lead, implement and manage change lack the autonomy and authority to make the necessary adjustments for the reform to be successful.

(James, 2008)

This is why externally imposed reform tends not to work

However...

Externally generated reform can work, if it acknowledges that the change process must be owned, developed and managed at the instructional core and allows the change to emanate from within, with support from without.

Why reforms fail?

Reforms fail when policy makers fail to recognisethat SI is context-specific and cultural in nature.

Schools should not be viewed as a homogeneous group.

In recognition of the singularity of each school, the focus of improvement efforts should relate to the contextual factors existing within a particular school at a particular point in time

Leadership as vision

“The current emphasis on vision in leadership can be misleading. Vision can blind leaders in a number of ways…Principals are blinded by their own vision when they feel they must manipulate the teachers and the school culture to conform to it.” (Fullan, 1999)

Leadership as values

‘Good leaders are informed by and communicate clear sets of personal and educational values which represent their moral purposes for the school.’ (Day et al, 2001 p.53)

‘Leadership is not the preserve of an individual but results from multiple interactions at different points in the organization.’ (Spillane 2006 & Harris, 2006)

Leadership for the many rather than the few

Influence on leadership practice

‘Is a shared responsibility, that does not unduly deplete human or financial resources, and that cares for and avoids exerting negative damage on the surrounding educational and community environment.’

(Hargreaves and Fink, 2003 p. 3)

A model for leading educational change

A model premised on collaboration that does not only exist at the school level, but

‘…that such collaborations have to reach out to the wider community..’ (Ainscow and West, 2006)

And should transform those stakeholders

‘…who remain on the margins of the system into full participants. (Ainscow and West, 2006)

The model seeks to unite all the agents of change, that is, policy makers, schools supervisors, teachers, principals, community leaders and parents, in a way that fosters collaboration, shared meanings and purposes among them, with a focus on improving teaching and learning in all schools.

The model suggests an approach to school improvement that is school-based, with schools as the centre of change supported collaboratively by the wider community Including the central education agency and other schools within communities.

This model suggests a hybrid mixed approach that includeselements of both centralization and decentralization, with schools developing strategies for improvement inconjunction with support from the educational district and central ministry.

Role of Government•Resource provision•Capacity building •Support•Accountability•Leadership•Administration

MOE & Governmental Agencies

External funding agencies

Policy development and

ImplementationUnit

School staffParents Students

DistrictCommunity

negotiation

negotiationfeedback

feedback

Role of District •Monitoring•Capacity building•Supervision•Support•Accountability•Leadership

Role of School

•Focus on Student Learning•Effective School Leadership•Effective Teaching and Learning•Accountability•Collaborative Practice•Implementation of relevant improvement initiatives

A Model of School Improvement for Trinidad and Tobago

In a non-prescriptive way the model creates the conditions and environment for the process of such negotiations to take place whereby common purposes and meanings can be established, which can lead to the affirmative action that brings about improvement in schools.

It is recognized that the model itself will not engender improvement in student outcomes, this is dependent on the will and commitment of stakeholders to change and effect change through negotiation among themselves and students,

(Levin, 2008).

So what?

You must manage the shifting sand

You must commit to taking the lead

You must create the movement that cause s the tsunami

Ngygi Watiog: Unless the grain of wheat goes into the earth and dies it cannot bear fruit

You did it for social justice, now do it for education